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mr bojangles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
24
0
Did you follow my suggestion of checking if the optical light stays on? You haven't said so yet :)

sorry for not replying :eek:

i did check if the red light in the back stays on and every time i checked it was "on"

its getting really frustrating for two days i'm trying every possible thing i can think off, change cables, even plug cables in different power source, it just keeps making this damn pop. :mad:

its also very random, not like as if its every 30min or something, sometimes its after 1 hour, sometimes it takes 20 min. between pops, sometimes 10 minutes after starting up.

would you guys ask for a new machine? what if the new machine has the same problem, do i ask a new machine again till a get one that works or what:(
 

reel2reel

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
627
46
maybe a stupid question since i'm new to this but is this in any way harmful or not recommended to 'not' put the hard disk to sleep when possible or to let the computer "never" switch to sleep mode? I'm asking because i assume this is going to shorten my macs life span since everything is constantly working without a break

I never sleep my Mac's and I've never had a hard drive failure. IMO, if you're going to sleep, do it manually when you're leaving your computer until the next day or longer. I find sleeping hard drives cause spinning wheels and just make the computer actually work harder. Those drives spin down and have to spin up again everytime you sleep and wake it up, whereas they just keep spinning when they're awake. Less wear and tear. Sleeping causes even more problems if you're doing video work.

This is my experience after using Mac computers since the PowerMac G3. My 2008 at work never ever sleeps. I keep it going or shut it down. I set the display to sleep after 15 mins, though.

This is all just my opinion and personal experience, though.

As for this particular problem, don't worry about it. Apple will eventually take care of you. You just need to get past the front lines. I've done it a few times before and they actually took quite good care of me in the end. It's a shame they have to annoy you at first, but I find that's a common factor with most companies.

Lastly, electronics will fail, which is one reason I always buy Applecare.
 

mr bojangles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
24
0
thnx for trying to help out everyone i really appreciate it!

going to call Apple again tomorrow :(
 

mr bojangles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
24
0
Called Apple again, after long arguing and explaining the problem for the 10th time (everytime someone else) they decided to ship me a knew one.

glad to get a knew one but afraid that its going to have the same exact problem as a music studio technician said.

ofcourse i hope to get a working one this time without the loud POPS, its giving me loads of worrying and taking a bit to much out of my time. what should i do if i get another one with the same problem, keep calling them and demand for a new one or ...?
 

reel2reel

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
627
46
Called Apple again, after long arguing and explaining the problem for the 10th time (everytime someone else) they decided to ship me a knew one.

glad to get a knew one but afraid that its going to have the same exact problem as a music studio technician said.

ofcourse i hope to get a working one this time without the loud POPS, its giving me loads of worrying and taking a bit to much out of my time. what should i do if i get another one with the same problem, keep calling them and demand for a new one or ...?

That's good! I've had to get past that arguing point myself in the past. Now you'll have an open case, so if you do get another machine with the same problem, you'll be able to bypass the gatekeepers faster.

What's the other problem you're referring to (that the musician is having)?
 

harlem

macrumors member
May 28, 2010
56
0
I have the absolute exact problem !

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1004261/


What makes it even worse is that the replacement MP i got also has the exact same problem, i never experienced this before with any computer.

it took Apple 2 years to update the macpro and what do we get, a 5000$ machine that makes some loud crack at least 2 times in 1 hour (...here we go again as I'm typing)

Do i ask for a new one again??? Money back isn't really an option for me since i already bought allot of Mac software. Having it shipped to them for repair is something I'm not going to do out of principles, its a brand new computer so i shouldn't have to send it back for repair after 1 day, especially with a computer around 5000$

Only option Keep sending me mac pro's till i get one that does work but somewhere i strongly doubt they are going to "again" send me a new MP. They will probably think I'm some freak or something...also don't want to go trough the "ok lets see have you tried this...and that, have you tried installing osx again..." Do i ask for the man in charge this time or do i deal with the "Hello my name is X , thank you for calling Apple, how can i help you...ok can i have your case number please....i see, so you say your hear explosions trough your speakers..."

:mad:
 

2contagious

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2008
755
0
UK
Is this a problem that only concerns the optical output or is it the same thing when using the 3.5mm output with an analogue 3.5mm jack?
 

harlem

macrumors member
May 28, 2010
56
0
Is this a problem that only concerns the optical output or is it the same thing when using the 3.5mm output with an analogue 3.5mm jack?

in my case Both, when using the anlogue 3,5mm jack and when using optical output.

anyone else with this problem and does anyone actually know what causes this loud cracking or poping.

I have my computer upstairs in my workspace, the pop is sometimes so loud that i can even hear it when I'm downstairs, the loud crack i hear is in no way related to the volume level of the amplifier, say if i have my amplifier at volume 1 or volume 20, the loud crack's volume is most of the time loud even with the amp's volume turned down
 

mr bojangles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
24
0
I have the absolute exact problem !

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1004261/


What makes it even worse is that the replacement MP i got also has the exact same problem, i never experienced this before with any computer.

it took Apple 2 years to update the macpro and what do we get, a 5000$ machine that makes some loud crack at least 2 times in 1 hour (...here we go again as I'm typing)

Do i ask for a new one again??? Money back isn't really an option for me since i already bought allot of Mac software. Having it shipped to them for repair is something I'm not going to do out of principles, its a brand new computer so i shouldn't have to send it back for repair after 1 day, especially with a computer around 5000$

Only option Keep sending me mac pro's till i get one that does work but somewhere i strongly doubt they are going to "again" send me a new MP. They will probably think I'm some freak or something...also don't want to go trough the "ok lets see have you tried this...and that, have you tried installing osx again..." Do i ask for the man in charge this time or do i deal with the "Hello my name is X , thank you for calling Apple, how can i help you...ok can i have your case number please....i see, so you say your hear explosions trough your speakers..."

:mad:


wow, that's absolutely not looking good, your replacement system having the same issues is...not good at all. Chances are the replacement I'm going to get is going to be the same problems all over again. If this is the case than i don't think i want to be a Mac user. This is just extreme when a company such as Apple releases 4000$ computers and they don't even pay attention to such an obvious problem. This tells me something about quality check to be honest.

Anyway i think its pretty obvious now that its indeed a problem with the computer and not external hardware,cables, speakers...

I read on another forum that a USB audio interface output could be a solution, yet it doesn't really take care of the defect, your just working around it.

Also my concern is since these pops are so loud and just don't sound wright, isn't it like damaging to the motherboard or other hardware since its as if something is powering up and cause high power peaks.
 

Dabbert

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2010
11
1
This sounds like (no pun intended) a structural problem for apple by now.
Mr bojangles and harlem, you have just taken all the fun out of waiting for my own 6-core which i ordered last week... :(
I have no such issue with my bose5 speakers on the old 2004 MacPro but will let you know if i encounter the same prob.on the new hex
Does anybody know if apple has any 'formal' forums where such issues can be publicly escalated and their technical responses viewed (other than updating their support pages of course) ?
 

AdeFowler

macrumors 68020
Aug 27, 2004
2,317
361
England
I've had my 6 core for just over a week now and have the same problem. Mine is rarely loud; normally a faint click but annoying all the same. Frequency varies from 3 times a day to 10... I've been keeping a log!

Mac Pro is plugged into a UPS.
Altec Lancing 2.1 system is now in a separate outlet.
Connection is via audio out

The machine is otherwise perfect and fairly customised so I won't be changing it, but just thought I'd chip in with my experience.
 

mr bojangles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
24
0
Seems as if there's more people with the same problem are popping up, there are 8 people on a french Mac forum experiencing the same problems.

myself i can't work on this machine, the random popping is driving me nuts, specially when I'm focused on a project and then this loud POP

Question ofcourse is "is this in anyway harmfull for the computer yes or no" Apple is not saying a word about this problem and when calling them they claim to have never received any complaints about this, so we will never know. could be that the loud poping or cracks could cause for electric/circuit overload or burn out the chipset because of constant high peaks going through it.

therefore i won't be keeping the next machine if it has the same problem and call apple again, and again, and again...

Why doesn't Macrumors put this problem out on the front page, maybe this way we might get some attention from Apple and hopefully get this problem solved because we aren't getting anywhere like this.
 

Dabbert

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2010
11
1
Seems as if there's more people with the same problem are popping up, there are 8 people on a french Mac forum experiencing the same problems.

myself i can't work on this machine, the random popping is driving me nuts, specially when I'm focused on a project and then this loud POP

Question ofcourse is "is this in anyway harmfull for the computer yes or no" Apple is not saying a word about this problem and when calling them they claim to have never received any complaints about this, so we will never know. could be that the loud poping or cracks could cause for electric/circuit overload or burn out the chipset because of constant high peaks going through it.

therefore i won't be keeping the next machine if it has the same problem and call apple again, and again, and again...

Why doesn't Macrumors put this problem out on the front page, maybe this way we might get some attention from Apple and hopefully get this problem solved because we aren't getting anywhere like this.

I agree - let's try and get some visibility towards Apple in the hope they will recognise this as a real problem from Apple fans that just expect a decent reply and eventually a solution.
 

dknightd

macrumors 6502
Mar 7, 2004
334
1
first, my quad macpro is not showing the same problem. I think the quad and hex use the same mother board. But could be wrong.

I'm just now starting to wrap my mind around how snow leopard manages sound. It is different than what I was used to. Both the sound control panel, and audio midi app have different (and more) options than before. Since it works fine for what I need I haven't looked too deeply into it yet.
(I send sound effects to built in speakers, and other output to digital out)

Anyway, here is my suggestion. Open "system preferences" select " sound"
select "sound effects" direct them to the internal speakers. Now select "output" direct that to your digital out. I suspect PERHAPS the noise you hear is when both "sound effects" and normal output are both being sent to your digital output. Maybe the silly OS sums the output, causing digital clipping. I notice that "audio midi setup" (in the applications/utilities folder) has a aggregate audio device - maybe you are supposed to use this if you send two outputs out to the same device?
 

2contagious

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2008
755
0
UK
This does seem like an odd issue because it seems that not a lot of people are experiencing it (otherwise more people would be complaining on here, no?)
 

reel2reel

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
627
46
I've had my Hex running for a day now and no popping sounds. I'm sending sound through Line Out. No pops whatsoever, thankfully.

I hope you guys get this fixed. This would drive me nuts, too.
 

Schismz

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2010
343
394
I've had my Hex running for a day now and no popping sounds. I'm sending sound through Line Out. No pops whatsoever, thankfully.

I hope you guys get this fixed. This would drive me nuts, too.

Dual hex, received Aug 24th, no popping issue, iTunes runs pretty much constantly so I'd have noticed it.
 

Honumaui

macrumors 6502a
Apr 18, 2008
769
54
I will check with my new one when I start setting it up this week ?
till then sadly its sitting their :(
 

darlenea

macrumors member
Aug 19, 2010
30
0
Minnesota
No pops here

My 3.3 hex core with 5870 card has been running now for several days with my Bose Companion 3 series II and I have had no pops except for one noise when I shut off a florescent light that is plugged into my APS. My husband put it under my computer desk so I could turn it on to see to move cords etc under the desk. I will shutoff my sound system during the rare times I use this light. But I have one of the monitors that is frequently blacking out - so I guess life is never perfect.
All and all I love the new computer. I did a 8 different photoshop projects this weekend and boy did the machine wail. It is extremely quiet also - I have to put my ear down by it to hear it. Darlenea
 

reel2reel

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
627
46
ok, cool.
This guy seems to have no audio issues:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1013210/

Maybe he didn't notice yet.. or it really isn't that much of a widespread issue.

No, believe me, I'd notice it. Like most Mac people, I'm obsessive when it comes to this stuff. And I've worked in media post production for probably 15 years (anything before that is hazy). I'm very sensitive to this kind of thing.

Further, I think my early 2009 MacBook Pro does the audio popping. It's rare that I have speakers attached to the MBP, but I seem to remember hearing these pops whenever I did. I thought at the time if must be the sound card turning on and off, which made me think of energy saver issues. But I never pursued troubleshooting, because I use my MBP 90% of the time for general use, not a/v stuff.

EDIT: Two more things:

1) I use a subwoofer, so any pops would be quite noticeable
2) I've got my MP plugged into an APC battery backup, because the power in my flat sucks (old building). Not sure if that makes a difference or not. Just trying to list anything that might possible be related.
 

Phishhu

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2010
1
0
MBP IC2 Duo 13" vs. 17"

I have a 13" and a 17" MBP IC2Duo. The 13 has this problem but the 17 does not. I am quite sure that the sound occurs when the sound card wakes back up (which can be annoying during a presentation) because if I set iTunes volume to 0 and leave it playing an endless loop then there is never a popping sound because the card can't sleep while sound is played even if at vol 0. (It is a power saving technique, ingenious when it works right) I have friends with the 13" IC2Duo which all have the same problem. This makes me wonder if the problem is actually with hardware/software incompatibility. BTW The problem still occurs when I use a Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface.
This power saving technique has been in Macs for quite sometime and the popping problem has surfaced in previous models. I think that a software fix could help but until Apple decides to do something other than bury their heads in the sand on it nothing will be done about. As for me, I will keep using an endless sound loop to stop the popping.
Hopefully a fix will come soon.
 

davelanger

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2009
832
2
No mac store around here unfortinatly, thus also no genius bars. i'll ask for an exchange, only if this is because of the sound card waking up or HDD i'm afraid the next one will have the same problem wright???

can someone please confirm if its possible to have usb and cinch for my sound, maybe i could try it this way


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