Weird noise on MacBook

What does it sound like?

Its possible that your fans could have become dirty or clogged with dust but without anymore information its hard to do anything more than guess.

I have the same issue I think. Its a low volume high frequency noice comming from the top left corner. Im pretty sure its not the fan or the HD. The fan is on the opposite side.

I too am experiencing something similar if not the same. It is a high frequency noise that seems to be localized under the "1" and "2" keys. I'd liken it to the noise a television (tube) makes when it is turned on without receiving an input (black screen and high frequency "whirring" sound). Once the computer is on the sound is more or less constant, except that about every 10-15 seconds there is a silent "gap" in the noise for a fraction of a second. I have somewhat sensitive ears so this really bothers me. I'm sure if many people read this they would be questioning what I'm even talking about with the TV analogy. I had roommates that left it on all the time (the TV) and it would quite literally wake me up in the room over (weird eh? they claim they couldn't hear it at all). This macbook noise was not there when I purchased the system (January 09), it only appeared in the past few months. At the same time I've also noticed lag when two finger scrolling in my browser (usually firefox). I chalked that up to the fox taking memory (I still only have 2gigs)/new versions just not handling image/flash intensive pages well, but it really doesn't make sense when I look at Activity monitor. I'd be ok with all this if the noise were constant, but those little gaps every ten to fifteen really bother me when I'm in a quiet place using the notebook. I'd like to have a "genius" look at it but I don't want them to just scuff it off as nothing and try and make me pay for wasting there time or some mess. Any ideas out there?

fatihugur wrote:
Hi everyone,

I've got a MacBook Aluminium 2.4 GHZ ver. It works fine but there is a strange noise coming from somewhere the microphone is (maybe from screen I don't know because while I was scrolling down a page it stops. But when I stop scrolling it starts again.) and it makes me crazy. It's not loud but i hate that sound. So anyone have the same problem or any solution about this?

Does the sound change with the screen brightness? Do you hear it on screens that are dark or is it louder/softer on screens with a lot of white?

The location hints at the screen "inverter". Run a forum search using "LCD inverter", "inverter noise" or "inverter buzz" (minus quotes) and see if you find any similar problems or solutions.

pancenter-

I am experiencing the same thing.

It sounds like a very quiet "white noise" but it is pulsing.

It happen every time that I run a simulation on Xcode (I am running FORTRAN 90 simulations
using Xcode and Intel Fortran compiler). When the simulation is complete, the sound goes
away. If I run a simulation on MATLAB, I don't hear the sound.

If I turn down the speaker all the way down to zero, I still hear the sound.

If I turn the monitor contrast all the way down to where the screen is blank, I still
hear the sound.

This is very strange because it only started maybe a few days ago and I have had
this MacBook for over a year now.

If it is like me, it could be due to the processor idling. It disappears when you use your computer (CPU activity). I remarked it when I bought my white Macbook late 2007. I used to have this sound and I installed a little app (I won't mention its name) that made it disappear, but it isn't recommended on recent generations of Macbooks. My girlfriend bought a Macbook Pro recently and I remarked the sound and it is nothing compared to what my Macbook used to do.

Message was edited by: yv

I've read about the idling thing. Definitely not what's happening on mine. It's the same whether I'm doing stuff or not (even intensive things where the fan cranks up - still hear it).

I'm really interested to hear from anyone who takes theirs in for service from this issue alone. I wanna know what they say so I know how to proceed. I would take it in myself (and will if I do hear anything in the next month when I'm getting close to warranty), but I'm in South Korea. No guarantee they'll speak English, and considering the fact that some people just can't here this sort of thing, it's something I feel like I'll need to be able to explain thoroughly).