Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

solidshane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2005
15
0
I recently sent my powerbook in for repairs. It was crashing with crazy screen artifacts/anomolies. I also menitoned to them that the hard drive would make constant noise at times, most frequently when web browsing. I got it back and they had replaced the display, logic board and HD. Now it doesn't crash which is good. And the drive noises were completely gone. I have noticed recently that they are coming back though. On certain webpages the drive which just start making noise, only to stop when i click and hold the mouse button down... Very annoying sound in a quiet room. Is this a normal thing or do I have some other problem?
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
Do you have your power adapter plugged in? Mine only does this when power is applied.
 

Demon Hunter

macrumors 68020
Mar 30, 2004
2,284
39
If it's a soft droplet sound it's normal. Your hard drive has a fluid-dynamic bearing motor, which is actually a good thing!
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
dferrara said:
If it's a soft droplet sound it's normal. Your hard drive has a fluid-dynamic bearing motor, which is actually a good thing!

Huh? Maybe I don't know what a soft droplet sound is, but all my systems, including our EMCs at work, have FDB motors and I've never heard anything like a droplet sound.
 

solidshane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2005
15
0
good discovery there, belvdr. mine only makes the noise plugged in as well. to me it is not a soft droplet sound, but more like a fuzzy static sound...

edit: after a bit of googling

"I took delivery of a 17" 1GHz Al PowerBook the week they became available. There is a pronounced high-pitched ticking noise emanating from beneath the keyboard, just as others have reported. This noise is typical of a DC to DC converter. It is likely some circuit related to powering the CPU. Reducing the RAM by pulling an SODIMM out nor changing the screen brightness (there is another DC2DC there) makes a difference in my case. All the other 17" PBs' I have seen (heard) do the exact same thing."

from here
http://www.macintouch.com/pbg4reader33.html


im installing CHUD tools now to mess around, some people on that site say the noise goes away... wish me luck.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.