Small buzzing sound coming from back of Mac Pro - Is this normal?

My suggestion is take it back to Apple and ask them to check it. This will do two things for you. First, it will give you peace of mind knowing that it has been looked at by experts. Secondly, it document this problem for your Mac with Apple just in case this go bad in the future you will have it recorded that there was a problems.


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Allan

I second Allen's suggestion, based on the following experience:

My son was having problems with his MacBook. I ran the diagnostic and carefully copied down the exact error message. We took it to the genius bar and started to explain what we had done so far, while the Mac was booting up.

"Hold on a minute," the genius says, holding the Mac keyboard up to his ear. "You have a bad fan in this thing. That could cause overheating and make the system crash or shut down suddenly. Now what was the problem you were having?"

Well, we explained, crashing and sudden power down. And it failed the diagnostic. The diagnostic code I meticulously copied down looked up to essentially "You got a bad fan in this thing."

The geniuses have training and seat-of-the-pants experience on current products that can't be beat. Take advantage of it.

It may be that your buzzing sound is caused by vibrations of the side door hitting against the case. Try pressing against the side door near where you hear the sound in the back. If the buzz goes away try shutting down, opening the side panel, then carefully reinserting the panel, and locking it in place. Then restart and check for the buzzing sound.

If the buzzing just changes tones, or won't go away, except when you apply pressure to the panel, you can try the following fix:

Open the panel up, and place a thin layer of clear tape near where the buzzing sound occurs. Place the tape on the panel where the panel may contact the Mac Pro case. Remember, the panel makes contact not only on the edge, but also around the case frame near the processor tray.

If that fixes the problem, you can then decide to live with the fix, or see if Apple will do a replacement.

Tom

Same here, got my 6-core 3.33GHz Mac Pro (2010) just a few days ago and I have the same buzzing sound coming from the back of the power cord behind the Mac Pro. I can only hear it though when i place my ear a few centimeters away from the area. It's concerning me, very much. I will call Apple and have them resolve it if they can. Can't rely on emails for crap.

I could be a hard drive. Try shutting down the computer and reseating the drives.

Are you sing a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)? Some do not generate good sine wave power, which can produce a buzz in the computer.

I believe I have restarted and shutdown the computer more than a dozen times these past 5 days since I got the Mac Pro. I don't think that it's a HDD because, like i said, this is coming exactly behind the power cord connected to the power hole/jack behind the Mac Pro. It's like the power hole/jack (not sure if that's correct wording) is defective and not connected 100%.

No I'm not using a UPS, this is connected DIRECTLY to the wall. I have used that spot for more than a few items and never was there an issue. I'm confident that it's a Mac Pro problem. I'd rather send it back than bite the bullet later on. Thanks for the help.

Message was edited by: progressia

Hi,
I have had the same buzzing sound for weeks.
I opened the side panel and carefully pushed the HDrives one by one in it's bay.
It was the 4Th bay HDrive spinning vibration. When i pressed it a little bit the buzzing stopped.

Good luck with this !!!

Wow, thank u indeed for sharing that bit of information with us. Well, as u said, I cannot really hear it with my head nearly 1m across from the area when I'm on my desk facing the screen. It is only when I place my head literally a few inches away from the power cord connected to the back of the Mac Pro. I'm surprised though that the senior tech couldn't answer ur question properly though, makes me wonder...

I did try opening the panel and pushing the empty HDD bays in and it made no difference, can still hear it when my head is near the area.

Anyway, I will call Apple UK today and ask them for advice on the current situation, along with another issue I've been facing (which is a strange and random pop/crackle sound being heard from my loud-speakers which doesn't happen all the time but happens sometimes. I think it's a soundcard problem, has to be, my speakers r perfect, using it with my iPhone 3GS, MacBook Pro 15" mid2009 and others, not a problem. There is a thread on this i believe it's on the 3rd page).

Will let u ALL know what Apple tells me once I've given them a call after class today.

Many thanks to u all.

Was on the phone with Apple UK just 10mins ago. The tech rep couldn't give me a straight answer either so he set up a repair appointment for me and will have an Apple Repair Service call me within the next 24-48hrs to arrange a collect&return repair service. I told them about the buzzing sound and in addition, the strange audio pop/crackle sounds i hear from my loudspeakers. He thinks that it could be because of my faulty power cord or maybe the power supply is faulty, he says it could be a possibility that these 2 issues are interlinked. Hopefully I'll get a call in the next day maybe and have my BigMac fixed up.

WILL inform u all on what happens after I get my Mac Pro back. I HOPE TO GOD THEY FIX IT. Spent too much money on this to see it as one of the things that can't be fixed. Hopefully they won't wipe my HDD.