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Airport Extreme - noise concerns

K

Kaizen

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2006
52
13
Hi all. I bought an Airport Extreme a few weeks ago, and was able to get it connected to the internet and broadcasting 2.4 and 5GhZ signals without any problems.

However, i've noticed that it produces a bit of noise whenever there's network traffic. It's a sort of buzzing, clicking noise. I've found a couple threads related to this issue, but they never seem to do more than document a few users' concerns. I'm interested in finding out whether this is a sign of future hardware problems, or simply 'within spec'

So i guess my question, to those with an Airport Extreme (N version) is: do you notice a similar noise?
 
I Bought an Extreme yesterady and today I have noticed this same issue, when traffic on the network it makes the same noises you describe. Tempted to take it back and ask for a replacement, however they might just think i'm stupid when I say 'I want this replaced because it makes a noise!'
 
Same issue here... You can hardly hear it, however due to the fact that I live in very quiet place, and my MBP has SSD, I can hear AirPort Extreme squeaking every time there is traffic going on.
 
they all do this actually. I had the old and the new AEBS. 3 in total. No difference. Just ignore it ;)
 
These kind of high frequency noises annoy me as I can always pick them out. I can also hear similar noises from my Macbook when the cpu is under load.
 
The only noise I get is when accessing my networked drive (which is connected to it)....which is the HD spinning up.
 
I get the same clicking noise if I put my ear *right* next to the Extreme. I think I may have heard one buzz. And it doesn't have to be when there's traffic. It happens all the time when the green light is showing. It does not happen when the system is showing amber. I think that's just a sign that it's working.
 
I hear the noise from my unit as well

The AEBS unit itself (not the power supply) has been making something
like clicking and fan spinning like noise, as if it has a cooling fan
(like a macbook) and (a bad cooling fan).
Not that loud but can hear from a foot distance. Tonight, I started to
hear high pitched noise loud enough to be able to hear from several meters
away from the unit, almost sounded
like a bad hard drive. I grabbed the unit and pressed the box, tapped
couple times and now high pitched noise is gone but the old clicking
fan-like noise is still there. I'm curious if there is any moving parts
inside AEBS?
Should I visit apple store to get a service? Or it's me be just a a normal
working sound? (I don't like to hear the high pitched noise, very
annoying).

EDIT: it turns out that the high pitched noise is due to the network activity, whenever
I transfer files (high speed) between laptop and desktop, it makes hard drive (or
laptop cooling fan like) whirling/scratching noise. Hmm, and it seems to be a feature
of latest AEBS as many reported in Apple forum (pointed by one of previous post in this
thread?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9699156&#9699156
)
 
Last edited:
I am having the same issue :-(
Room is quiet and so is my Mini with SSD underneath the Extreme. Very irritating as it sits approx 1 meter from my chair!
This is the latest A1354 model. Will check if it is also present in the A1301 I have in the attic.
Bummer Apple - quiet is everything!
 
Wifi Noise - Not with Ethernet

I purchased the Airport Extreme almost 2 yrs ago and also noticed the same clicking noise when downloading substantial amount of bandwidth. Make sure the room is very quiet and the Airport is right near you, connect to it with Wifi only and goto Speedtest.net and do a test. When it downloads you'll definitely hear a slight "pass-through" type noise...almost sounds like a Hard Drive running inside of it.

I at first wondered if the Airport Extreme was in face the Time Capsule with the Hard drive functionality just simply turned off... because it only happened when mass bandwidth went through the device. (I've never opened it up to confirm though... )

But, what I also noticed is that it does NOT make a noise if you turn off Wifi Connection to it and go hardwire Ethernet to the box. Runs smoothly with no noise. Also, on Speedtest.net, if I'm hardwired I'll traditionally get about 20 - 22 Mbit/sec and if on Wifi around 17-18... So this helps sway me even more for a hardwire connection.

Let me know if you get No Noise if going hardwire Ethernet with Airport on Mac turned off.
 
real reason

The reason the airport extreme makes a noise is because it is transmitting and receiving at high power. In the past I have also heard the airport card in my MacBook making the same noise. I got a new MacBook pro this year and it had the same noise when browsing the web. Replacing your device Will not fix this as the cards they out in the devices were made this way. My airport extreme makes this noise and I also thought it was a hard drive at first but then thought about why it would make this noise. Only one conclusion...
 
Had the same issue but only noticed it after I changed the channel for the 2.4ghz network. Changed the channel a few time and there is a different degree of buzzing. The more data Rx and Tx seems to also have an effect on the volume of the buzz.
 
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