PC pauses on startup then a clicking noise

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:39

Hi all,

My PC works fine, however on boot it gets so far then seems to stall for about 2 minutes then there is a clicking noise then it loads fully. Its an SSD drive so it should load quicker. I'm guessing it may be something to do with the way i have my drives arranged or how they are loading in the bios??

Any ideas?

egraphixstudios · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:42

You've got no mechanical drives whatsoever? Check your cpu fan? Other option is to check for bios updates or reset the bios.

something daft already!! · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:44

This sounds like a bit of hardware having an issue starting up. Haven't you got a Xonar sound card? They usually click before starting up. Maybe trying updating the sound driver or reinstall it.

That may be a red herring though, it could be another driver before that one having issues. I would update all drivers.

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:46

howiepoohs said:
This sounds like a bit of hardware having an issue starting up. Haven't you got a Xonar sound card? They usually click before starting up. Maybe trying updating the sound driver or reinstall it.

I do yes, but would that cause the slow and paused boot?

something daft already!! · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:47

I would not have taken the time to write it otherwise.

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:48

howiepoohs said:
I would not have taken the time to write it otherwise.

I guess so.

I must try a boot without that Xonar and see if it makes a difference!

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 09:54

Actually another issue (which initially made me think it was a hard drive issue) is that one of my drives is not showing up. I have an extra SSD and two normal drives. One of the normal ones doesn't show up even though it is connected.

I thought that may have been part of the issue! :-/

something daft already!! · 11 Apr 2016 at 10:17

If it was an hdd issue, I would expect the clicking to be repeating constantly and the unit not booting at all. That or you would find once it has booted, one of your drives would be inaccessible. If it's just one click, that may be the sound card switching on and why I suspected a driver issue. Be it the sound card or something else which is loading before the sound card driver.

Edit: Re-reading above, I go with HDD failure. Disconnect it.

fobose · 11 Apr 2016 at 10:46

Disconnect the other hard drives and see if the problem stops. It could be one of your mech drives has failed.

egraphixstudios · 11 Apr 2016 at 10:52

Have you tried windows safe mode to see if it works fine? as this bypasses any third party drivers.

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 12:37

howiepoohs said:
If it was an hdd issue, I would expect the clicking to be repeating constantly and the unit not booting at all. That or you would find once it has booted, one of your drives would be inaccessible. If it's just one click, that may be the sound card switching on and why I suspected a driver issue. Be it the sound card or something else which is loading before the sound card driver.

Edit: Re-reading above, I go with HDD failure. Disconnect it.

Oh I hope not, I have lots of stuff on it

But you may be right.

DublinDude · 11 Apr 2016 at 12:37

fobose said:
Disconnect the other hard drives and see if the problem stops. It could be one of your mech drives has failed.

egraphixstudios said:
Have you tried windows safe mode to see if it works fine? as this bypasses any third party drivers.

I will check this when I get in from work, thanks!

joedeath332 · 11 Apr 2016 at 13:10

Yip deffo sounds like that HD that is missing is causing the problem. Just disconnect it and see what the pc boots like.

Justintime · 12 Apr 2016 at 11:57

Clicking, missing hdd..problem detecting hdds, its the hard drive