Computer issues. Help!

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

Well heres the story. Me and a buddy of mine just built a new computer, and recently the hard drive has been acting up and i am not sure why. It makes this clicking sound, almost like the word "check" said real fast. Its very random too, sometimes it will do it twice in a row, others it will do it every 15 minutes. It does not do it when the computer sits idle.

I ran diskcheck and it seemed to help some what, because i dont get the weird sound now as often, but it still does it every now and then (when i turn computer on/off, install something, ect).

Also, sometimes when i load webpages, they come up as jibberish or not fully loaded correctly like corrupt images.

Anyone wanna help me out with some advice? was thinking about doing a reformat. Not sure if i wanna go that far yet or not. And if that doesnt work i'll just RMA it to newegg and replace it, but dont wanna deal with the wait and whatnot.

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[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

anyone?

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

Do you have windows XP?

IF so I'll type up a quick way to see if the HD is failing

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

yes XP media center edition

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

yes XP media center edition

OK, first you need to display administrative tools:

Right Click on Start, and select Properties, and then click on CustomizeClick on the Advanced tab, and in the Start Menu Items box, scroll down to the bottom

In the System Administrative Tools, either click on:

Display on the All Programs Menu

Display on the All Programs Menu and the Start Menu (may require you to log in and out again to see the entry on the Start Menu)

Click on OK to confirm your choices

If you are using the Classic Start Menu

Right Click on Start, and select Properties, and then click on Customize

In Advanced Start Menu Items box, check the Display Administrative Tools (should be first item in list)

Click on OK to confirm your choices

then go into administrative tools and click "event viewer"

then you want to view system events

now browse the list for "disk errors" which will have the red X next to them...

If you have disk errors then it's time for a new HDD...

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

have four errors, sources are one for "NetBT", two for "cdrom" and one for "System error". guess im gona have to RMA this thing then. Bummer, this crap takes time. Thanks for the help tho acidic!

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

have four errors, sources are one for "NetBT", two for "cdrom" and one for "System error". guess im gona have to RMA this thing then. Bummer, this crap takes time. Thanks for the help tho acidic!

actually none of those deal with the hard drive, the NetBT and CDROM errors are totally normal... and the system error is probably the last random crash you had...

I don't think the clicks are a big deal... but just in case make a backup of important files... the web page thing probably isn't disk related either...

Also how loud are the clicks? My power supply fan makes a similar clicking sound fairly randomly...

Following that path it could be any of your fans, usually the first to go would be the motherboard fan.... get some canned air and blow out all the fans, then make sure no cables are close to moving fans... do this of course with the computer off... then fire it back up and see if the clicks are gone, different or louder....

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

its a pretty decently loud clikc, every time it happens its more than noticeable. there is also plenty of room around all 3 fans, so no wires getting in the way. Sound is definately coming from hard drive/hard drive area. And it never used to make this sound, just started up a few weeks ago.

Also, like i said, files load kinda weird sometimes. Whenever im on the net, about 25% of the time i have to hit the refresh button because of a page loaded wrong. i get all the html code or corrupted images and whatnot. updated firefox/internet explorer and still does it. You say that this doesnt have to do with the hard drive tho, which has me. this has been hapening ever since the drive went in.

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

also, i have bluescreened twice in the past two weeks because of some hardware error. said to make sure hardware is installed right (which it is) and some other stuff i didnt pay too much attention to. computer made me do instant reboot.

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

also, i have bluescreened twice in the past two weeks because of some hardware error. said to make sure hardware is installed right (which it is) and some other stuff i didnt pay too much attention to. computer made me do instant reboot.

hmmm this post and the above one sounds more like hdd issues... if you can RMA it without trouble it'd be worth a try I suppose. See if newegg will cross ship with you... then ghost the old HD and install the new one...

also download the HDD manufacturers drive test... IBM's is the Drive fitness test... each company has their own though... if you d/l it and it says the HD is bad then RMA will be quick and easy

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

yeah i just emailed newegg about how they do it and im wai ting for a reply. i have two harddrives tho, and i use one as a backup for this kind of situation, so i can save the files that i need.

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

well, should get a reply tomorrow from them, thanks for all the help acidic

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

well, should get a reply tomorrow from them, thanks for all the help acidic

no prob.... g/l

 

[dewitt88 10+ year member]

Clicking is what I would call a rod knocking (Death) so to speak. You could use it for a while and it will get louder and more frequent however the louder it gets the closer it is to death. I would go ahead and get the HDD replaced. Hope you get it figured out bro!