Comp making clicking noises

Bot · #1

So, I noticed yesterday that my comp has started making clicking noises. It does it about half a dozen times and then it won't do it again for a while.

I'm a little worried because when my HD went out on me a while ago, a friend of mine said if your comp is making funny noises, it's probably a sign that your HD is going to shit.

I just replaced my HD in March...

#2

Funny you posted this, I was JUST about to make a post asking about a secondary hard driv disk checking utility...

I would say a clicking noise, coupled by any write failures is a sure sign that baby is about to blow...The little external that I had in my laptop started w/the clicking noises first, and then died...I have it hooked via exteranl casing now, and its working, but starts to give me write errors if I work it a little too hard...

If your comp is in a tight area, give it a bit of room to breathe, and or grab a can of air and clean the dust bunnies out...Poor circulation could be a cullprit as well...

But if she's clicking, now's a good time to use that gspace extension, lol..

#3

you're fucked......sounds like HD to me. :face-sad:

#4

back up all the data then enjoy any further copy paste move of a file as a gift from life.

PS: have you tried to turn down the pc speakers volume?

Bot · #5

The weirdest thing happened... I was downloading a movie with Shareaza, and the file was moving to my movie folder. My computer started to slow down a little bit, but that's nothing new... but then the clicking started, and it was pretty bad. It did it a couple dozen times. It's fine now, though.

If it is my HD I'm gonna be pissed! I bought this computer in August of 2004. My HD first went out on me in March of 2006, so it lasted about 19 months. So if this new HD is only going to last 8 or 9 months... someone at FutureShop is gonna get fucking shot! I just hope my warranty is still good. I think I got the two-year deal, so it should be.

#6

back up (b4 too late) the stuff and low level full format the HD.

a side note: remember that sometimes the power connection (5v12v) of the HD stops and starts the HD, check that connection and the power suplly, that could be a cause of the problem (as you said your HD's last too short), but this happens if remove your hd often and you probably hear the noise of the hd starting and gaining rpm's before having troubles of that nasty sound of nailing over the HD surface.

#7

has anyone thought of checking the cooling fans? a failing fan will make a clicking noise also, especially if there are wires protruding into the path of the blades! If you have any fan controllers that change the speed of the fan based on temp, the clicking could be as the fan speeds up or slows/stops in response to different heat loads.

any easy way to rule in or out a hard drive issue is to run a defrag. in winxp right click the hard drive in my computer goto properties, click on tools then Defragment. in the new window, analyze and then defrag, if you hear the noise, it is a HD.

#8

Nice suggestion on the fans, E..!
Yeh, it's either the fans or the HDD..

Bot · #9

Um... I have no idea about the fans to be honest... lol I just know I have one at the back. lol

I did the defrag. It clicked twice at the start, but it didn't do it again until the very end when it jumped from 54% to 98%.

Damn thing took nearly 2 hours... it never takes that long. lol

Bot · #10

This is interesting.

I decided to do some virus scans for the hell of it... Whenever Ad-Aware SE gets to about 71,000 objects scanned, my computer clicks a few times and the scan stalls. It's still at 71,894.

Also, when I restarted my comp after the defrag, I noticed it stayed on the black Windows page with the Windows logo a lot longer than normal...