Weird clicking sound, iMac freezes or is dead slow, and turns itself off!

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Level 1

20 points

Weird clicking sound, iMac freezes or is dead slow, and turns itself off!

I've had my iMac for a good 3-4 years, during which it has been fitted with a new hard drive.
About a year ago, during watching DVDs, there was a weird click-clack sound for a good 10 seconds which was followed by the freeze. Sometimes it would go off, but sometimes the Mac would turn itself off like it had run out of juice. I thought it might've been a power issue.

Nowadays it almost every time presents this clicking sound, and freezing is inevitable. Sometimes there's no warning, the power just goes off. I have unplugged all devices that are using power ie. iPod, but the problem persists.

Could this be a mere power issue? What can the clicking sound be a symptom of?
I'm doing back-up in case the Mac completely shuts down, but I have hope for the machine yet!
I have few months warranty left, keen to sort this out pronto! All comments warmly welcome.

Anne

G5, Mac OS X (10.4), New hard drive installed in 2005

Posted on Jun 17, 2008 3:02 AM

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Answer 1

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Jun 17, 2008 4:56 AM in response to Anne Loponen

Hi Anne

had this on mine & sadly it was the hardrive failing - I would certainly back up all your data & get applecare to sort it.

my replacement failed also, but out of warranty, but they're pretty cheap now to buy.

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Answer 2

MGW

Level 7

27,047 points

Jun 17, 2008 5:35 AM in response to Anne Loponen

A clicking sound is almost the sound of a hard drive failing, you can verify this by running Apple Hardware test from your install disc, or you can run Disk Utility and see whether the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive (at the bottom of the window) is verified or failed. In any case, as advised, back up all your data, I use SuperDuper! to make a clone, so that after you have replaced your drive (good ones can be found at [macsales.com], you can simply perform a reverse clone and be up and running in no time.

There is a chance that it could be a failing power supply or motherboard, but the most likely culprit is your hard drive.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out,

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Answer 3

Jun 17, 2008 10:41 AM in response to Anne Loponen

I agree, this sounds like a hard drive problem. I have had to replace my hard drive twice after having these symptoms. Unfortunately the hardware test program does not always successfully identify the problem.

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Answer 4

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Jun 17, 2008 11:53 AM in response to Carl Broughton

yup, I believe the problem ( beyond the fact that drives in any computer do fail at times... ) is partly due to heat - my imac G5 revB allowed the hd to get very hot, which seemed too much for the two identical seagates that failed ( the second one only gave trouble after hours of use, and is now perfectly reliable in an external case )

It doesn't help that the temp sensor is glued to the bracket, which is insulated from the drive by rubber bushes... rather than on the drive body; I moved mine & it stays much cooler now, at the expense of the fans getting noisy earlier than before.

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Answer 5

Anne Loponen Author

Level 1

20 points

Jun 25, 2008 3:34 AM in response to MGW

As I was making the clone with SuperDuper, the process was halted by an error, and I found half of my stuff copied on the external hard drive. It had enough space, but it prompted a dodgy file in 'Frameworks' in the Library which stopped the process. It all looked very benign, and I checked the troubleshooting and it suggested to try again after restarting.

What in fact had happened, was that ALL my music files had disappeared from my hard drive, none of my applications would work on my Mac, even Safari or iTunes, and I was left last night with the blue screen of death. These files were nowhere to be found, ANY of the hard drives.

Ready to chuck the piece.
Thanks for all your advice but this time, it made it worse. I'm getting the Mac a new hard drive as it's still under warranty. As it's the third time I've lost my files, there's hardly a scratch on me.. Taught me not to get attached to things too much. 🙂

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Answer 6

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Jun 25, 2008 3:46 AM in response to Anne Loponen

Anne

sorry to hear of your 'disaster' - sometimes drives do selectively give up when err taxed & cause such things.

Too late now, but if you are unlucky enough to come across a failing drive again, it's perhaps wise to attempt to backup just the important stuff first, rather than a full clone....convenient though that is. ( you might well have run into a similar problem of course ...) A clicking drive is darn near terminal imo.

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Answer 7

MGW

Level 7

27,047 points

Jun 25, 2008 6:10 AM in response to Anne Loponen

Sorry that you had another disaster, but it was worth trying to retrieve your data, even though it failed. You might think of getting Data Rescue II, it can sometimes pull stuff off your drive. Try putting the drive in an enclosure and seeing if Data Rescue will work.

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