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Mechanical Noise when MBP Turns On

E

ender land

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 26, 2010
876
0
My late 2010 13" MBP makes a mechanical noise when turning on - right before the apple "on" sound.

Is this normal? What causes it? I am not sure since this is the first mac I've ever really owned. It makes sense to me it would have some sort of component noise when turning on but considering how loud it is I figure I might as well ask.

thanks!
 
Most likely it's the optical drive. It's standard for Apple-fitted slot loading drives. Nothing to worry about at all.
 
hm. That's kinda what I figured.

Probably not really any way to stop that from happening...

An excuse to get a SSD drive?!

:)
 
ender land said:
hm. That's kinda what I figured.

Probably not really any way to stop that from happening...

An excuse to get a SSD drive?!

:)
Click to expand...

Well, it's not the hard drive, so an SSD wouldn't do anything about that, unless you mean replacing the optical drive with the HDD and then adding a SSD.

Otherwise, there isn't a way to do that.
 
Understanding it's normal, is there any way to disable it at least some of the time? Any safe code, or an app?

It's quite noisy and does it on my mid-2008 MBP 2.4 everytime it turns on or wakes.

Sometimes it just does it randomly too, for no apparent reason (i.e. no disc in there, no disc-utilising app open, no waking/turning on taking place etc!)
 
alust2013 said:
Well, it's not the hard drive, so an SSD wouldn't do anything about that, unless you mean replacing the optical drive with the HDD and then adding a SSD.

Otherwise, there isn't a way to do that.
Click to expand...

Well right, I guess I meant replacing the optical drive with an SSD :)

Though I then would have to get an external DVD drive and live with not being able to easily watch DVDs or listen to CDs... decisions, decisions!
 
ajdb9 said:
Understanding it's normal, is there any way to disable it at least some of the time? Any safe code, or an app?

It's quite noisy and does it on my mid-2008 MBP 2.4 everytime it turns on or wakes.

Sometimes it just does it randomly too, for no apparent reason (i.e. no disc in there, no disc-utilising app open, no waking/turning on taking place etc!)
Click to expand...

im pretty sure you cant disable it with any software. im not aware of any that could stop it. its a firmware thing.
 
nunes013 said:
im pretty sure you cant disable it with any software. im not aware of any that could stop it. its a firmware thing.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'd want to anyways - you'd be in for a world of frustration trying to fix your OS if you corrupted it somehow, and not being able to boot from the DVD drive would REALLY be annoying :)
 
Pretty annoying sound, Apples sound designers didn't do a great job on that :)
 
ajdb9 said:
Understanding it's normal, is there any way to disable it at least some of the time? Any safe code, or an app?

It's quite noisy and does it on my mid-2008 MBP 2.4 everytime it turns on or wakes.

Sometimes it just does it randomly too, for no apparent reason (i.e. no disc in there, no disc-utilising app open, no waking/turning on taking place etc!)
Click to expand...

Interesting. Mine used to do that, but apple released an update (I think SMC, maybe EFI) that limited it to just the startup.
 
ajdb9 said:
Understanding it's normal, is there any way to disable it at least some of the time? Any safe code, or an app?

It's quite noisy and does it on my mid-2008 MBP 2.4 everytime it turns on or wakes.

Sometimes it just does it randomly too, for no apparent reason (i.e. no disc in there, no disc-utilising app open, no waking/turning on taking place etc!)
Click to expand...

A firmware updated was released a while ago and it stopped the sound from going on when the computer woke up from sleep - so get that.
 
stop nit picking.

You all are nit picking on some little thing in the hardware, im guessing its suppose to occur to know the drive is functioning. I could see it as a big deal if it occurred constantly it could become annoying but it doesn't so why bother.
 
thunderboltspro said:
You all are nit picking on some little thing in the hardware, im guessing its suppose to occur to know the drive is functioning. I could see it as a big deal if it occurred constantly it could become annoying but it doesn't so why bother.
Click to expand...

Nah, I was just curious about the sound.

It does occur each time I turn my MBP on though (or switch from Windows to OS:X using Bootcamp), so it kinda happens constantly :cool:
 
When I first got my 2010 MBP, it concerned me. Then I learned what it was, and concern became annoyed. Now I don't even hear it anymore. I mean, I hear it but it doesn't register in any way. You get used to it. Don't sweat it.
 
Every slot-load optical drive I've ever owned, computer or otherwise, has made that power-cycle whirring when started. It's nothing to worry about.
 
Be happy that your MBP just does it when you turn it on. My old MacBook used to do it (and still does) each time you turn it on, and wake it from sleep. My MacBook Pro just does it when I turn it on.
 
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