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joyous jorge · Jun 14, 2006, 09:33 AM

I cant use my internet or safari because when i click on the safari icon my ibook g3 starts making a clicking noise that I dont know what causes it. I would like to say that I had tried to install an airport card.But messed up the conector pins and now i use usb dongle for wireless. but this clicking happens regardless of wireless or wired internet. It makes the clicking sound of when you eject the cd from the cd drive. it makes that noise repeatedly. and it freezed up the computer when i click on safari. so i have no internet. macexperts, advice?

Mojo · Jun 14, 2006, 01:10 PM

My first thought is that the hard drive is dying. Figure around three years life for a drive in a G3 iBook.

Eug Wanker · Jun 14, 2006, 01:25 PM

Backup your data NOW.

joyous jorge · Jun 14, 2006, 04:11 PM

thanks i will back up data. so my hard drive is dying. how long does it take to actually dye.

joyous jorge · Jun 14, 2006, 04:15 PM

what do i do?are you sure its dying?

Hi I'm Ben · Jun 14, 2006, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by joyous jorge

what do i do?are you sure its dying?

Yeah your hard drive is probably crapping out. I'm surprised it's Safari only causing this. I'm sure if you investigated it further many other programs would do this to. Put your computer on a flat steady surface immediately and start backing it up. New hard drives are cheap and relatively simple to install. The hardest part is finding the time to take it all apart and put it back together.

joyous jorge · Jun 14, 2006, 07:24 PM

yes not only safari but aquistion a file downloader also makes it act up.

Mojo · Jun 15, 2006, 12:17 AM

Back up first before you do anything else, then run Disk Utility and see what it tells you. How long the drive will take to crap out is anyone's guess... but a drive that is making noise can go at any moment.

joyous jorge · Jun 15, 2006, 01:29 PM

i checked and am repairing the disk permissions. rightnow

joyous jorge · Jun 15, 2006, 04:00 PM

i repaired the disc permission and the disk is ok suppodedly when i click on verify button. but the internet stll doesnt work

Hi I'm Ben · Jun 15, 2006, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by joyous jorge

i repaired the disc permission and the disk is ok suppodedly when i click on verify button. but the internet stll doesnt work

You don't understand. Your hard drive is breaking. Nothing software is going to fix it. It might not even detect a hardware problem.

joyous jorge · Jun 15, 2006, 10:21 PM

oh where can i get a hardrive? and what causes this?

Hi I'm Ben · Jun 15, 2006, 11:22 PM

Assuming you live in the United States...
http://www.newegg.com/

However, I'm not sure if you will be able to replace it yourself, you don't seem technical enough. However I only base this off the things you have said, you might rock.

Tsilou B. · Jun 16, 2006, 04:50 AM

You'll have to buy a 2,5" hard drive with IDE or ATA or PATA connector. (These three things are the same).

Here you'll find instructions on how to replace the hard drive yourself. It's a bit complicated.

http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/...00HDRev1.2.pdf

BTW, my iBook hard drive made this clicking noise, too - I immediately replaced it, but used it with a cheap usb enclosure ($6) as an external drive for taking some backuped files with me. Indeed, the hard drive totally crapped out about two months later.

Hi I'm Ben · Jun 16, 2006, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by Tsilou B.

You'll have to buy a 2,5" hard drive with IDE or ATA or PATA connector. (These three things are the same).

Here you'll find instructions on how to replace the hard drive yourself. It's a bit complicated.

http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/...00HDRev1.2.pdf

BTW, my iBook hard drive made this clicking noise, too - I immediately replaced it, but used it with a cheap usb enclosure ($6) as an external drive for taking some backuped files with me. Indeed, the hard drive totally crapped out about two months later.

I did the same exact thing. The enclosure worked excellent to backup the hard drive too. The $10 i spent on that enclosure after shipping was a life saver. I'm not sure if that HD has crapped out yet.. After I finished getting the data off of it i tossed it into a drawer and I haven't seen it since

Mojo · Jun 16, 2006, 04:27 PM

In the case of your G3 iBook, age is the probable cause of the failure.

When my G3 drive died a service tech at a busy repair shop on the U of O campus told me that they see "many" iBooks with dead drives between the 2-3 year mark.

Hard drives are complex devices with moving parts and tight tolerances. The tiny drives used in portable computers endure high temps and the added wear of being carted around.

The installation of a new drive in a G3 iBook is not for the faint of heart. And I should add that the replacement drive in my G3 died within 3 hours of installation; in that case the cause of the failure was obviously a manufacturing defect...