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Lycanthrope

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
566
92
Brussels, Belgium, Europe
Has anyone else experienced this...

The first week or so after purchase my Mac Pro was silent, now it has developed a most unpleasant buzzing sound, about a middle-C tone. If I take off the side-panel it stops and starts again after it's replaced - not total proof that it's to do with that but likely.

Sounds like a resonation has been set up from the fans to the case or something??? It's really quite loud :mad:
 

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
Has anyone else experienced this...

The first week or so after purchase my Mac Pro was silent, now it has developed a most unpleasant buzzing sound, about a middle-C tone. If I take off the side-panel it stops and starts again after it's replaced - not total proof that it's to do with that but likely.

Sounds like a resonation has been set up from the fans to the case or something??? It's really quite loud :mad:

I've had something close to what you describe happen with my MP ( it's been buzz free for the last couple of months). I was able to stop the sound by giving the case a slight tap. I suspect one of the fans was going out of balance and tapping "straightened" it out.
 

diehardmacfan

macrumors regular
Mar 12, 2007
204
0
try just touching the side of the mac pro or the top of it and see if the buzzing stops

is the mac pro on a hardwood floor or a desk

if it is not perfectly even it can cause a vibration
 

NATO

macrumors 68000
Feb 14, 2005
1,702
35
Northern Ireland
While its running, lift the latch which locks the side panel in place, you may find this reduces or indeed eliminates the buzzing noise. I normally have mine running with the latch fully released.
 

product26

Cancelled
May 30, 2005
777
9
it is not a HUMM... it is a BUZZZ

from the power supply.. mine does it too... bugs me because it is louder than the rest of the tower.
 

Lycanthrope

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
566
92
Brussels, Belgium, Europe
Indeed it is a buzz not a hum - seems I'm not alone with this though!

It's on a wood parquet floor which in concrete underneath, although the house is new there's a fair change that it won't be even.

Releasing the latch stops it, locking it restarts.

I also wonder if it's a fan that's setting up a resonance - the first week of use I was running SETI on it 24/24 which obviously would have kept the fans running a little higher. Now in the last five days the SETI server has been down, no work units have been available so the client is dormant and the machine is generally in a idle state and this appears to be when it happens.

I have a friend staying in the room right now so my chances for investigation are limited - he leaves today so I can dig in deeper.
 

waremaster

macrumors 6502
Aug 27, 2006
406
2
Has anyone else experienced this...

The first week or so after purchase my Mac Pro was silent, now it has developed a most unpleasant buzzing sound, about a middle-C tone. If I take off the side-panel it stops and starts again after it's replaced - not total proof that it's to do with that but likely.

Sounds like a resonation has been set up from the fans to the case or something??? It's really quite loud :mad:

Mine buzzed too.. It started when I put 3 additional drives in the machine. It turned out that the drive caddies were slightly vibrating against the top rail. All I did was remove each drive and put an ever slight bend downward on the caddy so that it does not come so close to the top rail. Problem solved.
 

Lycanthrope

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
566
92
Brussels, Belgium, Europe
Mine buzzed too.. It started when I put 3 additional drives in the machine. It turned out that the drive caddies were slightly vibrating against the top rail. All I did was remove each drive and put an ever slight bend downward on the caddy so that it does not come so close to the top rail. Problem solved.

Hmmm, I'll check that out. I put the machine up on top of the desk to investigate but have kept in asleep a lot recently as SETI has been down.

I did put an extra 250GB in the day I bought it so maybe this could have something to do with it. More news when I have it...
 

Lycanthrope

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
566
92
Brussels, Belgium, Europe
Mine buzzed too.. It started when I put 3 additional drives in the machine. It turned out that the drive caddies were slightly vibrating against the top rail. All I did was remove each drive and put an ever slight bend downward on the caddy so that it does not come so close to the top rail. Problem solved.

Could be it's a similar problem I have/had - while fitting some new RAM I have taken out the drives and the second one I added wasn't screwed into the tray as tightly as perhaps is should have been. After doing this it seems better. I'll observe...
 
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