Ping Pong noise...

I'll defer to Blink on this one, it doesn't cost any more to be optimistic.
I never liked playing "Prophet of Doom" anyway 😉

Also, a friend passed me a link which may go a long way to explain the intermittent noise:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300781

Hi Steve, it is your hard drive. Back up everything immediately.

You can run AHT (Apple Hardware Test). But I'd be shopping for a new drive or go through warranty or AppleCare if you have it.

If CD's came with your computer it is on a CD labeled "Hardware Test" To test with CD, insert the CD and restart holding the "c" key until you see the spinning gear.

If DVD insert DVD then:
1. Turn on or restart the computer.
2. Immediately press and hold the Option key. After a few seconds, the Startup Manger screen appearsThe Startup Manager scans for available volumes.
3. Optional: Clicking the circular arrow rescans for other volumes, including NetBoot Server volumes. You can eject any disc in the drive or open an empty tray-loading drive by holding down the Command (Apple) and Period (.) keys. The Command-Period key combination will also close the drive. After inserting a CD capable of starting up your computer, you could rescan for volumes.
4. Click the startup volume you want to use. "Hardware Test"

If hardware test does not mount or does not run bring the computer to Authorized Apple Repair.

Is that right? The occasional "ping pong" noise indicates imminent hard drive failure?

Wow. I thought I had read on here somewhere that that noise was nothing to worry about, that it was just the hard drive's read/write head "parking" itself when not is use. I'm not even sure what the means, exactly, but the sense I got was that it was nothing to worry about.

Is this not the case. I've heard this noise every now and then ever since I first got my PB. Should I be worried?

I could be wrong on this issue on a PB but anytime I've heard of a ping pong ball sound, or marble dropping sound like you describe it is the drive heads and they are not parking gracefully. I hoping I'm wrong on this issue.

Hi Steve, here is what a friend with a PB related to me a few minutes ago:

"I had this same noise when the computer was running hot. I did a reinstall of the OS, and the noise recurred. This went on for a month or so, while DW and the command line showed some disk errors, all of which were repairable so I wasn't overly concerned. But the noise infrequently continued, and the computer occasionally had difficulty waking from sleep, requiring a forced Restart using the power button. The computer finally had the HD poo-poo out (System Folder icon with prohibition sign), no amount of command line or Disk Warrior work could reclaim it. Luckily, I had a (fairly) recent back up of data; only a week or so of computing was lost (not a big deal at the time). The HD was replaced (under AppleCare). I believe the heads were the cause of the noise, perhaps they were unable to unpark, hence the clicking noise. Since this is my prime computing season, if I heard that noise today, I would back up immediately and have the HD replaced forthwith, or perhaps fivethwith."

hope_leaves...

My experience has lead me to believe the HD is on its way out. My opinion is that the head arms smacking the outer stops is essentially beating itself to death.

I have had other users disagree because they think it is a "Parking" issue with the drive heads. Parking of the heads is center most and should not be as audible or hollow sounding.

Just make shure to backup your valuables (data) as only time can tell. ...Ron

hope_leaves...

For that answer you will need to contact AppleCare yourself. We should not discuss here any Apple's policies or warranty procedures. More than likely you will have to prove a hard failure exhists. Sorry, catch 22...

...Ron

I don't think Steve was asking anyone here to discuss Apple's policies or procedures.

I think he was just asking whether anyone had ever heard an Apple Genius or tech, or an AASP for that matter, opine (from a strictly technological perspective) as to the cause of and danger posed by the "hard drive ping pong noise."

I think that's what was meant by inquiring about "Apple's official diagnosis."

Since I have heard that noise from time to time ever since I first got this Book 7 or so months ago, I'd love to know what the answer is on this, if there is one.

(But just to be safe, I just backed-up everything. That SuperDuper! is, well, just super. The UI is so straightforward, it's a breeze to use.)

Macjack, I think you're a bit premature with the prophecy of doom on this one (-:

The critical clue to me is the frequency with which hope's HDD is playing ping pong. IMO 3-4 times a day is nothing to be concerned about. All HDD's make noises that may or may not coincide with user activity- it could be the OS doing a bit of cache housekeeping in an idle moment, it could be the drive doing a thermal recalibration, it could be the HDD heads automatically parking after a period of inactivity. All perfectly normal.

Now, if hope had said the drive was making a racket 3-4 times a minute, or continually after the machine had been on for a while (and the drive was therefore hot), and that this coincided with a noticeable slowdown in the responsiveness of the machine, that's when I'd be ringing alarm bells. But it doesn't sound like that's what hope is experiencing (no pun intended).

I speak from the experience of having had 2 2.5" HDD's go south in my TiBook—one just last week in a most catastrophic fashion (had to pull the drive and put it in the freezer in order to coax my data off it pre-mortem(!) Both were different brands, both did the ping pong thang periodically when they were operating normally. When the odd clunk turned into a constant volley of shots that ground the system to a halt, I knew trouble was afoot.

SuperDuper! is an application for making a working back-up (a bootable clone in my case) of your hard drive, so that just in case something happens to your hard drive, you won't lose any important data (providing you back up frequently) and you'll be able to restore things quickly and be up and running again in no time once the situation is resolved.

I learned of this app from a Discussion of back-ups and related issues on these boards; many people recommended it. It's very easy to use.

It looks like the now infamous "ping pong" noise may not foretell the imminent death of our hard drives after all, but if its not that you can unfortunately be sure that it will be something else, some time down the road. So, it's always smart to have an effective, comprehensive back-up strategy. I like SuperDuper! very much, but there are other apps available. One called CarbonCopyCloner comes to mind, though I never tried it. I'm sure there are others.

Good luck.

I always try to be a "glass-half-full" type of person, too. Sometimes it doesn't come easy for me, but's its a way more pleasant way to go through life, so the extra work is worth it. 😉

Thanks macjack, blinkmedia, Ron JACKLE and everyone else who contributed on this -- very much appreciate your thoughts and insights. For now, I'll just keep my fingers crossed, keep backing up regularly (and love my PB each and every day like it could be the last.) 😉

Thanks again.

jDee

I also have a similar problem on my mac mini.I did find a program that fixed the problem from these forums that seems to work for me.I put it up on my dot mac account if you wanna try it.The program has to always be running or the noise comes back.I have been using it since febuary with no problems.
Here is the url file name is NoHDclickobjc.app

Homepge