JiPé

Q: Static sound coming from the Thunderbolt Display speakers

I have bought a new Thunderbolt Display and connect it to the 2011 MacBook Air. Both latest Firmware updates has been installed, for the MBA as for the Thunderbolt Display. Each time I play a media with some audio (music or video) and stop, the speakers are emiting a static humming sound for about 30-45 seconds and stop. I can hear the humming sound starting once I star the music or video, but it gets cover by the media playing.

 

Anyone has this problem?

 

My display is still under the 14 days period trial, so I would probably just bring it back and take another one, but as no one as discuss this problem, I want to know if I'm alone or not.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Oct 4, 2011 5:36 PM

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Q: Static sound coming from the Thunderbolt Display speakers

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  • by Anthony Curcione,

    Anthony Curcione Anthony Curcione Aug 11, 2014 3:38 PM in response to JiPé
    Level 3 (614 points)
    Aug 11, 2014 3:38 PM in response to JiPé

    Here' a wrinkle...  I have my MBP and TB display on a UPS with a myriad of things plugged into it. It has a voltage regulator as well. Under normal use I don't hear much of anything from the display. However today I was hit 2 power outages that lasted a few minutes and each time it happened the display was making a very noticable buzzing sound, not unsimilar to what was coming from the UPS.  As soon as power returned, all was good.

     

    I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not with this. Thoughts?

  • by braehler,

    braehler braehler Dec 6, 2014 1:11 PM in response to fastwater
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 6, 2014 1:11 PM in response to fastwater

    Hi fastwater,

     

    thank you for your excellent blog entry. I've got exactly the same problem with my MacBook Pro 2013 and MacBook Air 2013. My Thunderbolt Display is built in 2014.a The noise problem is still present in Yosemite. Have you find a solution in the meantime?

     

    Many thanks in advance...

  • by tbirdvet,

    tbirdvet tbirdvet Dec 6, 2014 4:16 PM in response to Anthony Curcione
    Level 4 (3,003 points)
    Dec 6, 2014 4:16 PM in response to Anthony Curcione

    Is the UPS a pure sine wave design?  If not that may be causing the noise when the display is being powered by the UPS

  • by Anthony Curcione,

    Anthony Curcione Anthony Curcione Dec 6, 2014 4:23 PM in response to tbirdvet
    Level 3 (614 points)
    Dec 6, 2014 4:23 PM in response to tbirdvet

    Beats the heck out of me. Can't seem to find that info. This is what I have http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500G

  • by tbirdvet,

    tbirdvet tbirdvet Dec 7, 2014 4:35 AM in response to Anthony Curcione
    Level 4 (3,003 points)
    Dec 7, 2014 4:35 AM in response to Anthony Curcione

    I did some digging and looks like it is not.  However others have said that that should not matter so not sure why you have this noise.

  • by Marty Phee,

    Marty Phee Marty Phee Jan 13, 2015 6:22 AM in response to tbirdvet
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jan 13, 2015 6:22 AM in response to tbirdvet

    I solved my noise by using a separate power supply for the laptop.  If I plug the laptop into the power supply from the TBD the noise is really bad.  When I plugged it into another power supply (on the same circuit) there was NO noise.

  • by tinymonkeyhead,

    tinymonkeyhead tinymonkeyhead Jan 29, 2015 2:55 PM in response to JiPé
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2015 2:55 PM in response to JiPé

    Hi people !

    I have the same problem with my MBP Retina. I have the issue through my headphones and also through the laptop's speakers (but as a very low level).

    Does anyone discovered how to fix it ? Is it really a software problem ?

  • by tinymonkeyhead,

    tinymonkeyhead tinymonkeyhead Jan 29, 2015 3:01 PM in response to JiPé
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2015 3:01 PM in response to JiPé

    1) I start a music

    2) I stop It

    3) Static noise for about 30/32 seconds

    4) Static noise stops

     

    And then I start and stop the music again, and I have the same issue, again and again...

  • by Brad Rhodes,

    Brad Rhodes Brad Rhodes Feb 8, 2015 4:14 PM in response to JiPé
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 8, 2015 4:14 PM in response to JiPé

    Has anyone seen any solution to this problem?

    Is Apple acknowledging this? Reports I've researche go back 4 years!

     

    anyone taken the display into a store with any success/result?

  • by Anon M,

    Anon M Anon M Apr 9, 2015 3:08 AM in response to JiPé
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 9, 2015 3:08 AM in response to JiPé

    Hi,

     

    I just wanted to say that I have the exact same problem as described by JiPé earlier in this thread.

    I don't have the Thunderbolt Display however, but the 27" LED Cinema Display, it's predecessor basically. As far as I know it's the exact same display, except it has Mini DisplayPort instead of Thunderbolt.

     

    I bought my display used last summer and was worried something was wrong with it. Mine is from 2010 after all, so you never know…

    At least I'm happy to read that this is normal and everyone has it. Of course it would be awesome if there was a fix.

     

    And who knows, maybe there is a fix. Because I remember rare occasions (when I was troubleshooting the display for this reason already) where I didn't have this white noise. I don't know what made it not appear, however. I'll investigate further over time.

     

     

    Cheers

  • by e36freak,

    e36freak e36freak May 5, 2015 11:03 PM in response to JiPé
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 5, 2015 11:03 PM in response to JiPé

    Hello Folks,

     

    My brand new TBD is facing the same issue. It has been running fine with any problems for 2 month now, and all of a sudden this disturbing static sound is appearing all the time whenever OS X is active. Trying out several things leads me to the conclusion that I'm facing a driver issue. Starting my MBP 13" Retina Mid 2014 in safe mode, Audio is disabled the static noise is gone. Further more running OS X 10.10.3 in "standard mode" and unload some Audio kernel the static noise is disappearing as well, after rebooting this sound is back again. So the question is, what can I do? is there any possibility to reset the audio drivers or renew them? I don't want to install Yosemite once again, so what can I do?

     

    Thank you so much in advance!

     

    Config:

    Macbook Pro 13" Retina Mid 2014, Yosemite 10.10.3, Thunderbolt Display 2015

  • by e36freak,

    e36freak e36freak May 9, 2015 1:06 AM in response to e36freak
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 1:06 AM in response to e36freak

    I'd like to refer to following blow which is in my opinion very helpful, thank you! https://techblog.willshouse.com/2014/01/21/fix-thunderbolt-display-static-noise- on-os-x-mavericks/

     

    This is now working for me, but it is just a workaround, no fix. I think I will try to set up my OS X totally new.

     

    A workaround is to only use the internal speakers on your Macbook. After a little testing I found that I can move this kext to another location:

     /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBAudio.kext 

    And then run:

    sudo touch /Library/Extensions/ 

    And then reboot and when I log back in there is a hissing sound but I can open Terminal and run:

    sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext 

    And wait 30 seconds until the hissing stops, and then run:

    sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext 

    And the hissing will be gone and the internal speakers and mic on the Mac will be working.

  • by tbirdvet,

    tbirdvet tbirdvet May 9, 2015 4:27 AM in response to Anon M
    Level 4 (3,003 points)
    May 9, 2015 4:27 AM in response to Anon M

    This is not normal and not everyone has it.  I have had my TBD now for about 2 years and the sound is perfect, no static or any other non desired noises so not sure why some have this issue.

  • by e36freak,

    e36freak e36freak Jun 1, 2015 7:16 AM in response to tbirdvet
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2015 7:16 AM in response to tbirdvet

    So I have exchanged my 2014 MBP with a all new 2015 MBP and the problem remain unchanged. The white noise is still there

    I would say it is definitely the TBD itself having a problem and it does not depend on the source.

     

    OK, I will try to contact Apple directly...

  • by fpenna2,

    fpenna2 fpenna2 Jun 6, 2015 9:13 PM in response to Anon M
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2015 9:13 PM in response to Anon M

    I lived with that horrible buzzing noise problem since i bought my thunderbird display 3 years ago.  Ive had already tried all kind of solutions i found but never worked. It comes and go. Sometimes stays forever like this month.

    And this month this make me really mad. So mad that I decided to call apple to make then fix it on warranty. I don't care because there so many complains about that same problem.

    Before taking me TD to apple service i decide to do just one more attempt....

    I ve got a spare monster cable power center that was sitting unused and put it throw a different wall power outlet. Than i got TD display power cable connected to Monster. Voila....Buzzing noise disappeared.

    I then try to put the TD power cable back to my original power outlet and is still no buzzing noise for a while. After 5 minutes everything restarted again with that fu@%ˆ&8 buzzing noise.

     

    So What i learn about that.... Apple should recall for free all units because they have really real power input problems with their thunderbolt displays. Thats a design/power problem for sure...

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