Apple Updates Boot Camp Drivers to Fix Major Issue Causing Blown Speakers on New MacBook Pros [Updated]

[simonmet]

Absolutely laughable that speakers can be blown using the internal amp. I start to believe that Apple has completely outsourced hardware development to Foxconn. And maybe the design, too. Ive just sends a picture of an old MBP with the instructions: "Make it thinner!". And Schiller completes the guidelines with: 16 GByte of RAM is enough and Professionals wants a headphone jack, too - unfortunately he forgot (or rather he didn't know) about the digital optical output.

This is what happens when you get complacent. Success builds complacency. Then you get mid, upper level managers and CEOs who only look at spreadsheets but don't attempt to quantify how quality takes time and money and good people but if you start ******** on people and morale goes down then the product suffers.

Tim Cook is not the soul of Apple, he has little to no charisma despite his or his publicist's ideas to make him do stupid things like Carpool Karaoke.

Apple needs a new champion. I think I'm pretty good at judging people from their body language, facial expressions, words and voice and I've formed the opinion that Craig "The Hair" Federighi is authentic and he has the capacity to inspire his staff to make Apple great again.

I get nothing of the same sense of authenticity and charisma from Tim Cook, which is me putting it about as diplomatically as possible.

 

[Laura-1]

Sorry folks, this is a hardware problem - design flaw in the speakers. At this scale (small size, power) there should be no possible condition where the speakers are physically damaged due to any audio signal, even if the tiny little amplifiers are driven into 100% distortion. The "updated driver" is nothing more than a work-around. Time for another repair program Apple.

Agreed.

I have no nunderstanding of audio engineering, but simply listening to the replacement product in front of me (which is about to be returned again) there is a serious issue with the speakers and it can't all be down to people using Windows, since this is a brand new machine with nothing installed. Just powered it up and after a short silence ..pop ! pop pop ! ..silence ...........POP!

 

[A-Sign]

Apple seriously don't have any QS / QC / QM (quality management) anymore. Flickering displays? Damaged speakers? Non-responsive WLAN because of USB-C Adapters? This machine is full of crap.

 

[lowendlinux]

Is there any good news about these computers?

 

[MacBH928]

This logistics guy does not know anything about running a computers... does he?

 

[dannys1]

Naturally. It's never Apples fault.

I would say it's Apples, Realteks and the nature of Microsofts Windows fault.
[doublepost=1480683121][/doublepost]

Absolutely, resoundingly: no.
You can play back the spikes yourself from Mac OS if you like.
The point is, the amplifier stage should be dimensioned so as not to physically blow out the speaker with any signal received.

That's how humanity has done it for the past 90 years, at least.

Presumably we can't though as if we played back the spikes in macOS they would be controlled appropriately. Though I do agree with you, an all in one device where the same developer has made the amp that matches the speakers this should technically be impossible even without software intervention.

You certainly can't blow them in macOS even if you play full volume and then artificially boost the volume of the audio file by another 100% too.

 

[robjulo]

Speakers should be spec'd to handle the amp, period.

And $2500-$3500 disposable computers? Wow.

 

[scottrngr]

On the bright side, refurbs should start showing up soon.

 

[CaryMacGuy]

I'm glad you're not in charge of QA at Boeing or Airbus.

Me too...I wouldn't want that job ;-)

 

[robeddie]

Is there any good news about these computers?

1) They got really fast ports.
2) And a faster SSD (even though it's not like even garden variety SSD's were slowing us down at all)

At least that's what all the fan boys keep falling back on.

The other improvements we could have had (more ram, battery life, processing power, upgradeability) were sacrificed to make it thinner.

 

[MTShipp]

A rush to fix this issue for a small percentage of new MBP owners that will Bootcamp. Now get off your *** and fix the problems the higher percentage complain about!

 

[gabrielsan]

I just want to say that I have a MBP early 2014 and just this week the speakers blew up just watching a video on youtube, looked online for a few days and thought that it was just bad luck... then I see this in my feed today.

Now I wonder if it really was bad luck. No one else is having this problem with older models? Also I don't have bootcamp installed at the moment.

 

[Cloudkicker]

It's fixed now, so stop whining.

/s

EDIT: For those that don't get it, "/s" means "end sarcasm"...

They were woofering & tweetering wrong? heh Yeah, late-2016 MacBook Pros are just the gift that keeps on giving... *back*, as in shipping returns.

 

[cmaier]

Apple seriously don't have any QS / QC / QM (quality management) anymore. Flickering displays? Damaged speakers? Non-responsive WLAN because of USB-C Adapters? This machine is full of crap.

Do you own one?
[doublepost=1480696672][/doublepost]

I just want to say that I have a MBP early 2014 and just this week the speakers blew up just watching a video on youtube, looked online for a few days and thought that it was just bad luck... then I see this in my feed today.

Now I wonder if it really was bad luck. No one else is having this problem with older models? Also I don't have bootcamp installed at the moment.

I haven't seen reports of this problem with earlier models (and I certainly haven't experienced such an issue with any of my older MBA's or MBP's)

 

[castlerock]

It's fixed now, so stop whining.

/s

EDIT: For those that don't get it, "/s" means "end sarcasm"...

Obviously the Boot Camp users were playing sound incorrectly. Apple will now educate them in proper sound-playing procedure.

/obscure?

 

[villicodelirant]

I would say it's Apples, Realteks and the nature of Microsofts Windows fault.

I don't see how the "nature of Microsoft Windows" has anything to do with an incorrectly dimensioned power amp.

Presumably we can't though as if we played back the spikes in macOS they would be controlled appropriately. Though I do agree with you, an all in one device where the same developer has made the amp that matches the speakers this should technically be impossible even without software intervention.

You certainly can't blow them in macOS even if you play full volume and then artificially boost the volume of the audio file by another 100% too.

You can by definition. It's not a software issue, the speakers are physicially blown, you know.
The default install doesn't let you do that because there is some kind of software limiter, but rest assured that you can by replacing the driver.

I don't want to be a jerk, but I wonder how many of the people who are blaming Microsoft for Apple's inability to correctly dimension components have taken at least Power Electronics 101.

 

[cmaier]

I don't see how the "nature of Microsoft Windows" has anything to do with an incorrectly dimensioned power amp.



You can by definition. It's not a software issue, the speakers are physicially blown, you know.
The default install doesn't let you do that because there is some kind of software limiter, but rest assured that you can by replacing the driver.

I don't want to be a jerk, but I wonder how many of the people who are blaming Microsoft for Apple's inability to correctly dimension components have taken at least Power Electronics 101.

As a Phd in electrical engineering, i find your use of the term "dimension" in this context to be odd.

 

[sofila]

As a Phd in electrical engineering, i find your use of the term "dimension" in this context to be odd.

Please show a better an appropriate term for non-native language users, so we can ALL feel better. Thank you

 

[cmaier]

Please show a better an appropriate term for non-native language users, so we can ALL feel better. Thank you

"Dimension" implies a physical size, whereas the problem here is an electrical one - the amp is capable of supplying too much power to the speakers. My objection is merely pedantic, of course. Just found the phraseology weird.

 

[LordVic]

1) They got really fast ports.
2) And a faster SSD (even though it's not like even garden variety SSD's were slowing us down at all)

At least that's what all the fan boys keep falling back on.

The other improvements we could have had (more ram, battery life, processing power, upgradeability) were sacrificed to make it thinner.

Don't forget the magical touch bar. it's completely change how we ever looked at computers before
/s

(i'm not apposed to the touch bar, I like the idea, but it's still no replacement for a touch screen, or a function row. I'm sure Apple could have figured out how to include function keys and the LED bar, or at least kept a standard keyboard layout, including ESC key)

 

[villicodelirant]

As a Phd in electrical engineering, i find your use of the term "dimension" in this context to be odd.

Sorry, in my native language we do use the verb "to dimension" to mean... what I mean with respect to components.
I thought it was used in English too, at least judging from the literature I can find with Google: http://google.com/search?q=dimensioning+amplifier
For example the first result: https://www.pes.ee.ethz.ch/uploads/tx_ethpublications/ertl_PCIM05.pdf

What is the correct English, please?


EDIT:

"Dimension" implies a physical size

Hide, quick, before the mathematicians find you

 

[dannys1]

I don't see how the "nature of Microsoft Windows" has anything to do with an incorrectly dimensioned power amp.



You can by definition. It's not a software issue, the speakers are physicially blown, you know.
The default install doesn't let you do that because there is some kind of software limiter, but rest assured that you can by replacing the driver.

I don't want to be a jerk, but I wonder how many of the people who are blaming Microsoft for Apple's inability to correctly dimension components have taken at least Power Electronics 101.

But that wouldn't be possible in macOS - the kext will either work, or it won't.

Never mind Electronics 101, have you taken Kext 101? Maybe you could build one to show us how you can do this macOS. I'll keep waiting.

 

[villicodelirant]

But that wouldn't be possible in macOS - the kext will either work, or it won't.

I'm sorry, what do you mean?
What is impossible?

Never mind Electronics 101, have you taken Kext 101? Maybe you could build one to show us how you can do this macOS. I'll keep waiting.

I'm sorry, what?

Are you implying that (in the absence of DRM devices that would limit the system's functionality) it would be a problem to write a program that sends to the DAC arbitrary data, namely exactly the same one that the Windows driver outputs and that causes the speakers to crack?

Are you implying it would be a problem to do so in the form of a kernel extension?

Either one would be quite an extraordinary claim, and I would like to see some evidence for it.
The latter, while not impossible, would imply a most unusual architecture in Darwin.

Either way, I find the sarcastic tone inappropriate (no, I am not going through the pain of writing a kernel extension to prove the obvious; yes, you can keep waiting).

 

[kingtj]

So you mean NOT like the 9.7" iPad Pro that still had the slower USB 2.0 speeds for its Lightning port?

1) They got really fast ports.
2) And a faster SSD (even though it's not like even garden variety SSD's were slowing us down at all)

At least that's what all the fan boys keep falling back on.

The other improvements we could have had (more ram, battery life, processing power, upgradeability) were sacrificed to make it thinner.

 

[radardude]

Apple has released updated audio drivers to fix a major issue causing blown out speakers on new MacBook Pro models running Windows 10 with Boot Camp.

Earlier this month, a number of users began noticing crackling or distorted sound coming from the left, right, or both speakers on the new MacBook Pro, oftentimes shortly after installing and running Windows 10 with Boot Camp. These issues persist even when affected users boot back into macOS Sierra.

MacRumors reader tianhuailiu -- edited slightly for clarity:The damage to the speakers appears to be permanent once it occurs, requiring users to contact Apple to exchange their new MacBook Pro for a replacement unit. Unfortunately, due to limited stock, some of these users are now faced with waiting several weeks for their MacBook Pros to be swapped out.

The new Boot Camp audio drivers are available through Apple Software Update on the Windows side for both 13-inch and 15-inch models, although the issue appears to primarily affect the larger of the two. The new drivers, of course, are of no help to users who have already blown out their speakers.

While new drivers are available, late 2016 MacBook Pro users should exercise caution when running Windows 10 with Boot Camp due to the severe nature of the problem. As a temporary workaround, some users have plugged in headphones during the booting process until installing the updated drivers.

After installing the updated drivers, some MacBook Pro users appear to be experiencing issues with low volume on both Windows 10 and macOS Sierra, but the underlying problem remains unclear. Affected users should contact Apple or schedule a Genius Bar appointment for further support.

The issue does not affect older MacBook Pro models or Windows virtualization software such as VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Article Link: Apple Updates Boot Camp Drivers to Fix Major Issue Causing Blown Speakers on New MacBook Pros

[doublepost=1480715990][/doublepost]I' bet Steve is really proud of of the direction of the company now. Releasing half baked products. Not happy with the new Apple monitor, looks like everyone else, not Apple at all. Pretty soon Apple will be buying Samsung products and slapping their logo on it. I know they are already doing it but the product looks distinctly like APPLE "Designed in California" not APPLE "Designed by Samsung in China"