Clicking noise

Recently my PC has been making clicking noises like the noise when you close an application or a window. I'm listening to music or the PC is just sitting 'idle' and there is a click every 10-20 seconds or so. Tried looking in Process Explorer for anything 'obvious' but I can't seem to pin it down.
There was a lot of deffered procedure calls, dunno what that is.

Anyone heard of anything like this?

XP Home.

Thanks..

JJ

 

Worst case, your hard drive is starting to go south. Suggestion, start backing up your data if you have`t already. Then go to your hard drive manufacturers website and download their hard drive diagnostic tool and run the test. Most manufacturers offer one that will either boot from a floppy or CD depending on your need. Good luck.

 

Would be my suggestion as well. Pull off the side of your case and you should be able to pin-point it to your hard drive.

Time to back up your data, quick smart.

Cheers

 

Here's some help to get you started JJ ....

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/backup.mspx
http://www.computerhope.com/help/hdd.htm


GF

 

Just something to throw out there because I see it at the school all the time.

The next time it starts it clicking, also check the floppy drive and see if the light it on.

We have run into problems where a common app such as an Office product would be looking for the floppy disk and it will click for a little bit and then stop. Most likely it's your HD, but never hurts to check

 

hi, i don't know how much help this is for you, it's just something i read afew days ago about HDD clicking noises
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=79055

i haven't re-read the thread so i'm not sure how relevant this is too but there is a sysinternals standalone program which will show you when you HDD is reading a writting.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Diskmon.html

 

Actually, if I understand right, the clicking noise he's talking about is the sound that's set by default to play when you open a folder or navigate through the start menu. This could just be background tasks starting when the system is idle, defragging the prefetch and such. It might even be a Windows Update. If there's no mysterious IE windows opening up or anything, you might just disable that sound in the Sound options.

 

Ayup, that's definitely a drive problem.

Backup very often and run the drive manufacturer's diagnostics.
If the drive is still under warranty, call the drive manufacturer right away, to at least go on record that there's a problem.

Also, run the tests at http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm.

 

It was AOL.
There's news window that keeps changing pictures and it clicks when the speakers are on.
Just disabled the sound for it in Sounds and Audio devices.

 

You should still run the drive tests to be safe.

 

Will do. Thanks to all for your time and suggestions.

 

When the Granddaughters HD went bad that is exactly what it did. finally just wouldn't boot anymore. start saving everything you want to keep just in case

 

Turn off the speakers to make sure.

But I like many others here think it is "The Click Of Death" for your HDD.

 

ok if u run the test, pls give us feedback. I never heard a hd dying, so to me AOL cause seems right.

 

I dont know if anyone else has experienced this ,but i get clicking noises from inside the PC when running certain firewalls.Look n stop is one of them.The click s happen when clicking an application or sometimes just moving the mouse.I guess its connected with the modem?.
ellison

 

It's definitely not my HD.
The clicking was coming from the speakers and I knew it was software related but couldn't track it down for ages.
Eventually sussed out it was changeing images in AOL making a click every time they changed and like I said I disabled the sound in sounds and audio.

A clicking from the hard drive would come from-the hard drive.

Thanks all anyhow.

JJ

 

Surely everyone knows the "mouse click" sound that's set by defult to play when you navigate through explorer or IE (Windows XP Start.wav)... it's much different than a mechanical click caused by a hard drive problem.

 

Yeah, but it sounded strange when I was playing music on winamp, other than that I rarely have the speakers on.

 

it could be some adware that keeps trying to pop up, but then is blocked....run all your anti-spyware/adware scans, and see if it goes away. (i recommend ad-aware)