Bit off topic!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Uno Hoo!
  • Start date Start date
U

Uno Hoo!

My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making fairly loud
'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a single click - sometimes
two or three in succession. Sounds a bit like an electrical relay clicking
on and off inside the main casing.

The pc carries on working normally while this is happening but I'm somewhat
concerned that it may be a sign of something going wrong. I have never been
aware of this noise before. Anyone
any ideas?

Kev
 
Uno said:
My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making fairly loud
'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a single click - sometimes
two or three in succession. Sounds a bit like an electrical relay clicking
on and off inside the main casing.

The pc carries on working normally while this is happening but I'm somewhat
concerned that it may be a sign of something going wrong. I have never been
aware of this noise before. Anyone
any ideas?

Kev
Click to expand...

It could be a hard drive.

Check your data cables, BIOS, configuration, test the drive (it may be
going bad), or the power supply may be going bad (unable to supply
correct power).
 
From: "Uno Hoo!" <[email protected]>

| My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making fairly loud
| 'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a single click - sometimes
| two or three in succession. Sounds a bit like an electrical relay clicking
| on and off inside the main casing.
|
| The pc carries on working normally while this is happening but I'm somewhat
| concerned that it may be a sign of something going wrong. I have never been
| aware of this noise before. Anyone
| any ideas?
|
| Kev
|

It could be a FAN that is going eccentric or a hard disk ready to fail.
 
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making fairly loud
'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a single click - sometimes
two or three in succession. Sounds a bit like an electrical relay clicking
on and off inside the main casing.

The pc carries on working normally while this is happening but I'm somewhat
concerned that it may be a sign of something going wrong. I have never been
aware of this noise before. Anyone
any ideas?
Click to expand...

What manufacturer/model of hard disk(s) are you using?

Regards,


Adam Piggott,
Proprietor,
Proactive Services (Computing).

- --
Please replace dot invalid with dot uk to email me.
Apply personally for PGP public key.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFCZQeo7uRVdtPsXDkRAiZjAJ9rzz0kKKR8xNetOwuvOMBa1wnTtwCfXHr9
YzXQRAhLJrFE//oKLsQhbk4=
=C5E3
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 
Uno said:
My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making
fairly loud 'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a
single click - sometimes two or three in succession. Sounds a bit
like an electrical relay clicking on and off inside the main
casing.
Click to expand...

My main computer did this - relay-sounding click - and it was a loose
data cable on the first hard drive.

It was almost like a loud clock:
TICK ... ... TOCK ... ... TICK ... ... TOCK
 
Adam Piggott said:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


What manufacturer/model of hard disk(s) are you using?
Click to expand...

It's a Western Digital 80Gb (7200rpm)

Kev
 
Beauregard T. Shagnasty said:
My main computer did this - relay-sounding click - and it was a loose data
cable on the first hard drive.

It was almost like a loud clock:
TICK ... ... TOCK ... ... TICK ... ... TOCK
Click to expand...

I'll open it up and give it a wiggle!

Kev
 
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
It's a Western Digital 80Gb (7200rpm)
Click to expand...

I've got two of those in a home machine and one (or both) does much the
same thing. Though in addition to the click I get a halfway spindown then
up again as well. Scared the shit out of me the first time it happened, but
it (or they) has now been doing it for a year with no ill effect at all.

My first guess (once my heartrate went down) was that my PSU is
underpowered, but it seems to have no relation to high drain vs. idle
situations so that went out the window.

I've settled for keeping an image of the important (system) drive of the
two just in case.


- --
Frode

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 8.1

iQA/AwUBQmVM1uXlGBWTt1afEQLSNACg36rbJjiTtr9b3dgixjHAlKjnR98An3uS
0JU2Q18GkJaOAvvQgeNng+zU
=Dwvz
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 
Uno said:
My desktop PC (Evesham tower system) has recently begun making fairly
loud 'clicking' noises several times a day. Sometimes a single click
- sometimes two or three in succession. Sounds a bit like an
electrical relay clicking on and off inside the main casing.

The pc carries on working normally while this is happening but I'm
somewhat concerned that it may be a sign of something going wrong. I
have never been aware of this noise before. Anyone
any ideas?

Kev
Click to expand...

My Evesham PC HD failed last autumn (Western Digital, I think) with no
warning. I was able to get it going with the freezer routine, and got some
data off, but it then began clicking regularly before failing completely.

Don't delay, get an image or backup as soon as you can.
 
From: "Uno Hoo!" <[email protected]>

|
| I'll open it up and give it a wiggle!
|
| Kev
|

If it is the hard disk...

Go to the hard disk manufacturer's web site and download their diagnostic software
respective to your hard disk. After the test, you will know if the hard disk is bad or
not..

Quantum/Maxtor - PowerMax
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Western Digital - Data LifeGuard Tools (DLGDiag)
http://support.wdc.com/download/

Hitachi/IBM - Drive Fitness Test (DFT)
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate - SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/

Fujitsu - Diagnostic Tool
http://www.fcpa.com/download/hard-drives/

Samsung - Disk manager
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm
 
Jeff Layman said:
My Evesham PC HD failed last autumn (Western Digital, I think) with no
warning. I was able to get it going with the freezer routine, and got
some data off, but it then began clicking regularly before failing
completely.

Don't delay, get an image or backup as soon as you can.
Click to expand...

Right - thanks for that!

Kev
 
David H. Lipman said:
From: "Uno Hoo!" <[email protected]>

|
| I'll open it up and give it a wiggle!
|
| Kev
|

If it is the hard disk...

Go to the hard disk manufacturer's web site and download their diagnostic
software
respective to your hard disk. After the test, you will know if the hard
disk is bad or
not..
Click to expand...

Downloaded the diagnostic - gave my HDD a clean bill of health! The faq on
the Western Digital web-site suggests that the clicking may be caused by a
faulty data cable. I'll look into it! Thanks for the advice and suggestion.

Kev
 
Back
Top