Battery not charging and makes weird noise when power cord plugged in

Question

I have an issue that a few people have mentioned here, my PowerBook won't recognize when a power adapter is plugged in. I've bought two power adapters recently (that I probably DON'T need now) so I know it's not a bad adapter.
For a few months it has been switching back and forth between wall and battery power but usually only when I was really working the machine either video or photo editing but it has been getting worse.
The thing that is happening to me that I haven't seen mention is my computer makes a fast ticking noise when it is plugged in. Once I unplug it, it stops. And while it was off and plugged in the computer was making a weird whistling noise.
Is this a bad DC/sound card issue and does Apple still do these types of repairs at a Genius Bar or am I on my own?
Thanks for any and all help.

Answer 1

I know exactly what you mean. My 17 inch PB has been quite "noisy" since I received it, but i wrote it off (I was too ecstatic that work bought me a PB). Just recently the sound has been getting louder. I'm starting to think the sound was actually electrical interference that was being picked up by the speakers. Actually today I was in a meeting (speakers still working) and the squeeling sound was getting louder (almost embarrasing loud considering I'm the apple diehard in a pc dominated office). I decided to reset my computer (not something I do often)It seemed to subside for a bit.
Well today, it looks as though my speakers have died on me. I'm not getting any sounds out of them. I'm not a newb when it comes to macs (been using macs since os9, about '99) so I've tried everything I can think of to get the speakers to come back. I believe I'm experiencing a hardware failure (reset many times, check all settings).
Hmph.....Pretty frustrating. No iTunes during work makes me sad. I'll have to check and see if my external sound still works tomorrow.
-Kevin
Powerbook G4 17", Cube, PowerMac G4, Imac G5   Mac OS X (10.4.7)