whine emitted from using touch buttons

[schk]

I'm on my second 15 gig iPod (exchanged for first one due to numerous resets) and just noticed there is a high pitched whining noise emitted when using any of the touch buttons. The noise is NOT coming from the hard drive. I have pretty sensitive hearing and I don't remember this happening on my first one. This was mentioned in a previous post on the old board, and people said to charge it in order to get rid of the noise. While that worked, I just listened again and the noise is back. It appears to come back when the battery is used up. For example, I just charged the iPod fully and there is no sound coming from the buttons. After using it a bit and the bars now show 3/4 and now the noise has returned. It also goes away when the backlight is on as well. But I just wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing this as well. You should be able to hear the noise a few inches away from the ipod.

old forum post:
http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/...571885&start=5

[mongoos150]

Originally posted by schk
I'm on my second 15 gig iPod (exchanged for first one due to numerous resets) and just noticed there is a high pitched whining noise emitted when using any of the touch buttons. The noise is NOT coming from the hard drive. I have pretty sensitive hearing and I don't remember this happening on my first one. This was mentioned in a previous post on the old board, and people said to charge it in order to get rid of the noise. While that worked, I just listened again and the noise is back. It appears to come back when the battery is used up. For example, I just charged the iPod fully and there is no sound coming from the buttons. After using it a bit and the bars now show 3/4 and now the noise has returned. It also goes away when the backlight is on as well. But I just wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing this as well. You should be able to hear the noise a few inches away from the ipod.

old forum post:
http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/dennx/...571885&start=5

Yea, most (if not all) electronic devices emit this strange sound when either using the backlight, pressing keys etc... My iPod does it, my Sony Clie does it, my cell phone does it. This is normal.

[Kenny]

Originally posted by mongoos150
Yea, most (if not all) electronic devices emit this strange sound when either using the backlight, pressing keys etc... My iPod does it, my Sony Clie does it, my cell phone does it. This is normal.

No this is not normal. Read the post and the linked post again.
We all know about the very faint buzz that occurs with electronic devices, but this is a very different sound (and the sound goes away when the backlight is off, or when the unit is being recharged.

[schk]

mongoos150, it is not a normal sound coming from the unit that we are talking about here. it only occurs w/ the backlight off and when the battery is somewhat drained. what worries me is that other people have mentioned the battery drains quickly whenever the unit is emitting this noise, i haven't really paid attention to mine. at least people are noticing this on the apple board, but seems no one here can hear it it or cares.

If you would like to hear the noise, use the battery when it's 3/4 or lower, then hold the unit close (i can actually hear it from quite a bit away, but thats because i have sensitive hearing) and listen to the whine noise that comes whenever the touch button is used. Just placing your finger over the middle circular button for a long time will keep the noise going until you let go of it. I just hope this can be fixed via firmware, but the nature of the sound seems to be strictly hardware related.

[mongoos150]

Originally posted by schk
mongoos150, it is not a normal sound coming from the unit that we are talking about here. it only occurs w/ the backlight off and when the battery is somewhat drained. what worries me is that other people have mentioned the battery drains quickly whenever the unit is emitting this noise, i haven't really paid attention to mine. at least people are noticing this on the apple board, but seems no one here can hear it it or cares.

If you would like to hear the noise, use the battery when it's 3/4 or lower, then hold the unit close (i can actually hear it from quite a bit away, but thats because i have sensitive hearing) and listen to the whine noise that comes whenever the touch button is used. Just placing your finger over the middle circular button for a long time will keep the noise going until you let go of it. I just hope this can be fixed via firmware, but the nature of the sound seems to be strictly hardware related.

Interesting, I cannot hear the noise to which you are referring, and I cannot help you. Sorry!

[schk]

Hmm, well you are the first person I've seen that has actually posted that said they don't hear the noise. Does anyone else not hear this noise as well? Try using the ipod at one bar of battery life. If more people don't get this sound, then that means I should get this exchanged.

[JamesContrades]

I dont hear any whine you guys are talking about

[schk]

Just an update for those who are interested. I sent my iPod to Apple to be looked at for this problem, and am waiting for it back. I checked the online repair status and they recieved it yesterday and today it said a replacement is ordered. Hopefully the new one won't have the problem. I checked someone elses iPod and noticed it gave out the same noise, but he got it from the same batch of iPods that I did. And I assume since a replacement was ordered, that the noise should not be occurring.

[Kenny]

Originally posted by schk
Just an update for those who are interested. I sent my iPod to Apple to be looked at for this problem, and am waiting for it back. I checked the online repair status and they recieved it yesterday and today it said a replacement is ordered. Hopefully the new one won't have the problem. I checked someone elses iPod and noticed it gave out the same noise, but he got it from the same batch of iPods that I did. And I assume since a replacement was ordered, that the noise should not be occurring.

Hmm... keeps us updated when you get the new iPod. If the problem is gone, Im going to send my iPod back too.

[schk]

meh, still has the whine noise, so I guess that's just to be expected with these new touch buttons. What's more disturbing is on my new iPod, the screen dims significantly just going into regular submenus, that did not occur before. The only time I saw significant dimming on my previous 2 iPods were playing solitaire. Now, just browsing the artist list looks washed out. Also, none of the songs actually play. I hit play and the meter never moves at all, but the status changes from play and pause fine. Oh well, off to Best Buy to get this exchanged for another one. Also, this unit looked like it was a new replacement, but there are already faint scratches on the metal backing which can't be removed.

[Kenny]

That's very dissapointing to hear.
Let's hope this is fixed during the next firmware update.
Odd thing is, not many people have complained about this!

I originally thought that only a small amount of iPods had this problem, but when you got another unit from Apple, and the same problem persisted, I guess this is more common than I originally thought.

[Phil]

You guys have to first establish that the ticking sounds cause the battery to drain before calling it a bug or problem that needs fixing. Leave your ipod alone for a day to see if the battery does drain or not.

[Kenny]

It's not a ticking sound.

It's a constant high pitched whine sound that happens when the battery is low.
The sound doesnt cause any battery drain, it just happens when the battery is low.

[schk]

My first two units did not drain quickly when left alone. This third one does. Now if I hold this third unit close to my ear with it off, I can hear some faint electrical noise like beeps/ticking. So at first I did not think that this problem would lead to battery loss, but this one seems much worse than the others i have had. It loses about a bar per day when not used at all. Because the low noise when the unit is off is basically a lower volume version of the higher pitched noise when using the buttons, I now believe it does cause battery loss (others have mentioned that on other posts before as well).

I'm just gonna get my new unit (best buy is out of stock of the 15gb units) sell it on ebay, then buy a new one in a few months hoping that there will be a new firmware by then, and hopefully some revisions to the manufacturing process that might stop this sort of electronic interference noise.

[Phil]

That's what I was saying earlier about the ticking sounds. People have said it drains the battery, but there's no reason to believe it does. Mine makes the ticking sound and the battery does not drain overnight. And when I touch my buttons, it makes a squealing sound for two seconds, and then return to the ticking sound (unless the backlight is on, then the ticking sound will resume when the backlight turns off).