Macbook Pro Beeping & Clicking

Good evening all. My fiancee has had a Macbook Pro since 2011, and a few months ago it started making musical beeping sounds. It was also clicking when it started up. We took it to our local Mac store, and they replaced the logic board. The clicking stopped but the beeping still continues. It also freezes up while it is beeping. I've recorded the sounds, as I have not found anything similar recorded on Youtube or in any forums i've visited.

Musical Beeping

How many beeps in a row as that will point to the problem if its 3 then its ram.

It is one long beep, then two short beeps, then a pause, then it starts again. It sounds different from everything else I have heard that is RAM based which is why I was concerned.

Have to ask what apps are running when it occurs - that definitely has nothing to do with starting the machine, RAM, etc.

One long beep is usually a sign it can not access memory.
Two short beeps is incompatible memory either the wrong kind or mixing of brands.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

It has happened when she's got nothing running, but usually we are watching shows or movies with Amazon or Netflix, or when she is writing with Microsoft Office or GoogleDocs. Typically she ends up having to hard restart it. Last night I tried flipping it upside down while it was still running and the beeping went away but continued as soon as I turned it back over.

Could be a bad connection to the ram I would shut it down and re-snap the memory modules (ram) back in and re-test.

Alright, she will let me try that once she leaves for work in a bit. As long as I don't do any damage to it in the process, it will not void her AppleCare, correct?

Hatyre said:

Alright, she will let me try that once she leaves for work in a bit. As long as I don't do any damage to it in the process, it will not void her AppleCare, correct?

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Make sure you are grounded touch the metal chassis before you handle the ram modules static electricity has caused the death of many a chip.

Okay, here's the run-down:

I checked the RAM on 2-15, tried to pop it back into place, wasn't really out of place to begin with so the issue wasn't resolved. Took it back to the Mac store yesterday, told them the problem hadn't been fixed. Was checked in by a new guy who ran to the senior manager, who had not been involved in replacing the logic board during the first repair. He apologized profusely for giving it back to us when the issue had not been resolved, and did the check-up himself. He called us a few minutes ago to tell us the problem - when the hard drive was replaced about a year and a half ago, whoever did it did not screw everything in all the way, and a screw got loose and was being smacked around by the fan.

Apparently these repairs did not fix the problem. As of today we've taken it back for repairs a total of four times, including the one mentioned by my last post. The fan was replaced completely and returned to us earlier today, and within an hour the computer was beeping again. At this point we are ready to buy a new one.

Hatyre said:

Apparently these repairs did not fix the problem. As of today we've taken it back for repairs a total of four times, including the one mentioned by my last post. The fan was replaced completely and returned to us earlier today, and within an hour the computer was beeping again. At this point we are ready to buy a new one.

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It's quite hard to believe that even after the logic board was replaced (mentioned in post #1)…that this computer still has problems. Were you ever able to duplicate the "beeping & clicking" at the Apple Store when the experts were evaluating it?

- Nick

The fan striking a protruding screw would not cause beeping, so that was obviously another problem entirely. Several things can cause the beeping: Defective memory modules, and a logic board problem. Did you swap out the memory modules with new ones - not just re-seat the older modules? If it still beeps after new modules are inserted, then the logic board is the problem.

pigoo3 said:

It's quite hard to believe that even after the logic board was replaced (mentioned in post #1)…that this computer still has problems. Were you ever able to duplicate the "beeping & clicking" at the Apple Store when the experts were evaluating it?

- Nick

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Yes, and every time we've taken it in, they've kept it running overnight after repairing it to make sure that the problem did not persist.

chscag said:

The fan striking a protruding screw would not cause beeping, so that was obviously another problem entirely. Several things can cause the beeping: Defective memory modules, and a logic board problem. Did you swap out the memory modules with new ones - not just re-seat the older modules? If it still beeps after new modules are inserted, then the logic board is the problem.

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No, the memory modules are the same ones. The logic board was replaced at the start of all this nonsense, after the first time it started beeping. It is less than a month old.

Hatyre said:

Yes, and every time we've taken it in, they've kept it running overnight after repairing it to make sure that the problem did not persist.

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Were you able to duplicate the beeping sound while at the Apple Store? Specific beeping sounds can sometimes indicate a specific problem.

On the other hand…if that beeping was being caused by something software related (something that was installed by the user)…then that beeping sound would not be anything important to the Apple folks.

I also wanted to mention…frequently the beeping is a ram problem. There's probably 2 sticks of ram in there…and one could be bad. So removing one ram stick/module at a time should be tried. To see which is possibly bad (hopefully not both). If one stick is found to be bad…it should be replaced.

Here's an article explaining beeping:

http://applesliced.com/ask/why-is-my-mac-making-three-beeping-sounds-during-startup

Here's an older Apple article explaining beeping. Since it's an older article…I'm not 100% sure the info still appiies to a 2011 notebook:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1547

- Nick

No, the memory modules are the same ones. The logic board was replaced at the start of all this nonsense, after the first time it started beeping. It is less than a month old.

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I guess I don't understand why Apple didn't replace the modules as part of their testing before they swapped out the logic board? There's always a chance that the modules were the cause of the problem. I would take it back to Apple. Any parts they replaced are warranted for 90 days and that includes the labor.

chscag said:

I guess I don't understand why Apple didn't replace the modules as part of their testing before they swapped out the logic board?

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I was thinking the same thing. Sometimes I think that due to the complexity of computers…there's still a lot of "grey-area" when it comes to troubleshooting or diagnosing computer problems.

Even with the special software that Apple uses to diagnose things…I don't think that it "catches" everything. I think the software try's to identify the most likely bad part…then that part is replaced.

I think that the best "tried & true" method is to swap known good parts for potential bad parts. This of course is more costly & time consuming…and Apple's not going to do this.

My issue is…there's no way a customers computer should be sent back home…if it hasn't been properly tested before being released to the customer. Unless the problem is very random…or takes a lot of time to develop.

I know that you know all this. Given your computer history. I'm probably just spouting off most of this for the OP.

- Nick