You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Tony Piper Author

Level 1

0 points

10.4.10 Snap, Crackle, Pop - a workaround

If you're suffering from the Snap, Crackle, Pop problem, here's a little workaround if you don't mind sacrificing some CPU cycles and know how to open the command line.

The basic strategy is to use mpg123 to play a silent mp3 file continuously in the background. By doing this, the audio subsystem doesn't have a chance to go to sleep, and therefore the pops disappear.

Open up a Terminal window

cd ~
mkdir nopop
cd nopop
wget http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/old/4second.mp3
wget http://www.mpg123.de/download/mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
bunzip2 mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
tar xvf mpg123-0.66.tar
cd mpg123-0.66
./configure
make
sudo make install

obviously you can change the locations to your heart's content.

The command below will play a 4 second silent mp3 file continuously until you log out. This means that the audio subsystem never goes to sleep, and therefore you won't get the Pops.

mpg123 -Z -q ~/nopop/4second.mp3

Perhaps one of you Cocoa programmers could package this up nicely for everyone else?

On my macbook, it'll cost you about 2% of your CPU, but at least you won't get the pops.

Any suggestions, improvements, feedback very welcome!

cheers,

Tony.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jun 23, 2007 5:39 AM

81 replies

Jun 29, 2007 6:00 PM in response to nekrosys

Yes, I have been experiencing it recently, now that you mention it, it has been since the service upgrade. I thought my speakers went bad, so I went out and bought new ones. Still heard the pop - now have to take them back.

WalrusC

Level 1

45 points

Jun 29, 2007 10:35 PM in response to edthered

This happened to me as well. I found that trashing the AppleHDA.kext first THEN installing the 10.4.9 version with Pacifist did the job.

Jun 30, 2007 8:45 AM in response to Tony Piper

The easiest solution by far is to just press the
'mute' key or turn off your speakers. Only problem
is, you won't get any sound at all.

I had my MBP on mute last night and it still popped every time someone logged in or out of Adium. There was no sound, but it still popped.

-Z

Jun 30, 2007 8:29 PM in response to Tony Piper

Try this... works like a charm.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1018120

RacerX

Level 2

170 points

Jun 30, 2007 8:47 PM in response to R C-R

Also, it is not well substantiated that the
AppleHDA.kext extension -- as delivered by
Apple -- has been altered in the 10.4.10 release.

Yes it has been altered and the version number has changed:

Before 10.4.10 update:

Version: 1.2.4
Last Modified: 4/13/06 7:29 PM
Get Info String: 1.2.4a21, Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. 2005-2006
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
kext Version: 1.2.4a21
Load Address: 0x720000
Valid: Yes
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied
Integrity: Correct

After 10.4.10:
Version: 1.3.2
Last Modified: 4/13/06 7:29 PM
Get Info String: 1.3.2a5, Copyright Apple Inc. 2005-2007
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
kext Version: 1.3.2a5
Load Address: 0x3caab000
Valid: Yes
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied
Integrity: Correct

---

The last modified date has not changed, but clearly the package has...

What is puzzling is that the IOAudioFamily.kext has not changed, the version before and after is 1.6.0. So I am not sure why some are saying this has to be replaced too.

RacerX

Level 2

170 points

Jun 30, 2007 8:49 PM in response to Jeff Smith11

Yes I don't understand that either. I looked in the package and they were all nVidia graphics files...

Jun 30, 2007 9:12 PM in response to RacerX

The kext is modified for power management..... basically it is putting your speakers to sleep and waking them up when they need to make a sound.

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Jun 30, 2007 10:28 PM in response to RacerX

It's even more puzzling than that: I've seen a couple of reports that the AppleHDA.kext extension was at version 1.3.2 before the 10.4.10 update was applied to some machines.

At this point, the only things I'm sure of are that we need more complete reports & that not all Macs (Intel or not) are affected, or are affected the same way.

mgabrys

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2007 9:42 PM in response to Jeff Smith11

RE: re-install 10.4.9

Not if you want to use the iPhone. It requires 10.4.10. Got an idea for us iPHONE USERS?

smacman

Level 1

50 points

Jul 2, 2007 12:58 AM in response to mgabrys

Guys.. I too am very upset that Apple has decided to ignore this problem. What I find even more amusing though is that they have taken the time to delete all of my posts on this board in which I stated my frustration about this issue. If they would have spent that time and energy on a patch, we would probably be happy customers again. Oh well.. My suggestion for the time being is to take this discussion over to other forums (ie. MacRumors, etc.). Discussing this here is useless as Apple will just bury it..

Macbook Pro C2D 2.16 160gb 1gig GLOSSY Mac OS X (10.4.10) 3 Systems with #@%ed up Audio thanks to 10.4.10

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Jul 2, 2007 5:04 AM in response to smacman

Discussing the technical aspects of this problem here is fine. Discussing Apple's policies is not. Refer to Apple Discussions Terms of Use if this is unclear to you. It will save you time & energy.

It is the job of the moderators of this forum to make sure posts abide by those terms. They are not the folks that write the code.

Hersco

Level 2

316 points

Jul 2, 2007 3:02 PM in response to edthered

Apple has issued a patch to fix this problem:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/audioupdate2007001.html

Mac Pro 3.0 Mac OS X (10.4.9) 4GB RAM

Kar98

Level 1

140 points

Jul 2, 2007 3:11 PM in response to Hersco

Woo hoo!

(you bet your butt I'll make an update first)

ErikW

Level 2

250 points

Jul 2, 2007 3:40 PM in response to Hersco

Upgrading from 10.4.9 to 10.4.10 v.1.1 through Software Update seems to have worked without ever experiencing the popping sound on my 15" MacBook Pro. There is no option to install the Audio Update with this configuration. After downloading the stand-alone Audio Update installer, updating is not an option.

So it appears that updating from 10.4.9 to the new 10.4.10 v.1.1 presents no audio issues.

Dual 2 G5 (RevB); MacBook Pro; iMacG5; iBook; Apple TV Mac OS X (10.4.10)

JAhonen

Level 1

15 points

Jul 2, 2007 3:54 PM in response to ErikW

The 10.4.10 update v1.1 includes the Audio Update 2007-001. In fact the Audio Update is just version 1.3.3a1 of AppleHDA.kext.

10.4.10 Snap, Crackle, Pop - a workaround