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Noises from RAM

J

JasO

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2008
148
0
Melbourne, Australia
Hi guys,
I have a MacPro 2008 2.8 and am having weird noises from the Ram.
I have 2x1GB on the top A riser and 2x4GB on the Bottom riser (not apple).

Whilst watching youtube or any sort of streaming video the ram makes noises similar to a cricket. I first thought it was the hard drive seeking but I took that out (1TB WD Caviar Black) and the sound was still there. I then thought it was the GPU. Then I took out my aftermarket RAM and bingo, sound was gone.

So does you RAM or RAM in general make any sort of noises?

If anyone has any info I would appreciate it before I call up where I brought it and talk about getting a replacement.

Thanks guys.
 
Does the sound come from your speakers/heaphones or from the actual RAM itself? Either way, this is not good. Where did you get your RAM from?
 
The RAM is a solid chunk of silicon, glass, and copper, with some Boron or Phosphorous in it. It's not talking to you.
 
I have the same cricket, but it definitely doesn't come from the ram. If I turn my speaker off, then the cricket disappears. The cricket sound comes and goes, and has been with me for the last year or so. Definitely sounds like a cricket. I originally put a frog next to my system, in an attempt to catch the cricket, but the frog starved to death. It is a mystery that I have given up trying to solve and I've just learned to accept Mother Nature's little critter. :D
 
Sometimes I get a sweet "bewwww" noise when I have my headphones on and I pause my music. I think it's due to a lamp I have next to my Pro, which also causes a cracking noise sometimes.
It's weird to hear that RAM can make noises... I'm kinda scared.
 
^lol guys!

Well I have tried every variation of putting the RAM in and testing it out to see if the cricket wants to go away, unfortunately he seems to be pretty content on staying with the RAM module =(

Luckily I brought the RAM from a local Aussie seller so it should be fine to send it back and try see if a replacement makes any less noise. If not I might just save the money and buy a Raptor drive =D

The noises are also quite loud when browsing through LightRoom which I didn't test before, so this really will be quite an annoyance for me if I don't get it sorted out...

Damn Noises =(
 
Sometimes CPUs make a weird noise. It's barely audible on my '08 MP and on my 1st gen MBA, but it is there. It's more audible on older Intel machines I've had, though. I've never heard of RAM making noise.


cmaier said:
The RAM is a solid chunk of silicon, glass, and copper, with some Boron or Phosphorous in it. It's not talking to you.
Click to expand...

This.
 
h.21 said:
Sometimes CPUs make a weird noise. It's barely audible on my '08 MP and on my 1st gen MBA, but it is there. It's more audible on older Intel machines I've had, though. I've never heard of RAM making noise.




This.
Click to expand...

No, CPUs do not make noise.
 
UltraNEO* said:
Really, they don't? Never??

Then how you explain the noise, the first MacBook Pro's used to make?
It sounds like CPU Whine, it's well documented too!
Click to expand...

This is what the linked article actually says - where does it mention "CPU?"

Symptoms
MacBook Pro (15-inch) emits a high-pitched buzzing sound.

Products Affected
MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy), MacBook Pro (original)
Resolution
If your MacBook Pro (15-inch) emits a high-pitched buzzing sound, please contact AppleCare for service.
Click to expand...

Furthermore:

Guys, this is not for the "CPU Whine" issue so often reported about around the web. This is for the "Inverter Buzz" that was a problem in the first couple manufacturing weeks of the Macbook Pros. Basically there was a large amount of bad inverters that Apple has acknowledged and will replace.
Click to expand...

"CPU" means the microprocessor, not the entire logic board.
 
JasO said:
^lol guys!

Well I have tried every variation of putting the RAM in and testing it out to see if the cricket wants to go away, unfortunately he seems to be pretty content on staying with the RAM module =(

Luckily I brought the RAM from a local Aussie seller so it should be fine to send it back and try see if a replacement makes any less noise. If not I might just save the money and buy a Raptor drive =D

The noises are also quite loud when browsing through LightRoom which I didn't test before, so this really will be quite an annoyance for me if I don't get it sorted out...

Damn Noises =(
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how this translates from "American English" to "Aussie English", but do you have the balls to actually tell him that you think the RAM is making a cricket sounding noise?
 
Roy said:
I'm not sure how this translates from "American English" to "Aussie English", but do you have the balls to actually tell him that you think the RAM is making a cricket sounding noise?
Click to expand...

Haha.. Yeah I do. It's making noises and annoying the hell out of me, I can hear it over my music. Anyway they offer a 30Day money back guarantee anyway so I can always send it back for a refund if I/he doesn't want to go through testing out more ram...
 
JasO said:
Haha.. Yeah I do. It's making noises and annoying the hell out of me, I can hear it over my music. Anyway they offer a 30Day money back guarantee anyway so I can always send it back for a refund if I/he doesn't want to go through testing out more ram...
Click to expand...

Ya mate, if it were me I'd go inflict some Aussie diplomacy on him... that's not a refund THIS is a refund. ;)
 
macuserx86 said:
Ya mate, if it were me I'd go inflict some Aussie diplomacy on him... that's not a refund THIS is a refund. ;)
Click to expand...

It's my store that Jaso bought the RAM from, and I must admit I thought it was a joke when he first told us about the cricket noises. It seems there are plenty of other instances of similar noises coming from Macbooks and even pc's. For the sake of the rest of the mac community I'd like to continue the dialogue here. (It's my first time here as I usually hang out on the MacTalk forums).

My last suggestion was to try muting the microphone, and then try disabling the infrared device, which seems to be the culprit causing the noise for some other folks.

I'd also suggest running a full diagnostic on the ram modules to see if there are any errors.

cheers, Rod
 
rodb said:
It's my store that Jaso bought the RAM from, and I must admit I thought it was a joke when he first told us about the cricket noises. It seems there are plenty of other instances of similar noises coming from Macbooks and even pc's. For the sake of the rest of the mac community I'd like to continue the dialogue here. (It's my first time here as I usually hang out on the MacTalk forums).

My last suggestion was to try muting the microphone, and then try disabling the infrared device, which seems to be the culprit causing the noise for some other folks.

I'd also suggest running a full diagnostic on the ram modules to see if there are any errors.

cheers, Rod
Click to expand...

Who's your RAM supplier, or are you not at liberty to say?
 
macuserx86 said:
Who's your RAM supplier, or are you not at liberty to say?
Click to expand...

I'm not about to give that one away but we do buy from a supplier who supplies around 20,000 mac pro memory modules a month into the U.S. corporate and government market. They also have 6 Mac Pro's setup as permanent test beds for mac pro modules, with staff on two shifts doing the testing.

So I'm confident of the quality and reliability, but it's not to say that the odd module doesn't end up being faulty, just a rare occurrence.
 
JasO said:
Hi guys,
I have a MacPro 2008 2.8 and am having weird noises from the Ram.
I have 2x1GB on the top A riser and 2x4GB on the Bottom riser (not apple).

Whilst watching youtube or any sort of streaming video the ram makes noises similar to a cricket. I first thought it was the hard drive seeking but I took that out (1TB WD Caviar Black) and the sound was still there. I then thought it was the GPU. Then I took out my aftermarket RAM and bingo, sound was gone.

So does you RAM or RAM in general make any sort of noises?

If anyone has any info I would appreciate it before I call up where I brought it and talk about getting a replacement.

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

I had a bunch of DEC Alpha machines that had this too. When the CPU wsa under any load at all and the RAM was being accessed it would make cricket sounds - or kinda like a fingernail on a guitar-string. Very low volume but I could hear it. I disconnected all speakers and external sound from the boards just to make sure. When I had DEC SE's over for our first Quake 3 party we had a good discussion about what the possible causes were. There's no solution tho. It it does it - it does it. :) Short of maybe changing out the MB maybe.

Both CPUs and RAM can indeed make noise! This is a fact.


.
 
Tesselator said:
I had a bunch of DEC Alpha machines that had this too. When the CPU wsa under any load at all and the RAM was being accessed it would make cricket sounds - or kinda like a fingernail on a guitar-string. Very low volume but I could hear it. I disconnected all speakers and external sound from the boards just to make sure. When I had DEC SE's over for our first Quake 3 party we had a good discussion about what the possible causes were. There's no solution tho. It it does it - it does it. :) Short of maybe changing out the MB maybe.

Both CPUs and RAM can indeed make noise! This is a fact.


.
Click to expand...

This is your argument:

"I saw th Easter bunny. It exists. It's a fact."

fail.

To make noise something would have to cause vibration. There is nothing that can move and no arcing involved in either the ram or CPU.

What is likely happening, if anything, is rf radiation is causing a speaker or something with a movin part to make a noise. Like when you get your cellphone too close to a speaker.
 
cmaier said:
This is your argument:

"I saw th Easter bunny. It exists. It's a fact."

fail.

To make noise something would have to cause vibration. There is nothing that can move and no arcing involved in either the ram or CPU.

What is likely happening, if anything, is rf radiation is causing a speaker or something with a movin part to make a noise. Like when you get your cellphone too close to a speaker.
Click to expand...

Ask yourself what electricity is and why high-tension power lines make a noise. There are no moving parts there either so by your logic they should be silent. They aren't tho are they?!?!?!

Anyway I know it, DELL knows it, DEC knows it, IBM knows it, National Semiconductor knows it. So that just leaves you actually. :) Kinda lonely out there all alone huh? :)
 
Tesselator said:
Ask yourself what electricity is and why high-tension power lines make a noise. There are no moving parts there either so by your logic they should be silent. They aren't tho are they?!?!?!

Anyway I know it, DELL knows it, DEC knows it, IBM knows it, National Semiconductor knows it. So that just leaves you actually. :) Kinda lonely out there all alone huh? :)
Click to expand...

As the one of us with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, I urge you to ask yourself if you know what you are talking about. What does "high tension" mean? Is it, say, 1.5 volts like your RAM and CPU? Didn't think so. Think your piddly little 1.5V RAM is ionizing oxygen, do you? Those tiny little currents creating giant magnetic fields, huh?

None of Dell, DEC, IBM, or National (the monumental incompetence of which renders it sorely out of place with the other three) "knows it." DEC doesn't even exist. You saying they "know it" doesn't make it true. It doesn't happen. I take that back. National probably knows it, which explains how their x86 processors took the world by storm.

All that happens, if anything, is that the presence of RAM makes some other thing make noise.
 
Tesselator said:
And what makes you think you're the only one of us with that? Careful, you know what they say about assumptions.
Click to expand...

The fact that nearly every time you make an assertion that involves more than a hacker-level understanding of electricity, computers, algorithms, etc., you are wrong is what makes me absolutely certain that, as between you and me, only one of us has those three degrees in electrical engineering, solid state physics, and computer engineering.
 
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