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Strange clicking/popping coming from iMac late 2012

B

bsen4961

Guest
Original poster
Has anyone noticed a popping sound / clicking coming from their 27" late 2012 imac at all?

It is not rhythmic so does not appear to be hardware related (hard drive, fan etc..) however it does sound like its the case creaking. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
Mine is completely silent - as how it should be 😉 So, unless APple has a hotfix for it, I´d complain.
 
I have. I would describe it as an electrical discharge, similar to a plasma screen switching from white to black, alternating between the left and right bottom side. I thought it may have been the speakers, or the screen warming up, or the cpu in power save mode.

I haven't been able to reproduce it, and it seems to come on at random times.
 
Hitchophilia said:
I have. I would describe it as an electrical discharge, similar to a plasma screen switching from white to black, alternating between the left and right bottom side. I thought it may have been the speakers, or the screen warming up, or the cpu in power save mode.

I haven't been able to reproduce it, and it seems to come on at random times.
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Oh that clicking sound...Yeah I´ve had that once. It happens once in a while. Same with my 2009 iMac, happened with that one also once in a while. I doubt that´s anything bad. But, if it happens constantly, then I would worry. But once in a while I think happens on all iMacs. I don´t know what´s the reason though.
 
I took mine into apple and they explained it should be silent apart from the regular sounds of fans and hard drive. They believe it was the speakers. I returned it and got a replacement. Ill let you know if this one does it.
 
At least you know you are not deaf f (another innovation from Apple !!)

You could have bought a PC and thought that is how it should be. But for how much you paid for the iMac you sure are getting your monies worth.
 
harlex said:
At least you know you are not deaf f (another innovation from Apple !!)

You could have bought a PC and thought that is how it should be. But for how much you paid for the iMac you sure are getting your monies worth.
Click to expand...

Don't listen to the poster above. Just take it back or call Apple.
 
I have this. I think I've tracked it down to the display. It seems to happen when the display wakes up, turns off, dramatic increase/descrease in brightness. It might have something to do with the LEDs causing the display to heat/cool making something expand/contract causing the noise.

It doesn't look like it's electrical since it also happens when I turn off the mac completely.

I plan to call and get a replacement sent out.
 
Mine is silent all the time. I can just about hear the fan if I try and hear it. No noise from the screen when it wakes or sleeps though. Sounds like you have a faulty one. Get it swapped out now if I were you.
 
avatar0 said:
I plan to call and get a replacement sent out.
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bsen4961 I took mine into apple and they explained it should be silent apart from the regular sounds of fans and hard drive. They believe it was the speakers. I returned it and got a replacement. Ill let you know if this one does it.
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Please let me know if you fix the problem with a replacement. I'm undecided if I should return mine because it's perfect othewise. 🙂
 
Hitchophilia said:
Please let me know if you fix the problem with a replacement. I'm undecided if I should return mine because it's perfect othewise. 🙂
Click to expand...

My replacement does the exact same thing. I'm sure it's normal, I wouldn't trust every thing a retail store says when they say it should be silent. It was only a shop assistant that said it.

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My replacement is free of light bleed which my other one had. No yellow tint either. I know enough to say if your current imac only has this strange clicking which im sure all 27 " imac have (due to the fact that the people here who are saying there's is silent seem to have a 21") I wouldn't bother replacing it. Id hate to get a replacement imac with the strange clicking and other problems when Ur one is perfect.
 
bsen4961 said:
My replacement does the exact same thing. I'm sure it's normal, I wouldn't trust every thing a retail store says when they say it should be silent. It was only a shop assistant that said it.

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My replacement is free of light bleed which my other one had. No yellow tint either. I know enough to say if your current imac only has this strange clicking which im sure all 27 " imac have (due to the fact that the people here who are saying there's is silent seem to have a 21") I wouldn't bother replacing it. Id hate to get a replacement imac with the strange clicking and other problems when Ur one is perfect.
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Thank you for that feedback bsen4961. I was hesitant to return it, given I haven't been able to replicate it and that it's happened less than 5 times so far.

Happy to hear your new imac is even better than your last (new) imac 🙂.
 
I am glad for you early adopters, finding out these problems now, so that i can avoid them.. i bought the late 2011 iMac when i found out about the change in case design for the 2012 model, ill always avoid apples 1st gen of a new design, because they always seem to have problems, ill probably pick up one of these late 2012 iMacs towards the end of 2013, once all the faults and failures are out of the way and apple re-tools to fix them.

to you 1st gen pioneers, i salute you, suffering the failures and inconvenience so those that follow may have a smooth experience.
 
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bsen4961 said:
My replacement does the exact same thing. I'm sure it's normal, I wouldn't trust every thing a retail store says when they say it should be silent. It was only a shop assistant that said it.

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My replacement is free of light bleed which my other one had. No yellow tint either. I know enough to say if your current imac only has this strange clicking which im sure all 27 " imac have (due to the fact that the people here who are saying there's is silent seem to have a 21") I wouldn't bother replacing it. Id hate to get a replacement imac with the strange clicking and other problems when Ur one is perfect.
Click to expand...

Brought my late-2012 27" iMac just before christmas - and delivered just before - and returned it just after, for the same problem you had: clicking/pop sound that moved from left to right, and back again; would do this randomly and increase just before power saving kicked in, and after i awake it.

My replacement imac arrived today - no stock here in the UK, and thus it was shipped from china direct - and this replacement has the same problem, but a little different: same click noise but hardly ever happens, and it cannot be replicated by putting computer into power saving mode or through awaking it. I have reported to apple that I'm disappointed, but i will be keeping this replacement as the noise is much less than before.
 
amfuller said:
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Brought my late-2012 27" iMac just before christmas - and delivered just before - and returned it just after, for the same problem you had: clicking/pop sound that moved from left to right, and back again; would do this randomly and increase just before power saving kicked in, and after i awake it.

My replacement imac arrived today - no stock here in the UK, and thus it was shipped from china direct - and this replacement has the same problem, but a little different: same click noise but hardly ever happens, and it cannot be replicated by putting computer into power saving mode or through awaking it. I have reported to apple that I'm disappointed, but i will be keeping this replacement as the noise is much less than before.
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some advice... call apple ask for credit back as gesture of good will .... you will be very happy 🙂
 
I'm sitting here with my new 27" (3.4GHz i7, 3TB Fusion) and can barely hear the soft whisper of the fan.

Any clicking I hear is the magic mouse--but only when I press it, I can replicate the noise at will.
 
bsen4961 said:
Has anyone noticed a popping sound / clicking coming from their 27" late 2012 imac at all?

It is not rhythmic so does not appear to be hardware related (hard drive, fan etc..) however it does sound like its the case creaking. Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...

Yes, I had also started a thread about it. Apple wasn't aware of the issue when I called in, so I asked for a replacement, because I found the noise quite startling at times.
 
Hi I have the same thing on my 27" and have just received a replacement and its the same. I describe it as a static noise mostly coming from the bottom left and every so often alternates from left to right and back again and is more noticeable when you put the display to sleep and wake up.
 
shaine83 said:
Hi I have the same thing on my 27" and have just received a replacement and its the same. I describe it as a static noise mostly coming from the bottom left and every so often alternates from left to right and back again and is more noticeable when you put the display to sleep and wake up.
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Me too, it only happens in the lower right corner though. Late 27" iMac with Fusion Drive. Just got mine today and noticed the odd sound. I think it's the hard drive pin, but it sounds more like electricity or something similar.
 
bsen4961 said:
Has anyone noticed a popping sound / clicking coming from their 27" late 2012 imac at all?

It is not rhythmic so does not appear to be hardware related (hard drive, fan etc..) however it does sound like its the case creaking. Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...

Dear bsen4961,

Do you mean this noise?
 

Attachments

Hi guys, I'm a newbie in this forum. My native language is Spanish, so apologies for my use of English. 🙂

I received my brand new imac 27' late 2012 last 22th January and after dealing with the humming sound due to the resonance effect with a cheap ikea desk, I decided to move it to another table, placed in a lighter room. At this moment, I noticed the weird clicking/popping noise in a random fashion that appeared to come from the bottom part of the screen and which seemed to move from left to right.

After many tests, I thinnk it is caused by the screen glass itself due to the warming of the display. This is the reason why I didn't realize before, when it was placed in a darker room. In that place, the dimmer was very low and the screen barely made those sounds, so they were almost not noticeable. But when in a lighter room, the "Orchestra" began.

I've arranged an Apple Support appointment and they are going to call me this afternoon. I was thinking on asking for a replacement but I'm not pretty sure about it because other people said their replacement units made exactly the same noise and don't want to assume the risk of receiving a unit making the same clicking noise and with an extra defect like dead pixels or so.

This morning I realized that if you gently press the black part of the glass in the near down left or right corners, you can reproduce the noise, even it stops for a while. As I said, I think it is caused by glass dilation cycles, and increases when the dimmer is set high or when the screen is in resting mode.

Anyway, it's quite annoying for a very expensive machine which should be perfect.

Cheers.
 
Mine had this noise after I first got it, but it seems to have gone away.

I believe it's the adhesive tape holding the screen that is expanding/contracting.
 
belito said:
Hi guys, I'm a newbie in this forum. My native language is Spanish, so apologies for my use of English. 🙂].
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So funny! Why is it that so many non-native English speakers come onto the forums and the first thing they do is APOLOGIZE! If only we should see such apologies from the so-called ENGLISH speakers!

belito, your grasp of the English language is fantastic. Never apologize again, EVER!
 
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