Airport Extreme (5th gen) Buzzing / Hissing

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Level 1

11 points

Airport Extreme (5th gen) Buzzing / Hissing

I have a 5^th generation airport extreme that I am using with Sky fibre broadband in the UK. It is working fine I am however experiencing an issue that I have never seen with a router before which is that it making a hissing or buzzing sound under certain conditions.

It is not really loud and I have to be pretty close to hear it, I have not done any extensive testing however it seems to only be happening when connected to my Macbook Pro over 5GHZ wifi and some activity such as copying a file is taking place. I have owned an airport extreme (5^th gen too) previously and never noticed this then although I could have just missed it.

I have found similar cases searching online but these mostly seem to indicate that they had the router replaced only to experience the same thing on the replacement! I have a genius appointment at the weekend but as I live a fair way from the store I’d rather not go in if this turns out to be normal behaviour, especially as it is (at the moment) really not that loud. Likewise however any kind of hissing or fizzing from a router just does not seem right to me and I’d also worry that it could maybe get worse.

Anybody else experienced this?

Posted on Jul 30, 2013 5:21 AM

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Answer 1

neil74 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 30, 2013 5:55 AM in response to neil74

One other thing.... One thing that I did see mentioned somewhere is that changing the wireless channel from auto may solve the problem, cannot find that again though so am unsure whether that would work or not.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

155,840 points

Jul 30, 2013 6:38 AM in response to neil74

An Extreme should be completely silent but a buzzing or sizzling noise can emanate from components in its power supply. It may change depending on the Extreme's power demands; a function of your wireless environment.

If it were new I'd want to exchange it for another because the noise can be annoying, but if it's out of warranty I wouldn't be concerned. It does not necessarily indicate an impending failure.

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Answer 3

neil74 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 30, 2013 10:34 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks, it is definitely from the router itself rather than the power supply block. It is not really loud and I have to get pretty close to hear it but as I say I am used to routers being totally silent. Looking at google then I do not think I am alone in experiencing this.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

155,840 points

Jul 30, 2013 11:43 AM in response to neil74

I understand, but I understand the Extreme requires voltages in addition to the external power supply's. Apparently the DC to DC converters can be noisy, and this will vary under varying loads.

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Answer 5

Jul 30, 2013 2:45 PM in response to neil74

If you have applecare on any computers it should still cover a Gen5 AE.. get it replaced if possible.. As John says it can be a component that has just hits its harmonic with the chopper supply freq and is making audible noise but it can also be a sign of component about to fail.

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