[Blue Sapphire]

Hello--

I'm relatively new to the world of Macs. A few months ago, after extensive research, I bought a used Indigo Clamshell iBook to use for my writing (I'm a novelist), and for the most part I adore it.

However, the big problem for me is the noise it makes. The constant buzz/squeal is really wearing on my ears and nerves. I'm very sound sensitive, and if I can't find a way to quiet it a bit, I'm afraid I'll have to sell it and get something else (which I REALLY don't want to do!).

I've been reading everything I can, trying to determine where the noise is coming from. As I understand it, the clamshell didn't have a fan, so that's not it (and the noise does not cycle, it's constant from the moment you hit the "on" button). I have found things suggesting it is either the hard drive or the screen. My husband is quite skilled with disassembling and upgrading laptops, and I've found several good step by step guides for the Clamshells, so upgrading parts such as the hard drive is definitely an option, but I want to be certain exactly what is causing the noise before proceeding.

Any suggestions??

All help or input would be very welcome. I really want to find a way to keep using this laptop.

[rach]

Have you tried using disk utility to verify and repair your HD? If you have not tried using this already maybe this will let you know if your HD has a problem.

I had a Clamshell before and it was very quiet with the standard drive that it first came with and the one that i later upgraded it with.

It is hard to pin point exactly what the problem is. I have read about people having similar problems who had HD problems but as you said it could be another hardware problem.

Maybe you could look on ebay and see if you can find a diagnostic CD for your model of iBook?

[imacfly]

Are you running OS9 or OSX? Go into Energy Saver control panel (I can help you find it depending upon which operating system you are using) and play around with the times that the display goes to sleep and the hard drive. Separate the times (so they don't go off together) and play around with letting the display go off to see if the sound goes away. I doubt it's the display though seeing I don't think LCD's make any such noises like CRT's do. Then check to see what happens when the HD spins down... see if the noise goes away.

[ixus_123]

I'm almost certain it's the hard disk.

More than likely the previous owner damaged it the same way I damaged mine.

I also own an indigo clam shell. The thing was dead silent when new - it was amazing. The mistake I made was using it on my bed. The mattress stopped the heat from escaping & it got hotter & hotter until it made a pop, shut down.

It came up right away but was really unstable. I used disk image to check the disk & I have about 200mb worth of bad sectors. Thankfully I was able to get all my data off & perform a clean install. This was about 3 years ago - the disk has been noisy ever since but has held up really well being used 24/7 running Linux & apache to serve my website.

Lately it got more noisy so I decomissioned it. They are great latops in my opinion. Mine survived multiple drops, 2 cups of tea, over heating - amazing.

macfixit.com has guides for replacing the hard disk - it would be really cool with a new drive but it does look like hard work to replace.

Good luck with it - it's an awsome machine