Airport Extreme base station makes a ticking sound

[ghanwani]

I recently (3 weeks or so ago) got myself an Airport Extreme base station/wireless router.

It makes an erratic ticking sound with occasional slight screeches (almost like a hard disk would). It's probably just the fan (since I assume this doesn't have a hard disk), but is this normal, or should I be trying to get it swapped because it is indicative of a fan problem?

Thanks,
Anoop

 

[ActionableMango]

Mine has this problem, but only when transferring lots of data over wireless. It's been this way for a long time now. Probably 1.5 years. It still works anyway, but it's annoying.

 

[ghanwani]

Mine has this problem, but only when transferring lots of data over wireless. It's been this way for a long time now. Probably 1.5 years. It still works anyway, but it's annoying.

What do you mean when you say "transferring lots of data over wireless"...are you referring to time machine?

Mine is just a plane old base station/wireless router (not the Time Machine device) and it makes these sounds even when I'm just surfing the net or connected to Outlook via my VPN.

Thanks,
Anoop

 

[ActionableMango]

No, it's not a Time Capsule, it's an Airport Extreme. Examples of transferring a lot of data:

• Netflix streaming
• Copying files across the network from computer to computer
• Downloading a very large file

 

[Jezza1685]

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...

 

[ghanwani]

I just decided to live with the sound. On doing more research it sounded like it was considered normal. I still find it mildly irritating, but other than that the device has been rock solid reliable (no reboots required).