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Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / February 2007Random clicking
I have an iBook G4, and lately while I'm using some applications I hear random, rapid clicking sounds. They're similar to the sound that Windows makes when you switch pages in Explorer. I hear it even if I turn the volume down all the way, so I don't think it's actually a sound being generated by the system. I thought maybe it might be the disk, but ran a Verify in Disk Utility and it didn't report any problems (and I didn't hear anything while it was running). It's not happening now while I'm using MT-NW. It mostly seems to be in applications that make heavy use of the mouse -- I heard it earlier today when I was using a Java application that connects to an online bridge service, when playing a solitaire game, and then when browsing in Safari.  SignatureBarry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** > I have an iBook G4, and lately while I'm using some applications I hear > random, rapid clicking sounds. It is very likely that your hard drive is dying. You should make regular backups of your important data, and prepare for the inevitable. Replacing an iBook hard drive is not fun, however you can download the service manual off the internet. I suggest devoting an afternoon to it, because it is easy to mess up reassembly. Either that or pay someone to do it, because it's a hassle. For what it's worth, my hard drive died about 6 months after I first noticed the clicking. The process is hastened by heat and by having the drive more than 80% full (the HFS+ file system does not handle this well, and thrashes the disk producing extra heat and wear and tear). Eventually the clicking will interrupt applications and the operating system, and you may have trouble booting. This will gradually get worse until the drive completely dies. Back up your data now, and keep backing it up regularly. When my drive eventually died I replaced it with a Hitachi Travelstar 60GB 7200rpm, which has worked extremely well ever since. I try to keep the drive less than 60% full, because I find that really cuts down on the disk access. Notebooks and iBooks in particular just can't dissipate heat very well, so you have to baby them a bit. > > I have an iBook G4, and lately while I'm using some applications I hear > > random, rapid clicking sounds. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > worse until the drive completely dies. Back up your data now, and keep > backing it up regularly. I've been a regular Retrospect user for at least a decade, I do an incremental backup every 3-4 days and a monthly full backup. > When my drive eventually died I replaced it with a Hitachi Travelstar > 60GB 7200rpm, which has worked extremely well ever since. I try to > keep the drive less than 60% full, because I find that really cuts down > on the disk access. Notebooks and iBooks in particular just can't > dissipate heat very well, so you have to baby them a bit. Mine is normally under 40% full, although a few weeks ago I went on a vacation, and I filled it up with shows that I downloaded from my DVR. But I deleted each as soon as I watched it, so it was back to normal within about a week. And since they were large files, this shouldn't have produced much fragmentation. Could all the bumping around from the trip have caused the problem? I don't think I noticed the problem much until after I came back. I was watching some of the shows on the airplane, with the computer in an awkward angle and being bumped around while it was playing the MPEGs. SignatureBarry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** > Could all the bumping around from the trip have caused the problem? The most likely cause is really that the iBook hard drives are cheap. Don't dwell on it. Most people who use their iBook a lot have this problem eventually. If you're going to do the repair I suggest the guides at http://www.ifixit.com (upper left button: "Fixit guides") The site also has a database of compatible products. There was a brief time when the official Apple service guides were on the internet but they seem to have been taken down. Best of luck! > I have an iBook G4, and lately while I'm using some applications I hear > random, rapid clicking sounds. They're similar to the sound that [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > bridge service, when playing a solitaire game, and then when browsing in > Safari. I've finally figured out what this is. It's not the disk, as several responses suggested. I assumed this was it, and dropped my machine off at a service place this afternoon. This evening I brought home the MacBook I use at work, and damned if I didn't hear the same noise, although I never hear it at work. It's not coming from the computer at all, it's coming from my Mighty Mouse! It's the light click sound that the squeeze buttons make. I disabled these buttons because I was always clicking them by accident -- I guess I hold the mouse a little too tightly. So when I use applications that require lots of mousing, I end up clicking these buttons alot as I move it. That explains why it happens only in particular applications, like card games where I have to move around to select cards. But not much in MT-NW, where I spend much of the time on the keyboard. SignatureBarry Margolin Arlington, MA |
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