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strange buzzing sound from mac mini

S

Sossity

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 12, 2010
1,358
31
I was not sure wheather this is to do with the mac mini or my speakers, so I posted here since it may have to do with speakers.

lately, I have noticed a strange sort of buzzing sound that comes and goes, it is hard to describe, like radio buzz from a station with poor reception.
 
rigormortis

rigormortis

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,813
229
Sossity said:
I was not sure wheather this is to do with the mac mini or my speakers, so I posted here since it may have to do with speakers.

lately, I have noticed a strange sort of buzzing sound that comes and goes, it is hard to describe, like radio buzz from a station with poor reception.
Click to expand...

The buzz is coming out from external speakers? Or is the buzz internal to the Mac ? Does the buzz happen over head phones ???

In guessing that it could be ground noise , like maybe you need a ground loop isolator ?

Do you have something close to the Mac mini or speakers like a gsm iPhone ? That would do it

Are you using optical spidif ? That shouldn't cause any noise and be impervious to any kind of interference

You should try other things like I mentioned. Try different speakers , different. Headphones, a ground loop isolater ( get a good return policy!) , keeping a gsm iPhone away from your Mac or speakers and if you still have a buzzing issue then it's probably something with the Mac mini
maybe the power cord of the Mac mini or speakers is worn out
I don't have a ground loop isolater for my Prius so whenever I connect my iPhone using the aux cable I can hear the cpu working on my car radio
 
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W

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,682
949
mac mini doesn't have a ground pin, so ground loop shouldn't be an issue.

check out the following on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH9hVYYC1qc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1mlponX_jw

if could also be the audio connector is not seated well, take it out, gently blow out the plug with canned air, check for corrosion on the connector.

is it only when you're playing certain video files? if so it might be dolby digital, without a decoder, it sounds like static.
 
S

Sossity

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 12, 2010
1,358
31
rigormortis said:
The buzz is coming out from external speakers? Or is the buzz internal to the Mac ? Does the buzz happen over head phones ???

In guessing that it could be ground noise , like maybe you need a ground loop isolator ?

Do you have something close to the Mac mini or speakers like a gsm iPhone ? That would do it

Are you using optical spidif ? That shouldn't cause any noise and be impervious to any kind of interference

You should try other things like I mentioned. Try different speakers , different. Headphones, a ground loop isolater ( get a good return policy!) , keeping a gsm iPhone away from your Mac or speakers and if you still have a buzzing issue then it's probably something with the Mac mini
maybe the power cord of the Mac mini or speakers is worn out
I don't have a ground loop isolater for my Prius so whenever I connect my iPhone using the aux cable I can hear the cpu working on my car radio
Click to expand...

yes, I do have a gsm iphone near, not right next to but nearby plugged in and charging, could that be causing it? is it doing damage? to the computer, speakers or phone?
 
Last edited:
rigormortis

rigormortis

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,813
229
Sossity said:
yes, I do have a gsm iphone near, not right next to but nearby plugged in and charging, could that be causing it? is it doing damage? to the computer, speakers or phone?
Click to expand...

its been a known issue with gsm phones that if you place them too close to a speaker it can cause buzzing. its easy to rule out. when you hear buzzing turn off your phone. if it still makes a buzzing sound, maybe take the mini and the speakers to the genius bar

i was trying to think of simple things that you can try to see if you can rule them out
 
Last edited:
S

SOULKATA

macrumors newbie
May 25, 2021
1
0
Sossity said:
I was not sure wheather this is to do with the mac mini or my speakers, so I posted here since it may have to do with speakers.

lately, I have noticed a strange sort of buzzing sound that comes and goes, it is hard to describe, like radio buzz from a station with poor reception.
Click to expand...
My Mac Mini makes a buzzing noise when i am using Google Crome or Safari Or Finder. When i use google / youtube if i reduce the size of the window the noise nealy goes away on all searches my mac is 2001 what is this buzzing noise ???
 
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