Wierd Clicking Noise

alphaomega16 · 11 Apr 2007 at 19:00

Heya my dad who ended up with my 2400XP system when I upgraded to this AMD64 3500 has been using the machine nicely for many years and I had it a while before that.

But all of a sudden and not all the time you will hear a clicking noise from his computer for a few seconds then it will restart sometimes it will 2-3 times in a row but then it seems to be fine after.

I was thinking it might be the hard drive trying to do something and failing so it causes the system to restart.

What do you guys think ?

jessola · 11 Apr 2007 at 20:04

no hard drive should make clicking noises. Unless it's a fan making the noise, i'd be very worried about that drive. Back up all the data sharpish.

Nymins · 11 Apr 2007 at 20:21

jessola said:
no hard drive should make clicking noises. Unless it's a fan making the noise, i'd be very worried about that drive. Back up all the data sharpish.

Agreed. The clicking sound is the noise the hard drive makes before it dies. Mine did this without me knowing what it was about and i lost all my stuff cause the OS just wouldn't start up. Back up important file pronto and purchase a new hard drive. All i can say is that you are pretty unluckily that it happened to you. Not much you can do about it

alphaomega16 · 11 Apr 2007 at 20:42

Not narrowed down what was making the noise so I myself am not saying I heard it from the HDD but thats the only piece of equipment I can think of that would cause a restart shortly after some clicking noises.

Thx for the advice will tell him to back everything up ASAP and get another HDD.

IAmATeaf · 11 Apr 2007 at 21:55

I'd be worth checking the event log to see if the OS has logged anything info that may help or determine that it is the drive.

t31os · 12 Apr 2007 at 03:00

Can't say i know of anything else that 'clicks' , hdd's are quite well known for clicking when they get old or before they fail.....

It fits the profile to....

Unplug the HDD (power cable at least) and boot the PC, if the clicking stops, its the HDD...

You'll still get a boot sequence without the HDD, just not get to windows.... but at least it will give you answer as to what causes the noise...

dark_hag666 · 12 Apr 2007 at 05:08

If it's the hard drive, try running a diagnostic tool from whoever makes your harddrive. There are bunch for most major manufacturers on the Ultimate Boot CD.

I had a click-clock noise coming from my PC recently and hour of the Western Digital Lifeguard Tools thing sorted it out.