I recently bought a Dual 1.25 Powermac (OS 9 & X bootable). i know a lot of people complain about the noise of the fans, but i also hear another noise usually every 1/2 hour or so. it sounds similar to a cassette tape rewinding. it only lasts a second or 2 but its annoying. I think it might be the hard drive, but i am not positive. if anyone has any thoughts or information about what this could be, please let me know. thanks.
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Dual 1.25 PowerMac hard drive noise
- Thread starter nbennison
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I suggest opening up the case so that you can hear the noise better. Also, what do you have running when the sound occurs? Is the system inactive or in full use? Which OS are you running when the sound happens? Check the energy saver settings and turn off the hard drive spin down item.
thanks for the response... it dosen't seem to matter what i am doing for the sound to occur... it happens whether the computer is idle or if i am running a processor intensive program. its the same in both OS 9 & X. i'll check my energy saver settings. thanks for the suggestion.
It's possible that it's one of the fans inside the case... unless you are certain it's the hard drive.
I'd open the system up so that you can get a better idea where the sound is coming from. At that time, you could try disconnecting fans if the sound comes from one.. Don't close the case if you disconnect ANY fans inside the system. Leave it running to make sure that was the cause. If it is, then contact Apple to have them send you a replacement fan. If they don't want to do that, then tell me what the fan size is (they are usually in mm, such as 60mm, 80mm and 120mm). You could probably take the questionable fan to a local computer hardware supplier and get the same size replacement for a few dollars (under $10 depending on the size). If you do that, get a major brand fan, such as Antec, CoolerMaster, ThermalTake, etc. Don't get some odd branded fan. Also make sure it's ball bearing, so that it will last longer and be quieter.
I'd open the system up so that you can get a better idea where the sound is coming from. At that time, you could try disconnecting fans if the sound comes from one.. Don't close the case if you disconnect ANY fans inside the system. Leave it running to make sure that was the cause. If it is, then contact Apple to have them send you a replacement fan. If they don't want to do that, then tell me what the fan size is (they are usually in mm, such as 60mm, 80mm and 120mm). You could probably take the questionable fan to a local computer hardware supplier and get the same size replacement for a few dollars (under $10 depending on the size). If you do that, get a major brand fan, such as Antec, CoolerMaster, ThermalTake, etc. Don't get some odd branded fan. Also make sure it's ball bearing, so that it will last longer and be quieter.
This may be stupid but....
Since you described it as an intermittent cassette rewinding noise...it reminded me alot of what some cd's sound like when they spin up....if you keep a CD in the drive all the time it may be periodically spinning it up causing the noise.
Since you described it as an intermittent cassette rewinding noise...it reminded me alot of what some cd's sound like when they spin up....if you keep a CD in the drive all the time it may be periodically spinning it up causing the noise.
not at all... i'm open to any ideas about what it could be.. apple dosen't seem to have a clue. it could be the superdrive, though its very quiet most of the time and i don't usually leave a CD in there. i opened up the computer to isolate the noise, but i didn't have much luck.... the fan started spinning very quickly and it was generating so much noise i couldn't hear anything else. my friend has an external 120G hard drive which i discovered makes the same noise, so i am thinking now that this might be normal?