Hard drive failure?

[AlexisV]

I'm pretty sure the problems we're having with a white MacBook are due to hard drive problems, but I thought I'd get a second opinion:

• computer was dropped on a hard floor
• started making whirring noises and would occasionally lock up or suffer long periods of the spinning wheel
• Disk Utility check, after booting up from the CD, cam back with no errors
• decided to wipe it and reinstall anyway
• Snow Leopard got stuck halfway through installing, so rebooted. Installation then carried on no problems.
• still suffering periods of the spinning wheel - it 'shudders' sometimes, rather than spinning smoothly. There have also been a couple of lockups.

Any other ideas apart from a hard drive issue, before I buy a new one to install?

[After G]

Check that your RAM is seated properly, the drop might have knocked it around. I had a similar problem that ended up being RAM-related.

[mannix87]

^ how do you check that?

[AlexisV]

The memory sticks had a bit of gunk on them, but after a clean the machine is no different.

It seems slow and stuttery and sometimes locks up completely, even though it has a fresh install of SL.

[broken-chaos]

Sounds like impending hard drive failure to me. Got a spare disk to try out in there, or a different computer to try the original disk in?

[AlexisV]

I bought a new one since they're only about £35. Should be here in a couple of days.

Fingers crossed!