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cucswiz · Dec 3, 2003, 12:31 PM

So I installed Panther about 2 days ago. Since then, I've been hearing this constant disk access very, id say 5-10 seconds - its this "tick" sound. And its getting on my nerves.... I don't remember hearing this in jaguar...

Does anyone else hear this? I'm using a tibook 1ghz... Anyone know any solutions?

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 01:24 PM

yeah... it sounds like a disc spinning every 10 seconds or so. i just got my 15" last week, and i'm pretty used to it. wish it didn't happen, but it's alright.

Maflynn · Dec 3, 2003, 01:49 PM

Do you have the test drive of Office installed on your machine. There's been a lot of discussion on this forum that the test drive software checks to see if its expired every few seconds. Delete office folder and any references found in the library folder and see if that does the trick.

Mike

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 01:56 PM

Interesting. I installed office and deleted the test drive file. I'll have to check for other references to it when I go home today. Thanks for the info!

Bostic · Dec 3, 2003, 01:56 PM

I have the same ticking sound on my 12" Powerbook rev B. I don't really notice the sound unless it's very quiet, like last night while doing some work at 1am. I did a clean install of Panther from the get go so I don't have the Office test drive on the hard drive. The hard drive is a Toshiba MK4025GAS, 40gig 4200rpm. It's not whisper quiet but it's not loud like many hard drives I've worked with under IBM and Dell units.

richardault · Dec 3, 2003, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by cucswiz:
So I installed Panther about 2 days ago. Since then, I've been hearing this constant disk access very, id say 5-10 seconds - its this "tick" sound. And its getting on my nerves.... I don't remember hearing this in jaguar...

Does anyone else hear this? I'm using a tibook 1ghz... Anyone know any solutions?

Hi, I'm hearing the same thing. Running Panther on a new Pbook 15, 1.25 Ghz. The disk option I took is the 80GB @5400. I hope they are not having issues with these drives as I have already been one go round with support for white spots on the machine I ordered in Oct... UGH UGH UGH. This is the replacement machine.

dgbatchelor · Dec 3, 2003, 06:21 PM

What is your "Energy Saver" setting for "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible."?

Have you installed any scanner drivers? (Some of them periodically check and output to a log file if not found.)

cucswiz · Dec 3, 2003, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by dgbatchelor:
What is your "Energy Saver" setting for "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible."?

Have you installed any scanner drivers? (Some of them periodically check and output to a log file if not found.)

Energy Saver setting is never sleep the HD

I haven't installed any scanner drivers (at least not that I know of). I did enable a lot of file sharing services (i.e. windows shares, personal share, ftp etc). I thought it might be that, but I turned all the services off and I still get the same thing.

I'm wondering if it could be a problem with the VM i.e. paging that causes it to go to disk... not sure though. All i know is that when I turn on the activity monitor, every 5 or 10 seconds, i see a red spike on the "disk activity" graph... well at least I'm not alone.

anaphora68 · Dec 3, 2003, 08:04 PM

How much RAM do you have? VM could be paging to the disk too often. I have a 15'' with Panther and the hard drive is hardly ever making noise, unless VM is paging, which should be less of a problem when my extra RAM arrives.

dgbatchelor · Dec 3, 2003, 08:27 PM

If you change the setting of "Sleep HD" to true, does the "problem" disappear?

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 09:16 PM

Originally posted by dgbatchelor:
If you change the setting of "Sleep HD" to true, does the "problem" disappear?

nope. mine has always had sleep hard drive on.

the only thing i have installed/downloaded on my computer at this point is AIM and office. I checked for the office test drive file and it's nowhere to be found.

dgbatchelor · Dec 3, 2003, 09:21 PM

Suggest that you check your log files (Go to system profiler) and see if something is writing to your log file...

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by dgbatchelor:
Suggest that you check your log files (Go to system profiler) and see if something is writing to your log file...

could you walk me through that?

what am i looking for?

how can i tell if something's writing to my log file?

sorry... new to macs.

dgbatchelor · Dec 3, 2003, 09:30 PM

To get to the "System Profiler", you can select "About This Mac" from the Apple menu... Then select "More Info..." Then select "Logs" and look at your Console and System log files...

Do you see a long repetitive pattern of log entries?

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 09:35 PM

not really... since i just woke my computer up 20 minutes ago, there are only 3 entries (and it's making the sound every 10-15 seconds).

all of the entries have to do with the "localhost kernel"

Dec 3 20:28:38 localhost kernel: sip_control: ipv4_control returns error=2 for so=132c430 kp=1490804

dgbatchelor · Dec 3, 2003, 09:40 PM

You can also look at the application "Activity Monitor" to see if you are low on memory and/or paging to disk a lot...

jendmb34 · Dec 3, 2003, 11:41 PM

i checked that out too and didn't notice anything strange.

this noise wasn't really bothering me until i read this thread. now it's annoying me a good amount. i swear, i wouldn't have any "problems" with my pb if i didn't read this board!!

uv23 · Dec 4, 2003, 01:05 AM

Interesting, as tonight is the first time that I have also noticed this, on my 12" PB. I have had activity monitor open for the last 10 minutes and as noted by others, I see a red spike every now and again and a very quiet access sound with frequency. I have 768mb of ram and I'm not doing anything intensive right now so there's no way it should be using any VM. In fact, Activity Monitor tells me I have 500mb of ram free.

cucswiz · Dec 4, 2003, 06:00 AM

Originally posted by jendmb34:
i checked that out too and didn't notice anything strange.

this noise wasn't really bothering me until i read this thread. now it's annoying me a good amount. i swear, i wouldn't have any "problems" with my pb if i didn't read this board!!

Yeup guys, sorry to point this kind of stuff out - how do they say it ... ignorance is bliss??

Once you start paying attention to it, it seems to get more prevelant... but what can you do..

TonyIC · Dec 4, 2003, 12:44 PM

I am also experiencing a "tick" with my computer. I am running a 400Mhz Pismo with an IBM Travelstar 40GNX. I read through the log and I am constantly getting this message

localhost kernel: IOATAController device blocking bus.

then

localhost last message repeated n times

Any clue?

uv23 · Dec 4, 2003, 02:20 PM

Are you guys getting a tick or a whir? I think mine is more like a quiet whir, though not to the point of a harddrive grind.

Orion27 · Dec 4, 2003, 05:09 PM

I have this ticking noise too. I just noticed it today, my second day with the new 1.25 15" Powerbook. It's definitely the hardrive. Interestingly, I deleted all of my Microsoft Office related files that came with my Mac. That is because I didn't know I had the MS demo install before I loaded my own version of Office X. Seeing two Folders after my install I deleted one. The next morning, needing Word,
I launched it only too find it was the demo copy. Trashed it all and reinstalled. I did follow up with all three Office X updates including 1.5.1. Anyway, I'd like to know an answer to this very annoying spring like "pinging" noise coming from the drive. The noise appears random and sometimes more infrequent than others. There must be a logical explanation.
i thought sleeping HD bug, which has been a problem with my dual MDD, but is manifests itself differently than the PowerBook. It's just as if the drive is head is parking and unparking
With the small drive, the noise is ever so subtle.

doubtingtom · Dec 4, 2003, 06:53 PM

I had this problem with my Ti400 with two different hard drives, and now with my powerbook 12 inch. You are right, once you hear it and its quite, the ticking can get on your nerves like non-other.

I've always thought it had to do with Microsoft Office. I have it installed.

Go into root? Do you hear it when you are in root? I hope this forum is able to find the problem because I have been living with this for too long.

krux` · Dec 4, 2003, 09:25 PM

i have a 15" that i just got, i didnt even hear it until i read it someware on this forum, even with music on its lowest volume setting, the hard drive read/write sound isnt audible, when theres a still room, very very quiet, then perhaps you hear it. Think about it this way, if you had a desktop it would be a fan, and 10x's louder than what this is. i Called applecare and they said it was within spec. i Got a case number, so if i didnt have applecare (which i do) it would automatically be insured since they said its within spec and im on file.

coolmacdude · Dec 4, 2003, 10:10 PM

I have not tested it under Panther but APM Tuner usually stops the ticking sound under Jag.

Download and run it, set the slider to a max of 254 and then click set.

You have to repeat this procedure every time you restart.

Orion27 · Dec 4, 2003, 11:32 PM

Has anyone considered that all Powerbooks come from the factory with journaling enabled. Could this be the source of our mystery HD activity. Doesn't journaling constantly require activity logs be updated?
Hence the source of HD activity. Trouble is you have to do a reinstall to disable journaling.

cucswiz · Dec 5, 2003, 12:54 AM

Originally posted by Orion27:
Has anyone considered that all Powerbooks come from the factory with journaling enabled. Could this be the source of our mystery HD activity. Doesn't journaling constantly require activity logs be updated?
Hence the source of HD activity. Trouble is you have to do a reinstall to disable journaling.

Orion27, I looked at this as well - I checked it with journaling and without journaling (I don't have journaling enabled right now). No difference, I still get the sound.

My intuition says that this is something to do with Panther. I never heard these types of HD noises with Jag...

doubtingtom · Dec 5, 2003, 04:02 AM

This problem is definitely not just because of Panther. Not only do I have it with Jaguar, search Apple forums for "chrping" or Mac OS X Hints. These any many other forums have been dealing with this problem.

The major setback is that it is hard to tell if we are all experiencing the same thing. I know Microsoft Office can contribute, but I've known people to experience the problem without it also. Some people get it solved with a fresh reinstall. Some (myself included) don't.

Under Jag it happens with or without journaling.

dgbatchelor · Dec 5, 2003, 12:20 PM

There are several root user processes which seem to have on-going background activity -- e.g., pmTool... Does anyone know if functions like Rendevous log status to disk???

Unfortunately, just having the "Activity Monitor" application running creates a few processes which help mask which process is really activating the disk every few seconds...

Is there any cache updating (from web browser) which is triggering the disk activity???

Anyone have a good reference on all of the Panther processes?

Daniel_R · 03:32 AM

If you're comfortable using the terminal, you can always use fs_usage (file system usage) to see what is being read/written against the filesystem, and more interestingly by what process or application.

1. open terminal
2. enter the following command:
sudo fs_usage
(you'll probably need to enter your admin password)

3. to exit, press control-x, then control-c

Some of the activity shown is being generated by running fs_usage itself - eg processes such as coreservices and WindowServer. Another thing to remember is that each line does not indicate a direct hit against the hard disk itself - in this case its probably best to use fs_usage as hint as to what process could be causing the hits on the disk.

jendmb34 · Dec 11, 2003, 10:33 AM

This noise has been getting to me (sounds like a disk spinning every 10-15 seconds), so I investigated it further. I went into the Activity Monitor, under a tab I didn't look at before... NETWORK. There was data coming in from my cable modem that was making the noise. Sure enough, I unplugged the ethernet cable from my powerbook and the sound went away.

TheTraveller · Dec 11, 2003, 03:38 PM

Ugh! Now my 15" Aluminum is making a constant hard drive noise too! Somewhere between a tick and a whirr. And, what's this? Do I see a white spot forming??

jendmb34 · Dec 15, 2003, 11:23 AM

Originally posted by jendmb34:
This noise has been getting to me (sounds like a disk spinning every 10-15 seconds), so I investigated it further. I went into the Activity Monitor, under a tab I didn't look at before... NETWORK. There was data coming in from my cable modem that was making the noise. Sure enough, I unplugged the ethernet cable from my powerbook and the sound went away.

Did anyone try this and have it work for them? I found the source of the problem, at least in my situation.

Axel · Oct 18, 2004, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by Daniel_R:
If you're comfortable using the terminal, you can always use fs_usage (file system usage) to see what is being read/written against the filesystem, and more interestingly by what process or application.

1. open terminal
2. enter the following command:
sudo fs_usage
(you'll probably need to enter your admin password)

3. to exit, press control-x, then control-c

Some of the activity shown is being generated by running fs_usage itself - eg processes such as coreservices and WindowServer. Another thing to remember is that each line does not indicate a direct hit against the hard disk itself - in this case its probably best to use fs_usage as hint as to what process could be causing the hits on the disk.

I'm raising this thread from the dead.

I changed the internal HD of my Ti800 to a Toshiba 60GB/5400/16MB. I've been noticing this strange -though quiet - periodic noise ever since. I've tried the fs_usage command, that pointed quite clearly to the process causing this. It is the "update" process that "flushes internal filesystem caches to disk" every thirty seconds. According to the man page, it is invoked at startup by rc when the system goes multi-user.

I guess I'll just have to deal with the noise, as I don't think I should kill the process.