Popping Sound, MBP 2016

While I understand that some people may not be having exactly the same symptoms. The great majority are having the problem where the laptop is cool....gets warm through using it and begins to pop. The sound tends to resignate to the left of the trackpad...but you can often make it click by pressing the space in the top case below the "MacBook Pro" Logo. or the logo itself. A Display/Lid Assembly is often the fix for this. Sometimes the top case needs to be replaced as well.

Sometimes sounds bounce around and are difficult to isolate.

I've read through this entire thread and that is the very common theme of the problem at hand.

Mine was always heard immediately after startup and came form the speakers. I no longer have my original 2016 model due to a job change but just bought one for myself last week, this one does not make the noise and I close the lid each time I'm finished using it.

Yeah. I think Apple should categorize first which kind of popping sound the machine is making. Because in my case, they assumed changing the display panel is the solution. But seems like this fix is for them who have the problem where pressing behind the lid could also trigger the problem and mine doesn't falls under that.

I hope that you have better luck than I have had so far. I took the laptop to the nearest store (2 hours away) and they sent it off to the repair center. They said in the store that they may call me for further details if they are unable to repeat the problem.

I called back after 5 days and was told that the laptop was still in "repair" status. Never received a phone call or an email update until it was ready for pickup 7 days later. I pressed her to find out what was done and found out that nothing was done..."no problems found". I was so upset. I handed them one of the most easily reproduced problems. The popping sound was easy to reproduce after a cold boot. The inability to play HDCP content was 100% reproducible on a laptop completely reloaded from scratch. It is not something that should be difficult to reproduce...like incredibly easy. But the laptop was sent back unfixed after a week. After giving the girl an earful (no swearing, yelling or personal attacks), I simply called back and asked for a manager. I was livid.

I calmly explained the issues, in length, to the manager. I really just want the issues resolved and I have sent them videos and links to the very popping issues that I'm having. After researching options and getting back to me within an hour, as promised...he promised I was next in the queue and will hear something back by Monday at 5 at the latest. (this is Sat afternoon). I don't think I am "special" or asking for anything other than what I paid (plenty of money) for.

I know that Apple will ultimately fix it. But I don't think I should have to "fight" for it.

Hi Michael,

I had the same exact issue on feared it was the battery and was seriously concerned. Last week, I had them look inside.

1. It is not the battery thus it is safe.
2. They believe (guess more like it) the popping/cracking sounds is the display screen expanding on use. There are several materials present glass, metal, and plastic and heat might cause them to expand.
3. There is no known solution. I was told my best hope is that engineering comes with the solution. Let’s hope they are aware of this issue and working on it.

PS There are several threads on this topic here as well as on YouTube.

So after a year or so and my 3rd replacement.... it's starting to pop again. This is getting out of control! On top of the popping the last hardware replacement has caused my iCloud Photos to stop syncing and crash constantly on this machine. I'm getting really frustrated that I've spent so much money on this BTO MBP and it has been giving me more problems than any of my older macs combined over the years.

Hi , i have a MBP 15'' with touch bar , top specs.

Last year i had the widely known problem with the popping sound. I went to my Local certified retailers( i live in Greece) and after the keyboard and screen replacement , the poppoing sound disappeared, UNTIL now. But now i am out of warranty. My macbook is in PERFECT condition, i even use a silicone keyboard cover, and sometimes for longer use, i use an external keyboard and mouse to maintain the good condition of the mac.

I am very disappointed and and i dont know what to do, the sound irritates me so much. The service will cost me around 1k and i bought it for 3.4k!!!

So the question is , is there any way to get my MBP fixed without paying ? It is a production problem that they didnt repair it permantly and now i am out of warranty.

Mattrogers: You're precisely right, I confirm I had both issues. And got my 2017 replaced with a 2018.

For my MBP 2017 Touch 13” 3.5Ghz 16GB 1TB I had issue number 2 at first i.e. popping sound coming from the speakers. Apple Singapore changed the top case at first instance. Issue remained. They then changed the display, which didn't get the issue resolved either. The next step for them was to change the logic board and speakers. I believe the final step would have solved the issue as for this MBP 2017 the issue I had was a clicking sound (something like static, and similar to when you're plugging headphones into a jack and you hear the speaker crackling, but a single click not a series of static sounds). Because it was costing a lot to change all the parts and because they didn't have this laptop in stock anymore, the store gave me the 2018 (issues below)

I now have the MBP 2018 Touch 13" 16GB 1 TB I'm happy to report that there are no sounds coming from the speakers. However, I'm now encountering the display popping sound. There are several threads on this so I won't go into too much detail, but as a summary it sounds like how Michael DN describes it i.e. if you slowly squeeze a plastic bottle until it crinkles. I'm on the fence about going for a one-for-one swap because I'm afraid I'll encounter issue number 2 again.

I have the EXACT same issue. I called AppleCare and went through every software diagnostic under the sun. I brought it in and couldn't re-create the popping on command. It's now getting louder. What was/is/has been your solution? My AppleCare expires at the end of the month so I'll try once more to bring my MacBook in to be evaluated.

VegasNewYorker71: if your AppleCare is expiring you should def bring it in ASAP.

They will try different things, sometimes together and sometimes in various successions (this is based on my reading of the forums since I've very familiar with this issue, and also because I went through 3 different repairs on my MBP and also had to try 3-4 MBPS which all had different iterations of the issue before I eventually found one that is quiet and works normally. That said, this MacBook Pro now has a Touch Bar issue https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8659564 but that's a different story).

They will try:

• replacing the Display,
• then the Top Case,
• then the MLB (Main Logic Board).

Hopefully, one of these will work for you. All the best.

I had this issue and had the display replaced out of warranty (covered by consumer law). For the last six months the popping sound was gone, but it's now starting to appear on the replacement display as well.

This seems to be an inherent design flaw in the computer. At this point I don't know whether to learn to live with it or take it back to Apple - it seems likely that having another display replacement will only be a temporary fix until it re-emerges down the line.

For a computer that cost close to £2000 this is unacceptable - I wish I had just kept my 2013 MBP instead of upgrading at this point.

I have the same problem , it first started when I tried for the 3rd time (or so) iMovie . It seems to me that the overheating does this to the macbook. I did a little bit of research and found out that the models 2016 MBP are faulty from factory. The glue between the screen and the back case is making this noise after overheating or cooling down . In my opinion Apple did not do properly the tests before launching this early versions of MBP touchbar. And if they did ... they knew what to expect and thats why no1 got any response with a plausible solution for this from Apple themselves.

No replacement / fix program for this ???

ps: 2000+$ laptop can be used as a metronom with this popping sound

I am having this same issue, on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018). Tested by waiting for it to heat up and then pressing on the metal area in front of the macbook pro logo and it popped. Hearing it all the time as my computer is constantly heating up and cooling down. Very annoying. Also I am having issues with LOUD cracking and buzzing of my speakers when volume is high. Has anyone had both of these problems, I am wondering if this is covered by the one year warranty?

As far as I’m aware, these issues affect

MBP 13 2016

MBP 13 2018

MBP 15 2016

MBP 15 2018

TouchBar models seem disproportionately represented.

Based on the current 2380 people that have clicked “I have this problem too”, it would be nice to think that Apple is working on a solution and not continuing to sell these lemons.

Can someone start a poll like they did for the previous MacBook with the screwed up display? I have at least 5-6 serial numbers of MBP 13 TouchBars that I can add to the list of computers that have defects under the description of this head. If we get a list going they might start taking us seriously!

Honestly, right now I’m assuming they’re just going to keep selling these popping MBPs since maybe a good proprotion of people can somehow live with this defect (or can’t be bothered/don’t have the time to fix it/don’t do audio/video work).

After about 3 repairs and 5 exchanges (and countless wasted hours), I finally have one that’s working properly and I’m holding onto it for dear life, but I truly emphatise with all of you going through these issues.

To those facing these issues, I’d strongly recommend starting an online poll to take it up a notch. We’ve been talking on this forum for too long and there hasn’t been a squeak from Apple.

I am having the same issue on my touchbar MBP 2017 15in. I can replicate the popping noise by pressing on the back of the screen in the middle at the bottom. My 1 year warranty is up but is there any way I can have them fix the issue without having to pay for it? My computer has never been dropped or anything and has 0 damage to it. So this is clearly a hardware issue along with the fact that there are currently 52 pages in this thread of people having the same issue.

They should still fix it even though its out of warranty.. Has anyone had it resolved with the same situation as me without having to pay?