Buzz or hiss related to the screen

This was posted on another topic today in the Apple forums that the buzzing noise is coming from a defective power inverter for the screen. Just as an FYI for everyone who is looking for a solution, I am taking mine to an apple store that has the macbooks instock so I can just get mine swapped for a new one.

My one buzzes like billeyo if i turn down from max brightness. The earlier description ( like a cheap lamp ) is accurate.

I am visiting APPLE for 1:1 tuition on Thursday 2nd, and I will take advice. It's irritating, but I hope a s/w download can fix it. I really don't want to give it back, as I ordered on Jan 11 and received it on Feb 27th.

I had this problem for the first day or two, but it seems to quieted down now, like it just needed to get "broken in". I can still hear it if I put my ear right up to the screen, but now it's quieter than the 7200rpm hard drive spinning platter noise.

Well this ***** 😟

My new MBP started out quiet (or at least I did not hear anything) and is NOW making the buzzing sound from behind the screen. If I push in on the illuminated Apple behind the screen it stops - any screen brightness setting below max has the noise. It is going back - this amount of vibration (and growing noise) does not bode well for trouble free future operation.

I think that I am going to hold off on another MBP purchase until APPLE has cleared these issues up - even though I need a new laptop now.

Bad power inverter design / quality - not exactly new technology - come on Apple & Quanta get it right.

zim_

My guess is that this will require NEW HARDWARE - defective power inverter for the display - PI$$ poor design / quality - bummer.

Mine is going back in the morning and I am going to wait a bit for things to get sorted out on the production line.

I too have experienced the "buzzing".

For me the computer is silent when the screen is black or the brightness is 100%

Anywhere in between I can get the intermittent (or sometimes constant) buzz or hum

I've been able to get it to go away by adjusting the screen angle.

Mine's only loud if you're in a quiet room... but for me, this is my 3rd mac in 2 months so I'll take this smaller problem in lieu of the larger problems I had with my original powerbook and then my replacement powerbook.

There seems to be enough of us that it's either "a normal operating noise", or a benign noise that can be fixed by using applecare.

I'll wait until I have any other problems before I take mine in. Now if there was only a way to get our superdrives back up to 8x.....

I rang tech support and they confirmed it is a know issue with the display inverter (I know others are aware of this already, just reporting what I was told).

They are going to send me a replacement and collect the faulty unit. I hope it's not a long wait and that the replacement unit doesn't have the same issue.

just to be clear, this is not the sound that can be silenced by starting photo booth. I had that sound before but it seems to have gone away, or photobooth is not doing the trick anymore. Either way, it's a very loud and annoying sound that onnly stops when display is set to minimum brightness (ie. virtually invisible). Max brightness is much better but still a small amound of noise.

To anyone else with this noise I would recommend you call in for a replacement as it seems to be a hardware issue.

Very slight but not annoying like the rev 1 iMac G5's. It goes away when I sleep the beast. So it must be a fan or the hard drive... The issue is not enough to make me take it in, yet.

This baby seems faster than my Dual 2.0 G5

William

omg im having the same problem, and it's getting worse. By worse I mean lounder and response to the whole brightness issue has stopped. The only way I can stop the sound is to adjust the angle of the screen. SHOOT ME!!!!

mine too--
Got it, and it had some problems waking up from sleep mode but apple took it back and got me a new one straight away.
Then the hinge area started getting really hot after a half hour of being on--yet to be fixed.
Then the cpu buzz started--fixed with "magicnoisekiller."
Now the screen buzzes whenever it's on, unless it's at max or min. Pushing the apple works, but that's not really a solution. Hoping apple will be helpful when I call this one in.

Human hearing is a funny thing. Very non-linear. High frequencies mask low ones. Reflectivity of surfaces varies considerably with frequency. So the likely difference, all things internal to the MacBook itself being the same, is that the acoustic environment is different with the net effect being that the sound is perceptible in one environment but not in the other.

Now that I've started using my MacBook a lot in my office (an acoustically active place with lots of hard surfaces and generally fairly quiet) and not always plugging it in, I've discovered that with my head in just the right place, tilted at just the right angle, I can make out the so-called "processor whine" (it's not actually the processor itself and not what I'd call a "whine") when the CPU utilization is as close to idle as it gets. But at home (with lots and lots of cloth-covered surfaces and generally a lot noisier) I can only hear the sound when I'm in the quietest (and most acoustically active) room, the bathroom.


Randall Schulz

I called Apple Care to let them know about the noise that varied as I adjusted the brightness of the display. She asked if the sound was coming from the right side of the keyboard (near the F10 key) and when I told her it was most prominent there, she said it sounded like it was the inverter. It also affected the flicker at dim settings.

A box was sent to me the next day and after a week, my MacBook Pro arrived without LCD noise or flicker at dim settings. Apparently Apple is aware of this and is replacing affected LCD inverters.

I do still have the "whine" that is associated with the processor though, but it's much more bearable than what the LCD inverter noise!

Hope that helps.

Ray

Ray, I have the CPU buzz too, but I have found I can eliminate it (at least until a wakeup or reboot) with the following procedure.

1. Launch PhotoBooth (Take a photo if there are none stored already)
2. select one of previously taken photos
3. Quit photobooth


For some strange reason this eliminates the CPU buzz for me....

Hi There, I had the same noise, related to screen brightness. It was an unacceptable whine. I called up Apple Care and they suggested a repair at a local repair service, but they had no advise from Apple what to repair. It took me some weeks and discussions until they accepted to look at it. They exchanged the display inverter and the keyboard but noted on the documents that the whine is normal… “frustrating” I told the Apple guys. At home I switched on the MBP and… silence. I am using it now since a week and it seem to be ok. I think it is the part no. 612-0020 ASSY, INVERTED, NCC, MBPRO15 display inverter ASSY, which made the difference. Somebody from the Forum here gave me the idea to insist to get this part replaced, seem to work out.
Good luck..

I wish i had as much luck with trying to return/repair my macbook pro with the screen whine (on high screen brightness). I didnt notice the whine in the first 10 days of buying it which wouldve been helpful, but now i have noticed it i'm pretty annoyed. I also have some uneven backlighting (just the bottom corners) which doesnt bother me too much and ofcourse the cpu whine. I tried bringing in my macbook pro two times now to two different apple service centres and both claim to not hear the screen whine. I also called apple twice and they say the only way i can get a repair is through a service centre. Sending it to these two service centres gave me two weeks with no macbook pro and no changes to the whine. Either the service centres are too noisy to hear the whine or the whine is just not loud enough to warrant a repair. I've given up for now as I'm going on holiday and i want my laptop but theres still a 1 year warranty on this so i may try again.
But best of luck to others who have this whine, I hope you do better than me.