[francois710223]

this is a follow up to another issue, but i feel it deserves its own thread.

why on earth does apple not allow a previous firmware version to be installed on its macs?



sometimes i really yearn back to my PC days. at least i had some type of control back then.

[ibook_steve]

Because normally, a newer version fixes problems and there's no need or reason to go back. That's a general Apple philosophy that works for normal, everyday customers (Joe Blow computer user, Apple's bread and butter), not power users like you and me.

Steve

[Waragainstsleep]

It means if they want to switch something off, you can't switch it back on again. Best example is the G3 Smurf PowerMacs which were updated to stop people installing G4 chips from the later PowerMac G4 Yikes model.

[francois9]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

It means if they want to switch something off, you can't switch it back on again. Best example is the G3 Smurf PowerMacs which were updated to stop people installing G4 chips from the later PowerMac G4 Yikes model.

moral of the story

never... never.... ever... do a firmware upgrade

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by francois9 

moral of the story

never... never.... ever... do a firmware upgrade

Uh, no, I don't think so. The moral is to wait and see. Most firmware gives improved performance.

Steve

[vtboyarc]

what did this last firmware upgrade even do?

[francois9]

Originally Posted by vtboyarc 

what did this last firmware upgrade even do?

for me, it did absolutely nothing, although my macbook hard drive NOW seems to park its heads much more prequently, causing a very faint, but annoying click every now and again.

i now have a silent audio file playing in the background continuesly to prevent the annoying clicks.

thank for the "upgrade", Apple!

[analogika]

The fact that playing a silent audio file helps the situation means that it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the clicks.

In fact, those clicks are the built-in audio hardware being switched on after having been powered down to conserve energy.

This "issue" has been around for AT LEAST four years, and yes, I've noticed it got slightly more pronounced after the latest firmware upgrade, as well.

But it is definitely not new, and it has nothing to do with your hard disk.

[P]

During the last few PPC years, there were very few firmware updates released. Updating the firmware is borderline what a user can be expected to put up with - it is actually a fairly risky operation - so it's a good thing if they're trying to minimize the number required.

The G3 Yosemite Powermacs were updated with the CPU lock to make sure that Apple could be the first to use the G4 - upgrade manufacturers were threating to scoop them. A new update was released that disabled the lock once the Yikes and Sawtooth Powermacs were out. Still not excusable, but that's no reason not to get the facts straight.

[francois9]

Originally Posted by analogika 

But it is definitely not new, and it has nothing to do with your hard disk.

no, the sound is coming from my hard drive. i play the file in the background to prevent the drive from parking its heads.

i am aware of the other audio issue. this issue is not related to that.

[analogika]

How often does it tick? Very strange. I'm not seeing this on my machine. (MacBook Core 2 Duo November 06)

[francois9]

replaced the drive with a 120gb Western Digital Scorpio.

problem solved.

using my clickety-click hdd now in an external usb enclosure as a backup.

i know. it sounds like the click-of-death for the hdd, but it is still working 100% and even SMART declares it healthy.

whatever, at least I enlarged my hard drive by 50% in the proces..

still wierd that the clicks happened just after the firmware update.

[CharlesS]

Sounds like a coincidence to me.

Oh, and I wouldn't trust that hard drive to be a particularly reliable backup if it's making clicking noises...

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by francois9 

no, the sound is coming from my hard drive. i play the file in the background to prevent the drive from parking its heads.

i am aware of the other audio issue. this issue is not related to that.

The silent sound file is not stopping your HD from clicking*. The OS loads the audio file into memory and doesn't access it from the HD after the initial load.

*Unless you are maxing out your system's memory and you are using virtual memory. If that's the case, then you have other problems.

[francois9]

i thought so too.

but for some reason it stopped the clicking.

maybe quicktime is a disk-based player, only loading small amounts in memory and flushing them out again.

:-/

i'm just glad replacing the hdd was relatively painless, thanks to the new macbook design. and the scorpio even seem FASTER too.

so i'm a happy chappy.

[francois9]

i spoke too soon. the new hard drive is clicking too.

at least someone else is also having this problem as well:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.ph...entry588907221

this person also says it happened after the firmware update

[frdmfghtr]

Go into the System Preferences -> Energy Saver and clear the check box that turns off the hard drive after a period of inactivity. See if that helps.

Are you sure it's the hard drive and not audio turning on and off? There was an update via Software Update (not a firmware update) that was supposed to fix that some time ago.

FWIW, I never had any hard drive clicking in my old G4 iBook and none in my current MacBook with three different drives in the past 10 months (kept filling them up).

(BTW, I tried the 120 GB WD Scorpio, and used it for about 45 minutes before the vibration got the best of me...returned it in favor of a Fujitsu 120 GB drive, and no vibration and even got a boost in battery life. Does yours cause any vibration?)