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iBook hard drive clicking..Help!!

D

DeadlyBreakfast

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 26, 2002
130
0
In a dark corner somewhere. Help me..
Ok...Im not to happy with my iBook right now. I woke it from sleep and the hard drive went into this clicking mode wher i could here "click click click" , about 1 every second. I shut down and it continued to do this. I could boot but it would take about 20 mins to do so, all the while clicking away. I managed to back up my stuff. The problem has since calmed down , now my fear is that when I do actually get a chance to run it back to the store tommorow the sales guy will think I'm nuts. Has anybody else had this problem?? I did run the disk repair utility off of the OS X install disk and it said everything was fine...Ugh...I used to love my iBook but my affection is fading fast. I think I would have rather had it fail altogether....

Any ideas???
 
I've had a similar situation with my drive on a PowerMac. It did the continuous clicking thing once in a while and after a coupla weeks it just went totally dead. I've done Disk Utility, Norton, system re-install, disk format and it was still doing the same thing. I called Apple and got a drive replaced.

Well, don't take chances.
CALL APPLE and REPLACE THE SUCKER, N-O-W!!!
 
If you insist on going back to your store, tell the store guy, you've done all of the stuff I've done above. You just have to make him believe your iBook is very sick.

Repairing it thourgh Apple would take a little longer, but if it's under warranty, you'd probably experience less frustration (except for holding on the line for about 30-60 min to get to "the first available representative").
 
My dad

My dad has a Pismo 500MHz Firewire, and the same thing happened. He backed his stuff up, got another hardrive, then he bought a firewire case. He put the new hardrive in his computer, and the one that was clicking into the case.

About 1 month later, the old hardrive died. So be careful.
 
Thaks guys....Thats what I figured. My only fear is that the Apple guy will think Im nuts. I remember a post where someone had gone round and round with Apple to get it replaced. Well, considering Im new to the Apple world I guess Im going to gat a taste of thier customer support. I did't eventually want to , just not this soon...I'll update you guys with my happenings....




*Crossing Fingers*
 
Apple customer service is better than any other, in my opinion. But you need to act like a customer from hell if your Mac is seriously sick and they do not want believe it!

I once almost made an inocent Japanese girl at Apple cry on the phone. Uuuuh, I totally felt super macho at that time!!!!! (FYI: this girl didn't know anything about Mac)

I once had a Apple display replaced like 6 times. So be patient.
 
Where I work, we have a lot of Macs. Every time someone has come to me with a clicking HD, I either replace it or send it in to be replaced. The HD is definitely going bad. If your machine is under warranty, get it fixed before the warranty expires. If you have time, wait until it starts clicking again before taking it in. Then they will have to listen to you, and your HD.
 
Hold on there folks!

I admire your sense of caution, but I have heard about clicking hard drives since OSX came about. I got an iBook in early October and it has clicked once per second since then... Geesh!

Okay, so I don't like the noise, but it's no reason to ask for a new drive, eh.

Come on folks... unless it's necessary there's no need to get anything replaced. Sure, the noise is a little annoying, but as far as I know, it's nothing to worry about. I've been reading posts about this clicking since well back into 2001.

While it is best to err on the side of caution, I also believe that discretion is a virtue.
 
Re: Hold on there folks!

Originally posted by gairloch
I admire your sense of caution, but I have heard about clicking hard drives since OSX came about. I got an iBook in early October and it has clicked once per second since then... Geesh!

Okay, so I don't like the noise, but it's no reason to ask for a new drive, eh.
Click to expand...

I could see your point with my 2.5 year old PowerBook, but a new iBook better not be clicking!

It's like with my old Bronco, it worked great for 150,000 miles, then it started making noies and I brushed it off. then one day it caught fire, I laughed about it on the shoulder of the road is at burned, then got a new car. Now my dashboard makes a very faint tapping noise, and you'd better believe that I was at the dealership the next morning!
 
Let's see if we can't sort this out!

My iBook was purchased new. It's been clicking for 104 days and only gets faster and puts out less heat with each successive upgrade of Jaguar. All the information that I have come across puts the clicking as an OSX thang^,^

Okay, perhaps we're hearing different sorts of clicking noises. I'm open to that possibility.

The clicking I'm hearing goes like this:

click, one one-thousand, click, two one-thousands, click, three one-thousands, etc..

It's pretty close to a real second... perhaps a tad longer.

The clicking noise on my machine could be best described as a normal read/write click. It is curious, though, as it is constant. It makes no matter whether I am doing work, or the computer is idle.

I'd like to read about the clicking sounds other people are hearing and if they're similar to mine.
 
Re: Hold on there folks!

Originally posted by gairloch
I admire your sense of caution, but I have heard about clicking hard drives since OSX came about. I got an iBook in early October and it has clicked once per second since then... Geesh!

Okay, so I don't like the noise, but it's no reason to ask for a new drive, eh.

Come on folks... unless it's necessary there's no need to get anything replaced. Sure, the noise is a little annoying, but as far as I know, it's nothing to worry about. I've been reading posts about this clicking since well back into 2001.

While it is best to err on the side of caution, I also believe that discretion is a virtue.
Click to expand...

It took 20 mins to boot the dam thing....thats a problem..the noise iisn't...
 
Re: Let's see if we can't sort this out!

Originally posted by gairloch
My iBook was purchased new. It's been clicking for 104 days and only gets faster and puts out less heat with each successive upgrade of Jaguar. All the information that I have come across puts the clicking as an OSX thang^,^

Okay, perhaps we're hearing different sorts of clicking noises. I'm open to that possibility.

The clicking I'm hearing goes like this:

click, one one-thousand, click, two one-thousands, click, three one-thousands, etc..

It's pretty close to a real second... perhaps a tad longer.

The clicking noise on my machine could be best described as a normal read/write click. It is curious, though, as it is constant. It makes no matter whether I am doing work, or the computer is idle.

I'd like to read about the clicking sounds other people are hearing and if they're similar to mine.
Click to expand...



Just to clarify....it starts as soon as the power is turned on, before it even gets to the grey screen with the apple logo. so at that point it doesnt even have an OS loaded yet...


Anyway...just gt off the phone with tech support...7 mins on hold, not too bad at all. They are sending me a carton out overnight with return postage pre paid. Not to shabby either. If this is what I pay for when I buy an Apple so far I'm pleased. Lets see if they replace the drive or give me a no problem found.


Beleive me guys....This was not the occasional hard drive access tick . This is pretty nasty and given the ~20 min boot time its not normal....

Ill keep ya updated...
 
Re: Re: Let's see if we can't sort this out!

Originally posted by DeadlyBreakfast




Just to clarify....it starts as soon as the power is turned on, before it even gets to the grey screen with the apple logo. so at that point it doesnt even have an OS loaded yet...


Anyway...just gt off the phone with tech support...7 mins on hold, not too bad at all. They are sending me a carton out overnight with return postage pre paid. Not to shabby either. If this is what I pay for when I buy an Apple so far I'm pleased. Lets see if they replace the drive or give me a no problem found.


Beleive me guys....This was not the occasional hard drive access tick . This is pretty nasty and given the ~20 min boot time its not normal....

Ill keep ya updated...
Click to expand...

Good, they sent you the carton. Not only will you get your HD fixed, but most likely, they'll also fix anything else wrong they find... I sent my 300MHz iBook in once for a cracked LCD (I HATE APPLECARE'S PHONE STAFF! THEY MADE ME PAY FOR IT EVEN THOUGH I HAD THE FULL THREE YEAR PLAN! DON'T LET THEM TRICK YOU.[/rant] Fortunately, the actual service is good.), and they not only replaced the LCD, but also replaced a malfunctioning CD-ROM drive and modem. Worked great since.
 
Yeah

We sent in a 500MHz Pismo that had something wrong with it (booted weird and crashed alot). They replaced the mobo, and the screen, and sent it back.

It still didnt work. We sent it back again and they replaced the processor and the hardrive. It still didnt work. So WE just replaced the RAM and it worked.

Faulty ram, that was all.
 
My HD makes a click every few weeks, it's a wierd click, it makes a screaching sound and then goes click. It sounds like the HD puts on its breaks and once it stops it goes click.
 
**** UPDATE ****


The iBook is back.....Dead nuts on the day they promised.

They replaced the hard drive....as a matter of fact they upgraded the hard drive to a 40 gig!!!!

They even found and fixed a problem that I forgot to tell them about with the keyboard (they replaced the keyboard) It was a very occassional sticky F key. I really didnt even care all that much but they found the problem and corrected it.


Bottom line ---> Apple service kicks butt!!! A customer for life they have....


** Hugs and kisses Steve Jobs **
 
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