0
Score
Petter
11
Asked
What is causing low buzzing noise?
I've installed a brand new Solid State Drive (SSD) in my Pismo (from Other World Computing) and maxed the RAM to 1 GB (also brand new) in hopes of making it 100% silent. But there's still a low, thin, buzzing noise coming from either the lower part of the screen itself, or somewhere right under where the screen attaches to the rest of the computer. It's hard to locate exactly, as it seems to be equally strong along the entire width of the computer in that area. The noise slightly changes character when I press down the trackpad button; becoming a bit more muted. It doesn't change when the display sleeps.
It's probably not something most people would notice, but I'm very sensitive to sounds, so it bothers me.
Where is this sound coming from? Is there perhaps a bad connection somewhere, or is this normal and something I will have to live with?
Thanks.
3
Score
rj713
33.9k
Answered
Hi, From your description it sounds like it may be the inverter. (Link provided) So long as everything is working I would leave it alone but if you want to change it they are available inexpensively on ebay and can be replaced without too much trouble. Good luck.
For the record I find the Pismo to be the easiest Apple laptop to work on and parts are very resonable. Link provided to the Pismo guides.
Thanks for the suggestion. I guess that's possible, but in that case I find it strange that the two different Pismos I have access to have the exact same noise. I currently believe that this low buzzing noise is something every Pismo has, but is usually not posssible to hear because the noise from a regular hard drive is masking it.
1
Score
nick
12.3k
Answered
hese are very sensitive to radio frequency, it could be interference
Try using it elsewhere, if it still does this, you may have a loose speaker connection
Regarding the headphone jack, if you use different pairs of headphones and press them in well, you may be up against soldering a new headphone jack on too
Update your findings after you test
headphone jack update
I looked at a disassembly of the Pismo, you need to solder to replace it and it's tough!
Thanks a lot for the quick reply. So you're saying that the noise may be coming from the speakers? I have noticed that one of the speakers play louder than the other, and also that there is some noise in my headphones when I connect them to the Pismo, although that goes away as soon as I start playing something through them. The noise doesn't change in different locations, so I guess I should try to disconnect the speakers?
It could be a loose connector, I have had issues like this with loose speaker connectors too in some cases, but try a diffrent location first and see what happens(3 locations), if this fails, the speaker connectors need to be reseated
nick,
Okay, so I've tried several different locations with and without battery, and the noise was still the same. I've also disconnected the audio cables from the sound card -- no change. Then I tried installing the SSD in another Pismo to make it as quiet as the first one, and that Pismo also had the same noise. So I'm thinking now that it's something every Pismo has that can't be fixed. Now that I think about it, it's actually the same static noise I hear coming from most desktop LCD screens in a quiet room. I also had a MacBook 2007 that had a similar noise coming from its screen, although a bit higher pitched, and which also became more muted when I pressed down the trackpad button. The noise sounds very similar, if not identical to the noise I hear coming from most AC adapters used by all kinds of electrical devices. Most people don't seem to notice it, but it drives me crazy. By the way, I don't care whether the headphone jack and speakers work or not. I just want my Pismo to be as quiet as an iPad.