Came home from class to find several prblems with my Macbook Pro

Question

I want to start off by saying that over the weekend, I noticed that my light on my charger did not work any more, and it seems that the actual charger does not work any more either. It has been plugged in for a while but remains at 95%.
Then today, I come home from classes, and notice my computer is making alot noise. It sounded like the fans were working really hard and every 30 seconds or so it would beep. I tried to shut it off but it quickly froze and eventually just seemed to shut off, although it was still making the noises. I unplugged the computer right away, but the sounds continued. Then I noticed that the headphone jack was shining a bright red light. I tried turning it back on from that point but it would not respond. Only when I removed the battery did it quit making noises.
I put the battery back in and the noises started up again. I again tried to turn it on and the noises stopped and the computer started. It made sort of weird sound right when it turned on, but made the regular sound as Mac OSX was loading. I then noticed that my airport shortcut was not on the upper right. I opened internet connect and the option for "turn airport on" was darkened. I noticed the red light was still coming from the headphone jack, so I decided to check the sound. As I played music on iTunes, not a sound came from the speakers. I tried turning up the volume and I got the little symbol of the circle with a line through it came up (like on a no smoking sign). I plugged in my headphones and it worked, but when I unplugged them and plugged them back in, they did not work at all. There was a strange high pitched noise coming from under my keyboard at this point, so I quickly shut down the computer.
When I turned it back on, I found that my Airport now worked. I still have the red light coming from the headphone jack, and I still can't get any sound, but there is no more high-pitched noises. The light on my charger now seems to work most of the time, but often flashes off and then back on. My battery still says 95%. It will not calculate the time until the battery is full though.
So basically, I think that there must have been some freak accident that happened to my computer. All of these things seem unrelated, but it all happened at the same time. I really do not know much about computers - in fact I am not even sure what OS I have. I know I have Mac OS X, but I'm not sure which version. I got my Macbook Pro right after it came out and have downloaded all updates if that helps.
Any idea as to what happened to my computer? What should I do? I was hoping to be able to email apple customer support or something, but I cannot even find how to do that. My phone support has run out, but I do have the repair service still. This is exactly mid-semester for me and I really can't afford to lose my computer! I'm sorry for the long post, but I wanted to describe everything in detail so that I could get the best responses. Any feedback at all will be appreciated, because as I said, I really do not know much about computers. (In terms of parts, how they run, etc.)
Macbook Pro   Mac OS X (10.0.x)  

Answer 1

I might be able to explain a coupe of the symptoms you mention.
Firstly the 95% battery thing: this is expected. the way it works is that the charger does not keep plugging away when the battery is (effectively) fully charged. When the battery level drops below about 95% (say you it on battery for some time), then the charger will start working and try to take the battery back up to 100% again. However if you are between about 95% and 100%, then the charger will not work - hence the 'stable' display of 95%.
The red light from the headphone socket is the optical digital audio connection. The socket can operate with both the optical and the 'old fashioned' stereo headphone plugs. The light is needed for the optical, and the side connectors for the stereo plug. If your system is working well, then the preferences panel will show the options come and go as you plug in the various types of plugs.
I bought my MBP in May last year (shortly after they were released in Australia). If you bought the same thing as I did, then you should have OS X 10.4.8.
When 'strange' things suddenly start happening, it may well be a hardware problem UNLESS you have applied a software update or installed some software just prior. If neither of these have happened, it may well be prudent to have the unit looked at by you local hardware repair place.
Not really answering your basic questions, but I hope this helps.
Susan