30 inch apple cinema display ringing noise

[Romeo604]

Hey guys and gals

Part of the plastic cover of one of the connector cables (oval shaped one) has been cracked but works fine but when it is plugged into the power supply box for a while (monitor on or off) it starts to have a little humming sound.

My monitor is still under warranty but any suggestions on fixing this problem myself? Everything else is running properly for this display. Thanks!!!

 

[Reflow]

Why fix it yourself. Take it in or call them. I bet they will ship you a new adaptor.

 

[luger54]

Humming sound from 30" apple cinema display

Hi Romeo

I have just come across this topic after trying to find a solution for this ringing noise that comes out of my 30" cinema display.
I am wondering whether you have managed to fix this issue. Mine produces this annoying noise even if the tower is switched off.

Many Thanks

Greg

 

[panoz7]

Sorry about reviving an almost two year old thread, but I'm having the same problem, and i was hoping someone might have a solution, or at least is experiencing this problem. If it plagues all 30" power adaptors and is "normal" I don't want to waste time trying to fix something that isn't broken.

As the other posters described, the power adaptor for my 30" ACD makes this horrible ringing noise, but only when the monitor is off. Apparently it's just high pitched enough that I can hear it but nobody else can. I googled it just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. It sounds sort of like a distant alarm clock. It has gotten to the point where I have to unplug it if I want to sleep.

My monitor is out of warranty (I think). I never actually purchased it though (it was a gift from apple after they screwed up and lost my old monitor) and it has been replaced twice for other issues, so I'm not sure when to count from. Do you think if I just took the power adaptor into the store they might just give me a new one?

 

[smirking]

As the other posters described, the power adaptor for my 30" ACD makes this horrible ringing noise, but only when the monitor is off. Apparently it's just high pitched enough that I can hear it but nobody else can. I googled it just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. It sounds sort of like a distant alarm clock. It has gotten to the point where I have to unplug it if I want to sleep.

I have the same problem. It's not very loud, but I can hear it and it's annoying. Like in your case, it only happens when the monitor is powered off.

The only solution I can think of is to plug the power brick into a power strip that I can turn off manually. The only problem with this approach is that if you sleep your computer and THEN manually switch off the monitor power, the computer will wake because the power loss will trigger it to wake.

Not a big deal... you can either let it drift off to sleep again or you can get really good about flipping the manual switch right before your Mac enters sleep mode.

 

[kbfr08]

It's normal, probably just the kind of transformer that apple uses. I had 3 cinema displays, and all of them rang, I got used to it after a few years

 

[smirking]

I stopped my ACD 30" Humming Issue!

It's normal, probably just the kind of transformer that apple uses. I had 3 cinema displays, and all of them rang, I got used to it after a few years

Not so. I also have a 23" ACD and that one is quiet or at least it's quiet enough that I couldn't hear it.

Anyway, I figured out how to quiet the humming noise coming from the power brick of my ACD 30". It appears to be related to the Firewire plug. If the monitor is off and the Firewire head of the Hydra cable is plugged into your Mac, the brick will buzz or hum. Turning on the monitor seems to stop the noise in the brick, but the monitor then has a very slight humming noise that's a lot quieter than the brick's noise.

If I unplug the Firewire head and leave the monitor off, the humming noise goes away!

 

[*LTD*]

I find that lots of displays emit a slight humming or buzzing noise. Under normal conditions, however, I tend not to notice it. In most cases I have found it's related to the brightness setting.

 

[Harry6]

Humming noise in 30 inch HD Cinema Display

Hi everyone, I have been having the same problem but I noticed that when I reduce the Brightness 1 bar from full, it starts and on 2 bars below the noise is at it's full level. I use my audio via Head phone through Amp out to speaker (active studio monitor) at present but I have also tried via Digital out too and noise problem is the same! though I just been to Apple with monitor and I have been told that they will replace it by giving me new, I think this is a common fault in Apple monitors, as I noticed this when I had 24 inch iMac. Does anyone knows the cause of it? It is definitely not from Power supply. As I mentioned, if I am on full Brightness then there is no noise! but it is way too bright for me... I am normally below half level.
Many thanks.

 

[panoz7]

Not so. I also have a 23" ACD and that one is quiet or at least it's quiet enough that I couldn't hear it.

Anyway, I figured out how to quiet the humming noise coming from the power brick of my ACD 30". It appears to be related to the Firewire plug. If the monitor is off and the Firewire head of the Hydra cable is plugged into your Mac, the brick will buzz or hum. Turning on the monitor seems to stop the noise in the brick, but the monitor then has a very slight humming noise that's a lot quieter than the brick's noise.

If I unplug the Firewire head and leave the monitor off, the humming noise goes away!

Thank you!

I'm very glad I looked through my older threads and found this post that I missed the first time around. Turns out my monitor has (had!) the exact opposite problem that yours has. All of my drives are FW800 so I never bothered plugging in my ACD's firewire cable. I just tried plugging it in and, alas, the buzzing noise is gone!

Until I graduate I'm stuck with my computer in the bedroom and that buzzing noise made it very difficult to sleep. Usually I'd make it about five minutes before I'd hop up, cut the power to the monitor, and re-sleep my computer. The whole situation was made ever more annoying because neither my girl friend or my family members could hear the damn thing.

Thanks again!