I'm not sure if it's appropriate to ask a mac question around here. My ibook G4 (10.3.9 OSX, 512 RAM) has been acting up.  The hard drive starts to spin REALLY loud and SOON after the computer locks up and I have to reboot.  

My actions thus far:  I have since bought an EXTERNAL HD and did a full back up onto the new drive.  I assumed it was a mechanical problem.  I know it's not a heat issue, because the fan in a mac is located more toward the center and the sound is DEFINITELY not the fan.  It's coming from the front left.  I called an apple technician and they had no idea and requested I send it in.  (I have a protection plan)  

Is there any way to fix it myself?  I've googled the problem and found some similar cases, HOWEVER, the posts were unhelpful because they did relatively no troubleshooting.  They just bought I new one.  

I used Disk Utility and tried a disk repair.  It hasn't done it since.  (2 days ago)

Any thoughts???Maybe or maybe not did the disk repair did the trick...only time will tell.  I'd be prepared to replace the internal hard drive.  Making noise like that is not normal.  It's a good thing you did a backup.

Alan <><  If you have a warranty use that. You can void some warranties by exploring around inside. Quote

If you have a warranty use that. You can void some warranties by exploring around inside.