Horrible clicking sound coming from macbook, thought was HD but is not the case.

[mikem7522]

My summer 2008 black macbook (2.4ghz, 2gb RAM, 250GB HD) has been running strong ever since i got it. No complaints. I also upgraded my ram a year ago to 4GB and it has been running strong ever since. A week ago however I started experiencing constant freezes, spinny bars every minute, and overall slow performance. I also noticed a horrific clicking noise as well. Which is pretty subtle and sounds exactly like a hard drive malfunction (ive heard the same sound from externals) so figuring it is hard drive failure i bought a new 320 WD 2.5 5200 hard drive and installed it, and proceeded to install the backup OSX 10.5 disks. Everything went according to plan, however even after HD replacement the clicking sound is still there, just as prevalent as before.

I do have 3 year apple car, however i have low expectations and am not really counting on anything, and since their phone support is currently off from normal business hours I am left guessing. If anyone had any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

[macbookairman]

My summer 2008 black macbook (2.4ghz, 2gb RAM, 250GB HD) has been running strong ever since i got it. No complaints. I also upgraded my ram a year ago to 4GB and it has been running strong ever since. A week ago however I started experiencing constant freezes, spinny bars every minute, and overall slow performance. I also noticed a horrific clicking noise as well. Which is pretty subtle and sounds exactly like a hard drive malfunction (ive heard the same sound from externals) so figuring it is hard drive failure i bought a new 320 WD 2.5 5200 hard drive and installed it, and proceeded to install the backup OSX 10.5 disks. Everything went according to plan, however even after HD replacement the clicking sound is still there, just as prevalent as before.

I do have 3 year apple car, however i have low expectations and am not really counting on anything, and since their phone support is currently off from normal business hours I am left guessing. If anyone had any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

Any chance it could be the fan?

[mikem7522]

Any chance it could be the fan?

Don't think so only because the fans seem to be doing they're job, i can tell when they are idling and when they kick in (i am pretty fan conscious i even have smcfancontrol. i don't think they are the issue)

Thanks for the help though.

[nigameash]

Hmm do u still have the hangs/beach balls with the new HD?

[mikem7522]

Hmm do u still have the hangs/beach balls with the new HD?

yeah, beach balls, freezing, and programs not responding are just as prevelant as they were with the old HD. And the new HD was installed withint the last couple of hours.

[nigameash]

Hmm what apps do you have installed? Any whole disk encryption apps? PGP?

[mikem7522]

no, no encryption apps installed on the old HD. And the new one only has the standard toolset that comes with leopard.

As far as my old HD i had put it through it's paces i had a lot of apps and downloads, lots of file transfers so i could have sworn it was just a failed HD that's why i was so quick to buy a new one and swap it. That's partly why i am so perplexed just because i was 100 percent sure my HD was failing.

[nigameash]

Try repairing permissions via disk utility. Then verify the Macintosh HD partition to see if it aint corrupted. I had some issues once and it was due to a corrupted partition.

[mikem7522]

Try repairing permissions via disk utility. Then verify the Macintosh HD partition to see if it aint corrupted. I had some issues once and it was due to a corrupted partition.

ok I'll go ahead and try that. Thanks.

One more quick question do you know if replacing a HD or RAM voids Apple Care? Just so i have a heads up before i talk to a genius.

[nigameash]

As long as you don't damage anything while replacing the RAM or HD, its cool ;)

[mikem7522]

As long as you don't damage anything while replacing the RAM or HD, its cool ;)

awesome. thanks.