Clicking Noise From PC

SoAdCrAzY

SoAdCrAzY

SoAdCrAzY

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I finally got an iPhone so I can record the noise!


I have had this problem for a few months now. I hope you can hear the clicking noise. None of the fans are obstructed. I can't work out what this noise could be. Sometimes it gets as loud as it is in the video and sometimes it is silent.

My system is:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION **
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK)

Thanks.
 
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The only times I have ever heard clicking coming from a PC (as opposed to rattling) is when a hard drive has been dying / was dead / (on rare occasion) wasn't recieving enough power to spin up. Do you have any diagnostic utilities you could use?
 
Wow a lot of replies. I really hope that it isn't the HDD as it will be a nightmare trying to take it out. I will disconnect all of the fans.Thanks for all the replies.
 
Do you have a stock cooler for the chip? Could replace it with that temporarily. Though that would be a pain in the ass.

Try all the other fans first, and if the clicking persists, then try the CPU cooler, if it still persists, it has to be a HDD, or possibly the PSU fan. Have you made sure there are no cables in the way of any fans?
 
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lomez said:
dont disconntect the cpu fan and run the machine you will risk frying your chip replace the fan if you need to check it.
Click to expand...

reddev85 said:
Do you have a stock cooler for the chip? Could replace it with that temporarily.
Click to expand...

Waste of time, just stop it with your finger and see if the noise goes away, if it doesn't you've ruled that out. You may need to spin the fan to get it to start again.

The CPU isn't going to suddenly explode because the fan isn't running for a few seconds. Not to mention the fact that all modern processors have fail safes built in when the CPU gets too hot.
 
reddev85 said:
Do you have a stock cooler for the chip? Could replace it with that temporarily. Though that would be a pain in the ass.

Try all the other fans first, and if the clicking persists, then try the CPU cooler, if it still persists, it has to be a HDD, or possibly the PSU fan.
Click to expand...

When I try to follow the sound, I'm pretty sure it is coming from the CPU cooler which in this case is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)
 
I would also say it could be your PSU, mine makes clicking noise like the fan it hitting something and like yours it doesn't do it all the time. I know that its definitely the PSU (In my case) because I swapped it into a different PC and got the same noise.

If you can listen carefully with the side panel off maybe you could tell roughly which area it's coming from. Best bet is swapping stuff I think.
 
SoAdCrAzY said:
Thanks. Do you have any advice?
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yes, use a bit of cardboard to effectively split you case into sections to source where the noise is eminating from

once you find the zone its is from then if there is a fan in that zone remove it and replace it with another (if its the cpu cooler fan put a case fan on it before re running the system).

if its your hard drive then it will need replacing im afraid you may be able to RMA it if its still in warrenty.
 
lomez said:
yes, use a bit of cardboard to effectively split you case into sections to source where the noise is eminating from

once you find the zone its is from then if there is a fan in that zone remove it and replace it with another (if its the cpu cooler fan put a case fan on it before re running the system).

if its your hard drive then it will need replacing im afraid you may be able to RMA it if its still in warrenty.
Click to expand...

Annoyingly, it has completely stopped so I can't --- Oooh, it's back.

Right, I am 80% sure that it is coming from the PSU now.

[EDIT] Ah, I really can't tell. It's not very loud at all at the moment.
 
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lomez said:
dont disconntect the cpu fan and run the machine you will risk frying your chip replace the fan if you need to check it.
Click to expand...

Rubbish, you could safely run for a few minutes with a heatsink only.

Obiously I didn't mean disconnect them forever. Disconnect them to diagnose the problem area.

If you still can't find it..

Then take the PSU out. Do the 'paperclip test' (google it), and connect one fan or hard drive at a time to the PSU in paperclip mode until you find the culprit



-edit, no need to actually remove the PSU from the system, just unplug it from everything, then do the paperclip test. Sounds like a voltage switcher going mental in the PSU, I had this with a new PSU once, RMA'd it
 
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bledd. said:
Rubbish, you could safely run for a few minutes with a heatsink only.

Obiously I didn't mean disconnect them forever. Disconnect them to diagnose the problem area.
Click to expand...

Absolutely Right... OP have you managed to diagnose this yet? Just curious to know how you are getting on
 
id check your GPU fan, i found myself hearing clicking noises forever despite cable managing my system a few times, and found there was a case fan cable just touching the edge of the GPU cooler. most likely one of your case fans however
 
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