"Geiger counter" noise with dual quad core

Question

"Geiger counter" noise with dual quad core

I recently replaced my trusty G5 MacPro with a dual quad core, with disappointing results so far. Among my problems, the unit "seizes up" at unexpected and inconvenient times, with the beach ball spinning (and spinning) and the computer making noises I can only compare to a Geiger counter. This will last for five minutes or more, before the cursor is once again released to my care.This happens perhaps twice a day. I imagine that all this has something to do with indexing, as I have had similar frustrations with Spotlight before, but that is only a supposition. In short a machine which I bought for speed requires much more time for a project than my old machine, owing to these lengthy and unpredictable interruptions in work flow. Can someone help?

Mac Pro dual Quad-Cor Intel Xeon Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Jun 11, 2007 11:31 AM

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Answer 1

Neoslash

Level 1

130 points

Jun 11, 2007 3:26 PM in response to Don Frankenfeld

That is definitely the description of a harddrive, and that sound is to be expected and normal. What isn't normal is if its constant and impacting performance. Something is going on. Try monitoring what is running on your system and causing high load.

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Answer 2

Jun 12, 2007 7:00 AM in response to Neoslash

Thanks for your help. I'm not aware of anything that would cause a high load. While I just installed the new versions of Adobe Creative Suite and Final Cut Studio, I have barely used them, and neither has been running while my "Geiger Counter" effect was taking place. Mostly I am using routine applications of Excel and Word. Owing to prior bad experience with Spotlight, I still suspect that I am indexing and reindexing my database. I haven't discovered a way to schedule indexing for, say, midnight, and of course I am only guessing at the problem. I save nearly all my email, and I suppose indexing/sorting email might be a culprit as well. Is there a diagnostic or log that would help me see what is going on?

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

61,051 points

Jun 12, 2007 7:30 AM in response to Don Frankenfeld

Hopefully you did not use Migration Assistant for applications.

You can delete the indexes or turn it off, but I have never seen or had a problem with Spotlight - of course the faster the drives, the less impact.

I would suspect Office and PPC/Rosetta.

Also, you will need 4GB or more of memory for FCP (5.1.4+) as well as CS3.

I would run Disk Warrior from a backup clone and check out your drive - fully. You may need to erase your drive and do a fresh install, and then migrate just non-application files.

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Answer 4

Jun 14, 2007 9:01 AM in response to Don Frankenfeld

Sounds like constant paging to the hard disk to me. Add memory!

Michael

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