MacBook (Late 2008)... vibrating?

[farlane]

The whole case (especially where I rest my palms) is vibrating.

Apparently, it starts after the slightest fan activity (i.e. switching it ON). It's a pretty noticeable vibration. If I put it on a table, the table starts picking up the vibration, and emits a deep humming sound.

 

[duffyanneal]

HDDs usually cause the vibration you speak of. What happens if you let the machine sit until the hard drive spins down? If the HDD spins down and you still feel the vibration then it is most likely is one of the cooling fans. You don't have a CD in the machine do you?

 

[farlane]

No, no CD.

HDD? That's interesting. I was thinking of cooling fans.

I'll try that out. Nevertheless, it's annoying and feels unnecessary.

 

[duffyanneal]

No, no CD.

HDD? That's interesting. I was thinking of cooling fans.

I'll try that out. Nevertheless, it's annoying and feels unnecessary.

Yeah, if it's your HDD then you might try getting it replaced. Some HDDs vibrate more than others, but you really shouldn't feel a lot of vibration. That would be annoying.

 

[phoobo]

It's the HDD

I had the same problem, and found it very irritating. You could probably replace the mounting system with layers of thin rubber at the appropriate spots.

I opted to simply replace the drive with an OCZ SSD for 180 bucks (the 64 G version).

It's like a new machine. Very relaxing to work on it all day. Recommended.

 

[iPhoneyboy]

The whole case (especially where I rest my palms) is vibrating.

Apparently, it starts after the slightest fan activity (i.e. switching it ON). It's a pretty noticeable vibration. If I put it on a table, the table starts picking up the vibration, and emits a deep humming sound.

How about some more specifics... is it a MacBook Pro? And is it the stock 5400 or the 7200 rpm drive?

Also see this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/597099/

 

[farlane]

No, it's a non-pro MacBook (Late 2008) with the stock HDD.

Well, at least I know where this is coming from now. Still it feels unnecessary. My relationship with Apple products is certainly a love-hate one.