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PC Problems, Need help!

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Niklas

Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Hello,
I bought a new PC couple of months back but it has started making wierd noices on startup.

It always does it on the first time it's turned on but once it is restarted it has never occured. It's quite hard to describe the sound it makes. It starts with a quiet piip (during this sound the PC is very slow if not frozen) and after a few seconds it makes a "click" sound (and the PC works fine untill the next "piip" starts).

The sound is very hard to describe so I tryed recording it with my webcam. Listen to it here . The piip sound is quite hard to hear there and the click sound appears a lot louder than it actually is.

It is the PC itself making these sounds (not my speakers).

Is this a hardware or software problem? How can I fix this? Is this serious and is it hurting my PC in the long run?
 
Have you tried booting up with the case off to see if you can localize the sound.

It sounds like a drive. I figure you would see the floppy light on if it was the floppy so you may be heading towards a HDD failure.

It might be cold a bearing is too tight or the drive is not spinning well but after it is warmed a little, it spins better.
 
Defintately sounds like a HDD problem. Now would be a good time to update you backups for all your files. Then do a scandisk and see if you get any bad sectors. If any appear. Don't mess around replace the HDD ASAP.
 
The harddrive is couple of months old. When and if the harddrive breaks completely what will happend? It wont go on fire or something :p?

Will it damage other parts of the pc (except all data lost)?
 
Yea thats the harddrive and by the description of the sounds, i'm sure thats the problem. While it's possible your harddrive is going bad (backup just in case!), a weak power supply or lose connector can cause problems like this too, so check those out..

Dayton
 
Run the drive diagnostic software from the drive manufacturer to see if there are any problems with the drive. You should be able to download it from the drive manufacturers site. there are some links in the sticky in the storage forum. You could also use the www.ultimatebootcd.com which has most of the manufacturers software included;)
 
Thanks, ill try that :)

How can a 2 month old harddrive with a 2 year warranty break already :/. Loose connection could be a possibility, but why does this problem only occur when the computer is first turned on and you come to windows.
 
Niklas said:
Thanks, ill try that :)

How can a 2 month old harddrive with a 2 year warranty break already :/. Loose connection could be a possibility, but why does this problem only occur when the computer is first turned on and you come to windows.

"Stuff" happens. You can buy hardware that gets to you DOA(dead on arrival), it just happens. Could be a bad batch of bearings, a glitch in the manufacturing process, the way the planets were aligned when your HDD was made. That's all irrelevant, let them worry about that, you need to get the diagnostic done and get it RMA'd if it's a manufacturer's defect. :)
 
Brundle Fly said:
"Stuff" happens. You can buy hardware that gets to you DOA(dead on arrival), it just happens. Could be a bad batch of bearings, a glitch in the manufacturing process, the way the planets were aligned when your HDD was made. That's all irrelevant, let them worry about that, you need to get the diagnostic done and get it RMA'd if it's a manufacturer's defect. :)
Brundle Fly, you forgot about the way you hold your head when you look at it! :D
 
I did the basic (90 second) scan and nothing was found. I started the advanced scan but it was taking too long so I will have to re do it again another time. What I also noticed was that the hd didnt do the sound when I shut down my pc and turned it on a few seconds later. This means it has something to do with starting out cold and once it's warmed up a bit it stops doing it? That doesnt still make sense why it doesnt do it at all after the first restart and why it doesnt stop doing it no matter how long you keep the pc on untill you do the first restart.

How long does the advanced scan take on average on a 200 gb harddrive with about 100 gb in use?
 
Hard drives are pretty cheap. I wouldn't risk losing the 100 gb that you have in use. Get a new drive and clone your current disk. Then put the new disk in by itself and see if everything works OK. If it does, then you know the old disk is fubar. If you still have the same problem, then look for mechanical issues with other moving parts. The up side of the problem remaining is now you have two good drives and can use one for backup.

I once had a funny noise coming from my comp and it turned out to be a cable tie that was intermittently rubbing on a fan.
 
JimmyG said:
Brundle Fly, you forgot about the way you hold your head when you look at it! :D

That, and which cheek you stick your tongue into. :D


Niklas said:
I did the basic (90 second) scan and nothing was found. I started the advanced scan but it was taking too long so I will have to re do it again another time. What I also noticed was that the hd didnt do the sound when I shut down my pc and turned it on a few seconds later. This means it has something to do with starting out cold and once it's warmed up a bit it stops doing it? That doesnt still make sense why it doesnt do it at all after the first restart and why it doesnt stop doing it no matter how long you keep the pc on untill you do the first restart.

How long does the advanced scan take on average on a 200 gb harddrive with about 100 gb in use?

Okay, obviously that noise is coming from your HDD. That is not a good thing, it goes away after a reboot. This is not supposed to happen. You can get what you want off that HDD now, and then finish the diagnostic, no matter how long it takes, or get it off later. Or, if you wait too long, you may lose everything on your HDD.

As for how long it takes? There is no way of telling that, especially when you have weird noises coming from your HDD. If it is screwed up, maybe the diagnostic will take twice as long as it would on an empty drive, never mind with a drive with 100gig on it. If you don't want to watch the diagnostic(no point anyhow), let it run overnight.

If you run the diagnostic, and it gives you an RMA code, you can get your new HDD pre-shipped, which means they get your credit card number, and pre-ship you a new HDD. When you receive the new drive, drop yours into their packaging(that way your butt is covered if the old HDD is damaged during shipping) and send it to them. Your CC doesn't get charged anything, and you get a new HDD faster. If your old HDD is still working when you get the new one, that's the time to swap your files over, then fire it off to them.

Since your HDD just started making the noise, something is wrong, that goes without saying. If you don't do the diagnostic, it's my opinion you're just prolonging the inevitable, noises like that are not good, something is going to fail. It did not make the noise when it was new, it makes it now. Something is wrong. HDD's don't fix themselves, they only get worse. I see two options here:

1) Let the diagnostic run, if you get an RMA code, have a new one pre-shipped, swap the files over when you get it, and smile about not losing anything.

2) Wait and see if the noise goes away(highly unlikely). Wait for the HDD to die. If it totally fries, you may not be able to run a diagnostic on it, and won't be able to get an RMA code, which means no pre-shipped HDD, which means a long time without any HDD at all.

Option 1 is the better deal. :)
 
A cheaper possible fix is to switch out the IDE connectors and make sure they are fully seated properly. I had the same problem and it turned out to be bad (fairly new) connectors, not the drive.
 
I dunno what IDE connectors are and it's probably for the best if I dont start pulling plugs in my PC. Brundle Fly, I'll do #1 as soon as possible. I think the shop I bought the HD from (and built the PC) can give me a new HD already if they see the RMA code as well so it might go even faster that way. How long does it take to get the HD to europe with the #1 option (approx 1 week, 1 month, 3 months???)?

What if I dont get a RMA code?
 
Niklas said:
I dunno what IDE connectors are and it's probably for the best if I dont start pulling plugs in my PC. Brundle Fly, I'll do #1 as soon as possible. I think the shop I bought the HD from (and built the PC) can give me a new HD already if they see the RMA code as well so it might go even faster that way. How long does it take to get the HD to europe with the #1 option (approx 1 week, 1 month, 3 months???)?

What if I dont get a RMA code?

Your HDD will be shipped from the closest place to you in Europe. But, even better, you say you can bring it back to where you bought it, that's a major bonus, 99.99% of shops will give you a new HDD immediately with an RMA code, nothing beats that. :thup:

If they're close by, I'd get my files off the HDD, run the diagnostic, if I got an RMA code, I'd take a tour down to the shop and explain to them what's up. No RMA code, I'd bring the HDD down, explain to them about the noise, let them spin it up, and they'd probably RMA it for you.

It doesn't cost the shop a penny, they end up with a very happy customer, who passes along that they are good people to deal with. Win/win situation for everyone. :)

The IDE cable is the flat cable that plugs into the back of your HDD, and connects to your motherboard, about 2 inches/3cm wide.
 
If the shop you bought your system at actually built the system for you, I'd take the tower down to the shop, then let them have a listen to the HDD. That way, you're covered, you didn't pull the HDD, so there's no chance you dropped it on the way down to the shop. Once they hear the noise for themselves, they won't be able to ignore it, I mean, if they say there's nothing wrong, and you're back a week later with a dead HDD, they'll look like complete morons.

You must have some kind of warranty on the system, best to let them listen to it anyhow. Noises from HDD's are never a good thing, it's been my experience that once weird noises start, it's only a matter of time before the HDD croaks.
 
Yeah, I'll do that. I might email them about this first though and send them a copy of the sound as well.
 
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