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Penryn MBP Graphics Circuit "Buzzing". Anyone else?

Paix247

Paix247

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 26, 2006
363
1
Minneapolis
I have a 2.4GHz Penryn MBP and whenever I run iTunes visualizer (which is where I first noticed it), play a game, or sometimes even scroll a web page, I get a buzzing sound right underneath the screen in the middle of the keyboard area. Its louder the more intensive the app is for graphics.

Someone on the Apple Forums suggested that it could be the video circuit, and it could be oscillation occurring from a coil.

My biggest problem is, I installed my own 7200RPM drive. Should I go through all the trouble of re-installing the stock drive before brining it in to my local genius bar? I don't want to have them say, "Ok, here's a new one" and then lose my faster drive.

Any advice is appreciated!
 
Paix247 said:
I have a 2.4GHz Penryn MBP and whenever I run iTunes visualizer (which is where I first noticed it), play a game, or sometimes even scroll a web page, I get a buzzing sound right underneath the screen in the middle of the keyboard area. Its louder the more intensive the app is for graphics.

Someone on the Apple Forums suggested that it could be the video circuit, and it could be oscillation occurring from a coil.

My biggest problem is, I installed my own 7200RPM drive. Should I go through all the trouble of re-installing the stock drive before brining it in to my local genius bar? I don't want to have them say, "Ok, here's a new one" and then lose my faster drive.

Any advice is appreciated!
Click to expand...

Definitely sounds like it's due to the drive. I have a stock drive (on the same model) and mine is super quiet. I play lots of games too.
 
very common for centrino. My thinkpad does it too. Oscilating coil. Live with it, or return it and hope for a good one.
 
If it's what I heard at the Apple store last night, then I'd return it. I went over to check out the new MBs and MBPs. I have read about buzzing noise, which was noticeable even in the store on a new 15" MBP 2.4. I would definitely take it back as I can't believe that's 'normal'.
 
my experience with buzz is that it is caused by gfx load. ie scrolling, expose
I tracked the source of the sound to the power brick, not under the keyboard.
the power brick would buzz when the MBP demands more power from it.
try testing your sound's exact source.

By the way, changing the hdd on the mbp would not void the warranty???
 
lauph said:
my experience with buzz is that it is caused by gfx load. ie scrolling, expose
I tracked the source of the sound to the power brick, not under the keyboard.
the power brick would buzz when the MBP demands more power from it.
try testing your sound's exact source.

By the way, changing the hdd on the mbp would not void the warranty???
Click to expand...

its not the power brick.
 
lauph said:
my experience with buzz is that it is caused by gfx load. ie scrolling, expose
I tracked the source of the sound to the power brick, not under the keyboard.
the power brick would buzz when the MBP demands more power from it.
try testing your sound's exact source.

By the way, changing the hdd on the mbp would not void the warranty???
Click to expand...

I too am having this problem.. I just purchased a 15" antiglare 2.5Ghz MacBook Pro yesterday and noticed the same buzzing from the inverter / gfx chip area of my baby while using iTunes visualizer or other graphics-intense apps like world of warcraft.

Should I return to the Apple store for repair or exchange? Or is this within specs for this model / will I get the same issues with another logic board / unit?

And yes, installing a third party hard drive in your macbook pro did void your warranty. I hope you were very careful with your screws :)

If anyone else with this model machine could verify that they do NOT have this issue I would really appreciate it :)

BTW, hi! Long-time forum troll, first post :)
 
As discussed previously: if you replace the hard drive and, as a result of that replacement something breaks (such as the IR cable being torn or something else related to the replacement) that issue will not be covered by the warranty. Nor will your new hard drive, of course. It does not automatically void your warranty to replace the hard drive, as discussed and confirmed on this forum over and over again.....

I would definitely put the stock drive back so that when/if they offer you a replacement you don't have to hesitate or come back the next day. Nice to just say yes and hand over your backed up and ready machine.
 
PDE said:
It does not automatically void your warranty to replace the hard drive, as discussed and confirmed on this forum over and over again.....
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, yes it does :/ AppleCare can deny service on a machine that has had non-customer-installable parts swapped out by anyone other than an AASP. This happened to a friend of mine. Fortunately the folks at the Genius Bar were nice enough to turn a blind eye, but they told him that point blank installing anything other than RAM in a MacBook Pro does void your warranty :/
 
PDE said:
As discussed previously: if you replace the hard drive and, as a result of that replacement something breaks (such as the IR cable being torn or something else related to the replacement) that issue will not be covered by the warranty. Nor will your new hard drive, of course. It does not automatically void your warranty to replace the hard drive, as discussed and confirmed on this forum over and over again.....

I would definitely put the stock drive back so that when/if they offer you a replacement you don't have to hesitate or come back the next day. Nice to just say yes and hand over your backed up and ready machine.
Click to expand...

kettner said:
Unfortunately, yes it does :/ AppleCare can deny service on a machine that has had non-customer-installable parts swapped out by anyone other than an AASP. This happened to a friend of mine. Fortunately the folks at the Genius Bar were nice enough to turn a blind eye, but they told him that point blank installing anything other than RAM in a MacBook Pro does void your warranty :/
Click to expand...


Sounds like we're hearing conflicting stories here...
 
Same issue on a stock 2.4 GHz Penryn MBP

I'm having the same buzzing-while-scrolling etc. issue as the original poster. I got my MBP straight from an Apple retailer in Finland under a week ago and the buzzing was evident the first time I used the machine. I called AppleCare the next day and they hadn't heard about the problem - they simply said I should take it to a local repair centre. That's what I did and they listened to it and said they'd look into it. Hope to hear more about it next week.

Any ideas whether this could be something with a software fix?
 
i have the buzz coming from the GPU, but not while running Leopard.
right after installing XP via boot camp. i played with the brightness a bit. turns out, i have to put the brightness in full via the keyboard control, then lower the brightness via NVIDIA control manager in XP. no problem with the buzz from then on.. :D
PLUS, i dont want to be exchanging the unit for the 4th time :(
 
kettner said:
Unfortunately, yes it does :/ AppleCare can deny service on a machine that has had non-customer-installable parts swapped out by anyone other than an AASP. This happened to a friend of mine. Fortunately the folks at the Genius Bar were nice enough to turn a blind eye, but they told him that point blank installing anything other than RAM in a MacBook Pro does void your warranty :/
Click to expand...

They can deny to repair it yes. This is why you should reinstall the original drive when sending it in for repairs. Just like you should reinstall the old RAM when doing this. It's kinda annoying if the computer needs to be completely replaced if you lose the drive or the RAM. By reinstalling you also make sure that they won't spot that the MBP has been opened and cannot deny the repair. Unless you break something inside of course.
 
kettner said:
Unfortunately, yes it does :/ AppleCare can deny service on a machine that has had non-customer-installable parts swapped out by anyone other than an AASP. This happened to a friend of mine. Fortunately the folks at the Genius Bar were nice enough to turn a blind eye, but they told him that point blank installing anything other than RAM in a MacBook Pro does void your warranty :/
Click to expand...

Just as jiddick exrex stated,if you need to take it for what ever reason after you have swapped the
drive/RAM,just replace with the original then take it in
 
Just an update: The local repair centre is going to replace the logic board - basically it would qualify for DOA since the buzzing was evident the first day I bought it, but apparently the DOA process is really slow and bureaucratic for non-Apple retailers, so just swapping the logic board is easier, since I'll only have to part from my laptop for a few hours instead of a few weeks.
 
Yup, same thing happens to me except I have a SR MBP 2.4ghz. It is really frustrating when I play games in bootcamp because the sound is VERY loud whereas is OS X (itunes, scrolling webpages) it is not as loud. I called applecare a while back and they said that they never heard of this before and told me to take it to the local Apple store and they would probably replace the logic board.

For the person who is getting their logic board replaced: when you get it back, can you tell us if it's still making the noise or if that fixed it. Thanks.
 
shirazik said:
For the person who is getting their logic board replaced: when you get it back, can you tell us if it's still making the noise or if that fixed it. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sure. It's taking a while though, apparently last week there wasn't a single replacement board available for the new Penryns in Europe. They must be putting all of them into new ones.
 
Right, the logic board was replaced this morning on my 2,4 GHz Penryn MacBook Pro, and everything seems to be fine. No buzzing! I'm so happy. :)
 
danielck said:
Right, the logic board was replaced this morning on my 2,4 GHz Penryn MacBook Pro, and everything seems to be fine. No buzzing! I'm so happy. :)
Click to expand...

Awesome! Nice, I think I'm going to head over to the Apple store and get it replaced soon.

BTW, what did you tell the mac genius when you first brought your computer in? Did he/she hear the buzzing sound? I don't wanna go and then be turned back because they can't confirm the problem. Thanks.
 
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