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CountBezukhov · Oct 9, 2001, 01:35 AM

For a month or two I've been hearing a strange squeak-squeak when I reboot or wake up my b/w G-3. It is not coming from my external speakers and sounds almost mechanical, like a bad spindle, but seems to always signal a startup problem, as though it were a built-in beep activated prior to the system's booting. Sometimes there will be a series of double squeaks, three or four times with a few seconds pause between, and then it will open to the flashing question mark icon. This happens more often than not now. Zapping the pram usually permits a startup, but, when that fails, turning off the electricity at the power strip for a few seconds works (so far). If I wake the machine, the monitor brightens to a frozen desktop.

I replaced the defective built-in DVD that came with it with a CD burner/player a couple of months ago. The only peripherals are a Mustek scanner (don't buy one), an ALPS printer (you can't buy one), and a Western Digital Firewire drive.

Suggestions or hints? Thanks.

John Mayer

KidRed · Oct 9, 2001, 02:46 AM

Sounds like a mouse got loose into your tower and is screwing around with the wires.

Cipher13 · Oct 9, 2001, 02:49 AM

Sounds like your hard drive to me.

Remove all peripherals when booting (USB anyway) - they often screw around with booting. See if that helps that aspect.

I really think your drive is the cause though... but, I'm not sure. Which revision of the tower is it?

CountBezukhov · Oct 9, 2001, 12:51 PM

blush to confess that I don't know how to determine that. The ROM revision is $77D.45F6, whatever that means. The machine ID is 406. And it's a 350. Does any of that help? My nephew, who is a bright lad and quite the technogeek, swears it is some sort of signal and not a mechanical sound but, clever as he is, he is occasionally mistaken.

And, hey, KidRed, it's definitely not a mouse in my tower; I have black snakes around the place to prevent that very thing.

sek929 · Oct 9, 2001, 02:21 PM

Call me crazy but I believe thats a revision "B" Tower.

Hopefully Cipher can back me up on this. Now I suggest taking it to get repaired asap. I sat on my hands when a weird sound emitted from my old iMac back in the day and then on the weekend I needed her most....she done fried up on me.

Sounds mech., go fix it. Hope you still have a warranty on that beast.

zac4mac · Oct 9, 2001, 07:29 PM

You should be able to tell if it's the HD, by switching a different one in its place. If the noise persists, look to the power supply. The fan makes noise, but more likely, since your nephew thinks it's not mechanical, it sounds to me like a part of the p/s board is going bad. Transformers and a few other electronic parts will make audible sounds, especially when they are dying. An unstable power supply will give the symptoms you describe. And as Sek said, get it fixed quick before you have a blue & white doorstop.

Zack

Cipher13 · Oct 10, 2001, 06:30 AM

Its definately either the HD or the PS - I've heard both screech before.

Umm... you can tell whether its a rev. B by looking at the bottom of the tower, in the HD rack space - the rev. A's had space to mount one drive to the case, while the rev. B has a complete rack (like the G4's) with room for several more drives... I think...

Take it in ASAP.

superlarry · Oct 10, 2001, 11:26 AM

you can unplug the hard drive's power and boot just to see if it does it. shouldn't hurt anything (just make sure to turn it off before you plug the hard drive back in).
if it still makes the noise, it's your power supply. if not, it was your hard drive. seems to be the general opinion.[/LIST]

CountBezukhov · Oct 10, 2001, 12:49 PM

Processing...

Thanks, guys (I reckon you're all guys; this doesn't seem to be a good place to meet girls)

For the benefit of my benighted 20th century mind (in my day we didn't HAVE computers; planting by the signs was good enough for us), what is the significance of the fact that zapping the pram or cutting off the power seems to temporarily correct the problem?

Much as I'd like to take it into the shop, I'm in temporarily reduced circumstances (when I suddenly lost most of the vision in my left eye, my employer decided they didn't really need a visually impaired contract artist), so I'm going to have to dope it out myself. Anyhow, the main technician at the local Apple store (Hey, Knoxville was ahead of its time!) is a friend of my nephew and is as mystified as I am (though he hasn't actually examined the thing yet).

Meanwhile, responding to advice here, I've disconnected my Western Digital firewire drive and the problem seems to have gone away...
though I hain't a-countin' m' chickens yet.

Anyhow, thanks again. I'll post the results of my current experiment.

Cipher13 · Oct 10, 2001, 09:26 PM

Well, cutting off the power would disallow the drive from working; hence, stop it from making the noise; if indeed it is the problem.

Zapping the PRAM is a general troubleshooting thing - it can cause LOTS of problems if the PRAM gets corrupted.

Now... you disconnected the EXTERNAL drive and the problem has gone away??

Perhaps the drive in the FireWire enclosure is on the fritz - or, perhaps its too hot in that enclosure, even...