Intermittent vibration on Macbook Air when connected to power supply

Hello Katarina,

I first noticed this problem when I was in Bahrain a couple months ago. I am now back in Bahrain but this time I remembered to bring the grounded cable. For the most part it does alleviate the strange vibration like feeling but not entirely. Or I should say, that most times I do not feel anything, and then on the rare occasion I will feel it. Not sure why it is occasional. Anyhow, I do think that if you purchase another cable/power block it would most likely work, but maybe not always. I don't think it will harm you or the computer if you do not use the grounded cable but I agree it is annoying. Good luck!

Rick

Hey Rick,

I went to the apple store and bought 80 euros worth of a magsafe power adapter that I did not need since I had one, but it comes witht the grounded cable. And the vibration has stopped!!!! yippppee. hopefully for good.

thanks for your help!

K

Hi Katerina,

That's great news, except for the 80 euros part. How long are you going to be traveling? Apple has a pretty good return policy. Maybe you can return the power block/cord when you return home.

R

Dear Sweejin

Thank you very much for your post it works

Regards

Nuwan

you're welcome Nuwan 🙂

hi everyone, i wondering there are any chances or not that this problem will cause damage on MBP?

Hello,

I had the same vibrating problem as the original post to this thread. I bought my MBA in early 2012 in the UK.

I have noticed this problem for a while and only today just determined that it was only when it charging that I get vibration. I am currently in France, but have noticed this in different countries. Thank you for the extension cord solution. It seems to solve the problem here in France. 🙂

I will post something on the Apple problem page as others have suggested.

Took delivery today of a1466 macbook air and my wife noticed similar issue. Using the posts above, changed the direct plug on the adptor for the extension lead and the charged case no longer exists. The problem is NOT the fuse rating but the earthing being provided by the extension and NOT the direct plug. So dont waste time checking the fuses, okay! In fact when I have a hand on the Air and the other on my aluminium cased PC I could feel the charge running through until I disconnected the charger, and ultimately swapped the mains connect to the extension lead!!!!

Well, I am a bit confused now. My first trip to Bahrain I did not bring my extension cable for my MagSafe power adapter and that's when I noticed the vibration/charge feeling when touching the case of my MBA. My next two trips to Bahrain I brought the ext cable and no longer noticed the vibration feeling. Now I'm out on my 4th trip here and even though I brought my ext cable I can definitely feel the vibration/charge. What is different is that I upgraded from a MBA to a MBP with Retina display. Also I noticed is that sometimes when I first plug in and start using my MBP I don't notice the vibration until using it for a while. Sometime though the vibration feel is there from the beginning. Also, which is peculiar is if I press down harder (but not extremely so) the feeling goes away. Oh, and another thing, if i happen to have my iPhone or iPad plugged into my MBP via USB cable I can feel the vibration on them as we'll. I'm just hoping that there is no danger to my gear (or me for that matter).

First thing first, no harm to your gear due to this issue. Secondarily, you feel this vibration due to Aluminium casing of MBA / MBP.

You may have not or have felt it due to, being bear footed or not while touching it, respectively. It took a while to discover this simple fact of grounding.

Wow, I tested out what you said about being barefoot and you're right. If I'm wearing shoes, or if I lift me feet off the floor the vibration feeling stops. But as soon as my barefoot (or sock) touches the floor the feeling comes back. Good to know!

To prevent the sensation, use the 3-prong AC power adapter cable plugged into a properly-grounded AC outlet.

Sorry to carry on this thread, have any of you had the vibration whilst on battery, I had the vibration after resetting the smc and then it went away (have changed direct plug to extension lead afterwards just in case I'm being thick..

I would say that the solution may be solved because the extention uses a thicker cable, which will in itself provide the earthing (that's why 2 pronged plugs can be used). however, i have not seen the cable thickness for the other plugs.

Hello from France. Using a MacBook Pro 13" Retina here. Having the same problem as you all. From what I've read here, it seems like it's probably just a minor annoyance? I'll be leaving my feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback anyway. 🙂

Unfortunately I don't have an extension cord, so I can't use the workaround which has been suggested.