Macbook Pro w/Retina Display fan making annoying grinding sounds

[Seandroid]

Alright, the fan on the right side of my Macbook pro simply doesn't sound right to me, it's by no stretch quieter than my previous Macbook Pro 13", in fact, idling it's probably three times as loud. The sound isn't a usual "air rush" sound, it's more like a grinding, nasty, unbalanced sound.

I put my phone's microphone right up to the keyboard and it recorded this from the right side:

http://soundcloud.com/seandroid/memo/s-kZdcv

And here's the left side which sounds fine to me:

http://soundcloud.com/seandroid/memo-1/s-RbMU6

Am I going insane, or is there something wrong with my Macbook? The left side, according to iStat is actually spinning faster. I don't really know what to do, it's a complete pain for me to go to the Apple store as it's an hour drive away.

 

[rrm998]

Alright, the fan on the right side of my Macbook pro simply doesn't sound right to me, it's by no stretch quieter than my previous Macbook Pro 13", in fact, idling it's probably three times as loud. The sound isn't a usual "air rush" sound, it's more like a grinding, nasty, unbalanced sound.

I put my phone's microphone right up to the keyboard and it recorded this from the right side:

http://soundcloud.com/seandroid/memo/s-kZdcv

And here's the left side which sounds fine to me:

http://soundcloud.com/seandroid/memo-1/s-RbMU6

Am I going insane, or is there something wrong with my Macbook? The left side, according to iStat is actually spinning faster. I don't really know what to do, it's a complete pain for me to go to the Apple store as it's an hour drive away.

I'm assuming you can hear that sound from a normal working distance. I agree it sounds like a fan motor problem. I wonder if it's loud enough that you could take it into a busy Apple Store and get them to hear it.

If you put the machine under heavy load, does the noise change as the fan speeds up?

 

[Seandroid]

I'm assuming you can hear that sound from a normal working distance. I agree it sounds like a fan motor problem. I wonder if it's loud enough that you could take it into a busy Apple Store and get them to hear it.

If you put the machine under heavy load, does the noise change as the fan speeds up?

I can yup. And that's what happened, I brought it to a Genius but he said he couldn't hear anything. Next time I'm going to show him the recordings.

And I used SMC fan control to speed up the fan, and sure enough, the sound slowly moves from a rattling sound to a whine.

 

[Enri]

I have the problem with my left fan. And it's loud enough to be herd from a distance beyond your desk. My question is whether they give you a new one in a mac store or theyll take it to fix?

 

[Mrbobb]

Holly crap, am reading so many problem with the rMBP (relatively speaking). Man QC (if it still exists) is taking a dump.