'lo everybody. Every once in a while (usually after being on for, say, 1+ hours), my iBook will make a strange metallic clicking noise (during which I get the dreaded spinning beachball and complete lack of response from the system) and every once in a while an awful sort of sound like if you dragged a metal ruler across a chalkboard. This usually happens while compiling source code, playing games, etc. At one point in time, it made this noise on bootup (after I had manually shut it down because it wasn't responding after 10 mins or so), and from that point on it gives me the System Folder icon with an alternating Mac face and question mark on it. My question is this: I think the hard disk is dying/dead, am I correct? Second question: if it IS dying/dead, the repairs are quite a bit (above $300 US, no AppleCare). Can I replace the hard disk myself (saw a nice Toshiba 40GB notebook hdd in a MacMall? magazine, $130)? And with one that isn't the default IBM included in the computer? Or would that cause difficulties such as PC's would have (CHS values and whatnot)? Thanks ahead of time!

Sounds like you need a copy of Norton. You'll be spending close to 100 bucks, but if it can save your hard drive it's worth it. I just had that problem of the blinking disk with my G4 & it fixed & saved my hard drive. You'll have to make sure it's Norton 6 or 7 (6 ran on my G4 in classic mode & corrected the problem) so it'll work with X. Not sure about the clicking noise. I'd get your hard drive back first, so you can save anything if for some reason it is on it's death bed. The longer it keeps it up, one of these times it may die.

Well...I got it to boot into OSX (booted OS 9 CD and ran Disk First Aid, changed Startup Disk). It now works...sort of. Every, oh, 3-5 minutes or during moderate to heavy disk access (like system startup) it will click and scratch and appear to hang. I read somewhere this is a sign of a dying hard disk. So the real question is, I guess, can I replace the hard disk myself (and with a not-from-Apple drive, as they're super expensive)?