Error During Repair Of Disk Permissions

Hello g:

Permissions have nothing to do with strange noises (and very little else).

Try booting from your software install DVD and holding down the "D" key. That will open the Apple hardware test.

Barry

I love my PBookG4 so I understand when one starts to have problems, it almost gets you where it hurts. *Since you ran the AHT and it came up clean..*. try booting from your restore disk and check for errors.

Restart your Mac while holding down the C key, pressing the power button and inserting your restore disk all at the same time. An Installer window will open, but do not proceed with any installations. Instead, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Disk Utility. In the Disk Utility window click First Aid, and then click Verify. If Disk Utility reports errors, click Repair. When Disk Utility is finished, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Disk. Select MacintoshHD 10.x.x and click Restart.

When you ran Disk Utility and it reported these errors, did it say it had repaired disk permissions at the bottom?

If you have any peripherals such as external printers/keyboard/mouse connected, try disconnecting and rebooting the PBook to see if the noises persist.



Carolyn 🙂

Hello g:

Lets start over.

To try to answer the hardware/software question, did you run the Apple hardware test (boot from the software install DVD while holding the "D" key down) as I suggested above?

The errors you see are directory problems. The message indicates that the Apple disk utility cannot repair the problems. You have two choices. There are more robust third party utilities available that will sometimes fix things that Apple's utility will not. I use Diskwarrior. DW is the +"gold standard"+ of directory repair, but it is pricey at about $90 US. The other option would be to do an archive and install. Both of those assume that the problem is software not hardware.

In all cases, it is always good practice to have a backup before any software changes.

Barry

You have directory structure problems. You may need something like Disk Warrior to straighten
it out.

The other alternate is to reformat the boot volume and restore your system and data from a backup.

Kj

Sorry Barry:

Your post didn't show up in my browser when I was posting. I emptied my safari cache, maybe?
Safari will work better now (for a while).

Kj

Hello g:

Try checking something simple

Open disk utility. Highlight your hard drive (not your files). At the bottom you will see something called S.M.A.R.T. If that says anything other than "verified" you have a failing (or failed) HD. The noises could indicate HD problems.

The directory problems you indicated earlier are serious and will not go away, but I think it is best to see if you have hardware problems before running that issue down (in the way I indicated above).

Barry

Hello again:

If I were you, I would take the computer to either an Apple store or to an Apple certified technician to diagnose the strange noises.

Barry

If the Disk utility says it can not repair the disk you will either need third party software to repair it or reformat the drive though noises from the HD is never good it is normally a warning sign that the HD is about to fail

Hello g:

My recommendation would be to wait to do anything further until you have the appointment with the Mac genius.

Barry

Disk Utility can't fix the directory issues. DiskWarrior can. Only you can determine if it's worth the $90 to fix your problem. It is to me, that's why I have DW installed. Sort of like the hydraulic floor jack that supplements the one that shipped with my auto.