I started having an unusual problem today on my mac. About 2 hours ago I started hearing what sounds like crickets in my computer, and there are black strokes (boxes) around random items on my mac within the Operating system. Like for instance the back arrow which allows me to navigate through the file system, an icon for a javascript file that is on my desktop, vertical scroll bar in my finder window. All of these have about a 3pt black stroke around them. Then when I go to restart there are 2 "restarts" 2 "Shutdowns" and 2 "log off" options. And again whenever I click on something it sounds like a cricket chirping.
I loaded Flash Player 9 on my comp today. However that was the only change made to the system. No other updates. I've run the repair disk on my hard drive and repaired the permissions. In the permissions the flash player had some discrepancies, but those were all repaired. Rebooted and still same problem. I understand this maybe a flash player issue, but I wanted to check and see if any one had come across this type of situation before.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Is this cricket sound coming from the machine itself or from the speakers? If from the machine then you have something wrong with the hardware. Maybe a video fan?
Well the sound is coming from the comp itself. When I boot to the cd the computer runs fine as far as no noises. So if it was a hardware issue like a fan and excuse me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that issue be across the board? Thanks for your quick assistance!
I see, well that makes sense. The only thing that I'm curious about is why all of a sudden and this happened all around the same time, I now have 2 "Restart" options in the main apple menu as well as 2 "Shutdowns" and 2 "Log Out" options. As well as any time I click on an Icon or a folder or file it puts a square black box around it. Do you think a hardware issue would cause those symptoms also? If so what is the most cost effective method of doing a diagnostic check on my hardware? Thanks again!
NO MORE CRICKETS! I figured out that somehow I turned on the assistance feature for the visually impaired. After pluging in my headphones to the computer I realized the crickets were actually the voice over system. Disabling this under the Universal Access Menu in my system preferences cleared everything up. Thanks for the assistance!
Yes feels good even if you figure it out on accident. I was working in Flash when it happened and with the insert frame key being F5 that makes perfect since. Thanks for letting me know what that short cut was other wise I'd probably do it again and wonder what the heck was going on.
Thanks
My Dad is experiencing this same issue on his new 24" iMac. Cricket sounds intermittently. I sent him a link to this thread and he's hit command+F5 and verified in System Prefs but its still happening to him. No idea why. It IS the computer. hitting mute silences it, volume increases it. Restart doesn't do it. I guess we check and see if it happens when another user is logged on. Haven't tried that yet. He was wondering if it was a virus, but hey, we're talking about Mac's here, right? Any thing else you can recommend?
I have had an invasion of the cricket sound too. I tried the Command F5 for the voice over command, and also in the system preferences way, without success.
It does not matter what program I am running or anything, as long as I have the volume up enough, the cricket sounds like it is rubbing his legs. Very irritating during a movie on my 24" iMac Display.
Could it be a virus?
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