Why does my Mac Pro beep?
December 20, 2011 1:54 PM Subscribe
Why does my Mac Pro beep very occasionally?
Every hour or so - it seems random - a beep comes out of the chassis of my Mac Pro (desktop tower). And then about a minute later, a second beep. And then a minute later, a third beep. And then nothing else for another hour or so.
Each of the three is a single high-pitched beep, and it seems to emanate from the chassis. It's definitely not coming through the external speakers.
Note: this isn't the beep-ish sound ("bzzzzzeeeeeeeessssshhhhhhh") that occurs when a disk drive starts grinding into itself. It's a single clear beep, kind of like what an old PC would make when starting up.
I have used this machine for over 2 years and have never heard this sound until two days ago. The Mac Pro holds only one internal hard drive inside - a 2-terabyte drive I bought about a month ago which seems to be working fine and makes no other noises - and there are no other internal or external drives connected. (I did have some connected but removed them to try to isolate the source of the beep.)
My hypothesis is that it's coming from the 2-TB internal hard drive, though I can't guess how a hard drive would have a sound chip installed to make such an audible beep.
Or is it something else inside the Mac Pro? (But why would it wait almost 3 years to start beeping?)
There is nothing else connected to a power source in the area of the Mac Pro so I have no idea what else would make the beeping sound.
P.S. Yes, I considered the possibility of the ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron but (a) haven't found one in the area and (b) can't imagine anyone sneaking into the office to place one there anyway.
Every hour or so - it seems random - a beep comes out of the chassis of my Mac Pro (desktop tower). And then about a minute later, a second beep. And then a minute later, a third beep. And then nothing else for another hour or so.
Each of the three is a single high-pitched beep, and it seems to emanate from the chassis. It's definitely not coming through the external speakers.
Note: this isn't the beep-ish sound ("bzzzzzeeeeeeeessssshhhhhhh") that occurs when a disk drive starts grinding into itself. It's a single clear beep, kind of like what an old PC would make when starting up.
I have used this machine for over 2 years and have never heard this sound until two days ago. The Mac Pro holds only one internal hard drive inside - a 2-terabyte drive I bought about a month ago which seems to be working fine and makes no other noises - and there are no other internal or external drives connected. (I did have some connected but removed them to try to isolate the source of the beep.)
My hypothesis is that it's coming from the 2-TB internal hard drive, though I can't guess how a hard drive would have a sound chip installed to make such an audible beep.
Or is it something else inside the Mac Pro? (But why would it wait almost 3 years to start beeping?)
There is nothing else connected to a power source in the area of the Mac Pro so I have no idea what else would make the beeping sound.
P.S. Yes, I considered the possibility of the ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron but (a) haven't found one in the area and (b) can't imagine anyone sneaking into the office to place one there anyway.
Best answer: Is it beeping on start up as well?
If it were my mac I would reseat the RAM. I would do a fsck. I would make sure my disk smart status was fine. I would unpower the drive and start it up and see if I still got the noise. )Just leave it at the flashing ? for an hour or two and see if you hear it.)
If someone were forcing me to bet I'd bet on the drive.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2011
If it were my mac I would reseat the RAM. I would do a fsck. I would make sure my disk smart status was fine. I would unpower the drive and start it up and see if I still got the noise. )Just leave it at the flashing ? for an hour or two and see if you hear it.)
If someone were forcing me to bet I'd bet on the drive.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2011
Best answer: Call apple support. Usually beeping from inside the computer means something specific and they can tell you what it is (bad ram, etc)
posted by empath at 2:42 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by empath at 2:42 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
What empath said. I once heard a beep sequence from a failing computer that I'd never heard before. Turned out it meant something.
posted by zomg at 3:30 PM on December 20, 2011
posted by zomg at 3:30 PM on December 20, 2011
Best answer: I had a beep years ago in a powerbook and it signified a clock battery on the motherboard was bad. I guess calling apple support would be your best option at troubleshooting, if they know what regular beeps in a mac pro mean.
posted by mathowie at 3:50 PM on December 20, 2011
posted by mathowie at 3:50 PM on December 20, 2011
Response by poster: Problem solved. I reset PRAM and also reset the SMC (system management controller) - instructions here - and then restarted. Sure enough, in a few minutes I heard the first beep. I crawled down and put my ear next to the chassis, waiting for the beep.
About a minute later, here came the beep... from the direction opposite the chassis. Uhh... I crawled in that direction, reached under the desk, and found... a Logitech Universal Remote I had stored temporarily two days ago, now complaining about "low battery."
I now have a Mac Pro with clean PRAM, nicely reset SMC, and no beeping problem. The Logitech is plugged in - in another room.
Red face, sorry for the fire drill. But nice to learn about what to do if and when the Pro really does start beeping.
posted by mark7570 at 3:52 PM on December 20, 2011 [12 favorites]
About a minute later, here came the beep... from the direction opposite the chassis. Uhh... I crawled in that direction, reached under the desk, and found... a Logitech Universal Remote I had stored temporarily two days ago, now complaining about "low battery."
I now have a Mac Pro with clean PRAM, nicely reset SMC, and no beeping problem. The Logitech is plugged in - in another room.
Red face, sorry for the fire drill. But nice to learn about what to do if and when the Pro really does start beeping.
posted by mark7570 at 3:52 PM on December 20, 2011 [12 favorites]
I wouldn't feel bad, some beeps can be really hard to locate!
posted by rhizome at 12:45 PM on December 21, 2011
posted by rhizome at 12:45 PM on December 21, 2011
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posted by The Bellman at 2:24 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]