Strange "dripping" noise coming from Macbook pro

I can't say that mine makes this noise, but from the moment I read your description of the sound, I thought "hard drive". A completely different beast indeed, but my old Dell Inspiron used to make this clucking/dripping noise every minute or so when idling in Windows, and I just assumed it was part of a backup program running in the background ... until I discovered no such program existed on computer. If you can readily recreate it, does it at all sound like it's coming from that area? To maybe rule out the HDD (and I assume you don't have an SSD instead), shake the computer (gently) until you get hear the hard drive needle lock (as a result of the sudden motion sensor detecting a possible drop) and then see if you can still hear it (the HDD resumes normal operations after a very short period, though).

... you know, as I am typing this I began to hear things differently, and I hear the hard drive "click" every 20-30 seconds or so.

Sorry, those musings are the best I can offer, but I'm sure with this "bump" someone more well-informed will offer their $0.02.

EDIT: I also just noticed that I usually hear it immediately preceding a fan stepping up.

Message was edited by: MacAdamy

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Just out of curiosity close the lid on your mbp and right before the light goes from solid to flashing you will hear the HD turn off. Is that the same noise you are hearing?

Obviously you should be in a quiet room.

Unfortunately you are not alone in this issue. I bought my MBP back in April, and the first week I noticed this problem. However, I did not think anything of it at the time. But after reading a few topics here on the problem, I know that my machine was suffering from the same problem.

I did notice a couple things in regards to the issue though. About a week or so I after I bought it, and updated to 10.5.2 and restarted etc. the sound went away. What caused it to go away, I have no clue, but it did. I use my MBP everyday, so I never shut it down and just let it sleep. In late May early June I did the software update and installed a few programs that required a restart. After restarting I used the machine for a few minutes then let it sleep. When I came back to use it, the sound returned.

It took about 3 weeks for it to go away this time, but it did again, and was silent until I had to reboot a couple months later and the sound returned again. In my experience, it seems to go away, but always returns after a reboot.

I am not so sure it is a sign that HD is failing because I use my machine for heavy HDTV capturing and editing, and it has not crashed on me as of yet (knock on wood), and its going on 7 months now.

I did as you are planning to do, and went to the Apple store, but they could not offer any insight as to why this is occurring. Their only solution was for a HD replacement and re-install of OSX 10.5. Feel free to take a trip to the store and report back here, I would be very interested to hear what they tell you.

As I am still under warranty and planning on purchasing Applecare shortly, I will have the drive replaced soon. But for now, I make sure to back up my files to an external just in case the drive does go.

May I ask when you bought your MBP, was it an early 2008 or the new one released this past October?

sorry I could not be of more help, I am still trying to figure out this problem on an otherwise great machine.

good luck and make sure to back up your files.

I noticed with my Titanium Powerbook G4 that the internal hard drive would make a mysterious sound when idle. I don't know how to describe it, but if I was to try to duplicate it I might use a metal pin and slide it lightly back and forth once on a sheet of stainless steel, with something for the pin to hit halfway through the cycle so it makes a small click or tick. I have no idea what the hard drive is doing but after a while I decided it was normal. Now I have the MBP and I noticed after a few days the hard drive started doing the same thing, although the sound is much more quiet and has a bit of a different cadence. Yes it is unusual compared to the "normal" seek/read/write sounds of a drive but I am confident it's part of the normal functioning of these drives. My 20gig hard drive of my TiBook never got a break for 7 years until now and if it was some kind of malfunction then it surely would not have given me all those trouble-free years.

Maybe there's someone knowledgeable on the subject who could explain the precise mechanical function occurring when we hear the tick/tock swish/swoosh drip/drop sound.

I was hoping that you would have said that yours was also an early 2008 model. But since yours is the newer one with the 320 gb HD I assume, the theory about Apple having used a batch of HDs with this minor defect does not hold water, it's occurring with different models, different HDs, etc. I does not seem that an HD replacement will stop this, since others have gone that route, 2 or more times over.

If you do go to the Apple Store please post back and let us know what they said. I may take a trip to the store this since I had to restart my machine on Friday, and lo and behold, the noise returned. I will post any news if I get somewhere with them.

Your description of water torture is right on, after awhile the sound gets so annoying you want to pull your hair out.

Message was edited by: thiswateredone

Bullitt -

I have been having the same s*it with my new (last year version) MacBook Pro 2.5.
It comes about every 30 seconds, most of the time sounding its in the upper left side (just inside the left speaker). It's like an alien is trapped ... saying small sentences that last for about a second. AND YES, it is terribly annoying. I would rather have fan noise than this stupid sound coming out every 30 seconds or so (sometimes more, sometimes less)

I live in Switzerland, so customer service is about as annoying as the sound. www.dataquest.ch tells me that they can return my computer (which I bough last Wed.) but I have to pay 300 CHF. OR, they can replace the hard-drive. (I have used this computer a total of about 8 hours) Why the hard drive? The store manager heard the noise after I took him into a silent room and said "Yeup, its the hard-drive" ... I said "REALLY ... have you heard it before?" ... "nope, but I am sure its the hard drive." I say ... "see, it's messed up ... that is crazy ..." he says "yeah, but the diagnostics are o.k. ... so we cannot do anything except replace your hard-drive"

So, now I have paid 2'000 CHF for a machine which makes a funny REALLY annoying sound, which they have to repace the hard-drive ... and most likely I lose my manuf. warranty. Oh yeah, to add insult ... I produce music. Sound proof room and all. Try to concentrate with that sh*t eh ...

Derek

The real shame of it is that a hard drive replacement does not guarantee that the noise will go away. There have been a few people on here that had this done and it did not solve the issue.

Even the owners of the newer pros, like bullitt, are having the noise problem. Its a shame the issue could not he isolated to one machine or type of hard drive. This is my first apple purchase and after hearing how great they are, to have this experience really ***

Good luck

Hi...

I have the same problem with my 4-day old MBP. I hear an intermittent "dripping" noise from just to the right of the trackpad. If you stick your ear up close, it sounds like it coincides with a hard drive seek. I'm guessing that the hard drive is sometimes noisy when seeking; the intermittent sound comes because the OS flushes the buffer cache every 10-20 seconds.

I have the Hitachi 320Gb drive that comes stock with the new MBP 2.53 model:
Model: Hitachi HTS543232L9SA02
Revision: FB4AC50F

Has anyone succeeded in having the noise eliminated through a drive replacement? As it is, it's annoying, but I guess I can live with it. Admittedly, for $2500 I shouldn't have to "live with" things like this.

Cheers,
Peter

Hi Everyone ...

I am going to get my Hitatchi HD replaced by a Samsung today. The guy at the store says Samsung has an "ultra-quiet" drive that may help with this REALLY annoying issue. He says that the stock Hitatchi drives can have some issues, and although he has never had this issue (I think because the majority of people don't REALLY pay attention ... or just don't mind ... or think that it's a normal part of the system) he knows of some other quirky things which have come up.

I will pick it up today or tommorow and re-post the results so we can compare.

I have used other peoples Mac's without noise or any annoying sounds coming from them ... then I click*click my CCard with 2K for my own and WOW. Here we go. Fakk.

On another note ... do any of you have an issue with white noise (fuzz) in regards to your internal sound card? I use an external Firewire device for my music, but when I plug my headphones directly into the MBP and open up iTunes ... it sounds like 6'000 little ants crawling on concrete ever so lightly. You can almost hear it over the music. GEEEZZZUSSS.

"And it just works" ... with a bit of fuzz, and a stupid annoying noise which I cannot stop listening to.

Funny.

Cheers,

- Derek

New to forums, but I think I may have the solution.

To me, it sounds like your fan clutch, especially if it's coming from the back, and especially if it's happening right before HD wind-down. My G4pb makes a "drip" noise before sleeping every time i close the lid, and whenever the fan is no longer needed (or needed, depending on if the fan is starting up or stopping). It's not a problem, it's just how it works. the fans are very quiet most of the time, they at times can run at inaudible speeds. however, to stop the fan, it just "lets go" and lets the fan wind down (think like pushing in an auto clutch and feeling your car coast slowly to a stop). Hence, the click is the clutch engaging/disengaging (depending on how you look at it). you'll also theoretically hear it when the fan starts up.

I hear you Bullitt ... this really is unacceptable. It is consuming.

If it was a cheap telephone or something, yeah, no problem. But when people are spending THOUSANDS of Pounds / USD / CHF or whatever on these machines, these nuances make a terrible impression. Most individuals don't have a few thousand to throw around on another laptop which makes stupid noises.
Especially from Apple.

They will either help us ... or not. Especially since this really isn't a problem with the 'computer'. To be honest, if this issue is not solved, I would like to contact Corperate in California and issue a formal complaint.

Some may not take this little dripping sound seriously ... but I GARANTEE if more people heard this, paid attention etc ... there would be a bunch of upset customers.

Sorry for the general tone ... but the more I think of it, the more I feel that I am getting 1. left out of a product that should work well, with no noises 2. totally screwed over by Apple and its authorized dealers

<Edited by Moderator>

I also get that weird dripping noise, its from the hard-drive locking up, when u move it suddenly. (well in my case anywayz). its the sudden movement lockup. Although my first laptop the ibook had that too, it didnt make such a sound. My MBP does however.