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Hawkeye · Mar 1, 2004, 08:52 AM

Over the past few months, I've often returned to my 15" 500MHz Powerbook to find it at the login screen instead of running the screensaver like it should be. I thought this was weird, but I would just restart, check the disks and go on about my business. It happens so sporadically that I decided not to worry.

On other occasions, I would step out of the room only to hear a high-pitched beep coming from inside the computer (definitely not the speakers). I would shut down, restart, check the disks and scratch my head. I can't find similar problems described here or at Apple's Knowledge Base or Discussions.

Last night I came home to find my computer at the Login screen. My mom also reported that it was "making a horrible alarm sound" and that when she went to my room to find out what was making the sound, my computer was at the Login screen. According to the system log, the last thing that happened before the system logged out was that the loginwindow crashed.

Now a crashing loginwindow is one thing, but I don't understand the high-pitched beep? Anybody got a line on this? It's really starting to frustrate me, especially since I have now discovered that the two odd problems seem to be related.

Apple has basically said that until I can reliably reproduce it, there's nothing they can do.

Please help. My Apple Care expires in 12 days.

anaphora68 · Mar 1, 2004, 08:57 AM

It could be any number of things. I am inclined to say that it is hardware related, as there is a general system alarm of some sort. Have you run the hardware test utility? I would try that, it might find something with the logic board or memory.

Hawkeye · 11:17 AM

Originally posted by anaphora68:
It could be any number of things. I am inclined to say that it is hardware related, as there is a general system alarm of some sort. Have you run the hardware test utility? I would try that, it might find something with the logic board or memory.

I've removed my RAM upgrade and unplugged all external devices. I ran both the Quick Test and the Extended Test and the system passed both. As of this moment, the system is looping through the Extended Test. I will check on it at lunch.

I want to say it's hardware too because of that alarm.

And Apple just replaced the logic board in November. That's what's so odd.

Hawkeye · Mar 1, 2004, 03:21 PM

Apple's tech support suggested that I loop the Hardware Test. I did, 56 times and it didn't show that anything was wrong ... maybe it's a software problem, but wow is it going to suck trying to track it down.

Podolsky · Mar 2, 2004, 08:50 AM

Total longshot but hey, you never know - you might have a corrupted image in your screensaver that is causing the crash. Actually, I kind of doubt this is it but try changing the settings there or, if you have your screensaver pointed to your own image file - try testing them all to be sure none are corrupted. It could also be related to the various sleep related problems - so try leaving it in never sleep mode and see if you get any joy.

tooki · Mar 2, 2004, 10:22 AM

I would install a disk utility that has S.M.A.R.T. monitoring (e.g. DiskWarrior) to rule out the possibility that the hard drive is failing. Cuz if it is, you want to get your data off it pronto.

tooki

dabigdawg · Mar 3, 2004, 11:34 AM

irregardless of results at this point the time is now to back up data, at some point everyone's machine goes down and when it does you want to make sure you have what you need from your machine.

good luck tacking issue down, let us know results if any please.

Originally posted by tooki:
I would install a disk utility that has S.M.A.R.T. monitoring (e.g. DiskWarrior) to rule out the possibility that the hard drive is failing. Cuz if it is, you want to get your data off it pronto.

tooki