fan noise upon startup

Thanks, John, for the quick reply. But if it were brought on by the OS, wouldn't it be more consistent and not so intermittent and without pattern? Or is it serving some intermittent function?

Ira

No, Jim, I am not sure, because, although I know that there is a fan in the iBook, I have never heard the noise & then had it labeled as such, so I don't really know what the sound or noise I heard was. There is nothing metallic about it. I would describe it as a whirring sound.

Just yesterday the noise came while I was on the web & persisted for a long time. It coincided with a very hot computer, so I shut it down for 20 minutes. It didn't do it again on startup, but came back after the computer warmed up again. I was doing a maintenance procedure with TechTool & couldn't turn it off for another 10 minutes or so. Out of curiosity I decided to reboot after those 10 minutes & the noise went away for the rest of the session. The next time it comes, I will try rebooting to see if there's really a causal relationship.

I am fearful of a disk failure, but I think I will back up daily until this business is resolved.

Thanks for your help, Jim.

Ira

Thanks Peter. I will be backing up even more than once daily during more productive periods.

Thank you Joe. Having heard the fan noise yesterday when the computer was warm followed by the noise at startup this morning. The noises are not the same. The fan noise is more coherent. The startup noise, still a whirring noise for about 1-1-1/2 seconds, although not metallic, is just a wee bit more raucous. My feeling is that this is the hard disk annoucing its approaching demise. I am backing up daily and sometimes twice daily. I will be travelling in 2 weeks, but I am taking 2 portable hard disks with me for back up.

Thanks for your comment.

Ira

Thank you Jim & Patrick. The noise I hear occurs, Patrick, even when I merely touch the button lightly, so I think it must be the hard drive, also because the startup whirring noise is a bit different in character from the noise of the fan which comes on when the computer is hot. Moreover, it is intermittent, no real pattern.

Jim, I live in Rome & it's been my experience in the past that Apple stores most of its parts in Holland & it can take a good bit of time to get it to Rome. On my trip I am going to London where I believe the stocks are probably better & where there is also an Apple Store that I can consult with. I would also need to lean on them for the installation disk, because mine has developed a nick on it that makes it almost useless for checking permissions, not to speak of installing the OS. The CD tends to get stuck in the drive, because with the nick it doesn't always recognize the computer's commands. It got kind of scary when it wouldn't respond. So I need to talk to them about that, too. Thanks to all of you who have been so kind to comment on my problem. I'll post the results of my efforts.

Ira

Patrick, since writing my above reply, I tried leaning on the button for a bout a second or two. Not only did I induce the noise, but it lasted a couple seconds longer. And stangely enough, it was accompanied by a whistle. Both stopped & then the chime came & the startup proceeded normally. So, Patrick, you and John and I all have this noise on startup, and our computers are still running. Peter had it & his HD died; but he didn't specify whether he had the noise on startup. I will take my computer to the Apple Store in London & produce the noise for them to hear. I'll post their reaction on my return toward the end of the month.

Ira