Strange clicking noise.

4Play · 30 May 2011 at 00:47

Built my new computer a couple of days ago and everything is perfect. Only gripe I have is that every 2 mins or so there is a slight continour clicking sound coming from the tower.

Itts barely audible and quite easy to miss. Im thinking its either a fan clipping a wire in the case or my harddrive could anyone clarify this for me. Or is a little noise like this the norm ?

Its a seagate barracuda 500gb.

edit.. Doesnt seem to make this clicking when in a demanding game such as BC2 for example mainly occurs idle on desktop :S.

ihero · 30 May 2011 at 00:54

Had the clicking with an external HDD I used to have, someone told me it was the power fluctuating

4Play · 30 May 2011 at 01:34

Right had the side of the damn thing off and its not coming from the harddrive. Think it might be from the psu no wires are touching anywhere so im a bit non plussed really :S. Glad its not the harddrive tho

Reaper 392 · 30 May 2011 at 01:38

i have a similar problem, and i also have the same hard drive as you. its kinda reassuring to know you found it wasnt the HDD

i also wouldnt be surprised if it was wires on a fan, because i have several wires taped to the bottom of my case, about an inch away from my graphics fan, and a bunch more that ive desperately tried to tuck beside my intake fan, one of which could easily have moved in front of it

freddie64 · 30 May 2011 at 07:41

Maybe the PSU fan is catching on something inside the PSU casing.

If it's barely audible, chances are you just can't hear it when you are gaming.

It could even be the GPU fan catching the cooler shroud. Had this with my 5850, but was more a slight scraping sound.

4Play · 30 May 2011 at 09:11

Yeh last night I planned on waiting untill today to have a look but it got to me so I got the side panel off. 100% sure that its not the Harddrive coming from more the psu/graphics area.

To cut a long story short I just gave all the wires a small push to make sure they where in correctly, moved all of the wires a bit deeper into the case and there is no sound atm

. Leads me to think that a wire was catching on a fan.

freddie64 · 30 May 2011 at 09:49

That's probably it then.

I would get some zip ties and secure the wires well out of the way.

4Play · 30 May 2011 at 09:54

Allready got some and did tie a lot of them away. The only ones I didnt secure was the 2 wires coming from the 2 fans on the side of the case.

freddie64 · 30 May 2011 at 10:03

Do them next.

What case have you got and do you need the fans on the side panel? (if that is what you mean).

It's just that some people find they disrupt the airflow and doesn't cool as good as hoped.

cjgardens · 30 May 2011 at 10:21

Do your fans run with cool and quiet thing or what ever its called with your board.

Sometimes if the fans are set on a to low speed they can do that

4Play · 31 May 2011 at 08:02

Going to investigate this more tomorrow night. The sound came back again last night, after a couple of hours of use. Starting to think the gpu fan might be connecting with something. Ill keep you posted

4Play · 31 May 2011 at 14:20

Starting to annoy the hell out of me this sound. When I originally turn the computer on the sound isnt their, fast forward 2 hours and it starts.

100% certain it isnt the harddrive, the sound isnt coming from their its more between the graphics and psu. A clicking sound that occurs for around 20 seconds, starts off pretty quiet and rises to a more easily audible level then stops. 2 mins later it starts again. Im starting to think its either the gpu fan or maybe the psu when it gets warmer ? Any advice would be appreciated here guys.