My G4 is freezing and the hardrive is clicking!!!

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I bought this computer off a friend's parents a while back and never had any trouble with it until saturday afternoon and it froze on me. I restarted, simply thinking that it was a glitch only to find it again freezing. I have also noticed that once the computer freezes, a distinct "clicking" noise can be heard coming directly from the hardrive. I was hoping it was a virus, did a scan, found and cleaned up a couple... but, alas, the problem remains. Is my hardrive done or is this something else anyone here as experienced before? Any help would be greatly appreciate. Peace.
 

Ric

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Hi there and welcome,

What version of OS are you running ?

regards

Ric
 
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Its the tiger i believe, but i am not sure as i am posting for my roomie. Its his comp, but he is at work.
 

Ric

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Hi there,

if it is Tiger then you won't have had a problem with virus...

Stick the OS Install DVD in. And restart holding down the c key, then when the installer manu comes up, don't reinstall, but go to the menu bar and run Disk Utility...in Disk Utility run Repair Disk and then run Repair Disk Permissions then do a restart and see how you get on.

A lot of Hard drives making clicking sounds, but it could be a sign that it is on it's way out. So makie sure all important data is backed up, just in case.

regards

Ric
 
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A clicking hard drive coupled with freezing sounds like a failing hard drive, although a couple of things need to be ruled out first.

When you say you "found a couple" what did you actually find?

Have you tried repairing permissions? If so, does it freeze?

Does it freeze every time it is booted up, or is it when certain programs are used?

If you have the original discs that came with the system, you need to run the apple hardware test to determine any hardware damage.

What G4 is it?
 
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We don't have the startup disk unfortunately. And i don't know what viruses were found, but i do know that he repaired them, or the program did. It won't freeze when he is using microsoft word, but it will freeze when he uses safari.
 
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the viruses were quarantined, but maybe not repaired.

its frozen when multiple programs were up and also frozen when coming out of "sleep" mode most consistently.
 
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I am just wondering if they actually were viruses? There are almost no viruses for the Mac. What program did he use to quarantine them?
 

Ric

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Hi there,

to see whether the problem is software or hardware you are going to need that startup disk...sorry !

regards

Ric
 

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