1 Ghz TiBook making "Screaming" noise

[silverstringz]

I am sorry if this has been dealt with already, but I could not find a thread about it yet.
I recently purchased a 1Ghz TiBook. It was used, but is still less than 6 months old. Panther, Combo Drive, 1024 MB Ram, 60 GB HD. I was watching a DVD on it the other day when it suddenly started "screaming." It was making a really loud, really high pitched noise. It sounded like perhaps the hard drive was spinning incredibly fast, but I couldn't tell for sure. I was able to shut down and this stopped the noise (obviously) but that was the only way to stop it. The next day I was playing Starcraft and it did the same thing again. Both time the only way to stop the noise was to shut down or to close it (so the computer goes to sleep). Neither time did the computer get excessively hot or did anything go wrong, but the noise was absolutely awful. It hasn't happened for two days since, but I don't want to damage my computer. Does anyone have any clue what this could be and/or what a possible fix might be?
THANKS!!!!!

 

[boristhespider]

My 500 mhz TiBook has a problem with the little fan towards the back. Sometimes when it gets hot and the fan comes on it starts to shreik. A restart will usually cure the problem, or I can pop the keyboard out and blow on the fan and it stops making the noise. I think the fan has some play in the bearings and can start to resonate, hence the noise. Hard to say what might be the problem with your machine. Since it is under six months old it should still be under warranty. You might want to take it in and have someone look at it.

 

[Dreamail]

Disc? Video chip?

silverstringz, it wasn't clear from your post whether you had a disc in the drive while playing Starcraft.
What I found is that some drives in some PowerBooks really shriek when they're spinning the disc up real fast. Also depends on the disc. Some are noisier than others. Eject any disc and see if the noise stops. With DVDs try watching another DVD, see if there's any difference in noise. If it is, then put the 'screaming' DVD back in and see if the noise comes back. If so, it's the DVD for sure! Nothing wrong necessarily.

Also do you have an external monitor connected? Sometimes playing games (in certain graphic modes) or playing DVDs taxes the video chip more than in others, and especially when having to support an external monitor. Disconnect any external monitor and try playing the game / watching the DVD on the PowerBook screen. Same noise? If still, try switching the screen resolution to a different one.

Hope this helps.

 

[silverstringz]

There was a disc in the Combo drive both times, but after removing the disc, the screaming sound did not stop. It also was not coming from the proximity of the drive, it was coming more from the back of the computer. I didn't have an external monitor connected either time. Thanks.