Apple releases MacBook Pro firmware to silence those 7200 RPM HDDs
By Ross Miller 
posted August 19th 2009 6:42PM
posted August 19th 2009 6:42PM
Update: Apple today also released Bluetooth Firmware Update 2.0.1, which alongside various bug fixes improves compatibility with the company's wireless mouse and keyboards on all machines with the Broadcom chipset -- that includes all unibody laptops and any Mac released in 2009.
[Via TUAW]
Slow with the updates. Hate to imagine if they had to support other hardware.
@ugotamesij
Why don't you just stop double-posting that, shut up and send it in.
Yeah man. It seems like every one of their products ships with some awful defect. Do these guys have any QA at all?
ugo,
Apple claims that these are isolated cases and they do not merit serious action.
If these iPhones and iPods were merely malfunctioning due to overheating, then I'd give them that.
However, when an iPhone/iPod turns into a ticking time-bomb, Apple are way out of line to simply dismiss this as inconsequential.
@ Nick.
I doubt he he is foolish enough to be drawing attention to the story without first submitting it to the editors. I myself submitted a story a few days back and it was ignored. A few days latter the same story come out and nowhere did they mention getting the info from me (or anyone for that matter).
My point is that sometimes important stories can be missed. All he is trying to do is raise awareness over something he thinks is important.
@sacapuntas
Well said.
CRapple
the fix? Slow down the hard drive... great... pay for 7200RPM performance, but "upgrade firmware" to poorer performance. Bravo. Just... Br
CRAPPLE
"...certain infrequent noises"
Weasel words.
@Nick
Why don't you stop post hijacking to get your lame face in the spotlight? Too add to it, then nobody has a friggen clue what you are responding too, until they read 15 comments down.
I wasn't entirely keeping track of this, whose fault is it? The HDD manufacture or Apple?
apples for chosing the HDD's and the manifacturer for making them?
apples fault. they arent giving you new drives they are fixing THEIR software.
Bag of Hurt.
Stop calling your mom that, she has feelings.
still better than what I call yours...
Bag of Noodles. yummy.
"still better than what I call yours.."
Easy?
A good f...?
Calygharty or something... that has to be the smartest comeback ever! Brilliant, really
I just downloaded and correctly installed the firmware, and my computer still freezes when going quickly through iPhoto.
Was it supposed to fix that issue? I thought this was only a fix for the chirping noise it made sometimes. Maybe you should reinstall iPhoto.
it was meant to stop the sounds from the hard drive. i dont know wat that has to do with your iPhoto?
Don't see how firmware to correct hard drive noises would fix an iPhoto issue but ok.
good ole mac users
Mac users, gotta love 'em.
@brenter
Go back to your fancy DOS machine and STFU.
What's with the idiot brigade insinuating all Mac users are stupid? Especially since this is about a firmware upgrade? What's the matter, did you get bored under your bridge?
Zak, you once called me stupid because I did not know how to do something with iTunes (the steps to add a network drive in windows is 1 click, while what you described to me was something like 8 clicks). But that is OK, you can yell at, scream at, call names, degrade them, call them stupid, etc. people who use Windows, and that is fine. Do the same to a Mac user, well, that is just off limits. In fact, you do it in your very post, having a fit because people are calling Apple users stupid, while calling people idiots.
Sorry, that should have read 2 clicks for iTunes for Windows, File | Add Folder To Library
@Izzy
He is using windows 98? Windows 2000 and later are not DOS based. I encourage you to do some research, heck even wikipedia has this info...
Mac: Hey PC, check this out, with iPhoto's new face reco
PC: ...
PC: Mac...?
Mac: Whoa. Guess I crashed, huh.
PC: Yes. Yes you did.
Mac: Probably an isolated incident. After all, I AM a Mac.
Mac: So, as I was showing you, iPhoto's facial recogni
Get Windows 7
i should probably avoid this, since my 7200rpm drive was not the default drive in my MBP.
What does the firmware do, slow the drive down to 5200rpm so it doesn't make so much noise? :b
I would bet my paycheck to it. No wait, i'm still paying for the damn expensive machine
This is ridiculous, they're not solving the problem. How can a firmware update quiet the noise without decreasing performance? These particular drives running at maximum peformance make noise, there is no getting around it. The only way to fix this is swapping the drives with something as powerful and efficient but quieter. I hope people don't fall for this
From what I understand, these weren't simple disc spinning noises. These were chirps. It wasn't about the speed of the drive.
heard that it's related to the G-Force protection on the Seagate drive.
myb incompatibility with the existing antishock hardware on the laptop itself.
The chirp is just part of high performance hard drives. Early 2.5" 7200rpm hard drives meant for gaming systems, most 15K rpm scsi drives, and most 10K rpm sata drives make a similar sound. I was once told it had to do with platter vibrations, but at this speed it seems to me that platter vibrations would cause a head crash ... so I really don't know what the sound is.
What I *do* know is that it's inherent to the drive, not the firmware. The only way to avoid it will affect drive performance. This is why many PC's OEM bios's have "Performance" and "Acoustic" modes for the hard drive controller. Acoustic mode typically slows the drive to eliminate sound.
I don't mind the noise in my desktop. With a high-quality case, I don't even hear my velociraptors. In my laptop, though, the old 7200RPM hard drive I tossed in there is annoying. It's surprising that Apple, with their heavy focus on user experience, didn't think of the hard drive noise from the start.
You sure assume a lot. You can be sure without knowing what is wrong or what the fix does and without even using it that the fix slows performance.
Don't let lack of facts bother you.
I've got a 17" unibody mbp with a 500gb 7200rpm drive that I installed myself and have never heard any noises at all, I'm really puzzled as to what problem is being caused by apples own drives.
So you got the Seagate? Any problems at all?
sigh- this is with the 7200 rpm 500gb drives that came pre-installed....
Looks like the update isn't for the first revision of Unibody Macbook Pros with 7200 RPM drives. Where's our fix?
That's what I'm wondering. I have an Early 2009 17" MBP with the 320GB 7200RPM drive, and I'm having the issue where it freezes up for about 30 seconds at a time. Sometimes this happens 3-5 times during the day, sometimes not at all.
I might try swapping out the hard drive, but I'm not even sure that will help.
Call AppleCare.
"a 500gb 7200rpm drive that I installed myself"
It's because it's NOT THE SAME DRIVE. Different hardware, different issues.
Mac users wouldn't be used to different hardware configurations, give him a break.
duh, which is what i wrote by "apples own drives"
Also, troll, it is the same drive. There is only one 500GB 2.5" 7200RPM drive on the market right now (Seagate ST9500420AS(G)), and it's exhibiting the same issues for everyone, whether or not their drive was Apple-supplied-and-installed.
@cromas
I have that drive in a R61 without the Gshock sensor in the drive, but the Active Protection System on the laptop and I have no chirps and no pauses and I use it 8+ hours a day. Might be that apple has their own flavor of firmware for these drives in their machines. Mines a retail boxed one I put in my Thinkpad.
We're lucky it's under 9000.