MacBook Pro Whine Fix

[TBi]

Well it's taken a while but speedit with whine cancellation is finally sort of available.

This fix should actually increase your battery life while cancelling out the whine.

Please report back how it works for you. I'm very interested in this even though i've returned my MBP.

I'd also love to know what temperature changes people are seeing. This tool technically should make your MBP run cooler.

 

[YS2003]

Does this void the Apple warranty? I am interested in getting MBP; but, due to numerous posts on heat and excessive noise issues, I have been holding off.

 

[TBi]

It's only software. Why would it invalidate the warranty? I'd try it but i don't have my MBP any more.

 

[QCassidy352]

if this works on my MB i'm gonna be so happy. I'll post back with results later...

 

[Voidness]

There's a small program that used to completely eliminate the MBP whine, it's called MagicNoiseKiller. But It doesn't work anymore, I'm guessing the latest Quicktime Update (7.1.1) broke it.

 

[QCassidy352]

There's a small program that used to completely eliminate the MBP whine, it's called MagicNoiseKiller. But It doesn't work anymore, I'm guessing the latest Quicktime Update (7.1.1) broke it.

"quiet macbook pro" is another program that completely eliminates the whine, but at the cost of heat/battery life. Supposedly, speedit will not have those problems, but it's not working for me so far.

 

[bbrosemer]

I dont think it is the computer that needs a fix I think the people owning them need the fix, the Core Duo is what makes the noise does the same in Dell's.

 

[QCassidy352]

I dont think it is the computer that needs a fix I think the people owning them need the fix, the Core Duo is what makes the noise does the same in Dell's.

LOL well that's one theory, sure. But why, then, can I make the noise go away with simple little "hacks?" If it's just how the Core Duo is built, then there's no way I could eliminate the noise so easily.

And btw, I'm of the opinion that it's the power supply/power management, NOT the CPU. My CPU is idling at less than 5-10% per core right now and is silent because of a hack. Yet I can be running 5 programs at once, have both cores at > 30%, and still get a whine.

In case anyone is interested, here's how to get the mirror widget/photobooth/magic noise killer hacks to work again. I followed those steps and now those hacks, which do not tax the processor and hence do not cause my MB to start mooing (unlike just running photobooth or quiet macbookpro), work again. Yay for a totally silent macbook!!

 

[benthewraith]

LOL well that's one theory, sure. But why, then, can I make the noise go away with simple little "hacks?" If it's just how the Core Duo is built, then there's no way I could eliminate the noise so easily.

And btw, I'm of the opinion that it's the power supply/power management, NOT the CPU. My CPU is idling at less than 5-10% per core right now and is silent because of a hack. Yet I can be running 5 programs at once, have both cores at > 30%, and still get a whine.

In case anyone is interested, here's how to get the mirror widget/photobooth/magic noise killer hacks to work again. I followed those steps and now those hacks, which do not tax the processor and hence do not cause my MB to start mooing (unlike just running photobooth or quiet macbookpro), work again. Yay for a totally silent macbook!!

I agree with you. It's funny with QuietMBP that sometimes the computer will run at 150 without me working on it and still have the whine (i have to bump it to something horrendously high to make it go away, but the moment I unplugged my power adapter, replugged it, and brought it back to 150, the whine was gone). I think it's something to do with power management. In fact, this is what many of the Lenovo thinkpad crowd think about their notebooks having the whine.

 

[TBi]

I dont think it is the computer that needs a fix I think the people owning them need the fix, the Core Duo is what makes the noise does the same in Dell's.

Actually i have a Dell D820, a Macbook and formerly had a MacBook Pro. There is a distinct and audible difference between any noise the D820 and macbook make compared to how loud the MacBook Pro was. If you heard what mine was like you would know the difference.

My Macbook has a whine too but it is noticably quieter than what i had with the MacBook Pro so i'm guessing a lot of MBP owners have got quieter ones and hence don't complain about it but some of us got really loud ones.

 

[TBi]

LOL well that's one theory, sure. But why, then, can I make the noise go away with simple little "hacks?" If it's just how the Core Duo is built, then there's no way I could eliminate the noise so easily.

And btw, I'm of the opinion that it's the power supply/power management, NOT the CPU. My CPU is idling at less than 5-10% per core right now and is silent because of a hack. Yet I can be running 5 programs at once, have both cores at > 30%, and still get a whine.

In case anyone is interested, here's how to get the mirror widget/photobooth/magic noise killer hacks to work again. I followed those steps and now those hacks, which do not tax the processor and hence do not cause my MB to start mooing (unlike just running photobooth or quiet macbookpro), work again. Yay for a totally silent macbook!!

The mirror widget hack works by leaving the USB connection on but not active (or similar to that) which means it uses more battery life than normal. It doesn't tax the CPU though. Speedit should quieten your laptop down without lowering battery life or increasing temperature.

I'd say you are right about the power circuitry causing the trouble. However i'd say the main problem is how Apple are controlling the speed step in the processor, mainly because they aren't. Either that or they are not controlling it properly. This is verified mainly because you don't get the whine (well not as much) in windows but i still have to try out that "fix" for windows which causes the whine to come back. If i can find it.

 

[mmmcheese]

There's a small program that used to completely eliminate the MBP whine, it's called MagicNoiseKiller. But It doesn't work anymore, I'm guessing the latest Quicktime Update (7.1.1) broke it.

It's actually the Keyboard update that stopped them from working. You can install an older version of the driver and MagicNoiseKiller will work again. I can't remember the URL where the file is, so I will post that when I find it again.


EDIT: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=460906&tstart=15

More specifically:

Same worked for me. Whine wouldn't go away with that Photoboth workaround after keyboard update. I installed an older version and it worked.
You'll get the original version shipped with 10.4.5 in the developer section:

http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/download/usbdebug.html

The dmg contains the a debug version which outputs log messages and the original version.

This worked perfectly for me when I accidentally installed the update (forgot to uncheck it when Apple unleashed a whole schwack of updates on time).

EDIT2:
Sometimes after a reboot, MagicNoiseKiller doesn't seem to work (on the older driver). Simply opening and closing photobooth and then trying MagicNoiseKiller fixes this.

 

[mmmcheese]

The mirror widget hack works by leaving the USB connection on but not active (or similar to that) which means it uses more battery life than normal. It doesn't tax the CPU though. Speedit should quieten your laptop down without lowering battery life or increasing temperature.

I'd say you are right about the power circuitry causing the trouble. However i'd say the main problem is how Apple are controlling the speed step in the processor, mainly because they aren't. Either that or they are not controlling it properly. This is verified mainly because you don't get the whine (well not as much) in windows but i still have to try out that "fix" for windows which causes the whine to come back. If i can find it.

It doesn't whine in Windows because Microsoft still hasn't released a patch for the USB bug. Since there are USB 2 devices attached to the machine (iSight for example), the machine won't go into the low power states. Apple had this bug too, and that's what the keyboard update fixed.

I use the older "buggy" keyboard driver and run MagicNoiseKiller when I'm plugged in. If I want to go on battery power, then I just turn on photobooth and then turn it back off and it disengages MagicNoiseKiller. I get back my battery life and I put up with the sound (it's not that bad, I just prefer not to hear it when I have my machine plugged in). Also, you don't create extra heat when plugged in by making the CPU run more cycles.

 

[TBi]

It doesn't whine in Windows because Microsoft still hasn't released a patch for the USB bug. Since there are USB 2 devices attached to the machine (iSight for example), the machine won't go into the low power states. Apple had this bug too, and that's what the keyboard update fixed.

I found information on a fix for the USB problem and although i don't have a MacBook Pro i will install windows later on my Macbook in boot camp to see how the fix works. I'll report back if it makes the whine in windows (although it is already barely audible).

This is the fix for windows

 

[QCassidy352]

The mirror widget hack works by leaving the USB connection on but not active (or similar to that) which means it uses more battery life than normal. It doesn't tax the CPU though. Speedit should quieten your laptop down without lowering battery life or increasing temperature.

speedit sounds great, but isn't working for me atm. However, I'm quite happy with my older keyboard driver and the photobooth hack.

As for draining battery life - the whine is significantly louder for me on the power adapter; it's already almost nonexistant on battery power. So, on battery, I can just not run the hack and get full battery life with close to zero sound. (the fact that the whine is different on AC and battery is yet another reason I believe this is a power management issue)

I'm still hopeful that apple will investigate and address this issue officially, but until they do, I'm pleased as punch with my silent macbook.

 

[mmmcheese]

I found information on a fix for the USB problem and although i don't have a MacBook Pro i will install windows later on my Macbook in boot camp to see how the fix works. I'll report back if it makes the whine in windows (although it is already barely audible).

This is the fix for windows

Hmm, last time I had checked, it was still considered "alpha"...still looks like it isn't installed by default, so most people reporting that it is silent in Windows probably didn't install it.

Let us know what you find.

 

[mmmcheese]

speedit sounds great, but isn't working for me atm. However, I'm quite happy with my older keyboard driver and the photobooth hack.

As for draining battery life - the whine is significantly louder for me on the power adapter; it's already almost nonexistant on battery power. So, on battery, I can just not run the hack and get full battery life with close to zero sound. (the fact that the whine is different on AC and battery is yet another reason I believe this is a power management issue)

I'm still hopeful that apple will investigate and address this issue officially, but until they do, I'm pleased as punch with my silent macbook.

Mine has it in both battery and powered, but they are different pitches. The powered one is very very high pitched on mine, and some people can't hear it. The battery one seems louder to me, but that could be because it's a much lower frequency and my ears might be more sensitive to it.

 

[milozauckerman]

the Core Duo is what makes the noise does the same in Dell's.

Explain this to me then:

Why did my MBP not make the 'noise' for the first ten days I had it, and once it developed the 'noise' why did it go away with the various hacks available?

Why doesn't the Toshiba Core-Duo machine I'm borrowing make the 'noise'?

I eagerly await your answers.

 

[yah00z]

Guys

MagicNoiseKiller works great. It stopped working with the new Keyboard update, believe it or not. However, there is an application you can download from apple that will back-date that update so you can continue to use MagicNoiseKiler.

Just recieved my new 2.16MBP replacement laptop this morning and it apparently was comming with a new logic board that "called for less thermal paste". And boy, let me tell you, it's running great! The most I have seen it get to is around 63 degrees celcius with bolth cores full out for 30 minutes. Anyways, it's alot better at taking the heat away from the area than my first 2.0MBP. Right now I am on the 2.0 writing this as I do some stuff to the new one. However, the CPU whine is not gone. The heat was my main concern. I am glad they cut back on the thermal paste finally. It definatly feels like it on this machine. I mean, it runs like 10 degrees cooler than my 2.0 with 128 and the 80 gig 5400.. my new on is 100 gig 7200/2gig ram/256 ati x1600

 

[TBi]

What revision is your laptop? Post the first 5 letters of your serial number. Thanks many.

W86XX?

 

[nermal0]

On a Macbook this tool causes major MOOOing

 

[TBi]

On a Macbook this tool causes major MOOOing

Which tool?

 

[QCassidy352]

MagicNoiseKiller works great. It stopped working with the new Keyboard update, believe it or not. However, there is an application you can download from apple that will back-date that update so you can continue to use MagicNoiseKiler

MagicNoiseKiller doesn't work for me even after undoing the keyboard update, but the mirror widget and photobooth tricks do work. I'm not sure why...

 

[zign]

I had my first ever (2 years) Kernal Panic after trying this speedit tool.

Since I hardly ever shut down or use iSight, I perform the following procedure after every restart: activate mirror widget > quit mirror widget > close the lid and let the mbp go to sleep > wake up the computer = the whine is gone and woun't appear until you activate iSight or restart the computer.

 

[HaroldC]

Since I hardly ever shut down or use iSight, I perform the following procedure after every restart: activate mirror widget > quit mirror widget > close the lid and let the mbp go to sleep > wake up the computer = the whine is gone and woun't appear until you activate iSight or restart the computer.

WOW!!!!!!!!!

This really works. Now I don't need to use QuietMBP.

For those who are skeptical. Try it and see if it works. Here's what I'm running:
2GHz 15" running 10.4.7

Thanks zign!!!!!

-harold