Wifi Clicking Sound

[TimmyB]

When I hold the Pandora keyboard up to my ear whilst the Wifi is working I can hear a clicking sound.

Does anybody else have this and should I be worried? (The things you hear when there's no cooling fans eh?)

 

[TimmyB]

50 topic views and no responses... I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing... :huh:

 

[Pleng]

I did notice a clicking sound from time to time. Can't remember if I had wifi enabled at the time. I'm sans Pandora at the moment so I can't check.

 

[kidrdbz]

I've noticed something like what you described. I don't know what it's coming from.

edit: I'm on my Pandora now and it seems to be coming from the right side of the system.

 

[mindlord]

Yeah... If I listen ever so carefully I can hear it. It's like a tiny little heartbeat... AWW... :wub:

 

[Hansi]

Noticed the same in Midori so I guess wifi was on.
Was gone after reboot.
But I experienced something similar on my desktop pc:
when scrolling in firefox (or ie?

) I noticed that sound coming from the speakers.

 

[paulguy]

I hope it's not coming through the pandora speakers and just some noisy device inside (though that noise indicates some vibration which could wear the component down over time). If it's coming from the speakers, it's likely some interference being picked up, which may be difficult to fix, or just require some kind of shielding around the audio section and maybe speaker leads if it can be fit in the case. If it is a problem with the audio, I imagine some person familiar with modding hardware will figure out a solution.

 

[kidrdbz]

I don't think it is coming from the speakers, the sound seems to be coming from this area:

which would be around here:

On a potentially related note, my Pandora hasn't downloaded anything faster than maybe 60kbps since I got it.

 

[mvickers03]

Noticed the same in Midori so I guess wifi was on.
Was gone after reboot.
But I experienced something similar on my desktop pc:
when scrolling in firefox (or ie?

) I noticed that sound coming from the speakers.

I'm pretty sure you can stop the interference by opening up windows volume control and disable all but wave and master volume. Not sure about the Pandora making a noise though. I haven't noticed.

 

[chaosmage]

I hear it too! I was wondering what that was... I was sure the Pandora didn't have any moving parts.

 

[MWeston]

I've listened for this on three different boards and I can't hear anything. Do you have to get really close or can you be at normal playing distance away to hear it? It sounds like a ticking heart beat? I thought I might have heard it once but it was just my hair on the plastic or my ear hitting the nub disc or my finger jiggling the shoulder button. If I was that close and couldn't hear anything, then the boards I have must not do it.

Any noticeable heat in the plastics around the area between the right nub and the A button? You would have to test without AC plugged in since that makes heat and it would be significant heat, not the warmth your fingers would make touching the plastic.

The wifi module has a switching power supply with external inductor to make most efficient use of the battery. Perhaps the odd inductor has slightly different quality and internal resistance numbers that makes it tick. I don't think anything will be damaged but I will bring it up with the manufacturer and get their opinion on the situation. Everything was designed according to specifications and always way above minimum requirements so it could just be variations in parts.

 

[paddy]

i brought this issue up before but was ignored.

 

[chuckr]

On a potentially related note, my Pandora hasn't downloaded anything faster than maybe 60kbps since I got it.

I first noticed the same thing, but I have a local 4 machine 100MBPS ethernet network here, and I was just thoroughly astonished when I tried to scp a 600MB file into the Pandora from my Free
BSD machine via wifi, and I do not lie, scp was reporting about 20 MBPS throughput. I think that means that all that excessive delay is coming from the other ends of your transfer links.

 

[mQQm]

I can hear a clicking if I put my ear right up against the keyboard (stops when wireless is disabled).

My wireless seems to be about the average.

dave-openpandora:~$ iperf -c 192.168.2.78
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.2.78, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 16.0 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] local 192.168.1.118 port 39791 connected with 192.168.2.78 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 5.34 MBytes 4.46 Mbits/sec
dave-openpandora:~$

root@NAS:~# iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 85.3 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 4] local 192.168.2.78 port 5001 connected with 192.168.2.2 port 39791
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.0-10.6 sec 5.34 MBytes 4.24 Mbits/sec

 

[chuckr]

On a potentially related note, my Pandora hasn't downloaded anything faster than maybe 60kbps since I got it.

I first noticed the same thing, but I have a local 4 machine 100MBPS ethernet network here, and I was just thoroughly astonished when I tried to scp a 600MB file into the Pandora from my Free
BSD machine via wifi, and I do not lie, scp was reporting about 20 MBPS throughput. I think that means that all that excessive delay is coming from the other ends of your transfer links.

I just realized that the 20MBPS rate had to be wrong, and I finally figured out why: I had forgotten it was in a ssh session between 2 desktops, not traversing wifi. My max rate on the Pandora is still a bit over 150KBPS.

 

[Viral18]

I also get the Wifi clicking noise. It seems to only be audible when my Pandora's connected to a wireless network (though as I've just found out my wireless router's broken anyway so I can't test internet bandwidth speeds on my Pandora unfortunately).
I'm not sure if the clicking indicates any kind of fault, but just thought I'd add my +1 to the number of people with the 'issue' in case it was assumed to be just a few units with the problem

 

[GroteBlup]

Actually, there are a number of electronic devices with non-movable parts that emit sounds. I used to be able to hear most of my IR remotes. The older 9v's were very audible, you could even hear if it uses a repeat code, or just repeated the same code over and over when a button is pressed. Even now going 40 I am still able to hear some of the remotes.

I guess what MWeston says is the problem: there is some coil (for the dc-dc converter) that act's as a tiny speaker. Since WIFI uses power in very short bursts, you will hear it click, rather than a very short beeping as is the case with remotes.

But as long as that click comes from the case and not through the audio channel, I guess nothing is wrong .

(Another problem is that most of the people can't hear it and declare you mad. I guess at least one of mwestons devices probably click too, but his hearing might be too bad. Fortunate he is a really smart guy and knows it's possible ;-). )

 

[Polossatik]

^ not noticed the "wifi tick" yet, but when I plug my pandora in for charging I definitely hear a little "hiss" coming from the charging circuit.
My girlfriend does not hear a thing.
Some people are simply more receptive then others for this kind of sounds, my desktop also makes a little "hiss" when I use the front USB ports - which also no-one seams to hear.
HAd the same issue with older Tv's etc...

 

[tsh]

My wifi makes a slight noise. Sounds like it could be a switcher, not a clicking, or a hiss. Almost like a springy case rattling at several Hz.

 

[Bosbeetle]

Nope i dont hear the noise. I do hear noise when I put some merzbow on though

.