Computer Clicks Like It's Shutting Off

B

ben johnson

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
434
I have a strange problem. I'll be working on my computer and it will out of no where click. For a few seconds I cant do anything. I cant move my mouse, anything happening on my computer halts, basically everything freezes. Then it makes a sound like it's powering up and everything is fine again.

What could shut down for a second without causing the computer to reboot?

I'm thinking it's my hard drive loosing power or just shutting down randomly. So that narrows this down to my power supply and my hard drive. Also, I have 2 hard drives. One for windows and one for my media, etc. If they one for my media, etc. shuts down would that freeze my computer as well? Or would it only have to be the one with windows on it. How would I go about narrowing this problem down to a specific component so I could replace it?

Any light you can shed on this problem is greatly appreciated, thanks a lot.
 
If the computer is not actually restarting but your hearing a click, it sounds like a flaky hard drive or loose powe connection to one. The mouse stuttering further reaffirms the posibility.

Could mean a bad power connection, or a bad hard drive, as they click when they start or reset themselves due to errors.
 
I'd say you run

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=1&swid=3 on the western digital drive and
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...tware Downloads/ATA Hard Drives&downloadID=22 on the maxtor to try and rule out a hard drive issue.


There's also the chance that its just trying to load stuff out of the page file on your disk. When it does, you'll hear the drive access and since hard drives (even those raptors) are so much slower than RAM that's where you'll get the delay. Make sure to also defrag the drive, and its also a good idea ot have a partition specifically for the windows page file. If the page file gets fragmented (and we all know how great windows/ntfs is at fragmenting) it can be slower to access.
 
I 3rd the possibility of a failing hard drive. I've had several drives over the years that begin "clicking" during normal computer operation, then shortly after its on it's deathbead. If it is indeed clicking... BACK UP all of your data ASAP. Better safe than sorry.

After you back up your data, then I would run those hard drive scan/check utilities to see if the drive is indeed failing or not.
 
I have the same problem exept mine doesn't freeze up it just clicks. IT usually clicks about 5 times a week. well that I notice anyway
 
harmlesskils said:
I have the same problem exept mine doesn't freeze up it just clicks. IT usually clicks about 5 times a week. well that I notice anyway
Click to expand...

I would do the same things that are being recommended to the original poster...

Backup first... then run some disk utilities that scan the drive for bad sectors, check SMART status... etc. Better safe than sorry.
 
From personal expirance, and messing with computers for about 10 years. I would say its safe to assume that your Hard drive is Going to die.... I would back up whatever you dont want to lose right away, and get a new hard drive.

However, It may be a bad PSU not supplying enough power all the timee to your hard drive. And you are getting a Variance in power causing this. Either way, It may have runied your HDD already. I would start by getting a New Hard drive, and if it still does it, then you can get a new PSU too.
 
Ha ha, I backed up all of my information as soon as I read this thread, and not 10 minutes later my hard drive completely screwed up. It wont stop clicking now. I cant do anything with it. It wont even boot up because it keeps click and trying to power up then clicking again. Thanks for the advice at least I have the informaiton I need off of it because yall told me to back it up.

It's my WD 10,000 RPM SATA thats causing the problem. WD has an awesome return policy. I simply went on their website, filled out an RMA form in a matter of 5 minutes and a new HD is on it's way.

Luckily I have a laptop and can still get my work done.

Thanks for the help and advice. I think it was those diagnostic utilities that pushed it over the edge.
 
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