Whiney PS3s hitting Canadian shelves?

Did a noisy batch of PS3s make it to EB Games store shelves in Canada? That's the question of the hour, as a number of customers with units manufactured in January with serial numbers in the CE133190xxx and CE133212xxx blocks have reported having severe "whining" issues with their consoles. Let us remind one and all that the PS3 and Xbox 360 are both quite loud with their respective fans running at full bore, but this new high-pitched PS3 whining was apparently so severe that it drove one customer to return his console multiple times because the sound was so unbearable, while another couldn't even make it through a Blu-ray movie with his Mrs. without having to shut down the machine. Anyone having unusual noise issues with theirs? As always, shout it out.

P.S. -Listen to a recording of the high pitched whine here.

[BathtubTORNADO @ Apr 11th 2007 12:03AM]

Is it just me or does that sound EXACTLY like a quieter version of the opening to the 24 TV show?

[Bryan @ Apr 11th 2007 12:15AM]

Haha! It totally does! Now I'm in a 24 mood...gonna have to watch it ye old Series 3 now :)

[LordFarkward @ Apr 11th 2007 12:17AM]

can't say i care too much for the article

nice picture tho :)

"I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
"I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

[nick @ Apr 11th 2007 12:20AM]

Okay, I played the audio and now a bunch of dogs are sitting in front of my house.

[codywatson @ Apr 11th 2007 12:35AM]

Dogs hate that sound. I've got that "mosquito" ringer (aka 16.7Khz) on my cell phone. Works well when my friend's dog drools all over me.

[Fredster @ Apr 11th 2007 10:16AM]

HAHAHA!! That's so funny, well said!!:)

[kingofwale @ Apr 11th 2007 12:25AM]

I guess the guy was just not used to sounds outside of fan noises on a console. ;)

[Will @ Apr 11th 2007 12:26AM]

sorry, don't know what you're basing your article on but my ps3 is not loud at all...my 360 on the other hand, well let's not go there. but hopefully the 360 will get quieter soon. as for this problem with the ps3, this may be the first real issue with the console as to the best of my knowledge has not had a significant defect rate

[michael @ Apr 11th 2007 12:27AM]

It was bound to happen. Now the Wii and the Xbox 360 fanboys are going to come in, and start laughing in front of the PS3 fanboys, for claiming that their console was so superior towards theirs. Then the PS3 fanboys are going to fight back, and say that their console is still technically superior then the other 2, and then we'll have a brawl about it. That basically sums what's going to happen below.

P.S. I still like my Xbox 360 :)

[aalexand @ Apr 11th 2007 12:28AM]

i have a ps3 and a 360 and i must say that the ps3 is very very quiet and even more so compared to my jet engine of a 360.. i listened to that audio and i honestly could hear very little.. maybe its a bad recording of said problem, does kinda sound vaguely like nails on a chalkboard a bit

[Diego @ Apr 11th 2007 12:57AM]

C,mon my ps2 does worst noises when reading god of war 2.

but if the sound is really loud you should have someone check it out.

[http:thekingpin68.blogspot.com @ Apr 11th 2007 2:02AM]

From the clip there is a moderate noise, but it is no big deal in my opinion. However, those that complained may have had worse noise.

[Gamer s @ Apr 11th 2007 3:00AM]

This has actually been a quite common "problem" in Scandinavia with many complaints about fan noise, resulting in some flooded forums:

http://www.minhembio.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=153061&st=1530

The distributor of the Playstation brand, Nordisk Film (translation: Nordic Films) is reportedly being overwhelmed by calling costumers complaining about the loud fan noise. Sony has said the PS3 should not sound more than the Slim-PS2, or abour 22dB, however the faulty ones seem to sound quite a lot more (I have a faulty unit myself).

This problem, combined with the fact that we pay roughly 900 USD for the PS3 has resulted in displeased costumers, to put it gently.


However Sony has not made any official statments concerning this issue as of yet, which hasn't improoved the situation...

/Gamer s

Sweden.

[Derek @ Apr 11th 2007 3:10AM]

Whitney's selling her PS3? She got bored of it already? Or did Bobby win it in the divorce?

[Parikshat Chawla @ Apr 11th 2007 3:13AM]

Hasn't happened to me. In fact my 60 gb from HK is really super quiet, whether I'm playing games or watching a movie

[adam @ Apr 11th 2007 3:34AM]

Glad I'm not the only one! Had to return my first PS3 which had the whine .. the audio clip doesn't do it justice. it literally made my head hurt. luckily my 2nd unit appears fine. although it did take a few weeks on the 1st for the whine to kick in ......

[akijikan @ Apr 11th 2007 3:36AM]

Mr. Block, the PS3 and 360 do not even compare in the noise department. The 360 with its crazy ass DVD drives far outclasses the PS3.

[Motin @ Apr 11th 2007 3:39AM]

The normal working PS3:s is VERY SILENT, it does not matter if a game,blueray movie or Folding is running on them. My 3 friends PS3 is proof enought of that.

[Motin @ Apr 11th 2007 3:41AM]

Hi guys..

I just wanted to tell you that we are having the same problem in Europe. I have a very noisy PS3 while 3 of my friends have silent ones. And it does not stop there. I am on a swedish board with certainly over 50 or mabye 100 users that have the same problem... There is all kinds of other boards around the world reporting this issue....

I have posted this issue in the Scandinavian official Playstation board... And the Nordic importer knows about it and are working on a solution (so they say anyways..).

Countries that I know are having this problem: Sweden (I live here),Finland,Norway,Denmark,England,Germany,Nethe rlands, USA,Canada so far..

And this was not the second shippment.. it is currently the first.. But who knows it could be a mix..

And to sort things out before you flame in any way.. I own Xbox,Xbox360,Wii,Gamecube,PSP,PSTwo,Ps3... So no I am not trying to get any company in bad lights here.. I am just distributing the facts so far.

[Anonymous @ Apr 11th 2007 3:50AM]

Oh my god! I listened to the MP3, and that noise made my head feel like it was going to split open (listened via headphones). If my PS3 made that noise, I'd return the damn thing too. It sounds exactly like that "Kids only" ringtone that is out of the frequency that adults can supposedly hear. Arrgghhhh is it painful.

[ravenecw2 @ Apr 11th 2007 3:50AM]

I work at a circuit city, and i know exactly what this article is talking about. Our display PS3 sounds like a lawnmower engine sometimes and it overpowers every other sound in the store. thats with all the stereos and tv's going too. it does once in a while, mostly when its not being used surprisingly. but god is it annoying.

must be why nobody is buying the piece o crap.

[jimmyb @ Apr 11th 2007 3:53AM]

hmm well in australia, they are all still sitting on the shelves, so one can only guess about the whining noises!

The "frenzied launch" that was purported to have happened was in fact 3 homeless guys pissed off that a stores lights still werent out by midnight...

[IB @ Apr 11th 2007 4:21AM]

My god. "Let us remind one and all that the PS3 and Xbox 360 are both quite loud with their respective fans running at full bore..." That's just an outright lie.

[Andir3.0 @ Apr 11th 2007 8:32AM]

Oh come on, Engadget needs their weekly surge of traffic to drive up ad revenue. You understand, right?

[Optimus Rhyme @ Apr 11th 2007 5:38AM]

I'm the unlucky guy who had to deal with these systems that were loud. Trust me, it's not a normal noise the system makes.

It wasn't until I got my 4th system from a different store that everything worked fine. The PS3 in general though is quieter than the 360, which is a good thing. That recording was done with my macbook microphone too, so I couldnt even truly do the sound justice, it's much worse.

[humpty @ Apr 11th 2007 7:51AM]

Mine's fine, thanks... i have it running folding@home whenever at night while sleeping.

[carlos @ Apr 11th 2007 11:27AM]

"Mine's fine, thanks... I have it running folding@home whenever at night while sleeping."

Same here. My PS3 has been on for 10 day straight and I have to stand right next to the PS3 to hear the fan.

[oki @ Apr 12th 2007 12:39PM]

Same here

[susuamazin @ Apr 11th 2007 3:32PM]

I work at a circuit city, and i know exactly what this article is talking about. Our display PS3 sounds like a lawnmower engine sometimes and it overpowers every other sound in the store. thats with all the stereos and tv's going too. it does once in a while, mostly when its not being used surprisingly. but god is it annoying.

must be why nobody is buying the piece o crap.

@ ravenecw2

no way... u cant possibly be serious...
working in circuit city... the only thing u can hear is the ps3??? working in circuit city... the only thing u can hear is the ps3??? working in circuit city... the only thing u can hear is the ps3??? wow

what disease hath god inflicted upon thou?

am i cool or WHAT???

[B @ Apr 16th 2007 8:40PM]

My Super Nintendo doesn't make any noises.