MacBook Charger making whinning noise and getting HOT

My scorching hellfire MacBook also came with a super loud, sizzling, and ultra hot ac adapter that makes this sound:

http://www.ar1an.com/hot-ac-adapter-hiss.mov

I plan on installing a MacBook in each room of my house this winter to cut down the natural gas bill.

Just noticed this about 30 min ago and came to look...

It's a hissing sound for me... ugh. Looks like it's time to call Apple.

I just felt mine which has been plugged in for a few hours. It is warm to the touch but nothing more. You have removed the packaging tape correct? You may consider calling Apple on that one. I certainly would, as any risk of fire certainly is not worth it. I would think of all the things they are not receptive to, this would be one where they would replace the item every time due to the possible serious consequences of a failure.

Kalel

Also, give it a day or two to see if it settles down. Some chargers do take a few days to, not for a better phrase, "work themselves in". This is not to say there isn't a problem, just to say there might not be.

I also had this issue on the second night of ownership. I ran the battery all the way down and I was still using it while it was charging. I was just doing some general browsing, nothing intense when I also noticed that my power supply was humming up a storm. It also looked like it wasn't keeping up with the power usage.

I put the MacBook to sleep, worried a little about burning down the the house, however it seems to be fine today. The power supply is a 65 watt power supply. It may be slightly undersized and not keep up when it is hot.

I did a quick search on MPB powersupply as they are 85 watts but much larger per online discussion.

Yes, I just discovered this now (it's usually too noisy around me (kids at home, other computers at work) to hear such faint noises). The MacBook makes a faint whining noise and the charger makes a similar, but somewhat stronger sound. Compared to the MacBook, the charger sounds more like hissing.

If I put some load on the cpu, the MB whining disappears, and the charger hissing noise gets much, much fainter.

Hmm. I think I'll call Apple tomorrow, I don't like electrical parts that make hissing noises 😟


MacBook (white) 2Ghz/2GB/120GB, PowerBook G4 / 12 /1.33Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Yeah, mine does that as well.

Also my MacBook whines on occasion and often moos, ****.

So i'll call Apple tomorrow about the charger at least. The Moo'ing is not really a concern for me anymore as i use headphones 75% of the time and often have music on or some form of background noise on.

Anyway thanks for letting me know i'm not alone.

- Joe.

yep! mine whines and hisses as well! sounds like something is sizzling inside. i took it in and the genius said that its within spec. its awefully loud and odd to be within spec though.

i hope the people you guys deal with are more helpful!

chris

ArianBlackthorne.

If your MacBook is overheating and your charger is hot and making sizzling sounds don't you think its time you took it into a Genius bar to get it replaced. It sounds to me as if you probably actually have a dead battery that is failing to charge properly, generating heat in both the computer and the powerpack. Alternatively it may be that you still have the plastic strip over the rear vent (under the hinge) as illustrated in the following image.



Cheers

Rod

I am at the apple store right now with the same problem.
my charger was hissing - then it started mooing - and this starts immediately when I plug it into my macbook that has been asleep.
So my macbook isn't hot when this happens.

the hissing gets louder and louder.

they just swapped me a new charger and we tried it on apple's macbook and the same hissing sound started!

when I tried the advice of only charging it with the short cord - the sound seemed to not be as loud.

I am here waiting for the 3rd charger - so we'll see what they say.

I had a week 20 MacBook and it made this annoying hissing sound from the MacBook and power adapter. I exchanged it for a week 22, and it does the same thing...

Since many people are noticing this, could it be normal? Or are there just that many defective power adapters or MacBooks? I really want to know because I have a 14-day limit to return or exchange it.

I've had two macbooks. The first one had a very loud sizzle that I could hear from 4-5 feet away. Apple captured it for engineering review and told me not to use it while I waited for a replacement. The new one was not quite as loud, but still sizzled.

The second macbook adapter sizzles, but it's barely audible and what I'd consider normal. There is no way that a loud sizzle is 'normal'. With the level of noise produced by the first adapter, I could not use it anywhere around people. It really was that loud.

In any case, this is not really a question since Apple is capturing these devices and says that it is normal. I trust them. I also think it's more related to the macbook itself than just the adapter.

I just got back from the Apple Fifth AVe store.
I was given 3 chargers in a row - all that hissed.
They finally concluded that ALL their chargers hiss - and that there is a little bit of an electricity noise.
But I told them that mine was LOUD - that it was mooing!
I was sooo fusterated by this point b.c I've been back to the store several times with each new charger hissing!

Finally the manager, Max, just gave me a 85 Watt charger and said that all their 60watt chargers hiss, but the 85 watt seems to make less or no noise. he said that the macbooks require more energy - so that chargers do get hotter and need more electricity to charger it. But I still don't think the hissing noise is normal.
I'll see how it goes.

I've documented my Charger Hissing Malady on My Flickr Albam if you want to see how I went about it. It will also have the update on the 85 watt charger.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/triciawang/sets/72157594173586607/

I think it's related in some way to the macbook itself. Maybe the inverter or logic board? The loudness of the hiss is directly related to the charge of the battery, with lower charge equalling louder sizzle and more charge less sizzle. It's also related to CPU activity (which is related to power consumption of course) - if you launch CPU intensive apps, the sizzle stops too. It also corresponds to the CPU whine - put your ear to the macbook and listen to the CPU and the adapter sizzle. Then launch photobooth and the loud sizzle will disappear.

I'm surprised APple hasn't worked this one out yet and just continued to replace adapters. Since they wanted mine for engineer review I'm positive they will find the problem eventually and fix it. Until then....people will have to launch photobooth.

I got a replacement charger from Apple last week.

Still gets very hot, but the sizzling noise
isn't as loud. It seems to be less of an issue
when I charge the battery with the MacBook
turned off. Of course that's not very
satisfactory.