The Pandora talks! Literally.

[Zor Prime]

In a quiet room last night I noticed this peculiar noise with my Pandora. It has been getting cold so I didn't have a fan running in the room as I usually do, and wasn't at my PC so I couldn't hear ambient noise from it.


I thought it was the clock on my wall trying to die or something, then I finally noticed it was the Pandora itself.


The WiFi chip emits an audible noise when enabled, particularly when it sends and receives data.


With no data transfer it sends and receives data packets sparingly, so the noise is not as frequent.


So I opened up Gigolo and found some files on my computer to transfer to the SDHC card on the Pandora. Picked a couple and started downloading them.


The WiFi chip then makes consistent, repetitive squawks until the data transfer is over then the noises go into an idle loop.


Just thought it was interesting that a person could actually tell if the WiFi chip was enabled or not, by your ear.


If you are in a room that has moderate ambient noise, just put it flat on your ear and unless you're deaf you'll hear it.


Don't know if anyone has noticed this before.

 

[lulzfish]

So it's not talking in a human language, so is it figuratively talking?


Ugh.


But yeah, my graphics card on my laptop does the same thing. Sometimes if you run a program without a framecap in Linux, it will squeal loudly and very noticeable. It also sometimes clicks with the scrolling of a web browser, and squeaks if there's a lot of stuff being drawn. Only in Linux, because Nvidia hates me. :_(

 

[MWeston]

I asked the wifi module manufacturer about this. I've never heard this noise but I don't doubt anyone who says it happens.


They told me that the large capacitor that they recommended on the internal switching power supply was squealing as it switched power modes (lower frequencies) and I should reduce the size of that capacitor in order to put the frequencies into a higher range and above the human ear's perception. I will do that for future boards and I asked if the current value was going to cause any damage. They said it won't do any harm. It might just annoy a few customers. I hope it isn't so bad that it drives you nuts.


From what I have read, I don't think this happens on all boards. The reason is likely part tolerance. These big caps probably have a 10-20% tolerance and the noisy boards have higher values while the quiet boards are on the low range.

 

[com64]

My Nintendo DS does the same thing while loading things, and you can hear it through the headphones or speakers.


When I read the title, I though someone had added speech synthesis to the Pandora... I like speech synthesis... that way I don't have to look at the screen all the time.

 

[Zor Prime]

Hi MWeston, it isn't so loud that it will bug somebody I do not believe.


I am rarely ever in a room without something going on, so it was the very first time I noticed it.


I actually think it's sorta neat, because I can tell if it's working or not by hearing it. It's barely audible unless you have it up to your ear.


So, are you saying that the power supply is switching frequencies around to drive the WiFi module and this is probably what I am hearing?


At first glance / hear (lol,) I figured it had to be the WiFi chip since when it's disabled I cannot hear anything.


But you're the expert. =)

 

[WizardStan]

When I read the title, I though someone had added speech synthesis to the Pandora... I like speech synthesis... that way I don't have to look at the screen all the time.

I installed flite to my Pandora from the Angstrom repository. It works wonderfully.

 

[chris_c]

I have a passively cooled Nvidia gfx card and when it runs badly run software (all too often alas) that doesn't sync to the frame rate but free wheels to 1,000+ fps it makes some lovely noises - though sometimes it does sound like I'm being cruel >


I seem to remember that there was some windows game with an unlimited frame rate recently that was actually breaking gfx cards! when it played video's between levels (mainly crappy ati cards from memory)


(I an NOT saying thats gonna happen here, but its interesting)

 

[Poem58]

I have a passively cooled Nvidia gfx card and when it runs badly run software (all too often alas) that doesn't sync to the frame rate but free wheels to 1,000+ fps it makes some lovely noises - though sometimes it does sound like I'm being cruel >


I seem to remember that there was some windows game with an unlimited frame rate recently that was actually breaking gfx cards! when it played video's between levels (mainly crappy ati cards from memory)


(I an NOT saying thats gonna happen here, but its interesting)

http://www.dailytech.com/Hot+Starcraft+II+is+Frying+Graphics+Cards+Blizzard+Issues+Temporary+Fix/article19224.htm


Starcraft II killed $300 Nvidia card as well.

 

[WizardStan]

Why are people blaming Blizzard for that?

 

[xpansive]

My DS makes weird noises through the headphones sometimes

 

[Zor Prime]

I have to give the Pandora credit as it does not transmit the WiFi-related noises through the headphone output.


The noise is not carried from the speakers either.


The clarity is pretty damn crisp actually that comes from the headphone output, IMO.


The noise I was detailing comes directly from the WiFi module itself or the power supply, but I'm not sure which one MWeston was trying to explain was.

 

[com64]

I have to give the Pandora credit as it does not transmit the WiFi-related noises through the headphone output.


The noise is not carried from the speakers either.


The clarity is pretty damn crisp actually that comes from the headphone output, IMO.


The noise I was detailing comes directly from the WiFi module itself or the power supply, but I'm not sure which one MWeston was trying to explain was.

He said it was a a specific part in the power supply that is making the sound (a capacitor, and when it was switching power modes) and since this large capacitor may have a 10-20% tolerance, (tolerance meaning inaccuracy) that sound may be different on different Pandoras.