Why's my Mac mini knocking?

PLEASE HELP:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5917620

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• mac
• mini
• drive
• noise

[lemmis86]

I've got the exact same issue. It is not the CD drive. The my whole system locks up for about 1/2 second during these knocks. My mac mini is brand new with a 500GB harddrive.... suckish, bringing it back to the store next week...

[jccc41]

Indeed it isn't. The last I could discern murky Net posts was that the mini's HD firmware gets overly aggressive about idle times and spinning down. It's pretty disheartening to hear that even a brand new mini purchased in '09 still has this problem.

I've had mixed success just keeping the HD somewhat active, like playing music from a local iTunes library and not leaving it idle for quite as long listening to Net radio.

[jccc41]

In case this helps: The one and only way I could stop it from knocking after it starts is to completely power down. The knocking will continue right through a full reboot--it has to be a power down, then your next start up the knocking stops (for then at least).

[femicastudios]

Is your Mac mini still making the noise? My Mac mini is still making the sound. [around two plus years now]

[SirTrott]

sounds like the cd drive trying to erject a disc