Macbook making start up noise over and over

For the past few days when my macbook is sleeping and the lid is closed, it's been making that start up noise (almost like a whirling noise) over and over. It sounds like it's being restarted every few seconds. It's not the sound that you can control with the volume, it's the computer hard drive (or something?) making the sound. And then the fan turns on and the computer heats up. The weird thing is that this is happening when I'm not using the computer, and the lid is closed. Has anyone experienced this before? What does this mean?

Thanks.

I'm running 10.4.11, and got my macbook in late 2006.

Here is a link to the sound my computer is making:
http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/51/3...pple.com/images/kbase/305478/305478_wake.aiff

Sounds like something is preventing it from going to sleep. Are you running something like Sleepless/InsomniaX?

Nope. But the thing is, when I open the lid, the screen will be black as if it was sleeping. It's just making that noise. When I shut down my computer, it stops. But for the past 3 days it's been making that noise.

I don't know if this matters, but for about the last 2 years the little light in the front of my computer (what I call the "breathing" light, lol) hasn't worked. Maybe it burnt out? I'm not sure. But it happened out of no where. One day I just realized it wasn't working and it never came back on.

sunshine1686 said:

Nope. But the thing is, when I open the lid, the screen will be black as if it was sleeping. It's just making that noise. When I shut down my computer, it stops. But for the past 3 days it's been making that noise.

I don't know if this matters, but for about the last 2 years the little light in the front of my computer (what I call the "breathing" light, lol) hasn't worked. Maybe it burnt out? I'm not sure. But it happened out of no where. One day I just realized it wasn't working and it never came back on.

Click to expand...

That light is the sleep indicator. It will light up if the screen is off, so that you know that the machine is still turned on. Additionally, it will pulse to indicate that the machine is sleeping, as you noted.

It's very unlikely that the LED that drives it burnt out. LEDs have an incredibly long life - more so than the machine itself.

It's more likely that the machine isn't actually going into sleep completely. I think that's what we need to troubleshoot here. Let's start by resetting the PRAM. Shut the machine completely off. Turn it back on and immediately press and hold Command + Option + P + R. Continue holding until you've heard the system chime 3 times. Then release.

See if sleep works then, if not, we'll go from there.

Okay, I tried resetting the PRAM, but the LED light still did not come on when I closed the lid to my computer.
I'm pretty sure my computer is going to sleep because it makes that noise when I open the lid - doesn't that mean it's coming out of sleep?

sunshine1686 said:

Okay, I tried resetting the PRAM, but the LED light still did not come on when I closed the lid to my computer.
I'm pretty sure my computer is going to sleep because it makes that noise when I open the lid - doesn't that mean it's coming out of sleep?

Click to expand...

I still don't think it's going to sleep. Do you have any peripherals connected like a mouse or a keyboard? The noise that it's making is just the optical drive initializing. It will do that any time power is turned back on to it. It doesn't mean that the computer was fully in sleep.

Try resetting the SMC. Shut the machine down, unplug the power, remove the battery. Then, press and hold the power button for about 30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and give it another try.

If that doesn't work, download and install Onyx. Use the Automation tab to run the most common maintenance tasks.

Nope, I don't have any peripherals connected. I even went into the energy saver thing and changed the setting so that it would put my computer sleep 1 min with no activity. I sat there and watched my computer go to sleep. Then I touched some keys and it made that noise and 'woke' up. The light has not worked in almost 2 years, so I'm pretty sure it burnt out or something.

*bump* Anyone?