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MikeCam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 29, 2013
25
51
When my iMac is asleep, from day one, it has spontaneously made this weird clicking sound. The screen illuminates and the sound starts immediately, it then just goes off by itself and happens again whenever. I have formatted and set up as new multiple times, and it continues to happen. It seems like Mail and Message notifications are jamming? It often wakes me up when it happens randomly in the early hours, and I feel that I should not have to turn my 2021 iMac M1 off every single day to avoid this happening.

No updates have fixed this, so I finally took it to the Apple Store UWS although they are refusing to do anything about it. They claimed that is an 'emerging issue' and to wait for an update to fix it, although they don't seem confident and I am highly doubtful that software would fix this. They simply want to just give it back to me formatted and wait for some supposed update that could come out whenever? I'm deeply frustrated by this, and it is not what I expect from Apple. They pressured me to purchase Apple Care as it would 'make a difference' with the engineers but it was all in vain, and were snappy to me on the phone when I mentioned that it does not seem to be a widespread issue to necessarily be exclusively software. "Have you spoken to everyone?" and I was honestly pretty taken aback. I'm likely just going to throw in the towel and pick up my iMac, in the same state as it was when I handed it in, and hope for the best when this supposed software fix magically comes out 'someday'.

Hoping somebody else has experienced or is aware of this, I felt the need to finally make some noise because I'm not getting served from the source. Thank you!



 
Bruh, what is that lol. Did it do it in person when you took it to them? If it's been doing it since day 1 why didn't you just exchange it?
 
Bruh, what is that lol. Did it do it in person when you took it to them? If it's been doing it since day 1 why didn't you just exchange it?
I assumed it’d get fixed with software but multiple major updates later still had the issue. I live in nyc with a tight schedule so I try avoid lugging an iMac around
 
Is the sound through the speakers only? So, no sound if the speakers are muted?
Is that the sound that you have set for Alert sound in the Sound pref pane?

Until you get this sorted:
Adjust to a lower volume; set the alert sound for something less annoying; mute the speakers when you are not at the computer.
 
I honestly think this post isn’t even true. Nothing in that computer can make that type of noise and the fact it’s happened since day 1 and the OP has just lived with it even though it wakes them up at night seems suspect.

Additionally, if you Google this there’s zero results so I highly doubt Apple employees said this was a common issue with the iMac having been out for almost a year.
 
I honestly think this post isn’t even true. Nothing in that computer can make that type of noise and the fact it’s happened since day 1 and the OP has just lived with it even though it wakes them up at night seems suspect.

Additionally, if you Google this there’s zero results so I highly doubt Apple employees said this was a common issue with the iMac having been out for almost a year.
I turned off my Mac every night and waited on updates, use it as my daily driver for work and live in NYC so no car. It's a problem but it only happens when it's asleep so it's not the most pressing thing. I'm aware that there are zero results which is why I was annoyed because I was told it's an 'emerging issue', and said the same thing as you did. I simply got back "have you spoken to everyone" which was not cool at all.

Why blame the customer (an ex-Apple Genius) and not the device itself lol
 
I turned off my Mac every night and waited on updates, use it as my daily driver for work and live in NYC so no car. It's a problem but it only happens when it's asleep so it's not the most pressing thing. I'm aware that there are zero results which is why I was annoyed because I was told it's an 'emerging issue', and said the same thing as you did. I simply got back "have you spoken to everyone" which was not cool at all.

Why blame the customer (an ex-Apple Genius) and not the device itself lol

My iMac is on auto sleep, but every hour, there is a male voice from the speaker: "It's ... o'clock".... Scary!!! LOL.
 
There's a "sound mute" button on the keyboard, right?

If so, I agree with what DeltaMac recommended above.
That is -- mute the sound, and THEN put it to sleep.
At least, give this a try over several days, let us know what you find.

At night, I'd just shut it down, and reboot in the morning.
 
I went to pick it up 8 days ago after nothing had been fixed to a dented and scratched up product, the screen, stand and enclosure all showed heavy signs of wear and tear after having just been with the store for a few weeks. Totally unacceptable, even more so after having had a bad experience in the first place. No apologies whatsoever and they're supposedly replacing the screen and stand but haven't heard a single peep in over a week. I am not having a good time
 

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I went to pick it up 8 days ago after nothing had been fixed to a dented and scratched up product, the screen, stand and enclosure all showed heavy signs of wear and tear after having just been with the store for a few weeks. Totally unacceptable, even more so after having had a bad experience in the first place. No apologies whatsoever and they're supposedly replacing the screen and stand but haven't heard a single peep in over a week. I am not having a good time
Just curious... did you deliver the device in it's original packaging or just as-is? No excuse for the damage on their part, just wondering.
 
Just curious... did you deliver the device in it's original packaging or just as-is? No excuse for the damage on their part, just wondering.
Yeah I brought it in its original packaging and was very gentle... them not so much lol
 
Okay this is absolutely BIZARRE. I got a brand new iMac 24' from Apple, not restored from backup or anything, and yet the issue still lives?! The only thing in common are my same Apple ID.

I definitely did not coincidentally get 2 faulty iMac's hardware wise. Is nobody else with an iMac 24in experiencing this beeping sound? I'm about to upgrade to the Ventura Beta in the hopes of the fix being in there.
 
Hello! In answer #7 you said "I turned off my Mac every night..."

May I suggest you watch and listen here:-

I do hope your problem is sorted. Good luck. 🙂
 
The advice I'm always given when the unexplainable happens with a Mac is to boot into safe mode and see if it happens there. You could try doing that before you put it to sleep and see if the sound is still there. If not then it's likely some piece of software you have installed.
 
Okay this is absolutely BIZARRE. I got a brand new iMac 24' from Apple, not restored from backup or anything, and yet the issue still lives?! The only thing in common are my same Apple ID.

I definitely did not coincidentally get 2 faulty iMac's hardware wise. Is nobody else with an iMac 24in experiencing this beeping sound? I'm about to upgrade to the Ventura Beta in the hopes of the fix being in there.
So, what was the outcome, MikeCam?
I’m sure others reading here would like to know!!!
 
Unfortunately, no matter what I've tried, still an issue! Here's to hoping there's a software fix incoming, otherwise these chips are somewhat somehow faulty.
 
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Again, what about PowerNap?
Again, is that the same sound you have set for alert sound in sound pref pane?
Or have you bought custom notification sounds (because yours doesn‘t sound familiar)?
Again, what about muting sound before sleep?
As the new one exhibits the same symptom, it must be something iCloud related or to your custom environment (LAN / WiFi / Bluetooth / USB devices).
What does the iMac show as reason for waking up? Should be sth like
Code:
log show --style syslog | fgrep "Wake reason"
Have you set some periodic reminders that are synced to the iMac?
In Energy Saver, do you have any scheduled events?
 
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