MacBook making noise like coins being put in a laundry machine

[ozjada]

Hi I have an almost 3 year old Macbook, i bought it the week macbooks were out. Yesterday it unexpectedly made a noise like something metallic moved inside it! The noise is like coins falling down in a laundry machine. It scared me a lot. It happened first when I was holding it up in the air while moving, So I really thought something moved inside. Then I thought it was the chain on my wrist making the noise. But it repeated 3-4 times yesterday and today it did it again while sitting on top of the table, I was not even touching it. Does anyone knows this sound and why it happens?

 

[TheScavenger]

There are only a few moving parts inside a laptop, the heatsink fans and the hard drive. Is it possible something broke loose inside your MacBook?

 

[ziggyonice]

There are only a few moving parts inside a laptop, the heatsink fans and the hard drive. Is it possible something broke loose inside your MacBook?

Yeah, with the fact that there are only so many moving parts, I don't know what would be causing the noise... especially if it did it by itself, too. The only things that even make noise would be the hard drive, or maybe the disc drive (which could be it)... but I can't think of anything that would sound like coins.

Can you post an audio clip of the noise?

 

[Mpulsive81]

Haven't dropped too much money into my washer so i'm having a hard time grasping exactly what it is. I even tried throwing a couple quarters in my front loader a little bit ago but still no luck. lol

What I do know is that it it sounds like it would be related to a moving part, which isolates it to be the hdd most likely, perhaps the fan i suppose.

My hdd starting ticking/clicking for a couple days before i lost all my info. I'd back up your hdd immediately to be on the safe side. Maybe you can clone ur hdd onto a known working one and see if that resolves the issue. Or perhaps put your existing hdd into an external and boot from it...see if the sound moves to the external case.

 

[shady825]

Out of all the outrageous things I see posted, the title to this thread just made me laugh my ass off!

But seriously, something must have gotten inside the case or something!? There is nothing inside that should really make that noise as the others have stated.

 

[shady825]

EDIT
I dont know why I'm getting double posts so often!?
I've just noticed it since Safari4... Anyone else?

 

[alphaod]

The last time I heard something like that was when my HDD shattered after a friend dropped a weight onto my running computer.

If you computer still runs, I doubt that's the case.

 

[scienide09]

Haven't dropped too much money into my washer so i'm having a hard time grasping exactly what it is. I even tried throwing a couple quarters in my front loader a little bit ago but still no luck. lol
...

My first thought was a coin-operated machine, that requires money to run. Not that this helps the OP any.

To the OP: you say your MacBook is nearly three years old. Do you have AppleCare? If so, backup whatever data you can and take it in immediately, before it dies completely. Hopefully the Genius will recognize the sound and know a fix.

 

[ozjada]

Thanks

I want to thank you everyone for the ideas. Interestingly it never repeated the noise after those few times and I took it to the Apple Store just in case and they also said it might be HD wearing out. I backed up and waiting for it to die if it will. Then I'll have them put a new one.

 

[mikes63737]

If you bought AppleCare (if you didn't then your warranty's gone), get a video clip of it making that noise.

I did that when I was having iPhone problems (it thought that I was constantly flipping the ring/silent switch and would start vibrating like crazy) which I couldn't reproduce in the Apple Store. I showed them the video and they exchanged it on the spot.