New Retina Macbook Pro - strange whining Sound

Is it possible to run the EPU-engine on a rMBP to test the different modes of the CPU to see if the sound is reproduced?

Is there any way that I can determine is the sound is from the CPU or if it is something on the motherboard etc. that is malfunctioning thus causing the sound?

I sent my computer for a repair and they called back telling me that a technician ran all diagnostics and could not find a single thing that is wrong with the hardware, and I wonder if I should still try and get a replacement/repair or if I can trust the diagnostics, since the sound is still there.

The diagnostic tools cannot detect such delicate matters... If your fans would be too loud it would also not detect anything but it would be a bad mashine... Just speak to the technical guy directly and describe the sound and mention the ways of reproducing the sound. There is something wrong with the mashine for sure in my opinion! I will return myne too just trying to find the best date for it.

I bought a retina MacBook when it first came out and I had this problem. The techs at the apple store won't acknowledge this as a problem. They kept telling me it was normal. I insisted on getting a replacement and the manager eventually gave me one. My new machine does not have this problem so it's definitely not occurring on all machines. Whether its normal or not I can't say, but it depends on if you are comfortable keeping a machine that makes this noise.

harmsangha wrote:

I bought a retina MacBook when it first came out and I had this problem. The techs at the apple store won't acknowledge this as a problem. They kept telling me it was normal. I insisted on getting a replacement and the manager eventually gave me one. My new machine does not have this problem so it's definitely not occurring on all machines. Whether its normal or not I can't say, but it depends on if you are comfortable keeping a machine that makes this noise.

hi harmsangha,

I took my mac in with this problem but couldnt simulate the problem when I was there, and they told me there was nothing wrong.

Do you know if there is any way to force the sound to occur?

There is no real way to force the sound. It would just start happening randomly. It got more consistent as time went on. I Had the computer for about 2 weeks. It started off once a day then a few times a day then pretty much all the time. It would happen when scrolling in safari quite a bit. It would stop when unplugged the charger into the computer. Ask to speak with someone other than a genius ie store manager and express your concern. Apple is usually pretty good at keeping their customers happy and show him or her this thread and maybe they can see its an ongoing issue.

What sound are u talking about now exactly. The one which sounds like a HDD working, or the whinning (like a silend whisle). I can reproduce the HDD every time. Always when the CPU is forcet to overclock itself. The key is to not let the fans go up imediately. So when you start compresing 10-15 GB of data (best would be in small files) the CPU starts making sounds since its under presure. After a while the fans can get in the way so let the mac cool down a bit a start again if you didnt hear it. But as I said, on my mashine is a 100% chance of getting it. When you scroll a large page, the CPU has to react quickly and read the data so maybe thats why some people here said they hear it while scrolling. I tryed it out and its true, scrolling a large page (with pictures too) triggers the sound too.

Cheers,

Jakub

Here is some soundrecordings from my computer when it makes the noise;

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sw5ey0je614qus4/0gb8kKBmjS

Is this coming from the HDD or the CPU would you think? I consider it as a fault since I excpected it to be basically an iPad with fans - That is completly silent except for the fan-noise.

So, I send my retina to a Apple Reseller. The guy at the shop told me that he can't hear anything and I slightly sugested that the problem could be in the loud music in the shop... After some argues he agreed to send it to their technical guys. After a couple of days, I got contacted by them. The technical guy on the phone was really nice and said that he could hear the sound too with the fans disconected and he recognised the issue. He also said that he never heart about it before and that it's a fault for sure since flash architecture cant possibly emit sounds! He replaced the whole motherboard and the fans too. I picked it up today and tested it in a quiet enviroment. Well... its still there but there's definitely an improvement. Before, the sound was constantly coming out when the CPU was under load. Now, the noice is irregular, somethimes its there and somethimes not. It's also more quiet. But it's still there 😟... I will return it on monday after a couple of tests again. I will try to test the CPU and the SSD since this are the only parts that are "old"...

See u on monday XD.

TK

I know it's not monday XD but after a couple of hours I think I nailed the problem down!

So here are the tests I made:

1. I started with a base test with compressing 25GB of video data. The sound was definitely there but since both the CPU and SSD are involved I wasn't sure which one was responsible. The CPU was at 2-5% load (for the record)

2: I had to test the CPU only so I started Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. The reason I went for this test is that premiere pro loads all your videos into the RAM and tries to depend as less as possible on the hard-drive (SSD). I took many 2.7k videos from my GoPro but any videos should be fine. The videos were about 2-3 seconds long and I applied many transitions between the shots so that the CPU gets under load. The result was surprising since I was betting on the CPU. NO SOUNDS were emitted from the Mac through any test only when starting adobe premiere (which loaded all the videos into the RAM). The CPU load was about 20-25%!

3: To be absolutely sure, I had to test the SSD only. Well it's not really possible to do so but we can put it under load anyway with nearly no CPU load. I used one of my 7GB large videos and just copy and pasted it. Since its just one file the CPU should be fine since it does't have to go through a lot of files when copying. The CPU load was around 1%. I tried the test about 10-15 times and heres the result: whining sound every time!!!!!! If you don't have any videos available, just compress some programs from your mac into one big file and then copy paste it anywhere.

4: To be absolutely sure I just run a couple of tests with all data saved in the RAM and like before with Adobe Premiere, no sounds ad all....

Conclusion:

The noise can be divided into 2 categories. First can be compared to the noise of a normal Hart-drive and comes out when compressing a lot of data. The reason is simple -> the CPU loads a bunch of data for the SSD, then compresses it and the it writes to the SSD. This step is repeated till the data are processed. Since the load is not constant on the SSD, it will make short brakes and then start again.

The second category is a constant whistle like sound. This one comes out when the SSD is under constant pressure. Like copying 25 GB of data.

So, in the end I was really wondering if any other people had this problem with SSD drives and actually, ther's a s**t load of people complaining about the same problem on SanDisc SSDs. One small example:

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Extreme-SSD/Extreme-240-making-sounds-the-f irst-minutes/td-p/276402

Please ignore the post nr. 6 since the guy has no idea what he's talking about...

EXAMPLE FROM THE FORUM:

.......Have you never heard a power supply make a noise? Have you never heard a high pitched whine from a monitor or laptop screen? A plasma TV buzz depending on how much light content is being displayed? None of these have mechanical moving parts but the power regulation itself makes noise.......

END.

So, I will bring my MacBook to Apple today and explain them everything in detail. I feel really sorry for my old motherboard and the fans replaced since they were not at fault 😟.

Wish me luck that I was right 😉!

Cheers,

TK

Um guys, I've literally spent the whole day stressing out over this exact issue.

BUT, I don't know how... but the noise started to happen for me when I, in anger, slammed my palm on the area where the 1 2 3 q w e keys would have been, and this noise came. It's that whining noise.

After reading so much posts about this noise, I am convinced it's the logic board, so, I figured, maybe physics might fix this. So what did I do?

I lift up the macbook, and started to use the bottom padding of my left hand to essentially 'palm' the bottom where those keys are back up, increasing in intensity and force slowly.

One of these 'hits' did it, the noise stopped. Now I'm sure it will come back eventually, but this is better than spending money buying a new part (especially since the logic board is practically every component) I also have had this macbook (without apple care and second hand) for 8 months now. So I had no choice but to essentially hit it back into shape! I will never hit my macbook pro ever again!

If you're in my position, and have no choice, palm it like I described. It just might 'jolt' that part into place again. Not recommended tho!

You just moved your fan out of his balanced area and back OR just had some dirt in the fan.... The sound in a !really! afected mashine comes out even without fans -> confirmed by apple -> but inside the boundaries of the contract. But since its apple they will replace it if u ask them...

NEVER HIT YOUR MAC EVEN ONCE!!!

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Hi I have the same problem with the high pitched sound. It seems to happen when the battery power is at 40-50%. I think its coming from the screen. When I get the sound I just push the f2 or f1 to change the brightness and the sound ends. This was driving me crazy! But the brightness adjustments seem to stop it when it happens.

Hope this helps.

Brand new late 2013 macbook pro retina 13 inch, I have the same issue where when I read or write to the new PCI Exress SSD high frequency electrnic noise is created, in particular when running Blackmagic speed test or any other app that uses the ssd alot or even starting up iphoto etc..

Got a fresh replacement and indentical problem..

When will Apple accept it's a common issue and change the design manufacturing process..?

Apparently I have to take my pro retina into apple store to show the genius so that they can report it to apple engineering so they can fix it for the next mb pro..

Not really a great service, they should've tested this before selling it in mass.

Has anyone actually experienced a problem with their computers relating to this noise? Is it actually a problem or is this a speculation that there will be a problem?

I had this noise and no problems with the computer. If there are no consequences to the noise, is there an actual problem?

Just asking as I'm wondering if we're all making too much of this.

Glad I found this,

I have the same high pitched noise but mines coming from the right side.

I have noticed it happened when I take my fingers off the track pad, high pitch noise

starts, put them back on, goes away....something about being fully idle.

Anyone confirm the same?