Clicking/Grinding Noises Regular?

[Sobering]

Hey I'm a new Mac user (1 week old ) and my Mac when I first boot or load programs or load some web pages my iMac 17" makes a weird clicking/grinding noise. I've heard other computers do this but my five year old Dell Pc dosn't even do that. Just wondering if it's normal or if theres something wrong.

Thanks

 

[Xander562]

clicking noises seem OK (i think) but grinding? how loud is it? what area of your iMac does it seem to be coming from?

 

[Sobering]

It's not so much grinding just like when I boot up a program I'll get little clicks coming from the iMac. My friend says it's from the HD but I know nothing about computers.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

i've heard similar noises (i think). The best way i can describe what i'm thinking of is a ball dropping and bouncing onto something (like a gum ball in one of those 20c machines where the ball drops to the bottom)

Is this the noise you mean?

 

[Sobering]

No not really lol. I will video tape me on my computer and post a link. It's very faint, I think it is a regular noise. It dosn't nessecarily sound bad.

 

[pianoman]

usually any clicking noises coming from the hard drive indicate the hard drive is failing. i would back up the contents of your HD and take your machine to the nearest apple store ASAP so they can swap it for a new one.

 

[Sobering]

Thing is I don't even live anywhere near an Apple store! I bought it at London Drugs (like a Wal-Mart with a Best Buy attached ). I do have Apple warranty though, could I give them a call?

 

[mduser63]

Hard drives do make noise when in use. I think what you're describing is normal. If they're faint, well correlated with hard drive activity and you haven't noticed any problems that seem to be hard-drive related, I think you're fine. All of my Macs (all of my computers for that matter) make noise when the hard drive is being accessed.

 

[Sobering]

Yeah thats what I was thinking. It's just when I start doing stuff like opening a program it's quite faint. Then it stops after the program is loaded and once and a while I'll get a short millisecond little click here and there. I think it's all good.

 

[Shadow]

The HD on every PC I have had is/was really loud. More than just noticable. The XP machine I have now isnt as loud as the old 98 machine I had (which literally sounded like thunder), but its noticable from across the room. My Mac however, is the quitest computer I've ever owned. But of course

 

[annk]

usually any clicking noises coming from the hard drive indicate the hard drive is failing. i would back up the contents of your HD and take your machine to the nearest apple store ASAP so they can swap it for a new one.

Mine has made soft, intermittant clicking noises from day one. Bought it (17" PB) in May of 2004, still going strong.