CDROM audio of G3 iBook crackles and distorts

[mickmac]

Hi,

With my iBook G3, audio CD playback crackles loudly, distorts and sometimes gives out a noise like a ground hum. This happens at the beginning of a track and then it sometimes, but not always, settles down and is fine. Ripped audio includes the noise. Audio online, like with YouTube is fine, and the CD's I've used have been checked and are fine as well.

Any help would be appreciated. To me this is a pretty odd problem, and I'm assuming at this point that it's hardware related.


Thanks,
Mike

G3 iBook Dual USB 600Mhz OSX 10.3.9 no peripherals, 20GB, 380MB

 

[Jesse714]

Does it always happen on the same songs? Keep in mind, those are relatively old speakers, so they would distort when cranked up.

 

[mickmac]

Hi Jesse,

I'm pretty sure it's not the speakers. Audio is fine if I'm playing music online- like with YouTube. Maybe it's a CDROM cable or something similar?


Thanks,
Mike

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

It sounds like something is either crossed or not properly grounded with the cable for the CD-ROM drive. Since songs ripped from this CD-ROM also exhibit this behavior, it's likely that the CD-ROM data cable is either damaged or severely bent/crimped (or, perhaps the CD-ROM drive itself!).

 

[mickmac]

Hi ElDiablo,
I guess the standard way to find out what's up would be to swap out some parts- the cable, maybe the CD drive. It would seem to me though that some kind of electronic diagnostic testing could pinpoint the problem- but that probably would require some serious testing equipment.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

 

[Jesse714]

I guess the standard way to find out what's up would be to swap out some parts- the cable, maybe the CD drive.
Mike

I have a CD drive, and a cd-hard drive-mainboard cable, i pulled them both out of an ibook that had a broken trackpad. I know that they both work though, if your interested

 

[mickmac]

Thanks Jesse,

I've got the parts from an ibook G3 I just took apart because the HD was bad, so I should be all set.