Squeeky noise as cursor moves over dock

Hi, Robleb, and welcome to the Discussions!

I'm perplexed by the problem you're having. It appears that some sort of stray radio frequency signal is being generated by the mouse movement. The real stumper is why it only happens when you move the cursor in the dock area.

Personally, I'd scratch my head and try the following things:

Switch the USB port, first for the mouse, then for the keyboard. Plug the keyboard into the back of the Tower if it's now connected to the monitor port.

Try a different mouse and/or keyboard, if available.

Reseat the video card and clean out the inside of the Mac with a can of compressed air.

Gary

I think there is a sound effect that will make a tick noise as you scroll across each icon in the dock.

If that is active, perhaps you are interpreting the noise as a squeak.

I'm in fornt of an XP box right now, so I can't tell you exactly where the option is, but hunt around the control panels and/or finder prefs. You'll find it.

Robleb:

I'd tell you to Archive and Install, but that's a bit drastic...

Weird issue - hope someone here has a clue to the cause; I'm intrigued!

Gary

I believe your Dock bearings are binding and need lubrication. Do you have a CRT? Can you post the sound for us to hear? Can you move your speakers and see if the sound persists?

Regards,

Have you tried logging in as another user?

You may have a corrupt preference.

Do changing the animation effects on the dock preferences make any difference on the noise.

Obvioiusly something is not working correctly.

You're right Gary, this is a weird one.

The fact that turning off the dock features changes the sound means that it is processor intensive. The question is what has changed to make this so?

There were reports of power supplies causing the type of distortion you describe and it was audible on systems used for recording music and manipulating it.

I have never heard the distortion on my system but I've got the revision B power supply.

Some of the users who had the problem recorded it and made quicktime recordings that were posted. It was faint but audible. The sounds changed with usage of the system.

I don't know if this is what is happening to your system. I don't think so but if some process has changed due to an update or something it is possible for strange sounds to come out of a computer for no apparent reason.

So, now what? You could try cleaning caches, repairing permissions, repairing the disk, etc. My guess is that they will have no effect. If it is the power supply problem it is hardware and not software. If it is a changed/corrupted file I would say try an archive and istall or an erase and install.

Another thought. Have you reset the pmu? If it is the power supply that could fix it.

Robleb:

Hold up for awhile on the hammer fix!

Carl once again got me thinking, which is an otherwise rare event... That got me to think through and search his points one-by-one. I was able to find this Apple Article, which you definitely want to review.

Gary

ps: Mr. Jerris, you continue to amaze me!

1GHz DP G4 Quicksilver 2002, 400MHz B&W rev.2 G3, Mac SE30 Mac OS X (10.4.5) 5G iPod, Epson 2200 & R300 & LW Select 360 Printers, Epson 3200 Scanner

Some just press the pmu button but I have found value in following the directions here

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=95037

Well Gary, the jury is still out on if I'm right but the thread reminded me of the complaints about power supply noises a few years ago.

Power supplies contain inverters (to make the ac into dc). If you have ever heard motor controllers that use inverters you know first hand the squeel that they can make.

What interests me is how Apple changes the power/fan algorithyms and it makes problems like this pop out.

In olden days with computers that just ran flat out full speed all the time this was not an issue. Engineers designed for that condition and all was as expected. Now with an increasing eye to power consumption, noise, and temperature control the situation is more complicated. Add that various types of computers with their various control shcemes and it is a can of worms. Still, quiet power supplies should not be that tough.



ps- It's Carl. This "Mr. Jerris" stuff is way too formal.

My QS had a constant hiss coming from the front speaker and the only way to fix the problem was to connect a pair of Apple Pro speakers to get the sound to stop (or insert a pair of headphones.) There were also problems with some MDD's and noise when recording.

Regards,