I swear my Macbook Pro just sneezed.

[ununhexium]

Hi, I have a new Macbook pro and I just got it maybe 2 months ago. I got it as a replacement for my Macbook Black whose harddrive died 3 times so I hope you can see why I'm paranoid.

Anyway, I swear, my Macbook pro just made a noise like a sneeze. A computer sneeze, but a sneeze. It came from under the keyboard, but then there were little crystalline sounds following it as if little particles were hitting the underside of the keys post-sneeze.

Gah, this is so bizarre, and if my computer dies AGAIN.....

This is the first time a louder noise came out of it, but I've been noticing for about a week, I get a pop sound, like a distorted Facebook or Gmail chat sound, and I always check all my windows and find nothing, so it must be coming out of the computer.

 

[theblueone]

Did you hit the eject button? That kinda sounds like a sneeze, I guess.

 

[ununhexium]

No... lol. I know what the eject sound sounds like. This sounded like how you would imagine a robot sneeze. Also it sounded like it came from under the center-left of the keyboard.

 

[okatidubi]

There are some things in life that needs to remain as a mystery.

 

[themoonisdown09]

Let's just hope your MacBook Pro doesn't start farting, otherwise, you'll have crap particles on the bottom of your keyboard.

 

[SolRayz]

I think your battery is melting...

 

[Psycdude]

I thought macs couldn't catch viruses?

 

[HLdan]

It certainly would relieve stress if people just went out and enjoyed the holidays rather than sit in front of their computer going crazy over every sound the machine makes.

 

[JonHimself]

I thought macs couldn't catch viruses?

Awesome.

 

[chakosticks]

Ahhhhhh.... the dreaded H2N2 virus.

 

[JamesGorman]

Ahhhhhh.... the dreaded H2N2 virus.

I believe it would be the R2D2 virus....

 

[ununhexium]

None of you are obligated to take this seriously, obviously, but I think something is wrong.

Besides the occasional popping noise and the sneeze this morning, it does also seem to make metal-hitting-metal sounds occasionally when I move the computer.

If the hard drive dies, whatever. If something else breaks, fine. But do you think there's really a chance it could like catch on fire or something? Explode? Anyone ever hear of that happening? I may just be paranoid, but I REALLY don't think my computer is meant to be making these kinds of noises. Something has to be wrong...

The only time my macbook black ever made noise was when the hard drive had already died.

 

[ununhexium]

****, it just sneezed again, and it sounded really bad this time. I really don't know how to describe the noise, but it sounds bad.

 

[Gr80Likes2Boogi]

The only way ANYONE is going to take this seriously is if you video tape the alleged sneeze it and post it. Other than that, there WILL be more fruit/veggies thrown on stage!

 

[jbsmith]

I swear, my Macbook pro just made a noise like a sneeze.

Do you have the 500 GB Seagate 7200.5 hard drive? These drives have been known to make strange sounds, referred to as click + beep/squeak. Apple issued a firmware update to solve this problem. Assuming you have this drive, you can get the firmware update from the following website:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware_hardware/harddrivefirmwareupdate20.html

J. B. Smith
______________________
 Macbook Pro, 3.06 GHz
8GB DDR3
Corsair P256 SSD

 

[ununhexium]

Hey, thanks for this. Though I don't believe I have the same hard drive. I'm assuming that you mean rotational rate and mine says 5400 with 160gb. Do you know how I look up the brand? Do you think the firmware might help anyway?

 

[jbsmith]

Do you know how I look up the brand? Do you think the firmware might help anyway?

The click + beep is associated with the motion sensor in the drive conflicting with the motion sensor in the computer. It's typically accompanied by a brief freeze. I'm not sure what all drives this affected, but my June 2009 model unibody did experience the same issue. I would hear a pop followed by a squeak freeze for a second or so.

Click on the Apple in the upper left hand corner and select About This Mac. Click on the More Info... button. Click on Serial-ATA. You should see two devices, one is your hard drive the other is the DVD drive. You can click on the drive usually STxxxxx for the hard drive and you'll get a bunch of information displayed.

You can try to install the firmware update. If your drive doesn't need it, the firmware installation software will let you know.

Good luck!

J. B. Smith

 

[ununhexium]

Yeah, the installation said that the firmware was not needed. :\

Though what you described, a "squeak," sounds like the same problem.

 

[SDAVE]

lol this thread title made me laugh.

Sorry

 

[GGJstudios]

iGesundheit! 

Sounds like your Mac caught something from VAQ-M

 

[-aggie-]

No... lol. I know what the eject sound sounds like. This sounded like how you would imagine a robot sneeze. Also it sounded like it came from under the center-left of the keyboard.

I believe it would be the R2D2 virus....

Robot sneeze? This thread is hilarious.

 

[SDAVE]

My MBP just farted.

 

[ununhexium]

Cool guys. My problem still hasn't been resolved though.

 

[synth3tik]

Is it happening enough where you can recreate it at the Genius Bar. In all honestly it sounds really odd, and I think unless someone actually heard it, diagnosing it would be hard.

 

[umiwangu]

Cool guys. My problem still hasn't been resolved though.

Is it possible that something is catching in the cooling fans?

But yeah, if you can make it happen (like moving it around, bumping it - lightly!) then I would take it to the Genius bar.