strange faint beep when plugged into speakers

[kming05]

Hey everyone...

I've noticed this for a while, but just failed to write about it. Whenever I leave speakers/headphones or anything of that sort plugged into my MBA turned on without anything playing out of them, i hear this very faint beep every couple of seconds. When i turn the speakers off, it turns off, but usually i forget to and come back to hearing this super soft/faint beep. Any clue how to get rid of this? Is this an issue I should consult with Apple? And this happens regardless of whether or not i "mute" sound on my MBA.

Thanks

 

[Sesshi]

If it's a series of very faint beeps, fzzts, etc, it's various machine activity leaking into the analog audio stage. It's common with cheaper Windows notebooks / desktops - and apparently much of the Apple range.

 

[kming05]

thats exactly it. any ways i can get rid of it aside from turning off speakers?

 

[aussieinrome]

It only happens when the plug isn't fully inserted, If you use your iPod headphones - the sound is perfect. The small lip on the bottom of the drop down door stops many plugs from fully inserting.

 

[Flanagan]

I had a similar thing happen with my macbook pro, after plenty of mucking around re-wiring the speakers i realised the problem was that my wireless router was sitting on my amp and interfering with it, resulting in very faint beeping (it gets annoying after a while i know...)

 

[justit]

Seems my Bose speaker headphone jack doesn't go in all the way. I ended up getting a headphone jack to USB connector that plugs into my hub to get rid of the beeping. There's still a bit of audio noise but I guess I can't expect a laptop to be meant for audiophiles.

So both the MBA and the 1st Gen iPhone have headphone fitting problems. Is that bad engineering or trying to get us to not use 3rd party devices?

 

[whatjones911]

I have the exact same problem. Is a lot of people having this problem?

At first it didnt really bother me but then when i started using external speakers there was a loud pop noise whenever no sound was produced as well as the beeping noises from the speakers.

 

[Fuchal]

If you want to eliminate it pick up a USB Griffin iMic for $20 or so. Better quality audio out, Mic input, and the problem will be completely gone.

 

[TheNorthWaves]

find the program called "soundon" and run it + make it start up with your computer. I looked high and low for a solution (weeks) until I ran across this. Same problem was afflicting my white macbook. It's a common problem.

 

[whatjones911]

find the program called "soundon" and run it + make it start up with your computer. I looked high and low for a solution (weeks) until I ran across this. Same problem was afflicting my white macbook. It's a common problem.

Lots of programs came up when I searched. Do you mind linking me to the right one? Thanks

 

[kloan]

It's a common problem that Apple refuses to address... if anything, they decided to make it worse in 10.5.6.

The sound card goes to sleep. Some moron thought this would be a great idea, even if your machine is plugged in.

So it goes to sleep, makes a clip noise, then beeps faintly over and over and over again. Awesome huh?

Then to make it even a cooler feature, it comes back to life with any system alert or sound output with a 'pop. Depending on what speakers you're using and what the volume is set at, it can be quite loud.

This happens OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

No, it's not the plug. It's Apple and their stupid team of developers that program these dumb little tidbits to save energy. Completely useless and aggravating to the end user.

People have been complaining about this for years.