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Mac Pro 1,1 ... buzzing sound? Knock on front case, goes away?

B

benguild

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 29, 2003
827
39
I'm having a weird noise coming from the front of my Mac Pro. It's a buzzing/grinding sound.

If I knock on the front case (gently, like knocking on a front door) ... it goes away. Is this common? I think it might be one of the fans. — The only third-party hardware is a 5th drive installed in the additional optical bay.
 
It might be a fan, but equally it could be one of the drive caddies. Try powering down, then removing each drive caddy, checking to see that the screws are tight (but not too tight), and re-inserting.

Mine does that sometimes -- yeah, I whack it a good one on the top -- and then it stops. Sometimes it doesn't repeat for months.

It could be that 5th drive's mounting, too.
 
I can't tell what it exactly is, but I have that same :) My guess is that I don't tighten enough something while last dusting. In a day or two it will be time for everymonth cleaning, so I'll inspect where it exactly comes from. I have 5th drive in second ODD bay too.
 
Mine did that for years and just stopped at one point. I always wondered what was causing it.
 
On mine, the drive caddies have a tight fit, but I found two resonances. First, the side door has a small resonance; that was easily fixed with a piece of Dynamat. Second, the rear latch / lock can resonate terribly, so I tend to keep it slightly open to keep from rattling. For the latter, I probably should have insulated the latch with a piece of foam or something, but it was enough to make my Mac Pro virtually silent.
 
I get this from time to time as well. I'm convinced it's to do with the drive caddys. I recently replaced a hard drive and it seems to be less prominent now, although it still happens from time to time. A knock on the side like the OP described makes it go away again.
 
My 2010 gen Mac Pro did the same thing for about a day and then stopped and hasn't done it since. I didn't have to knock the case. But if that works then go for it...
 
gglockner said:
That's a good way to kill a hard drive. Better to fix the real source of the noise rather than subjecting a hard drive to shock.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I might run the system with the side off for a day or two and see if I can feel what's vibrating. Will it turn on like that? Like, as long as the latch on the back is closed, right?
 
Mine does the same, I think it's the optical drive because it happens when I play a DVD.
 
If it is happening constantly when the box is on, it sounds like a dying fan bearing. Given that it's a (1,1) pro, that's probably what you're looking at. Replace the fans and you should be golden.

Otherwise, it could be the super drive going. I had that happen to me a few months after I bought my pro and it using the drive sounded *horrible* until i got it repaired under warranty.
 
Similar issue here. Narrowed it down to hard drives or their sleds.

If I apply -slight- upwards pressure to the underside of the hard drives the humming stops.

I have been trialling using rubber anti-vibration grommets under the screws so far without success.

The humming can be quite inconsistent.
 
had the same problem. found out it was from my soon-to-be-faulty optical drive. replaced it with one from my old windows box. sound/buzzing gone.
 
t0rr3s said:
had the same problem. found out it was from my soon-to-be-faulty optical drive. replaced it with one from my old windows box. sound/buzzing gone.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't use my optical drive.
However, it doesn't go in when I press the eject button. So that might make sense.
 
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