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by kender_girl

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Hi All,

I'm opening this one up again. Here's the deal. I have a new PC at home (purchased in Feb. 2001). For the past month and a half or so the PC will occasionally make a "clicking" noise and will freeze up. Sometimes it freezes for just asecond or two, other times a full reboot is needed.
Two incidents in particular:
1. Playing an online game, froze completely.
2. Program was performing an auto-update from the net, froze part way through.

Some have suggested that the hard drive is on it's way to HD heaven.. however, I've done a full surface scan on the drive with no errors whatsoever.

A coworker suggested that it might be the HD controller.

Any ideas that anyone might have is much appreciated. I really don't wantto go through all the trouble of returning a drive only to discover it was something else all along.

Thanks in Advance,
Christina

18 replies

by rgrowcock

What type of system is it, in other words, who made it? Some manufacturers add some diagnostic programs to the resource cd. If you have one of those, try to look for any type of hard drive dx.
I am tending to agree with whomever told you your hard drive is going bad. I had the same problem with one a couple of years ago. It would make a loud "clunking" and finally it gave out. If it is still under warranty, while it may be a pain to return, I would strongly suggest you do just that.
I currently have a new machine that I am waiting on a new hard drive for. Close to the same symptoms, but no noticeble click, the computer just freezes. It is a Dell Dimension 4100 with a Seagate drive. I've ran Scandisk numberous times and it fixes theproblems, but goes right back to the same problems in a couple of weeks. I finally got a hold of a tech that had me run the diagnostics on the resource cd and confirmed that the drive was bad.
Good luck with your problem, but like I said I would guess that your hard drive in on its way to hdd Heaven.

by grandhighdruid

I agree, it could be a hard drive, but another suggestion, especially if it keeps happening when you're on the Net, is the modem. I have seen modems stop whole systems from even starting up, so it is also a possibility. What I would suggest is to try using the daylights out of it with the modem either unplugged, or depending on how comfortable you are with PC's, take the modem out completelyand try it. If it only does it when you're online, then I would suspect the modem.

by richard_barsby

Hi is the clicking from the pc or the speakers if from the speakers you may have a fridge/freezer or some other electrical equipment which turns on/off automatically causing electrical noise high enough to cause your pc to crash.

Let me know

Rich

by the scruffy1

Gidday, every one seems to say it is the HDD,ok fair enough so the best way to check it ,is go to the manufactures home page and download the HDD checker almost all manufactures have one.It will fit on a floppy ,so it isn`t real bit but it does do the job.After the test is done some will ask for the serial number from the HDD and it will tell you if it is still in warranty if there is a problem.Thats my 2 bobs worth anyway. good luck:)

by kender_girl

Hi All!
I just wanted to let you know that I am checking the answers and will be trying them out. I will rate when I find either a solution or a tip that points me there.
For #1, the PC is a clone. It's not from any big manufacturer and I actually itemized what is inside of it. The hard drive is a Maxtor.
For those answers regarding the HD diagnostics programs, plan to download it tonight and give it a check.
Can't be the modem, it's a cable modem I'm running and I have another system hooked up to it that runs perfectly.
The noise is coming from inside the box, not the speakers, but the idea that something may be turning on inside the box is an interesting one and I'll check in to that!

Thanks to all for the answers posted so far.
Christina

by vilefileman

All good suggestions, but heres another, Does the CPU have a fan? Open the box, unplug the fan from the mobo, and restart. See if the sound goes away.

V

by kender_girl

The sound wasn't coming from the fan... but it's a big sucker that makes a lot of noise too! :-)

by rivernet

Hi,

Your symptoms match the behavior my Athlon/K7TPro system exhibited. I solved the problem by installing an inexpensive sound card instead of using the on-board sound. I assume there was some fault with the MB chipset.

by kender_girl

The sound isn't onboard, though it is a cheap card. Thanks for this suggestion though. A different view of the problem for sure. ;-)

by kender_girl

Hello Again All,

I attempted to run the HD diagnostics with no luck. It doesn't see my hard drive, even though it is detected in the BIOS and the boot-up.
As for the CPU fan... the sound is intermittent. Sometimes it's there, sometimes not.The sound card is another good idea. I know the one that is in there (it's not onboard) isn't very good.
Since I opened up the box and left the covers off, the sound and freezing has happened much less. I'm beginning to think it may be a fan starting up for one of the devices and that causes some kind of problem. I'll let you all know when I figure it out.
Christina

by kender_girl

Hi Everyone,

Just an update. The system became much worse this weekend so I decided to bite the bullet and re-install. During installation I figured out where the clicking was coming from, the CD-ROM. Took it back to the dealer and had it replaced. However, the problem continues, sort of. During install now, the PC will discover a problem with the registry. It replaces it with a 'known good', which has no drivers. I believe I've isolated the problem to the slot that the NIC was installed... will be starting from scratch again tonight with the NIC in a new slot and see what happens... wish me luck!

Thanks again for everyone's advice!
Christina

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