MacBook Pro making strange noises :/

maameeo

hey anyone know what the problem could be when your macbook pro starts to sound like an electric shaver on the left side?
its so loud its actually hard to listen to music over it!
I have it 4 years, iv had no problems besides the battery life going quicker and the charger burning out.
Is it time to back up everything and count the days?

Sad Professor

Is it the fans?

Does the hdd check out okay in Disk Utility?

maameeo

could be, havnt got a clue tbh!

and i verified disk permissions, all seemed to be ok there.

if it is the fan is there anything i can do about it?

Sad Professor

Fans tend to sound like a hairdryer. They would be loud but consistent and would gradually get quieter.

If the fans are going it's usually because something is heavy on the CPU. You might have a misbehaving background process. This would also eat up battery life (although I wouldn't expect much from a 4 year old battery). Open Activity Monitor (in Applications > Utilities), organise by the CPU column and see if you can spot anything.

The only other thing it might be is the hard drive. If it was failing it could make a lot of noise. A very bad, unhealthy sounding noise. The system would get very slow and unresponsive as well. You usually don't have time to make a backup. After 3 years of regular use a hard drive is usually living on borrowed time.

Go back to Disk Utility and verify the disk (rather than repair permissions). Also check the SMART status at the bottom.

maameeo

safari seemed to be the heaviest on the cpu, so i shut it down to see if it made a difference with the sound, it quietened down after awhile but it does that anyway

yea i had done the 'verify disk permissions' not the repair.
Dont see any SMART status though.

hmm, system is slow at times but not too bad that id think its dying and its rarely unresponsive.
Do you know what the normal life span for one of these is?

(cheers for all your help btw )

Sad Professor

maameeo wrote: »

safari seemed to be the heaviest on the cpu, so i shut it down to see if it made a difference with the sound, it quietened down after awhile but it does that anyway

Most likely the fans so.

yea i had done the 'verify disk permissions' not the repair.

I meant the "verify disk" button - on the right side of the window. Verifying/repairing permissions is a separate thing.

Dont see any SMART status though.

It is at the very bottom of the window, alongside the details of the drive. It will either say SMART status: verified or SMART status: failing. It's debatable whether it is an useful guide to the health of your drive.

Do you know what the normal life span for one of these is?

A Macbook? It depends on the component. Hard drives are prone to failure. They could go anytime tbh - which is why you should always have a backup. But they are cheaply replaced.

The machine itself, like the logic board, etc, could go on for years. Hell, there are people with old Performas and even older that are still working. But the way things are mass produced now days (and relatively cheap as a result) and given the wear and tear on electronics, one wouldn't expect much after 3 years.

Having said that, I have an iBook that is touching 6 years old and still going strong. Never had a single problem with it. Hard drive is still working too.

acous

Macbook pro fans have a habit of doing this. Mine did, so did a friend's and I've read numerous similar reports. The fan has probably died by now and your laptop will be running hot with the right side fan doing overtime, I would advise replacing the left fan (or getting someone else to do it) to avoid shortening the life of the machine! ifixit.com has a good guide.

kevteljeur

Recently my old MacBook Pro (which I've posted about occasionally here with various woes) started making those awful noises from the left-hand side. It was the hard drive, and it died very soon after. I've since replaced the drive with one of these:
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB SATA 8MB Cache 2.5 inch Internal Hard Drive

and put the old one into one of these:
Sunwire - 2.5" HDD SATA Enclosure USB 2.0

If the notebook isn't under warranty, order a new hard drive, a hard drive case and possibly some tools, and don't use your notebook again until you get those tools and replace the hard drive by following the appropriate instructions on www.ifixit.com. You'll need some 'Torx' screw drivers, which you can get from the likes of Amazon too. They can be pricey if you buy a whole set locally.

Seriously, if you don't have a back-up you won't recover the data, after a hard failure. The drive will just be completely stuffed and that will definitely be that. Hope that helps


k