Installed an SSD, now there's a low level humming noise

[RSF123]

I installed a SSD into an early 2008, silver MacBook Pro, and almost immediately upon use I notice a feint humming that seems to be coming right from the centre of the keyboard, around the keys G, H.

It's very low level, and you can only hear it when using the Mac in a very quiet room. It is easily heard when placing one's ear close to the keyboard. The noise starts up immediately upon starting the Mac, and is not something that progressively arises as the Mac gets hotter.

iStat Menus tells me that the temperature is 47-53 degrees C. CPU's not overworking.

I used this same SSD in a different Mac, and had not noticed this noise when used in the other Mac. I also hadn't noticed this noise in this present 2008 Mac when it had the original HHD hard disk. So the noise, as far as I can tell, pretty much started when I put the SSD in.

Other than that, the Mac seems to be working fine.

Any ideas?

 

[old-wiz]

the ssd probably doesn't connect properly to the temperature sensor so the fans run constantly. There were threads about how Apple put in a new cable pin for temperature and not all drives supplied it.

 

[kjb0419]

I installed a SSD into an early 2008, silver MacBook Pro, and almost immediately upon use I notice a feint humming that seems to be coming right from the centre of the keyboard, around the keys G, H.

It's very low level, and you can only hear it when using the Mac in a very quiet room. It is easily heard when placing one's ear close to the keyboard. The noise starts up immediately upon starting the Mac, and is not something that progressively arises as the Mac gets hotter.

iStat Menus tells me that the temperature is 47-53 degrees C. CPU's not overworking.

I used this same SSD in a different Mac, and had not noticed this noise when used in the other Mac. I also hadn't noticed this noise in this present 2008 Mac when it had the original HHD hard disk. So the noise, as far as I can tell, pretty much started when I put the SSD in.

Other than that, the Mac seems to be working fine.

Any ideas?

Like what was said before, I don't think that those older macbooks were made for SSDs and it might be causing some issues. It might also just be a bad connection, I would recommend opening it up and removing the SSD and cleaning the inside a bit (just to make sure that there isn't a buildup of dust interfering with any connections). I would also research more about compatibly with your model of Macbook.

 

[RSF123]

Like what was said before, I don't think that those older macbooks were made for SSDs and it might be causing some issues. It might also just be a bad connection, I would recommend opening it up and removing the SSD and cleaning the inside a bit (just to make sure that there isn't a buildup of dust interfering with any connections). I would also research more about compatibly with your model of Macbook.

I took it to the Apple store, and the Genius said it was the fan running non stop. It so happened, because there were other things to be discussed, I never asked the Genius if there's a solution.

So, I'm asking the MacRumors forum -- is there any way I can get this fan to stop running continuously from using an SSD with this Early 2008 MacBook Pro. The Mac is not running hot. The fan starts up the instant of booting up. Right now, after a few hours on, it is 51 degrees C. So the fan runs continuously right from the start.

Any suggestions?

 

[duervo]

Any suggestions?

I'll repeat what's been said already ... get an SSD that's known to work with that model of system. You didn't even tell anyone what make/model of SSD you put in there. Without at least that info (and more) I can only grasp widely at a straw and tell you what I put in my wife's early-2008 which doesn't have any issues:

120GB Patriot Inferno. This drive has been discontinued for quite some time now. So it's highly unlikely that you'll find one new at this time. I also replaced the stock 320GB Apple HDD with a Seagate 500GB drive with that built-in shock protection feature, and put it in an Optibay holder, which in turn was placed where the SuperDrive was.

 

[RSF123]

I'll repeat what's been said already ... get an SSD that's known to work with that model of system. You didn't even tell anyone what make/model of SSD you put in there. Without at least that info (and more) I can only grasp widely at a straw and tell you what I put in my wife's early-2008 which doesn't have any issues.

How do I find out what SSD's are suited to the early-2008 MacBook Pro?

This present SSD, in the early 2008 MBP, is a LiteOn 256GB, but interestingly in the System Report, it says the vendor is Intel model LZT-256. Admittedly it was one of the cheapest 256GB SSD's that I found in eBay. But it worked fine when it was in a 2009 unibody MBP, and there were no fan problems. The constant fan problem only arose when the same SSD was transferred to the early-2008.

 

[duervo]

How do I find out what SSD's are suited to the early-2008 MacBook Pro?

Search this forum. It pre-dates the use of SSD's in the Early-2008 MBP. So, there should be lots and lots of threads that contain posts of people's experiences with SSD's in them. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there's probably a huge one that was, at one point, a stickied thread.

Starting a new thread on it, while requiring the least amount of effort on your part, probably isn't going to get you the best amount of data, because there aren't going to be too many people around that still have their early-2008 and remember what they put in it for an SSD.

If you want the least amount of risk with an SSD and that year of MBP, then I would personally choose a Crucial M4.

 

[kjb0419]

I took it to the Apple store, and the Genius said it was the fan running non stop. It so happened, because there were other things to be discussed, I never asked the Genius if there's a solution.

So, I'm asking the MacRumors forum -- is there any way I can get this fan to stop running continuously from using an SSD with this Early 2008 MacBook Pro. The Mac is not running hot. The fan starts up the instant of booting up. Right now, after a few hours on, it is 51 degrees C. So the fan runs continuously right from the start.

Any suggestions?

Look online for an app you can use to control the fan, there are quite a few of them. I'm sure there is a forum on here discussing the best ones. I would think that it would solve your issue!

 

[ZMacintosh]

seems like the fan bearing is going out. I dont think this has anything to do with an SSD.
since the fans sit close the top casing it could have been inadvertently damaged or just the age of the machine. fans are reasonably cheap to get replaced and would just get a new fan to see if that changes anything.

I've installed a variety of cheapskate SSDs to uber expensive ones in MacBook Pros from 2007-2012 and never had an issue of that nature.