Major Problem, Please Help, Thanks :D

[ms-das]

Hi, my mac mini was always making a grinding noise whenever I turned it on, and sometimes it froze during boot-up, but on second boot, it worked fine, but a little slower than usual, but the noise was still there. It sounded like the fan catching on something. Anyway, later on, the noise would stop, after maybe 1 hr. of use. It did this for about a week, but today, I turned it on, and it made high frequency noises, that sounded like motherboard beeps, but that wasn't it, buecause it kept repeating in random patterns, not one pattern consistently. The computer worked fine, but I was scared, and shut it down? Does anyone know what is causing this sound?

Thanks (by the way, the mac mini is a first-gen. one, (1.42 G4 256MB, internal hard drive died, and has been in use since 2005))

[ms-das]

Anyone?

[schweb]

I'd give Apple a call.

[ms-das]

Thanks, but how much would that cost? My warranty expired, so I'm not sure if it'll be worth the charge to get apple help.

[dtravis7]

It's either the Hard Drive or the Cooling Fan. Reason I say Hard Drive is the slow downs. The Drive on my Mini 1.5Ghz died. This one made no noises but the machine slowed down. New drive it's like new again.

It could be the fan bearings also but that would not slow down the machine except if it was overheating due to the fan not running.

[WakeCarver]

MY vote is for the hard drive also. Try replacing it and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn't then I would sell it on eBay as defective and buy a new computer.