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jhb · 05:07 PM

I am the proud new owner of a 15" iMac. Everything has been good so far except for one problem. Approximately every 5 minutes, my computer makes a wierd grinding noise, comparable to the noise made by a floppy drive. Is this normal??

Thanks in advance.

Applefreak01 · Mar 24, 2004, 06:24 PM

Welcome the the forums and congrats on your getting your iMac.

Sounds like your hard drive or maybe a fan not sure. Or do you hear the sound every 5 min when you have a CD in your iMac. It might be the CD drive too. Do you do a lot of hard drive intensive stuff on your iMac? Is the fan running all the time or just every 5 min? I could be completely wrong about the problem being either one of these but it's usually the hard drive or fan that would make a sound like you described.

jhb · 09:51 PM

Applefreak:

First of all, thanks so much for your help. Just to let you know, this is not with a cd in the drive. Interestingly enough, while I was reading the Apple Support forums, I came across this little nugget (Hitachi's explanation of "the noise"): to paraphrase.... "this is a feature to ensure the reliability of our new drives... you need not be worried."
I have to say, this is the most annoying feature i've ever heard. It happpens in regular 10 minutes intervals and there is a whole gang of Hitachi-equipped-iMac owners who are angry about it on the apple support forums. Hitachi's explanation is a complete crock. I want an iMac with a Seagate....

(or any other non POS HDD)

Once again, thanks for your help...

jhb · Mar 24, 2004, 09:49 PM

by the way, for anyone interested and anyone who may experience this problem in the future, the discussion at the Apple forums is located at the following url: http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]/19

Applefreak01 · Mar 24, 2004, 11:23 PM

I've never heard of a hard drive that does that. Will it ever stop or keep doing that forever? If not I can think of one way to fix it. Replace the hard drive

jhb · Mar 24, 2004, 11:56 PM

Well, to be honest with you, I'm not too keen on voiding my warranty or opening up my brand new baby. But on a different note, does it void the warranty if an Apple Authorized tech replaces my HDD? If so, what's a good brand?

Thanks again.

discotronic · Mar 25, 2004, 12:28 AM

When I had my 17" 1 GHz iMac it made the same noise. From what I gather there isn't anything wrong with you iMac. It is annoying and I would not call it normal. Some people have said that Apple told them that the noise has something to do with the video card.

I have a 1.25GHz iMac now and the noise is no longer there.

jhb · Mar 25, 2004, 12:47 PM

Originally posted by discotronic:
When I had my 17" 1 GHz iMac it made the same noise. From what I gather there isn't anything wrong with you iMac. It is annoying and I would not call it normal. Some people have said that Apple told them that the noise has something to do with the video card.

I have a 1.25GHz iMac now and the noise is no longer there.

Thanks for your help... does anyone know what my options are for getting rid of the noise? Disco, just curious... does your new iMac have a Hitachi HDD? Is there anyway to replace the HD with a Seagate without voiding my warranty?

jhb · Mar 25, 2004, 12:49 PM

and also, is it feasible to ask apple (or the store I bought it from) for a non-Hitachi replacement unit? I've heard that there are other HDD brands in iMacs, but I might be wrong.

discotronic · Mar 25, 2004, 02:00 PM

Originally posted by jhb:
and also, is it feasible to ask apple (or the store I bought it from) for a non-Hitachi replacement unit? I've heard that there are other HDD brands in iMacs, but I might be wrong.

Mine has a Seagate. Here is the serial #: ST380011A

Also, here is a link with the info just in case you need it:

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/...C581%2C00.html

You could always call and ask Apple to replace it. It is hard to tell what the response would be. I think that they should replace it. If that is the cause of the noise I think you have a valid complaint. Good luck and let us know what they say.

Link · Mar 25, 2004, 04:13 PM

the iMac in our house has no probs with this. Was around february 2002 and has a seagate drive (this probably explains why heheh)

jhb · Mar 25, 2004, 05:49 PM

Originally posted by Link:
the iMac in our house has no probs with this. Was around february 2002 and has a seagate drive (this probably explains why heheh)

Stop rubbing it in

I'll call later and see what they do. But I doubt they can just give me whatever HD I want. We'll have to see.

Mac Zealot · Mar 26, 2004, 07:40 AM

Generally, IBM/Hitachi/WD drives are known for their abnormally high defect/death rates. While the defect may not (and probably won't) lead to a premature death for the drive, it IS annoying.

Just tell them that sort of behavior from a hard drive is unacceptable. Albeit you're PROBABLY not going to get too far, your other option is to head to a 3rd party apple service place and REALLY make it a case... er.. complain that it's a bad problem and that it's really bugigng you. Be nice and they might replace the drive.

This is similar to what happened to my powermac. The original WD waaay back when I got it (only about 8 months in maybe), was making these odd really loud metallic noises every now and then, turned out it had a bad bearing.

Of course it took me a while, but it finally got taken care of

jhb · Mar 26, 2004, 11:20 AM

Thanks for your help. I'm gonna return it to the store I bought it from and say this: "I don't care how you do it, just get me an iMac with a Seagate or a MAxtor"

Ill tell you guys the results sometime soon.