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iMac Dripping Sound Mystery

RedElectro said:
Ok... I was wrong! :(

It does make the sound in Safe Boot too! I restarted the machine and even on the white screen with grey apple it started "dripping" then booted up and ran the GPU test mentioned above and sound was happening every 6 seconds!

Tried the Admin account idea mentioned above... same sound. So rebooted in Safe and it's still there!!

Could it be a heat related thing? It seems as though it only happens when the machine has been on for a while. That would explain my getting it back from the Apple Store and it seemingly being fixed. Also why they couldn't hear it themselves.

I'm in safe boot now and it's happening.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm starting to think it may be a fan at this point. Running the Apple Hardware Test that I posted the instructions to in my previous post will test them. You may also try a PRAM reset, here are instructions on how to do that, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379.
 
RedElectro said:
Ok... I was wrong! :(

It does make the sound in Safe Boot too! I restarted the machine and even on the white screen with grey apple it started "dripping" then booted up and ran the GPU test mentioned above and sound was happening every 6 seconds!

Tried the Admin account idea mentioned above... same sound. So rebooted in Safe and it's still there!!

Could it be a heat related thing? It seems as though it only happens when the machine has been on for a while.
Click to expand...
Heat and fan interaction is why I suggested the GPU test... to drive up the temperature to see if a faster fan speed causes the "dripping" sound to happen more frequently.
 
There is also a clicking noise that has been a slight problem on a few machines here. It starts when the screen heats up but after months it seems to go away due to the adhesives, seal, and stuff becoming fully broken-in.

Otherwise, post sounds or "it didn't happen"......
 
RedElectro said:
Thank you. That is ace!

Here's the sound (with a bit of rustling too!)

http://dropcanvas.com/0q3i7
Click to expand...

If you know how to do it. Remove the screen magnetic cover of your iMac and trace the sound. That would tell you where it's coming from.

1- I am not sure if Apple guys really replaced everything
2- It could be faulty RAM ? ( Although I doubt )
3- You haven't confirmed if the sound was reproducible when Apple guys checked it
4- If you have bootcam, boot under Windows and check if it's happening
5- DVD drive ? But you said it's coming from the left side
6- Check your electricity voltage; Mine on UPS starts buzzing ( sound from LCD panel )
 
IA64 said:
If you know how to do it. Remove the screen magnetic cover of your iMac and trace the sound. That would tell you where it's coming from.

1- I am not sure if Apple guys really replaced everything
2- It could be faulty RAM ? ( Although I doubt )
3- You haven't confirmed if the sound was reproducible when Apple guys checked it
4- If you have bootcam, boot under Windows and check if it's happening
5- DVD drive ? But you said it's coming from the left side
6- Check your electricity voltage; Mine on UPS starts buzzing ( sound from LCD panel )
Click to expand...

3 he said they were not
 
You're possibly not going to believe this, but it's gone ((( STEREO ))) !!

No... it's not coming from the speakers, but the original "drip" sound happens on the left hand side and then about a second later another (slightly quieter and duller one) follows it on the right!!!

It's like an aural mini game of table tennis!

I don't believe the Apple guys replaced everything either. It wouldn't be exactly the same if they did would it?!?! :/
 
The stereo thing has gone now. The drip/click was really quite band then... very frequent, regular and quite a bit louder than usual.

I put the Mac to sleep for a couple of minutes and after a while the sound stopped (Was still going after screen, fans and hard drive had all stopped) and when I woke the Mac up again there was no clicking sound at first for a good 5 minutes... then it started again.
 
Yes. Tried it with a different mains plug, but not tried it with nothing connected.

I'm going to try plugging it in in the kitchen with nothing else connected see if it still does it!!

Grrrrrr "drip" rrrrrrr!
 
Nuke61 said:
Does it do this drip sound if the machine is *on* but nobody is logged in, like when it's at the accounts login screen?
Click to expand...

Yes. It starts after the machine has been on a while and if restarted it even makes the noise on the white screen at the start (and login screen)

tom vilsack said:
You didn't try my external device option to see if it's the harddrive....you should!
Click to expand...

I am going to try to boot from a firewire drive on Sunday. Too rushed at the minute to sit down and spend any time on it. I have booted from an external drive before but can't remember if it still made the sound or not.
 
Nuke61 said:
Could it be fan noise, where something inside is periodically getting hit by the fan? If that's a possibility, go here and download the stress tester for OS X:
http://www.geeks3d.com/gputest/
Click to expand...

I ran all of the tests (wasn't 100% sure what I was supposed to be doing) but they didn't make any different to the frequency of the clicking. However, the fans didn't seem to increase either, which I thought was unusual as my MacBook pro would've sounded like it was about to take off with the same tests (I should imagine)???

----------
BRLawyer said:
Did you delete those M-Audio files?
Click to expand...

No... I need the M-Audio files for the Firewire Audio interface I use.
 
RedElectro said:
I ran all of the tests (wasn't 100% sure what I was supposed to be doing) but they didn't make any different to the frequency of the clicking. However, the fans didn't seem to increase either, which I thought was unusual as my MacBook pro would've sounded like it was about to take off with the same tests (I should imagine)???

----------



No... I need the M-Audio files for the Firewire Audio interface I use.
Click to expand...


Download iStats, increase the fan speed to max and check if sound disappears.
 
IA64 said:
Download iStats, increase the fan speed to max and check if sound disappears.
Click to expand...

I did... I can't see anyway of increasing the fan speed though. See attachment of iStats screenshot. That's my system running off external FW Drive and nothing running but OSX Mountain Lion (the firewire drive is an old back up before Mavericks came out) :)


Don't know why it has battery stats?? It's an iMac! :O
 

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RedElectro said:
Yes. It starts after the machine has been on a while and if restarted it even makes the noise on the white screen at the start (and login screen)
Click to expand...
Because it makes this sound before ever booting, I don't think it has anything to do with which device drivers or programs are running. Since it doesn't seem to be affected by fan speed, I think that rules out the fans.

If it were me, at this point I'd either sell it and buy another iMac, or I'd get a white noise maker and just keep it on a low volume.
 
So we are saying that this will have to go down in history as one of life's little mysteries and the Geniuses at the Apple Store and Mac experts on here cannot solve it?

There has got to be a reason?? I refuse to believe it's some kind of spiritual presence??
 
RedElectro said:
So we are saying that this will have to go down in history as one of life's little mysteries and the Geniuses at the Apple Store and Mac experts on here cannot solve it?
Click to expand...
Given that many users on this site have opened up their iMac to replace hard drives, screens, etc., I have no doubt that someone here could fix your iMac *if they had physical access to it* - but it's a bit difficult to diagnose an issue like this via the written word.

Have you checked with local general computer repair businesses?
 
You can test the fans out, it's a built in test. First shutdown and unplug the power cord from the Mac, then hold down the power button and plug the power cable back in while still holding the power button. The Mac will run the fans at 100%. A small warning however, this will blow a ton of dust out lol. Tell us if the sound changes during this test.

Here are instructions on how to return the Mac to normal after the test. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1433?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
 
[[ So we are saying that this will have to go down in history as one of life's little mysteries and the Geniuses at the Apple Store and Mac experts on here cannot solve it? ]]

If it's under warranty, try to replace it with another just like it.

If the warranty is expired, sell it or retire it, and get something else...
 
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