Newish PC is ticking like a clock

Ruthie-Roux

Hi folks,

Looking for advice here: my pc is ticking like a clock!! It just started tonight and I know it can`t be a good thing. PC is a desktop-HP Compaq and is relativly new-was only built for me a few months ago.
My guesses on this:
either:
the hard drive is stuffed-one of the bearings in the drive is not turning smoothly,
or,
it`s the reader arm which is broken......

but really I haven`t got a clue-I`m just terrified the thing is going to pack it in any minute now and I have a zillion things to do for college in the next few days.
Any ideas on how to FIX this myself would be appreciated (or diagnose problem) as finances aren`t too healthy right now and I can`t afford to have it looked at.

Thanks,
Ruth

Overheal

Use your senses: you can often use your finger to feel around for a vibration. Its easy enough to do this on the outside of the case to check if its a fan, or if its coming from the DVD drive or the Hard Drive. If you cant, try using your finger inside to case to track the vibration, just be careful to discharge your own static (off a radiator or something) and try to avoid touching bare circuitry.

wolfric

This may sound silly but try turning your speakers off just in case? you never know what's going on with your pc. At one stage i had a virus that randomly played fart noises at odd intervals.

If you're pretty sure it's more a physical noise, try ejecting your cd drive. Tilt your computer slightly and see if either of those eliminate the noise. After that can you tell us when it starts? is it as soon as you turn on your pc or is it during windows boot, after? while you're doing something heavy like a virus scan?

I know it seems a bit odd but can you give us an aprox on how fast the clicking is?

Farcear

wolfric wrote: »

At one stage i had a virus that randomly played fart noises at odd intervals.

Very strange virus, or a brilliant cover story. :P

---

If the noise is constant from the moment you turn on your computer, then removing the Hard Drive completely and powering on should tell you if it is to blame.

bonzodog2

Does it still boot up completely? If so, its prob not the disc. As above, check its a physical noise, not coming thru speakers. Another slight possibility is something hitting off the fan. Theres 1 on the CPU on the main board and 1 in the powersupply. Maybe even 1 on a graphics card? Open the case and power it up and see what you can see.

In the event it is the hard drive, they are pretty cheap. komplett.ie have 4 different ones under eur50. These are all SATA drives. Yours <might> possibly be an IDE one. Check
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA
for pictures of the plugs, if you dont know how to tell

youcancallmeal

Find out who manufactures your hard drive by looking at the device manager then go to the manufacturer's website where you can find diagnostic tools that may be able to tell you if there is problems with your hard drive.

In my experience though when a hard driving is 'ticking' it means its already dead and that noise is the platters trying but failing to spin up. Like others have said it could simply be a fan which has something in the way stopping it from spinning or even just the bearings are getting dodgey. If your confident about it then just open up the PC and have a look and feel around. Make sure your grounded with an anti-static wrist band or something because static discharge is not fun.

JDxtra

Backup your data just in case it is the drive...

Dublin_Gunner

No need to touch anything TBH you should be able to open the case and use your ears to hear where the sound is coming from.

And contrary to bonzodog's post, just because its still working 'now' does not mean its not on the way out.

In fact, I've had drives work for quite some time while 'ticking' before eventually failing, but ticking form a HDD is a sure sign its going to fail.

If you have anything important on it, back it up NOW.

If the PC is still under warranty, they should send you a new drive / or replace it for you.

But in the mean time, save any important work, and go to your nearest computer shop (like Peats or something) and buy a new drive, they're relatively cheap these days.

You will have to re-install Windows etc, so once again SAVE ANYTHING IMPORTANT.