iMac noise every 20min

For some reason my iMac G4 (1.25GHz, 20-inch) makes a buzzing sound (approx.) every 20 minutes and 5 seconds. The noise is coming from its half-sphere base and lasts anywhere from 2 to 5 seconds. It seems to me that the source might be the internal HD, however I'm not 100% sure about that. The fact that the noise occurs in 20-min intervals makes me think that there is some sort of background operation going on.

Has anyone had such experience? If not, then how could I figure out the actual source of the noise.

Thank you.

Go to Disk Utility and see what S.M.A.R.T. verified has to say. If it says failing, time for a new HDD.

harryb2448, thank you for replying.

I went to Disk Utility and the S.M.A.R.T. Status reads "Verified." Then I ran "Verify Disk" and according to the verification report pasted below the volume seems to be fine; I should mention here that I began the "Verify Disk" process right before the noise was due to come up; interestingly the noise did not come up as expected while the "Verify Disk" process was going on.

Any other ideas?

------------------------------------------------------
Verifying volume “untitled”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
%)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume untitled appears to be OK.
Mounting Disk

1 HFS volume checked
Volume passed verification
--------------------------------------------------------

I think it is the SMART testing. Depending on the loudness of the buzz you are describing, I wouldn't be worried. My G5 does the same thing, and has for the entire time I have had it. It is annoying from time to time, but at this point, I just tune it out.

mac57, I'm hoping you're right. What you're suggesting makes sense given that S.M.A.R.T. is supposed to be a HD's background self-checking operation which I'm assuming runs in time intervals. Thank you for replying.

Now is there a way to get a S.M.A.R.T. status icon or something similar on my Menu Bar or my Desktop so I wouldn't have to open Disk Utility every time I need to check its status?

macnet said:

Now is there a way to get a S.M.A.R.T. status icon or something similar on my Menu Bar or my Desktop so I wouldn't have to open Disk Utility every time I need to check its status?

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that I am not aware of any way to do that. Anyone else?

just a thought macnet - do you have DiskWarrior installed by c hanve?

There is an option to automatically run SMART verified with that program . Maybe there are others also?

go back to apple