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Background Static on MBP-SR?

A

athimmig

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 22, 2002
12
0
San Francisco
I just got my MBP-SR 2.4 15" yesterday! Man does it rock. Running games in Bootcamp is amazing... better than my 3 year old PC Desktop.

Anyways, I have noticed that in both MACOSX and Vista that there is a rather noticable amount of background static that is always present regardless of what I am doing. Though I normally would'nt be bothered by this kind of thing, it becomes pretty annoying when listening to music on iTunes or watching Movies.:(

Is this a problem you all have noticed in other MBPs?

What do you all think I should do? Should I bring in my computer to my local apple store? Call tech-support? Or do you think there is nothing they can do?

Thanks for the advice!

:apple:
 
I have the same issue

athimmig said:
I just got my MBP-SR 2.4 15" yesterday! Man does it rock. Running games in Bootcamp is amazing... better than my 3 year old PC Desktop.

Anyways, I have noticed that in both MACOSX and Vista that there is a rather noticable amount of background static that is always present regardless of what I am doing. Though I normally would'nt be bothered by this kind of thing, it becomes pretty annoying when listening to music on iTunes or watching Movies.:(

Is this a problem you all have noticed in other MBPs?

What do you all think I should do? Should I bring in my computer to my local apple store? Call tech-support? Or do you think there is nothing they can do?

Thanks for the advice!

:apple:
Click to expand...

Mine does the same thing! I have a pair of Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 pro's that I plug in and the amount of white noise (even when nothing is playing) is REALLY annoying.
 
I'm running the Shure e500 earbuds. It would be one thing if it were just a pair of crappy headphones but I use these with my stereo too so I know the problem is the computer.
 
likely not the case but I'll throw it out there...

Any chance you have dirty power? I always had this issue in the past and it was so frustrating. A good power regulator fixed it for me.
 
Nope, I am running of a monster cable surge protector... I really dont have much of a clue what could be wrong here, but I suppose I will take it to the apple store after work if they are open late.
 
I have the same problem on a new SR MacBook Pro. I'll notice the buzz/static will start when a sound is played (with a click right before the the sound), and then the humm will continue after the sound/music etc. stops for about 60 seconds and then go silent. If you look through the forums you'll see its a common problem with these new ones, I don't think you'll be lucky enough to get it fixed with a replacement. Sounds like shielding on the sound card is not good enough and is causing interference.
 
I hear lots of interference with my new SR MBP, too. Unfortunately, when the analog audio components (the jack, wiring) are poorly shielded, they become VERY susceptible to noise. This is a common thing with laptops where the components are all crammed together, but it's a bummer (understatement) that it happens with Apple's "professional" line of $2000+ notebooks.

Alternatives are to use an external D/A converter (USB audio interface, USB speakers, or ExpressCard audio interface - if they make those?). Or class action. Heh.
 
wow. that really sucks. does everyone seem to be having this problem? i was planning on getting one but now i'm not so sure. i do a lot of serious audio editing and and this could be a major problem. it wouldn't be a problem at home because i plan on using my firewire mbox for audio outs, but the reason i wanted go with a MBP instead of a mac pro is so i can take my work with me and do mixing/mastering on the go through my headphones. but if the audio out sucks then there's no point.


any word on whether applecare covers this?
 
i am having a similar problem, and the genius at the apple store could not help wiht it...any suggestions?
 
I wanna revive this thread..

Has anyone gotten results with calling apple?
I have this problem too. Stupid static, sometimes even a beeping similar to the one they give u on hearing tests, in the background. It goes off and on randomly...very strange. Anyone else have this?
I don't exactly wanna get the computer replaced for it as i've just started to get everything else running smoothly...solutions???
 
I noticed this problem on my SR MBP as well, however I realised it only occured when I had a second monitor plugged into the DVI port. When I took the second monitor out, the static stopped. I switched the outlet that my second monitor was plugged into and the static is gone.
 
hmmm....well itdoesnt seem to be a power problem for me...happens while running on battery power too. Unless the battery is faulty itself?
 
Is there anything else plugged into your MBP, like an external hard drive etc. When I heard static, the first thing I did was unplug the laptop to see if it was due to the plug. It didn't immediately occur to me that the static could come from the secondary monitor's plug.
 
nope...nothin else. i think the problem is either in the OS or in the hardware...pretty sure its not external at this point.
 
idk..i have the 2.2 ghz version. I plugged in some headphones and put it on max volume in osx. I didn't hear any static.
 
Also affects mine if I put headphones in. It doesn't annoy me if there's constant sound, only if there are odd application beeps as then you notice the static for several seconds afterwards before it cuts off back to silence.

I'd imagine the issue affects all, or at least nearly all, of the new MBPs. I'm guessing the sound is on-board, so perhaps it's endemic of the new SR logic boards? Anyway, I can imagine it would be annoying to audio professionals in particular and as such I'd encourage people to log it with Apple as a fault. I'll try and do so myself if I get time.

Having never had an Apple laptop I didn't really consider this to actually be a fault. Fortunately I virtually never wear headphones. I guess the rest of you aren't so lucky.
 
I hope theres a fix or replacement available soon!

I use my headphones every day at home AND work... The static/interference is making me go crazy. :mad:
 
As others have said in it's mentioned in the review, and it seems quite a lot of you have it so maybe it's not just an accident/only on some mbps :(

Damn, why can't Apple make a computer I can buy?

Not that i expect much from integreated sound cards, but the intel 965 chipset are supposed to have quite good sound doesn't it? Atleast in features.

Having to use an USB one suck, Apple should make sure their ****ing computers work instead.

Also since the MBP only comes with 2 usb slots in 15.4" case it will look like **** with that usb hub, keyboard, mouse, usb sound, printer, scanner, memory card reader, eventually a burner which doesn't suck, hdd, ..
 
I'm glad... sort of... that I'm not the only one with this problem. I just purchased a new 2.2GHz MBP and received it yesterday and although I love the computer, this static is really annoying. I may call Apple but I doubt they'd do anything about it.
 
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