"Ka-thunk thunk" sound

Question

Level 1

31 points

"Ka-thunk thunk" sound

Every so often my snow leopard server goes "Ka-thunk, thunk". What does that sound mean? I can't figure it out. Failing knowing what it means, is there a way to turn it off?

I mean without unplugging the speakers, of course.

--
John

Mac Pro 2008 / iMac 2009/ Mini 2008, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 15, 2010 8:46 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 15, 2010 9:11 AM in response to jabraham

Hello John,

At the end of your post you add the line " I mean without unplugging the speakers, of course. "

If the sound is coming from the speakers, then the problem may not be serious. If the sound is coming from elsewhere, then we need some more information.

Regards.

Ian.

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Answer 2

jabraham Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 15, 2010 10:40 AM in response to Ian Bickerstaffe

I mean that since I can't figure out what application is making the sound, the only thing I can think of is to turn off sound entirely. It's not a speaker or sound system problem, it's just some signal from the server that I don't know the meaning of.

I thought it may be an apache server error, or an LDAP login error, or something. Only server apps are running, no user apps. Also it's more of a "THUuuuuuunnk, thuunk". There's actually only two syllables in the sound.

--
John

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2010 5:43 PM in response to jabraham

Not if it is one of these sounds:

http://datacent.com/harddrivesounds.php

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Answer 4

davidh

Level 4

1,896 points

Jan 16, 2010 6:39 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Sounds like a dying hard drive indeed. That's not any kind of normal OS notification, promise you that.

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Answer 5

jabraham Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

No, definitely not a sound from the hard drive(s)! It's a sound coming from the speakers. Definitely 100% sure it's a purposeful sound coming from the server trying to tell me something. I just wish I knew what it meant.

Doesn't anyone else's server make sounds? It only does it when I'm logged in, but even if I'm logged in without starting up any applications it makes the sound.

Also my client OS machines don't make any similar sounds.

--
John

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Answer 6

davidh

Level 4

1,896 points

Jan 19, 2010 10:07 AM in response to jabraham

Server isn't going to make any alert-related noises unless you configure it to.

And without some extended setup via AppleScript to make it happen,
NONE of the server-related administration software is going to make any alert sounds either.

So this begs the question: what did you or a prior admin configure to use sound ?
Something in iCal ? How often does this happen and have you kept an eye on the server while it happens - anything visibly associated to/with the sound ?

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Answer 7

jabraham Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 22, 2010 8:13 PM in response to davidh

Thanks davidh for explaining that snow leopard server out of the box makes no server related sounds. Now I'm stumped, but I'll play particular attention to anything that might be running.

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Answer 8

jabraham Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 25, 2010 7:34 AM in response to jabraham

It was skype telling me that one of my contacts had signed in. I forgot that I had skype starting up automatically on login.

Sorry for the interruption, I should have noticed that skype was running. (although in my defence skype on my client OSX machines isn't configured by default to make this sound.)

Message was edited by: jabraham

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Answer 9

davidh

Level 4

1,896 points

Jan 25, 2010 7:37 AM in response to jabraham

This is - to put it as politely as possible - nearly beyond belief and at best, highly regrettable.

I never, ever, use (never once have I used) Mac OS X Server as a Desktop system.
It is not meant to be.
Skype is an end-user program that has real security implications regardless of where you run it.

There are number of problems one might experience by throwing any number of 3rd-party pieces of software onto OS X Server, that are best used elsewhere - ie, NOT on your server !

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