Am I the only one with a blip/pop noise?!

Unfortunately, I have the noise too. Sometimes a few times a minute, sometimes not for a few minutes. I forsee a battle with Apple coming on. Time to dig a trench.

Josh

I have the same noise as well and I noticed it right after I bought it. Even though I thought it was annoying, I figured it was normal and that I had to live with it. I haven't really had any really bad hardware or software problems, only some aesthetic problems such as case/keyboard warping, a couple dead pixels/white spot, and the track-pad bending up on the bottom right corner. Since the computer seems to be "working" OK, perhaps that's the reason why I haven't brought up the aesthetic and popping noise issues to apple. Maybe I'm not being critical enough considering we all paid a ton of money for this machine. For me, I don't know if this warrants asking for my money back (considering I've already had it for 6 months) but I'm definitely all for getting apple to at least acknowledge this noise problem as it is pretty annoying.

Mine is going back. I will stick with the MAC i have for editing on the desktop. Josh, you may be right. Anyone out there hearing it on any other new macs? the iMac?

My 15" has the Fujitsu, and I have never heard this noise. Most of the time it is near quiet while using my computer. Mine is also about 2 months old now.

Message was edited by: Kelly Gould

Hey people with this unfortunate problem,

I just got off the phone with Applecare. They're aware of the problem, likely thanks to the efforts of previous posters. They have internal support documents discussing the issue.

The Applecare rep said they thought it was the logic board. He didn't sound 100% sure of it, but definately seems like that's what they think. He said they dont think it causes issues in performance.

They offered me essentially every option. I can get the computer replaced, my logic board switched out, or take it in for inspection. I bought my computer 2 days ago, so I think this was a factor in their willingness to give me a new computer.

The Applecare rep. told me to do a hardware reset (remove power adapter, take out battery, and hold power button for 5 secs) and then boot up the hardware test. He said the problem would probably not be solved, and the test would come back clean, but I should do it just to see.

He also said that this was how you could reproduce the sound: Get in a quiet room, close all programs, open one finder window, wait 1 minute, then drag the window all around the screen. I haven't tried it yet.

The rep also said that Apple posted something about this problem

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303365

It doesn't look like the same problem to me.

Well, that's about it. I'm gonna run the hardware test, and if it doesn't do any good, get a new unit (which will probably pop too 🙂.

I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers,
Josh

Thanks, Josh. Did you notice that the article the rep sent you to is almost a year old? The second time I sent my computer back they replace the logic board. Still had the same noise. I hope it is rectified because eventually I would like to have a MPB. For now, mine is going back as well. I am going to keep in touch with my rep to see how things unfold. I hope the dialogue contineus. As far as I could tell, the noise did not cause any performance problems but I did notice that the MPB seems to sometimes take a while to come out of sleep mode. At least longer than my POWERBOOK ever did....

I have the same problem as well on my 13" Macbook that is less than 2 weeks old. Mine has the Fujitsu 120 GB drive as well so it seems to be pretty common with this specific drive. It is obviously not limited to the MBP's. I also have an 'A' key that does not work all the time so needless to say I am not too happy with my first Mac purchase. It is going in for repair tomorrow to get the A key replaced and for the technician to see if he can figure anything out with the sound, it doesn't sound very likely that he will. I'd just like a replacement or refund, I think it is ridiculous to send in a 2 week old computer for repairs!

I got a replacement MBP for my popping MBP, but i'm afraid to open it. I'm thinking it's smarter to just get my $ back. However, I really love the machine, so i'm tempted to keep it regardless of noise.

I wonder how many people have this problem.

Maybe you will be one of the luck ones. I understand your not wanting to give up the MBP. Keeping my fingers crossed fer ya

Add another one to list with the popping noise. I have the fujitsu drive. Seems to be fairly quite and it wasn't really annoying me. I just wondered if it was a setting or something that I needed to turn off, so I did a search for it. That brought me to this thread.

Of course I would like very much if it wasn't there. At first I thought it had something to do with the battery. Seemed to make the noise every time it went down a point. Then I realized it is completely random and doesn't make the noise for awhile sometimes.

Anyway, I will probably live with the sound, though I do hope we find a solution.

I thought I had this problem with my PowerBook too. But now I found out that it's your cell phone radiation that's causing it.

Try making or receive a phone call right next to your laptop, or use your iPhone.

This sound can also be reproduced when you're in your car and if you have your phone up to your stereo player on your dashboard.

Now imagine this happening at all times while you're having your phone in your side pocket... but affecting your organs.

This also affects sound wiring, like headphones or speakers. Try testing this at best buy where they have all the car stereos. I freak myself out.

I managed to find some info on the net on a possible fix for this, there is a small unix file called hdapm.dmg that you can install and have it run on startup that prevents your drive heads from continuously parking, I downloaded it and there is a read me file that explains installation and lists where to put the files but I am Mac illiterate and have no clue what to do. Do a search on Google for hdapm, let me knwo if anyone tries it and the results.

is the noise really head parking? that would make sense.

my machine did not make this noise while running the hardware check, or the extended hardware check.

cheers,
josh

Supreme Virtue, for what it's worth, I hear the popping sound when there isn't a cell phone in my house, so I am not sure cell phone interference is necessarily the cause. I asked an AppleCare specialist about this and the person said that they do not believe the cause of the sound to be electrical interference. The AppleCare specialist also said that the MacBook Pro is shielded against electrical interference.

Nonetheless it's worth asking, has anyone noticed if this popping sound happens only when a cell phone is present?

Also could someone tell me how to tell what brand hard drive is in my MacBook Pro or point me to a website with instructions on how to do this?

Message was edited by: MellowmanB

My popping sound happens regardless of cell phone proximity. I also mentioned this to a few people and they didn't think it was a possibility.