The clicking sound

[pkilfeather1]

Thanks, I'll try that as soon as I launch Yosemite. For now I'll be using Windows mainly, because on Yosemite my wi-fi card does not work so it's not really useful for now.

If it works I'll update this thread.

Loreno I can't reply to your PM - answers below

Hey! You managed to PM me! Awesome!

1. Intel i3 2310M CPU, 6GB 1067MHz DDR3, Sata main HDD with an additional 500GB hard drive in the upgrade bay (used to be a cd drive but I bought an 'upgrade bay' modification off ebay). It has the hole where a fingerprint scanner should be, but there isnt one installed. Intel 3000 HD graphics. Not entirely sure what WIFI/BT I have, but I know its bluetooth. I can check if you need.
2. Never had any graphical glitches using rehabman/nguyenmac's guide. Having said that yesterday I noticed a little line appear across Pages while I was writing something but that might have been something software related - you could send me a picture of the glitches you're getting so I can see what you mean?
3. Honestly, everything works perfectly, with no hanging or glitches. I haven't got WIFI button functionality, but I don't really care about that. Bluetooth has stopped working since updating to yosemite, but I think that has to do with dropping support for old bluetooth cards. I might consider getting one of the wifi/bt cards that supports continuity.
4. OK just checked and I have the Broadcom (BCM) 943224HMS card - works great, but I have to use the Mac Air 5,2 smbios on yosemite for it to work, but a different one on mavericks.
5. Works perfect as I say
6. No I just run mac because it runs so reliably - sleep works. I just run windows in a virtual machine if i need any windows functions

I hope that helps!!!

 

[Loreno10]

Loreno I can't reply to your PM - answers below

Hey! You managed to PM me! Awesome!

1. Intel i3 2310M CPU, 6GB 1067MHz DDR3, Sata main HDD with an additional 500GB hard drive in the upgrade bay (used to be a cd drive but I bought an 'upgrade bay' modification off ebay). It has the hole where a fingerprint scanner should be, but there isnt one installed. Intel 3000 HD graphics. Not entirely sure what WIFI/BT I have, but I know its bluetooth. I can check if you need.
2. Never had any graphical glitches using rehabman/nguyenmac's guide. Having said that yesterday I noticed a little line appear across Pages while I was writing something but that might have been something software related - you could send me a picture of the glitches you're getting so I can see what you mean?
3. Honestly, everything works perfectly, with no hanging or glitches. I haven't got WIFI button functionality, but I don't really care about that. Bluetooth has stopped working since updating to yosemite, but I think that has to do with dropping support for old bluetooth cards. I might consider getting one of the wifi/bt cards that supports continuity.
4. OK just checked and I have the Broadcom (BCM) 943224HMS card - works great, but I have to use the Mac Air 5,2 smbios on yosemite for it to work, but a different one on mavericks.
5. Works perfect as I say
6. No I just run mac because it runs so reliably - sleep works. I just run windows in a virtual machine if i need any windows functions

I hope that helps!!!

Thank you for the answers! Do you remember where you got this Broadcom wi-fi card? I need to get it, because the lack of internet connection prevents me from using OS X. I bought one from ebay, but it wasn't working, maybe you know a good seller.

If you had the graphical glitches issue you would see it for sure. I can't really show you any picture of it now, because I applied a modification, that seem to block those glitches from appearing. This mod also helped me with freezies, that I've experienced maaany times before (actually I'm still not sure if that modification fixed the problem and I just hope that another freeze won't happen).

Do you use an external monitor? I do (via VGA) and when it's connected the OS begins to lag a little.

Oh, I just realized I forgot to ask you one question: do you experience lag when you resize windows in Yosemite? For example making AppStore window bigger or smaller is really unsmooth on my 6460b. How is it on your setup?

I added you to Friends list and sent you a request to do the same.

 

[Loreno10]

I installed HDAPM and in the beginning I thought it fixed the problem, but it turns out that the clicking sound is still there. In the console I have those lines every time I start my laptop:

01.11.2014 14:56:19,482 hdapm[40]: disk0: TOSHIBA MK5061GSYN
01.11.2014 14:56:19,517 hdapm[40]: Set APM Level to 0xfe: Success

so the program seems to be working, but it doesn't really fix the problem. Have you got any ideas? Mabe it doesn't work well with Yosemite?

 

[mr-andrek]

01.11.2014 14:56:19,482 hdapm[40]: disk0: TOSHIBA MK5061GSYN
01.11.2014 14:56:19,517 hdapm[40]: Set APM Level to 0xfe: Success

It does work, you just haven't configured it properly. Currently APM is set to 254, I suggest you to lower it to, let's say, 230 - that's the setting I've been using for my Toshiba HDD (MK3261GSYN - just like yours but 320GB). You can do it by manually modyfing /Library/LaunchDaemons/hdapm.plist file - change the ProgramArguments key to this:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
       <string>/usr/local/bin/hdapm</string>
       <string>230</string>
       <string>-log</string>
</array>

You can use this command:

sudo hdapm 230

to apply this setting without having to restart your laptop. The change in that .plist file was necessary for having it re-applied automatically on system start.

edit:
Also, if you have HWMonitor installed - mouse over your HDD info and check the raw value of Load Cycle Count (id 193). How high is it?

 

[Loreno10]

edit:
Also, if you have HWMonitor installed - mouse over your HDD info and check the raw value of Load Cycle Count (id 193). How high is it?

I checked and it's 32144. The other thing is the temperature that is 44C and it's written in red.

I edited the hadpm.plist file AND typed the instruction into Terminal (just to be sure that it gets done).

Unfortuantely after reboot I still hear the clicking sound. Before the reboot it was clicking and quiet beeping. It hadn't been happening before and it doesn't happen now - I hear just clicking (no beeping).

The temperature is only getting higher - it got to 46C now, but I don't really know if HWMonitors indications are trustworthy.

I'll switch to Windows now and wait for your answer. I don't want Yosemite to damage my HDD.

 

[mr-andrek]

I checked and it's 32144. The other thing is the temperature that is 44C and it's written in red.

I edited the hadpm.plist file AND typed the instruction into Terminal (just to be sure that it gets done).

Unfortuantely after reboot I still hear the clicking sound. Before the reboot it was clicking and quiet beeping. It hadn't been happening before and it doesn't happen now - I hear just clicking (no beeping).

The temperature is only getting higher - it got to 46C now, but I don't really know if HWMonitors indications are trustworthy.

I'll switch to Windows now and wait for your answer. I don't want Yosemite to damage my HDD.

32k load cycles is okay. Depends obviously on how long the HDD's been running (power-on hours), but generally manufacturers rate their hard drives to run safely up to 300k-500k load cycles (more or less).

The clicking sound is caused by your hdd's head being parked. It is a feature that does well in terms of power management.

Now - APM (Advanced Power Management) controls how often the head is being parked. You can set your APM ranging from 0 to 255: 0-127 is the most aggressive setting (drive's head is being parked very liberally), 128-254 is where APM is still enabled but the head parks in a more predictable way and 255 means that APM is disabled.
It would be tempting to set APM to 255 when your laptop is connected to the power - but then your drive's temperatures will rise, even to the point when it'll be dangerous for it.

From my experience with this particular Toshiba HDD, 46C is high. I rarely see anything higher than 40C on mine, and that's even when there's some sort of excessive hdd usage going on - copying files, etc. Most of the time, it idles at around 36C. And this is with APM set to 230, as I pointed out before (and, for the record, my hdd's power-on hours is at 8788 and load cycle count is at 19275).

Here's what I recommend:

- check in Console for the latest hdapm message if it actually sets the desired APM setting on startup (look for hdapm[xx]: Set APM Level to 0xe6: Success),
- check whether there's anything that uses the drive excessively, it could be spotight indexing, some sort of updates going on in the background - make sure any high read/write drive usage is stopped. I use istat menus for monitoring my laptop but I believe you can use OSX' Activity Monitor for that, too.

edit: According to Toshiba's specs (http://storage.toshiba.com/storagesolutions/client/mkxx61gsyn-series), your drive (MK5061GSYN) has 2 platters and 4 data heads, while mine's (MK3261GSYN) got a single platter and 2 data heads. This might explain the temperature difference, but I'm not entirely sure. I've had a Western Digital drive in my previous laptop and it was quite common to see temperatures even up to 52C and it was pretty normal for that particular drive.
According to the specs, our Toshibas can run safely in temperatures ranging from 5 to 55C.

 

[Loreno10]

I've just launched Console and tried to find "hdapm" and it didn't find it... not a single line. It's strange, because it showed me some results before. What should I do now?

Although I was just using Safari the temperature of the HDD got to 42C (it was 27C when I booted to Yosemite)

 

[pkilfeather1]

Thank you for the answers! Do you remember where you got this Broadcom wi-fi card? I need to get it, because the lack of internet connection prevents me from using OS X. I bought one from ebay, but it wasn't working, maybe you know a good seller.

If you had the graphical glitches issue you would see it for sure. I can't really show you any picture of it now, because I applied a modification, that seem to block those glitches from appearing. This mod also helped me with freezies, that I've experienced maaany times before (actually I'm still not sure if that modification fixed the problem and I just hope that another freeze won't happen).

Do you use an external monitor? I do (via VGA) and when it's connected the OS begins to lag a little.

Oh, I just realized I forgot to ask you one question: do you experience lag when you resize windows in Yosemite? For example making AppStore window bigger or smaller is really unsmooth on my 6460b. How is it on your setup?

I added you to Friends list and sent you a request to do the same.

Hey sorry for the delay in replying - been a hectic week.

The WIFI card came with this laptop, I believe. To get it to work with yosemite, as I say, I had to change to the MacAir 5,2 smbios - I would play around with that maybe. Also ensure it is enabled in bios and hasnt been switched off at the button on the laptop. I also have a USB TP-Link wn725n which works with realtek drivers, although you have to open a separate app (it is not recognized as an AirPort device).

I do use VGA and DisplayPort to HDMI output and they both work perfectly - I think with VGA I have to sleep the device after removing the cable, in order to reset the screen layout - there may be a better way but I haven't bothered to find it yet.

Frankly I think resizing is as smooth as it should be on my laptop - I'm sorry but I dont experience any lag there

 

[Loreno10]

Frankly I think resizing is as smooth as it should be on my laptop - I'm sorry but I dont experience any lag there

Even in the Appstore on the Featured tab? It's laggy as hell on my 6460b. By resizing I mean dragging a corner of Appstore window to change its size.

 

[nguyenmac]

Even in the Appstore on the Featured tab? It's laggy as hell on my 6460b. By resizing I mean dragging a corner of Appstore window to change its size.

It's laggy on my HD4000