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hmai18 · Apr 5, 2008, 08:23 PM

I'm running an iBook 1.33Ghz/1.5Gb RAM/10.5.2.

I cloned my installation of Tiger to an external and did an erase and install of Leopard earlier this week and applied all patches and updates. The system worked fine for a few days, but last night I started getting a lot of beachballs. I was working on an assignment and every half an hour or so, the entire system would stall and I'd be able to move my cursor, but I wouldn't be able to do anything else. Force-quit didn't work on anything. The system would resume about five minutes later, but would then stall again. Every time the stall happened, the hard drive would be making sounds like it was seeking: whirr...whirr...whirr...whirr...whirrrrrrrrrrrr and then repeat.

I shut the system down hoping it would settle over night, but booting up this morning, I get to the grey logo screen with indicator and would get the whirring sequence again. I left for staff training and when I got back four hours later, it had finally managed to get to the login screen, but I still had a beachball and everything was stalled again.

1. I've run the hardware test from the the Tiger install disc that came with my iBook with no reported problems with any of my hardware.
2. I've booted from the retail Leopard DVD and run verify/repair disk with no reported problems and have repaired my permissions. SMART status is verified on the iBook disk.
3. I've booted from both the Tiger clone and the Leopard DVD successfully.

Still getting the annoying sequence of hard drive seeking clicks and the extremely hung up system when I reboot and try to boot from the iBook's internal drive.

Help? I really don't want to reinstall again.

ibook_steve · Apr 5, 2008, 10:11 PM

Check Activity Monitor to see what's causing the stall (click the "%CPU" column to find out). It could be Spotlight indexing or something else that's killing you. Also, do you have any devices plugged in? You could also try creating another user or trying the Guest account to see if the problem is account specific. Worst case: there's something wrong with the new drive that's not getting caught by the tools.

Steve

hmai18 · Apr 5, 2008, 11:48 PM

I think you misread my post. The hang and the sounds are coming from the internal drive.

It can't be spotlight because the stall begins at the grey logo screen with the spinning indicator before.

Big Mac · Apr 6, 2008, 12:25 AM

You're describing substantial drive problems. Recommendation: Backup your data and replace your drive.

cms · Apr 6, 2008, 03:12 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

You're describing substantial drive problems. Recommendation: Backup your data and replace your drive.

Indeed. A clicking hard drive is never a happy hard drive. As BigMac says, all the symptoms you describe are classic signs of a dying drive. Get your data off NOW before it's too late.

analogika · Apr 6, 2008, 06:29 AM

Yes. BACK UP NOW.

SMART status only verifies the integrity of teh drive electronics.

If the drive's motor or bearing or read/write arms are failing mechanically, there's nothing to diagnose this other than the symptoms you're describing.

Also, FWIW, Leopard didn't cause this problem - but the heavy disk access during installation can bring out mechanical problems that were already present but hadn't yet resulted in noticeable failure.

hmai18 · Apr 6, 2008, 01:17 PM

Sigh. This is what I was afraid of.

I don't think I need to do another backup. The clone of my Tiger install contains all of the critical data I had before upgrading to Leopard and I've been working on my final assignments on the macbook my friend leant me. Looks like it's time to buy a new HD and get it installed.

Why did they have to make the iBook HD so difficult to gain access to?