Recently, my MacBook Air began making ticking sounds at regular intervals once powered on, akin to the sound of a woodpecker. The sounds occur at regular intervals, beginning every 5.2(ish) seconds and lasting about .8 seconds. I cannot identify where the sound is coming from. What could this be caused by? Is it something to take to my local genius bar urgently or is it simply an annoyance?
MacBook Air Making Ticking Sounds – Causes and Fixes
hardwaremacbook pro
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Best Answer
You don't specify the exact model of MacBook Air, but if it's one of the first models, or one of the Late 2008 or mid 2009 models, then it's possible you have a HDD for storage instead of a SSD.
A hard drive starting to have problems could certainly explain the ticking sound (although you seem to provide very precise and regular intervals). Otherwise it could be a fan.
Regardless, I would strongly recommend you testing your hardware. How you do this will depend on your model, so choose the appropriate option below.
Run Apple Hardware Test for all MacBook Airs up to and including the Mid-2012 models
Your model uses Apple Hardware Test. To use this, follow these steps:
Note 1: that the extended test will take some time. Take a note of the results and report back.
Note 2: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.
Run Apple Diagnostics for all MacBook Airs from Mid-2013 onwards
Your model uses Apple Diagnostics. To use this, follow these steps:
Note: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.
Regardless, take a note of what happens and let me know how you went.