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Oben Author

Level 1

65 points

Permanent SOLUTION for the WHINE issue. STEP by STEP Instructions.

Hi all,

Your dreams have come true. There is a cure for the whine that requires no programs to run and persists between reboots.

It requires the editing of one file. Please attempt this only if you understand what you are doing. I take no responsibility for your actions.

Here are the steps:

1. Find the file: -> System -> Library -> Extensions -> IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext

2. Click the file and choose DUPLICATE from the File menu. Drag the copied file to somewhere safe.

3. Control click the original file to get: SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS

4. Double click CONTENTS

5. Double click PLUGINS

Delete everything except:

ACPI SMCPlatformPlugin.kext

&

Simple_PlatformPlugin.kext

6. Control click ACPI SMCPlatformPlugin.kext and again SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS

7. Double click CONTENTS

8. Open the file: Info.plist with a text editor. I use Subethaedit.

9. Look for the following:

<dict>
<key>DTC_WAB</key>
<integer>10</integer>
<key>DTC_WAT</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>GTC_WAB</key>
<integer>15</integer>
<key>GTC_WAT</key>
<integer>15</integer>
</dict>
</array>
<key>model</key>
<string>MacBookPro1,1</string>

Make sure the MacBookPro1,1 is there at the end of the block. The block above represents the CPU throttling values. You'll notice that the integer values in the last block are 10 / 0 / 15 / 15

There are other similar blocks related to other machine types. The first block is for "M9ADP1,1". The MacBook Pro Block is the second big block.

The important line numbers are 129 and 131. So look there.

Change those to:

<dict>
<key>DTC_WAB</key>
<integer>10</integer>
<key>DTC_WAT</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>GTC_WAB</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>GTC_WAT</key>
<integer>5</integer>
</dict>
</array>
<key>model</key>
<string>MacBookPro1,1</string>

So you have 10 / 0 / 0 / 5 in the integer values.

10. Double check things and then save the file.

11. Reboot to a no whine machine.

12. Enjoy.

With this method the only change is to the throttling matrix retaining all the code of the kernel extension relating to the MBP otherwise.

Today's technology, tomorrow's landfill., Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Apr 28, 2006 1:58 AM

288 replies

sapridyne

Level 1

144 points

Jul 3, 2006 3:06 PM in response to Marian Petrides

It's all located in /Library/StartupItems. If you don't like it, trash the ShhMBP folder and restart.

Sapridyne

sapridyne

Level 1

144 points

Jul 3, 2006 3:07 PM in response to Maksim Rogov

Well, please let me/us know when you if you need beta testers. I'm more than happy to lend my help...

brandon at theedlings dot org

Sapridyne

njp142

Level 1

20 points

Jul 3, 2006 4:52 PM in response to Maksim Rogov

ShhMBP works great for me!

Just a recommendation, but this probably deserves a new post - I'm sure everyone would be interested in this and it kind of gets buried in this huge thread (that many have probably started to ignore).

This is infinitely better than any of the other solutions out there. I haven't tested the battery, but I'm not seeing any noticeable increase in CPU temp.

I'd love to be able to help you guys out with this, but I'm taking a few courses this summer and have to focus on those for now. But it would be interesting to monitor that C4 bit and see if that's what Photobooth and the Mirror Widget trick are affecting.

Jul 5, 2006 9:14 PM in response to Maksim Rogov

Mirabile dictu et visu!!

ShhMBP works just fine on my 2 GHZ week 11 MBP. It works as well as QuietMBP but does not seem to consume CPU cycles (unless it is doing so as a kext I don't recognize in Activity Monitor). Yippeee!!!

Many thanks for this solution. I'm FINALLY very happy with my MBP and am equally glad I won't have to send it back for logic board swap.

cbhense

Level 1

0 points

Jul 6, 2006 12:10 AM in response to Marian Petrides

I'm glad you like ShhMBP.
Keep in mind though that although it does not consume CPU cycles it does disable one of the Core Duo CPU energy saving features. You lose about 1.5 W or 1/2 hour battery runtime on an idle desktop.
ShhMBP is not a solution but only the best workaround found so far for the whine problem.
It is a hardware problem, there is no software solution.
I think that Apple should swap boards.
I know that many other laptops (Dell, Acer ...) have similar problems but when you buy Apple hardware you expect to get quality.
I will send mine in right away when I know that Apple does fix it.
When you use ShhMBP you do without a hardware feature you have payed for.

Mac Book Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Jul 6, 2006 1:37 PM in response to cbhense

works fine here, thank you!
but can anyone tell my, why some hobby-hackers (hope you dont mind ;)) find a simple solution on this issue while apple keeps on telling us, they would be workin on it (for months now!)? even if it costs 0.5 hours of batterylife or if an useful feature ist now disabled, its much better than the whine. well, maybe they are already working on a keyboard update, which disables this fix...

SCNR

Jul 6, 2006 2:49 PM in response to cbhense

Thanks for the information. I wasn't clear what, if any, effects this had on the functioning of my machine. I can live with the decrease in battery life for now, since my MBP is plugged in most of the time--but at least now I don't get the noxious whine if I don't plug it in for a little while.

Is there any other downside of this fix? It isn't disabling one of the cores, is it?

I'm thinking I will eventually return the MBP for a logic board swap but would like to see what happens with other folks first. At the moment, it seems ShhMBP will work just fine for this purpose.

cbhense

Level 1

0 points

Jul 6, 2006 10:17 PM in response to Marian Petrides

ShhMBP is not a fix, it is a workaround. It would be a fix if it would not have any downsides.
What is does is disable the CPU's C4 state. This is the lowest power state the CPU can enter. It still can enter C2 and C3 which are also power saving states.
The downsides are a reduced battery life and a slightly warmer machine.
The second point also applies to plugged-in usage.
All of this only applies to an idle machine. A laptop is typically idle most of the time though. Writing a letter or surfing the internet does not produce a steady load.
As soon as there is a continuous demand on the CPU ShhMBP does not make a difference anmore because the CPU would not enter C4 state anyway.
This is why other workarounds like running PhotoBooth or a bluetooth mouse also stop the whine. You also hear the whine shortly stopping when you open an application or just move a window around.
ShhMBP does not reduce the performance of the machine and it does not disable one of the cores.
Still a reduced battery life and a warmer machine is a serious downside and I would prefer to get a hardware fix from Apple.

Jul 9, 2006 4:42 PM in response to cbhense

the whine of my macbook is not audible at a hearing distance of ca 30 cm when running off the battery. isn't that the case with most macbooks?
if it is, then it may be useful to have your kext check whether the power adapter is plugged in, and only then disable the C4 cpu power state.

Hradec

Level 1

6 points

Jul 9, 2006 8:51 PM in response to Dong Hoon Van Uytsel

thats actually a good idea... when running with power adapter, its not a big deal left the C4 state disable... doesnt matter if it takes more power... you're getting it from the power adpater anyway...

but would be nice if the kext check if you're on battery, and then turn itself off, so you can have most of the battery, at the cost of the whine... actually that could be something that you can turn on/off on the top bar... so if you're in need of more battery time, you can "turn on" the whine... 😉

and if you're in power, the whine is allwasy off...

nice one!!

Jul 14, 2006 3:14 PM in response to Dong Hoon Van Uytsel

Checking if the MBP is plugged in or not is indeed a good idea. Should actually just be a single if-statement, given that anybody here knows how to check the corresponding flag.

It's probably documented somewhere, so, if nobody here knows it off-hand, I'll try to check it later this weekend.

Hradec

Level 1

6 points

Jul 16, 2006 7:01 PM in response to Dong Hoon Van Uytsel

I think theres one more check that need to be made... Seens that when my macbook pro goes into standby, the battery runs out faster than before... I think that the C4 disabled makes standby mode drains more battery maybe?

So, I think its need to check if the computer is going into standby, enable C4 and then, disable again when its comming back from standby...

anyone have notice that too? or its just me?

Jul 17, 2006 12:28 AM in response to Hradec

i noticed that too. it seems to run out much faster. i´ve sent my mbp to standby with half loaded battery at 23:30 and it was nearly empty in the morning at 9:00.

Hradec

Level 1

6 points

Jul 17, 2006 11:02 AM in response to Maksim Rogov

Hi Maksim...

I'm just wondering if you gonna release the source code
for your ShhMBP...

I'm thinking about give it a try to create a status bar icon for it and try to make auto-checks for the sleep and power coord mode...

I was just wondering if you release the source code for your kext, I could pickup from there, instead of start up from the original source code...

let me know...

Jul 17, 2006 1:43 PM in response to Hradec

Look - all this is irrelevant now because Apple has the new logic boards for the MBP that are whine free.

Permanent SOLUTION for the WHINE issue. STEP by STEP Instructions.