iBook G4 locking up.

[britishempire]

I have a long-running problem with my iBook (G4 1.33Ghz).

Basically, every so often it locks up and makes repetitive ticking noises as if the HDD is searching for something. Applications freeze and I get the rainbow beachball for up to a few minutes before normal service is resumed.

Once this happens, it keeps happening on and off until I restart the computer.

I don't know what triggers the problem, sometimes the iBook will run fine for days or a week with no trouble, then something will set t off again.

I've tried everything I can think of to fix this short of a full reformat/reinstall.

I'd like to upgrade to a MacBook soon, but for now I have to live with this... Any ideas?

If I can't fix it, I'm hoping 10.5 will do the trick...

 

[Lovesong]

Try zapping the PRAM:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

 

[britishempire]

I've tried that in the past with no luck... thanks for the advice, though.

 

[Sly]

Make sure everything is backed up, it sounds like the hard drive could be on its way out to me.