Annoying sound on iMac 27" (sound uploaded)

[SSSmAsHeRRR]

I have changed my HDD recently because the previous one crashed. I have the new one for 2 weeks, and I'm noticing that is doing an annoying sound all the time, is a sound like reading/writing but all the time, even if I'm doing nothing

I think the sound comes from the HDD, but if you think it can be other thing your comment would be appreciated.


I just uploaded the sound recorded by myself so you can hear it and judge:

https://rapidshare.com/files/2366743883/Recording.wav

 

[53x12]

I'm not going to click on the link, but if you are having problems with the HDD why don't you see if you can return it or exchange it for another one?

Btw, why don't you upload your audio through something like Youtube. Some people might be weary of downloading a file from someone who recently just joined the forum.

 

[SSSmAsHeRRR]

I'm not going to click on the link, but if you are having problems with the HDD why don't you see if you can return it or exchange it for another one?

Btw, why don't you upload your audio through something like Youtube. Some people might be weary of downloading a file from someone who recently just joined the forum.

I just don't know if the sound is normal or not. It' s the third time I go to Apple with the iMac and it's becoming a pain. So I uploaded the audio here to see if people think that is just a regular noise. Furthermore, the sound is not so loud, is just annoying in the night, when everything is on silence, so if I carry the imac to the store they probably won't be able to hear it, or at least not so clear as I hear it in my room.

And about uploading the audio to youtube... well, I don't know, I do not use any account to enter Youtube, I think I created one years ago, but I can't remember it, I'd have to create a new one, but... is not youtube for videos? Anyway, I just uploaded it to rapidshare because was the first page it came to my mind. What's the risk? Virus or something? In a .wav? I'm just asking for help

 

[53x12]

I don't use rapidshare so I have no experience with it. However I don't tend to download files from sources or locations I am not familiar with. Just stating some people on here might be hesitant to download and open a file they are not familiar with.

Yes youtube has a lot of video uploads, however you could format it so that you can upload it as a WMV, FLV...etc.

 

[burne]

I think the sound comes from the HDD

I'm pretty sure you're right. First guess would be Spotlight.

If you want to be sure, open a terminal and look at the output of 'top -o cpu' for a minute. If you see a line with the word 'mdworker' in the second column near the top for more than a few seconds we have your problem identified.

Spotlight is non-stop busy re-indexing your new disk.

In the same terminal window enter the following commands in sequence: (the first time you 'sudo' it will ask for your password.)

sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo mdutil -E /
sudo mdutil -i on /

This will force Spotlight to stop indexing, erase your index completely, and start indexing again. Indexing will take a couple of hours, and after that the disk-noise should stop.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Weirdly enough whenever I run a hardware benchmark on my G5 that maxes out the internal disk, SSD or the mechanical one, I get this high pitched squealing sound. No idea why. It's not a fan, and it's different to the shrill chirping sound that I can hear when the microphone is active...

 

[SSSmAsHeRRR]

I'm pretty sure you're right. First guess would be Spotlight.

If you want to be sure, open a terminal and look at the output of 'top -o cpu' for a minute. If you see a line with the word 'mdworker' in the second column near the top for more than a few seconds we have your problem identified.

Spotlight is non-stop busy re-indexing your new disk.

In the same terminal window enter the following commands in sequence: (the first time you 'sudo' it will ask for your password.)

sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo mdutil -E /
sudo mdutil -i on /

This will force Spotlight to stop indexing, erase your index completely, and start indexing again. Indexing will take a couple of hours, and after that the disk-noise should stop.

Thank you for the info, I tried exactly what you said. Off, delete, and on again. It began indexing and it took only 5 minutes to complete. But unfortunately the noise persist.

I have discovered that sometimes, and only sometimes I can get rid of the sound temporaly. What I have to do is opening an aplication, for example Google Earth (the aplication, no the web), surf over the planet for a minute, and then quit the program. Then the noise dissapears, sometimes it disappears just seconds, and other times it dissapear 4-5 minutes, but then it comes back again.

Really weird, I don't understand this behaviour.

 

[blueroom]

Which iMac is it and what did you replace the HDD with?

 

[SSSmAsHeRRR]

Which iMac is it and what did you replace the HDD with?

Is an iMac 27", 2,66 GHz Intel Corte i5

I didn't replace the hard disk by myself, I went to the apple store in my city, so it was done by a technician there. The new hard disk that they installed is "APPLE HDD HUA722010CLA330".

 

[SSSmAsHeRRR]

I just found out the source of the problem. It wasn't opening or closing apps, it was the BRIGHTNESS. When the brightness of the screen is low the noise can be heard, but when I increase the brightness to its maximum the noise disappears. Really weird.

Here is a video on Youtube that shows exactly the same problem that I have:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXyH1XGFFck