[OIMO]

Hi all,

Recently my 12" G4 started making strange 'spring' noises when I pick it and move it e.g. up/down, left/right, etc. These noises seem to be coming from the speakers but are not changed by the mute/volume controls and persist even after a restart.

I am somewhat puzzled for two reasons: 1) I have not knowingly installed any apps that could do this (although I am not the only user of this machine) and 2) I was under the impression that the 12" G4 1GHz PB did not even have the movement sensor hardware!

Can anyone help me solve this mystery?

cheers
OIMO

[seanc]

Those noises are most likely your hard drive. They're NOT good noises.
If you haven't done so already, backup the data on your hard drive immediately!
Always keep regular backups.
Check the S.M.A.R.T status in Disk Utility, if it's Verified then things should be ok, if it says Failing then we'll talk you through replacing it.

[OIMO]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Those noises are most likely your hard drive. /
Check the S.M.A.R.T status in Disk Utility.

I am pretty confident it is not the drive having worked with computers for many years, including taking disk packs apart and replacing fried HDs. Just to be sure I checked S.M.A.R.T and it is 'verified'. It sounds like an electronic rendition of a slicky spring!

OIMO

[seanc]

Well I took the sound you meant earlier to be a kind of grinding noise when you tipped it.

Otherwise, how old is the drive in there? If it's recent, it may have an sudden motion sensor built into it and the sound could be the heads parking.

I have had a failed desktop HDD make a springing/clicking sound in the past.

In my opinion, you shouldn't really tip drives around while they're on. I always try to keep mine as horizontal as possible and not move it while it's running.

[giggs11]

If its the sound I'm thinking of, you'll want to backup just to be safe. Mine was making a similar sound for about 2-3 months before it died. When I moved it at all while awake, it would make a "spring" sound.

I guess its something with the specific drive, maybe as it gets older. I don't notice any sound like that on the Dell D410 which I use for work.

[OIMO]

Thanks seanc and giggs11.

The drive is the original from when I bought the 1GHz 12" PB, which is a few years back now and my understanding is it should not have SMS. Thankfully it was backed up recently although I will need to email myself a few very recent files to be totally safe.

As it happens I have just bought a Mac Mini to move my iTunes and Photo library to so once that is done I will look to replace the 40Gb drive in my PB with, most likely, a 120Gb drive. Just how difficult is the drive replacement on the 12"?

Having said that I am still not sure it is the drive...

OIMO