Very Very Strange Problem (Am at a complete loss here..)

Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
I have a macbook retina and absolutely love it. I do everything with it and have windows 7 and parallels on it to game on.

Now to the issue. Every now and again I hear very low voices in the background without anything actually playing. This normally happens on the windows partition with no network connection and nothing running. Occasionally i will hear it while playing a game but it only happens once per boot and does not last long. I cannot understand what the voice is saying.
This time I got done on my windows side playing a game and restarted to go to the mac partition and about an hour or so after boot with my headphones on I hear it again. No ads in the background, no videos playing, nothing.

Im at a loss. My computer is running fine and is still very fast but it is annoying and worries me that there might be a virus or something maybe?? I'm not the most advanced mac user as i just started with osx when i got this retina but i am getting to know my way around things and feel as though i am slightly more knowledgeable than the average (basic) user.

Are there any programs i should run to check for malware or anything like that or do you have any ideas?
(No i am not crazy)

Thanks for the help,
Camper
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
Do you only hear these voices when using your headphones? If they are wireless, I'm wondering if there is some RF interference and you are picking up a transmission from something else.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
Boot into Windows safe mode. Do you still hear them?
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
222
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Minnesota
Your Mac's Specs
2012 15" MBP 2.6 i7 GT 650M 16GB RAM/2012 27" iMac 3.4 i7 Radeon HD 6970M 2GB 24GB RAM
Boot into Windows safe mode. Do you still hear them?
This would be a good idea to try

Are you sure its the computer? and no internet tabs are open with adds? I have had to go through 100+ tabs to find adds playing and I have also done this and found my ipod and headphones on the ground under some clothing had been playing for hours haha
 
OP
C
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Thanks for the ideas/replies guys. They are high quality non wireless headphones. I'm sure there are no adds in the background because this can happen without any programs open in windows. I figured there could be a virus in windows doing it (which i honestly expected and am not worried about because it can be wiped) but when I heard it on the Mac partition I was worried. I will try to open it in safe mode and run some malware software.
The strange thing is I keep my internet/wireless connection off on my windows side almost always. If I need it I manually turn it on so there is nothing going on via the web.

So is thee a windows virus that can present itself on a separate partition even if it is osx? Or since I was only on my windows partition for a half hour,was the virus fulfilling its duty at the hourish mark regardless or partition?

Should I just find a better copy of windows and reinstall it on the partition? I'm not losing anything valuable just time..

Thank you all,
Camper
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
So you hear it in OSX and in Windows?

If so this isn't malware and your Windows version.

Can you hear it through your Mac speakers? Have you got other headphones you can try?
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
What model headphones do you have?
 
OP
C
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
This was the first time I have heard the voice on the Mac partition and it was with my headphones on. They are hifiman he-400s without a DAC or amp. Have yet to try safety mode or wiping windows out. I am normally on my windows partition long enough to hear it and it seems to only happen occasionally. I never hear it on the Mac side and this is the first time. It seems strange that it would be after being on the windows partition and not happening normally if it was an issue with the Mac side.... But what do I know I'm no expert.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
So can you hear it through the speakers?

Are you certain it's real words?

Wiping out windows or booting it to safe mode is pointless at this stage.

You can it in both operating systems.

This implies its hardware of some kind that's the root issue. Whether it's the headphones, jack, or on board audio card cannot be determined until another set of headphones has been tried, external speakers and internal speakers
 
OP
C
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
They are words but I cannot clearly make them out. I have heard it once while playing metro in windows and heard it with my klipsch s4 iem's. I have yet to hear it with my speakers but I have not used them much. I can try booting windows and listening for the noise. Thing is its always quiet regardless of the volume.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
From the information supplied and unless you have the same piece of software in both windows and OSX this has to be hardware. You could really do with trying to see if you can hear it over the built in speakers to determine if it's the limited to the 3.5mm output.
 
Joined
Nov 26, 2012
Messages
1,035
Reaction score
22
Points
38
Location
Agusan del Norte, Philippines
Your Mac's Specs
L2012 Mini, i7 2.6Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD(fusion), BenQ 32" 2.5k QHD Display
Keep in mind that almost everything in your computer is connected on some base of RF modulation. Which means in laymen terms, it will and can be affected by radio transmissions. Also it is not uncommon for speaker wire to act as an antenna and allow you to here un scrambled radio communication, such as local radio station, home based radio like CB and such. Heck my cell phone turns on and off my monitors when to close.. LOL
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
That's the way I'm thinking. Maybe go to a friends some distance away or a coffee shop etc and see if the issue remains. Could be simply local interference.

That would more likely happen with corded headphones so re-creating using the internal speakers would still be an interesting test
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Come on folks - we all know it's gotta be haunted and the poor soul is reaching out trying to make contact. Time to call in Amy and Steve to find out what's really going on.
dead-files_about-the-hosts_2013_196x110.jpg
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
222
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Minnesota
Your Mac's Specs
2012 15" MBP 2.6 i7 GT 650M 16GB RAM/2012 27" iMac 3.4 i7 Radeon HD 6970M 2GB 24GB RAM
Keep in mind that almost everything in your computer is connected on some base of RF modulation. Which means in laymen terms, it will and can be affected by radio transmissions. Also it is not uncommon for speaker wire to act as an antenna and allow you to here un scrambled radio communication, such as local radio station, home based radio like CB and such. Heck my cell phone turns on and off my monitors when to close.. LOL
I was thinking it could have something to do with the planar technology in the HE-400's but he said all of his headphones do it, he should see if it makes the noise elsewhere like 10 miles away or more from his home... maybe see if it gets louder one direction he could pinpoint the location of the alien transmissions.

Come on folks - we all know it's gotta be haunted and the poor soul is reaching out trying to make contact. Time to call in Amy and Steve to find out what's really going on.
dead-files_about-the-hosts_2013_196x110.jpg
LOL
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
7,163
Reaction score
275
Points
83
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
Does the room go cold? ;)
 
OP
C
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Hahaha. Ghosts make more sense than anything else else I've thought of!! Thanks for solving my problem. I will call the local catholic church for a macbook excercism right away. ;)
Maybee it is a poor Foxcon worker that got killed building this device and his soul got trapped in the SSD and I can't understand it because it is in Chinese.... :(

I mean picking up radio frequencies seems kind of farfetched but there is some serious cord attached to these headphones with exposed gold terminals. I will try with my iem's about 20 miles away at a buddies house and see if it can be recreated. I only think that I've heard it through the iem's; I don't remember for sure because its been a long time.

Just thought of this. In osx the headphones are not as loud as on the windows side. At a low volume in windows is almost a quarter of the way up in osx. So maybe windows is pushing more power, making me hear the ghost more in windows than in osx.....? You all are right some testing needs to be done.

Another tid bit, guy down the street put up a CB tower. Like HUGE tower, right in the middle of a small neighborhood (looks atrocious). This was within the past 6 months and I don't remember if I was getting interference before then or not..

Thanks for all of the help and humor fellas,

Camper
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
Another tid bit, guy down the street put up a CB tower. Like HUGE tower, right in the middle of a small neighborhood (looks atrocious). This was within the past 6 months and I don't remember if I was getting interference before then or not..

Any chance you only hear these voices at certain times of the day, like only when he'd be home and not out at work? Get up with that guy and experiment to see if the tower is the problem. Coordinate so you are listening while he's using it. I'd wager that is the problem. From there, the question may be if the power from that thing exceeds regulation. You may also want to see if better-shielded cables for your headphones can be acquired.
 
OP
C
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Any chance you only hear these voices at certain times of the day, like only when he'd be home and not out at work? I'd wager that is the problem. From there, the question may be if the power from that thing exceeds regulation. You may also want to see if better-shielded cables for your headphones can be acquired.

All the people around me are retired including him so I believe he is just at home all day very day. I only rarely get the interference but it is typically with windows. I only got worried when it was in osx but I'm glad to hear it isn't some virus or something of that nature. This makes much more sense and was something that I didn't even think about.
They make better quality wire for these headphones and I would like new wire anyway. I'm sure I could also modify the wire by adding more insulation also, just need to find a material that is flexible and insulates well.

I might stop by and talk to him and see when he is broadcasting to check if I can hear it.

This forum was a great help. Typically I can solve these kind of problems but this one had me stumped.

Thank you all,

Camper
 
M

MacInWin

Guest
Another tid bit, guy down the street put up a CB tower. Like HUGE tower, right in the middle of a small neighborhood (looks atrocious). This was within the past 6 months and I don't remember if I was getting interference before then or not..
Bingo! Call the guy and report the interference. If he's an amateur radio operator (as I am) he should be courteous about it and look for any power leaks that could cause interference. But if he's pushing a ton of power through CB, the tolerances on CB equipment is so lousy that it could be spraying signals all over the spectrum, which is illegal. I would bet that he's running way too much power for CB.

Be advised, however, that if he is a licensed amateur radio operator, while he will check his equipment to make sure it's working properly, once he knows it is working properly any interference on your end is your responsibility. There are filters that will ground out his transmissions, but it is up to you to pay for them, not him. Consumer electronics are supposed to be resistant to interference, according to the FCC regulations that govern them, including headphones.

EDIT: The difference between a licensed amateur radio operator (a HAM) and a CB-er is that hams have to takes tests and be licensed to use the equipment, but CBers don't. CBers are legally limited to 5 watts of transmitter power, but a lot of them push the signal through amplifiers (illegally), some of them to as much as 1000 watts. The CB equipment isn't made to the same tolerances as amateur operator equipment is because of the low power, so when CBers push it, the noisy signal spreads into other spectrums and can cause interference.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top