Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.5: More on the "clicking noise" issue; Garbled text from Korean systems; more
More on the "clicking noise" issue We continue to investigate a strange, but widely confirmed problem where constant clicking is heard from the speakers of various Mac models after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.5.
It appears that in some cases, this issue may be in some part related to the USB infrastructure problems that are behind a borderline epidemic number of kernel panics which we first reported directly after Mac OS X 10.2.5's release. In some cases, if users disconnect certain USB devices (experimentation is the key), the clicking noise goes away.
MacFixIt reader Ron is one of the many readers who reported that removing a USB device - attached to a hub in his case - stopped the clicking:
"For me, the clicking happened once every second. I tracked it down to my epson 785EPX printer on the USB hub. After I disconnected, the strange clicks were gone. To me, it sounded like the hard drive polling for attached hardware--it may be the printer itself, or the built-in PCMCIA card reader on the printer."
It is not yet clear whether the noise is actually coming from the hard drive in some cases, or if users are misplacing the source of the clicking. Some readers report that the problem persists when speaker volume is muted. Mark Costa writes:
"I am having the a 'grandfather clock tick' but it is not coming from the speakers. It is coming from my 40GB Hitachi/IBM 40GNX 5400 RPM drive which was nearly silent before Mac OS X 10.2.5. It sounds like the soft popcorn noises the drive would ordinarily make when writing a large file or opening a large application but occurs about 50 times a minute - unless disrupted by some other heavy drive activity."
Based on a number of reports, the problem is resolved for some portables when external power is connected. Some users have connected the issue to individual applications including Microsoft Office, Final Cut Pro and XSounds, but there does not appear to be any discernable pattern among the group.
Garbled text from Korean systems We are receiving sporadic reports of garbled text in Mail.app after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.5 in messages sent from systems using the Korean language. Instead of normal English text, the following is displayed:
"PGh0bWw DQoNCjxoZWFkPg0KPHRpdGxlPsGmuPG MC9PC90aXRsZT4NCjxtZXRhIG5hbWU9 Imd l bmVyYXRvciIgY29udGVudD0is6q48CC 18a8uuq9usT5vu4gNC4xLjAuMjMiPg0KPC9oZWFk..."
We are investigating the causes of this issue. If you are experiencing a similar problem, e-mail us a late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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I also have the popping sound problem. Indeed, it goes away when the
power is plugged in. If unplugged, I open the System Preferences/Sound
panel and this also stops the annoyance. If minimized into the dock, the
open panel does not bother.
- by tommy thompson April 24, 2003 7:22 AM PDT
- I too have had that same problem from time to time, but the person who is generally sending these is not using the korean language. English, US English, no special keyboard usage either...(not DVORAK)...just the default. I have had great success (if you want to call it that) by copy pasting the messages into a text editing application, like the one that comes with OSX, or MS Word. I don't know what is causing it, but sometime the next day the email will be the same, or sometimes it even changes into "regular" text. Go figure..stumped me. Anyone else experiance this?
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