Strange Noise from my TiBook!!

[uhlawboi80]

I have an old (not yet two years old) TiBook...before id here some noises that were very quiet when it sounded like maybe the HD was working but now im getting a noise that is almost constant with brief quiet periods that sounds like radio static. I'm pretty sure its not from the speakers but sounds like its coming from beneath the keyboard. It doesnt sound like a bad fan either, but im just not sure what it is. I remeber before people saying that sometimes the logic board made noise when it was really working, could this be it? Im only worried because ive had the entire system temporarilly freeze for short periods in the last few days along with this noise...

If anyone knows what this could be id appreciate it, i am just afraid its a major problem and its only 2 weeks before finals and EVERYTHING i do in law school is on this computer so i dont want it in the shop but if its going to die in the next two weeks then i wil have to figure out a way to get everything off and a temp computer! THANX

 

[idkew]

first- back up everything. just in case. you should always do that anyway.

the sound the computer (video board most times) makes when working is usually a high pitched scream, not a static, multi-pitch sound. this could be the sound of your HD's death. If that is the problem, it could last days, weeks, months, but it will die eventually. your hd is located directly under the trackpad. is the sound coming from there? the CPU is located under the 6-7-t-y keys if i remember correctly. is that where the sound is coming from? take off the keyboard next time it happens and listen.

but, if you want to make it last through finals, i would recommend using it as little as possible, unless it has to do with school. no games, no photoshop. let the proc. and hd rest.

i would hold off taking it into a cpu shop until she kicks it. most likely this problem is not going to get better, even with professional help.


if she does die on you. i may be willing to purchase it from you. keep me in mind if that happens.

 

[uhlawboi80]

well everything is backed up already, but it is starting to sound like its underneath my keyboard and on that note ive got an old dell notebook that was bought in 1998 and its still got its original working HD, if this HD is ****ting out in less than 2 years i'm going to be very unsatisified with apples quality. but im guessing thats what it is....

 

[Sedulous]

My Powerbook makes a squeaking sound at times. It first started after I took it on a domestic flight. It has been doing it for a long time now and nothing deleterious has happened.

 

[idkew]

well everything is backed up already, but it is starting to sound like its underneath my keyboard and on that note ive got an old dell notebook that was bought in 1998 and its still got its original working HD, if this HD is ****ting out in less than 2 years i'm going to be very unsatisified with apples quality. but im guessing thats what it is....

yell at ibm. they most likely make your hd. them or hitachi, fujitsu or toshiba.

 

[uhlawboi80]

thats true, Apple doesnt make HDs, though design has something to do with the kind of shock that reachs your HD and that will alter the HDs longevity...BUTT, today i got in a really quiet area and listen for the noise and now it is intermititent...and now id say with near certainty that its coming from my processor...and now it seems to only make the noise when activities would be putting a load on the processor. i mean it could be the logic board the way it goes when my computer would be "thinking" but would this noise come from the logic board? or for that matter even the processor? What does it mean if it is the processor?? Thanx for any further help

 

[numediaman]

I have a TiPB and had to recently replace the logic board. Some suggestions: you were right to back-up, that's a start. Next, check your inputs, especially your ethernet connection. Do you use this a lot? Not at all? This has been the source of a lot of problems. I don't understand it -- logically, you would think that a bad connection would only effect the input, but not so.

Finally, I wouldn't discount it being the HD even though it seems to be the lb. Sound can do some funny things bouncing around a laptop.

If your logic board dies on the TiPB it is immediate and not reversible. You may hear noise now, but when it really goes . . . its gone.

 

[uhlawboi80]

Well now it seems that the partition my OS is on is "damaged" though disk utility cant seem to repair it...says it has a sibling link error???

Can i move my files off the good partition and format it and load the OS there and just run the computer temporarily off of the parition that isnt corrupt?? i know this isnt the long term solution but i cant get anything done soon and i really need the computer to be working.

Any other sugestions? this "sibling link error" ....is it a surface error and could be fixed by formatting that partition over?? or is that sector just gone??

Any help pronto is greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[uhlawboi80]

well, i know that no one has responded to my last post, but i tried to run the disk utility again and it is still not able to repair the disk, but it isnt telling me "invalid sibling link" anymore but rather "keys out of order"...does anyone who what this means is going on (im trying to find it on the Apple site) or what, if any, program could fix this issue?

i may still try backing up my files and then formatting the good partition and reloading the OS on it tonight if no one has any other suggestions or says that that wont work or would do some harm

 

[crazzyeddie]

Don't worry about it... its 100% normal for TiBooks due to Power Napping. If you want to see if that is really the cause, download and install Apple's CHUD tools. Then open the CPU panel (in system preferences) and click the check box to disable power napping. The sound will go away =) But this is 100% normal, and is only audible because the computer is changing the amount of power about every 1ms in relation to the demand on the CPU. I find that I can also hear the sound when the computer is sitting completely idle and then I use Exposé.

 

[uhlawboi80]

I am well aware of the normal sounds that can come from a TiBook's processor and logic board...that however is not what this is. It is not the noise that is the problem, but rather the system hangups and other issues im encountering. If you will not my last two posts, I've gotten more than one error message on the HD, which is where i suspect the noise was coming from.
My only real question was if my other partition would be affected as well.

While the errors seem to be software related, linkings, b-tree issues, etc; i have formated and re-installed OSX on the partition that it was on and it is encountering issues booting (not all the time, but very slow and sometimes wont boot up) and the system will hang sometimes at the simplest task...this to me seems like the OS trying to work around bad disk surface, but the diagnostics listed nothing physically wrong with the disk

If anyone has any other thoughts, id be interested to hear them

 

[7on]

reboot
cmd+s at chime
at the prompt type fsck -y
repeat till no errors are found.

 

[rueyeet]

Sounds to me like your 'Book may unfortunately be on its last legs....multiple different errors are often the sign of something being irrevocably and seriously awry. On the positive side, if it's not the drive, you can always remove it and buy an enclosure for it, and get whatever may not be in the latest backups that way.

It's a definite pity about the timing, though....