Loud and strange Mario Kart sound from the hard drive !!

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Level 1

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Loud and strange Mario Kart sound from the hard drive !!

Hello !

Sorry for my lack in english but I have questions… 😀
Since a few days I can hear a very strange sound from my iBook G4 (OSX 10.3.9).
This sound is mechanical and make me think to an old race video game, mostly like a turbo acceleration (brrruuuuuUUUUUUUUUUTTTH !!!).
It happens while starting up as the computer is cold, while nothing is running, while one or more applications are running, and while the computer is hot. In fact, it can happen ALL THE TIME in all conditions… and it's 1/2 seconds long as it can be 5 minutes long.
I can still use the system and run application but this sound come back all the time from the hard drive side on the left. No applications or peripherals can be the source of the problem because it already happened on a new installation of Panther without any other installation or update, and without any peripheral installed or connected.
Of course, I'v already resetted PRAM, checked the SMART status and looked for system or firmware updates.
But the sounds is still there and another one has just come too… a discret sound (comparing to the truck race sound) from the hard drive like "tong" "toc" "cloc".
This time, after a 5 minutes race championship sound concert, my ibook crashed to black screen. It has put my system on kernel panic when I restarted.

I think it comes from the hard drive… any ideas ? any similar experiences ?

iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 11, 2006 5:44 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2006 5:58 AM in response to Nasty

There are two sounds that you seem to be describing.

1) a whoosh noise, like a fan switched on to high then turned off. I've heard this from a few machines and they have not had any other issues. If your machine has trouble sleeping or staying asleep you may want to investigate any startup items.

-consider changing your energy saver settings to not spin anything down for a while.

2) A clicking noise. If this occurs over a period of time and sounds like the machine is trying to access something but cannot, it takes a long time to open a file, you cannot access some directories, or some files are corrupt (half a jpeg); then I would be seriously concerned about this. Especially if it sounds something like : 'tick tick tick tick tick tick-tick-tick tick tick tick tick tick' (I am forgetting the sound exactly, but that's the 'computer seeking over a bad block sound').

-Try booting from an external and running for a while for a stability check.
-repair the disk from the install cd
-fully zero format the drive and re-install.

I wouldn't go to zero'ing or re-installing right away. I would back up your files and make sure they copy..

If backup applications that are not doing block copies fail, then you probably do have a bad block. Try CCC to get your files off your machine.

Otherwise, good luck and post your results
-j

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Answer 2

Nasty Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 12, 2006 2:56 AM in response to Jason Trindade

Thanx for your advices ! 😀

Yesterday a third "bee" sound has came out between the alarm call whistle and the mario kart turbo dash.
I'll certainly bring my iBook to Apple but I tried to use Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk, it has said an error message :

Verify :
Keys out of order.
The volume Mac Disc needs to be repaired.
Volume check failed.
Error : The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

Repair :
Keys out of order.
Reconstruction du BTree catalogue.
The volume Mac Disc has not been repaired.
Error : The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

Then I erased the hard drive with the zero-writing options, I tried a verify/repair test and it said that all was clean and repaired.
I don't know if I have to believe it… those sounds are VERY STRANGE, and I don't want to install applications, set preferences and use my computer if the hard drive needs to be removed.
I'll install Panther and test it today but this iBook will certainly return to Apple this week.

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Answer 3

maciscool

Level 3

586 points

Mar 12, 2006 8:48 AM in response to Nasty

Even if the HD stopps making noise I would back up all of my data and buy a new HD. because generally when a HD starts to make funny noises it is at the tail end of its life, and it is better to get a new HD than try to get another couple weeks out of a dying one.

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Answer 4

Mar 14, 2006 5:09 AM in response to Nasty

I agree w/ what maciscool said. I usually just upgrade the drive. It's not worth risking it. There's a finite amount of mapping that can go on before you fill the table and start losing data, this time becomes shorter if you routinely run with a packed drive. If you get a random loss in somewhere like core services you can really be in trouble.

If you only have the whoosh noise and you run an application that reports bad blocks as low and mapped out then you're probably ok.

Hard Drives are like tires. They need to be replaced six years after the date of manufacture, but retailers and manufacturers don't tell you this.

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