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rasmusnet · May 27, 2005, 02:18 AM

Hi,
Last night I was using Azureus. Or I was trying to..
I had taken the battery out of the PB and was planning to run it all night but was noticing that the machine was getting kind of hot even without the battery in. I started 4 torrents, wich usually is no problem, and wanted to put the screen to sleep. When I was in the system preferences to do so I suddenly got the turning beach ball and there was nothing I could do but hold the power button for a few seconds and do a hard shutdown.
While the turning beach ball was up there was a loud clicking sound from the PB, kind of when taking a picture with a camera. They came with a few seconds between them, I guess it was the hard drive being stuck somehow or someting?
After the restart everything works fine and the torrents run without a problem.

Is this anything to worry about is something broken in the PB??

It's a 1Ghz G4 PB with 256mb ram, running OSX 10.3.8

While it happened I was also running some other programs: Entourage, Safari, MSN

Randman · May 27, 2005, 03:37 AM

Backup. Just in case. Run Disk Utility and see what it says on the drive.
What's the setup for the PB? Do you have it raised, like on an iCurve, so it ventilates? Closed lid mode?

rasmusnet · May 27, 2005, 12:08 PM

Well, the PB is on a desk and usually not raised. I haven't had any heat problems before, especially not when the battery has been taken out.
The PB is running with the screen open. Since it happened I've placed an eraser under the back of the machine to lift it up a little.

Just ran Disk Utility with this result, do I need to worry?

Kontroller tilladelser til “Macintosh HD”
Determining correct file permissions.
Permissions differ on ./Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources/Microsoft Entourage.scpt, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxrwxr-x
Permissions differ on ./Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources/Scripts/Microsoft Entourage.scpt, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxrwxr-x
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
Group differs on ./private/etc/authorization, should be 80, group is 0
Permissions differ on ./private/etc/slpsa.conf, should be -rwxr-xr-x , they are -rw-r--r--
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/install.log, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/wtmp, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Group differs on ./usr, should be 0, group is 80
User differs on ., should be 0, owner is 501
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

Kontrol af tilladelser færdig

Kevin Moon · May 27, 2005, 01:25 PM

I recently had a powerbook fixed for a hard drive that went out. It started by locking when I used the disk a lot. When it would lock up I would have clicking and various high pitched noises coming from the drive along with the beach ball. SMART status throughout stayed verified but when it went into applecare they found it was going out. It was gone for two months getting that drive replaced but that's another story. The SMART status cannot be relied on as an indicator of a drive going out I guess. That's too bad because I thought that was the whole point of it.

drprat · May 27, 2005, 01:28 PM

This appears to be a common problem for some, especially power-users and those who like to run just way too many things at once... It's happened to me in the past a couple of times; from what I can remember it use to happen after the machine had been on for days with many programs (and by many I mean 5-10 safari tabs, mail, itunes, acrobat pro, photoshop, word, excel, etc.) open all at once... It then just took one more stressful activity and the system would lock up with that constant clicking sound... I haven't had the pb checked out because when the problem did happen I couldn't afford to give it up (primary computer for uni) and now that I don't use the pb as much it seems as though they'd have much difficulty recreating the problem, thus resulting in no action...

I've run all the major tests on it from TechTool to Disk Utility and nothing ever showed up (including SMART data)... So for the mean time I've just left the machine as is and it seems to run perfectly fine... My recommendation would be to take it to a service centre if you can afford the downtime, but be prepared to hear "nothing's wrong"... Sorry I couldn't provide a solution to your prob, but I've been following the "harddrive clicking issue" for some time and there really doesn't seem to be a solution...

Specs: Rev. C 12", 768mb, 60gig

drprat · May 27, 2005, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon

I recently had a powerbook fixed for a hard drive that went out. It started by locking when I used the disk a lot. When it would lock up I would have clicking and various high pitched noises coming from the drive along with the beach ball. SMART status throughout stayed verified but when it went into applecare they found it was going out. It was gone for two months getting that drive replaced but that's another story. The SMART status cannot be relied on as an indicator of a drive going out I guess. That's too bad because I thought that was the whole point of it.

That's too bad it took 2 months... that's simply ridiculous... I would recommend using a local service centre next time... Their turnaround is pretty fast, usually...

I know I'm a fool to be using SMART as an indicator, but this problem happened to me months ago... Just like the originator of this thread, the HD made a simple constant ticking noise... No other noises... I guess I also just don't have the time nowadays to drop off my pb to get it checked out + I'm too lazy to make a complete backup... haha...

Kevin Moon · May 27, 2005, 01:37 PM

I would have taken it to the store in Kansas City but they would have sent it off too. During the first repair the case was damaged preventing discs from going into the superdrive. When it went in for that they confirmed the drive was going out. Total downtime from first repair to it getting back to me in working order was four months.

drprat · May 27, 2005, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin Moon

I would have taken it to the store in Kansas City but they would have sent it off too. During the first repair the case was damaged preventing discs from going into the superdrive. When it went in for that they confirmed the drive was going out. Total downtime from first repair to it getting back to me in working order was four months.

Another reason I'm not too keen on letting them work on my pb -> damage/scratches....

fisherKing · May 27, 2005, 06:04 PM

i had my 12" alubook revC drive replaced a few weeks ago...
got those clicking noises from the drive...and had to tilt & shake my pb to get files to finish saving, etc...!

call apple.
get that drive backed up & replaced!

(mine happened a month before end first year...i just bought applecare, worth it)

radii_22 · Jun 8, 2005, 09:19 AM

Does lifting the computer from behind have something related to the origin of the problem?

Thank you.

fisherKing · Jun 8, 2005, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by radii_22

Does lifting the computer from behind have something related to the origin of the problem?

Thank you.

u mean with a stand for example? should not affect hard drive performance (for example, look at the "side-angle" hard drives from lacie or owc...)

hard drives wear out eventually (hopefully later than sooner)