Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm  (Read 2666 times)

pflower

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 456
Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« on: May 24, 2014, 05:57:20 am »

I have had no joy on the Apple Support Forums, so thought I would ask here in case anyone has any ideas.

The header says it all.  I have 2 iMac 27 inch machines at different locations.  One runs 10.6.8 and the other 10.8.9.  At exactly 8.00pm every evening they both let out a reasonably loud "screech".  A single noise lasting perhaps 1 second.  That is it.  They don't exhibit this behaviour at any other time of day and behave perfectly normally.  I have run Sonos anti-virus software and no threats discovered.  I have not noticed anything odd or different about their behaviour otherwise - i.e. performance is not affected at all.  The 10.6.8 is in my office and I am not usually there at 8.00pm.  However the other night I was and had just started it up.  The only applications running were MS Word and Safari.  It too made the identical noise to the other machine.

It doesn't appear to affect anything, but the situation is strange and I have absolutely no idea what might be the cause or what to investigate.

Anyone ever heard of anything like this before and have any observations or suggestions?

Thanks
Logged

Alan Goldhammer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4344
    • A Goldhammer Photography
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2014, 08:39:33 am »

Microsoft malware? ;D
Logged

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2014, 10:42:45 am »

Dinner time? Hungry chicks? 😊

But seriously, sounds (pardon the pun) like an alarm you accidentally set somewhere. As for the "screeching" sound,  the only time I hear something like that is when my TV emits it during emergency preparedness testing, or when there is a real announcement about approaching weather storm. Testing comes at precesely the same time every time, though.

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13769
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2014, 11:12:35 am »

I have had no joy on the Apple Support Forums, so thought I would ask here in case anyone has any ideas.

The header says it all.  I have 2 iMac 27 inch machines at different locations.  One runs 10.6.8 and the other 10.8.9.  At exactly 8.00pm every evening they both let out a reasonably loud "screech".  A single noise lasting perhaps 1 second.  That is it.  They don't exhibit this behaviour at any other time of day and behave perfectly normally.  I have run Sonos anti-virus software and no threats discovered.  I have not noticed anything odd or different about their behaviour otherwise - i.e. performance is not affected at all.  The 10.6.8 is in my office and I am not usually there at 8.00pm.  However the other night I was and had just started it up.  The only applications running were MS Word and Safari.  It too made the identical noise to the other machine.

It doesn't appear to affect anything, but the situation is strange and I have absolutely no idea what might be the cause or what to investigate.

Anyone ever heard of anything like this before and have any observations or suggestions?

Thanks

Have you tried to set the time manually and see if you can reproduce that "Screeches"? You could also open Activity Monitor and check if a specific process usage increases at 8.00pm… The sound could come from an alert in your calendar or another background application.
Logged
Francois

louoates

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 836
    • Lou Oates Photography
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2014, 12:29:55 pm »

Do you have anything on your iphone set to a reminder or alarm? It may have linked to your iMac. Good suggestion to reset the time to try to replicate it. Other than that, I would seek a good exorcist.
Logged

pflower

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 456
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2014, 07:44:42 am »

Curious.  I took the suggestion to set the time manually to just before 8.00pm and no sound when 8.00pm came around.  I then reset it to the correct time.  From what I can tell (I was a bit distracted at 8.00pm that evening) it remained silent.  Possibly you are right - a ghost in the machine.

Strange.
Logged

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13769
Re: Strange iMac Behaviour - "Screeches" at precisely 8.00pm
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2014, 08:17:10 am »

Curious.  I took the suggestion to set the time manually to just before 8.00pm and no sound when 8.00pm came around.  I then reset it to the correct time.  From what I can tell (I was a bit distracted at 8.00pm that evening) it remained silent.  Possibly you are right - a ghost in the machine.

Strange.

Glad to hear that something happened and stopped the noise but don't open the champagne bottle yet!
  ;)
Logged
Francois
Pages: [1]   Go Up