Hard Drive Clicks Off, PC Freezes 30~ Seconds Later

Haelian · 04-18-2007, 03:42 PM

Did a search of all forums and checked recent topics but couldn't find a problem similar to mine.

Problem started a month or so ago after I left World of Warcraft on for a couple of hours by itself. After I had come back my PC was frozen, which hasn't really happened since I put it together that I can remember. Since then it's been doing it regularly, often when I'm not around but when I am, I can hear the hard drive clicking off (stops spinning) and then 30 seconds later the screen freezes. I have to reset the PC then and everything will load fine, more or less. It won't do it right away after I turn the PC back on, it will usually be several hours before it will happen again. I tried looking for other solutions and found similar problems but no clear solution to it. The hard drive seems to be the most likely cuplrit though.

I read that it could be the power supply because some capacitors may have burst within it. I use 5 or 6 out of the 6 USB ports on the PC, but two things (external HD and external DVD burner) use their own power cords. It's a decent PSU specs wise (see below) that came with the case not even a year ago (I had also bought a new hard drive, graphics card, a stick of RAM, motherboard and processor at the same time).

Hard drive: Western Digital 320GB IDE (Also a 80GB WD external hard drive for misc. storage).
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
Motherboard: Asrock Dual Series (939DUAL-SATA2)
Power Supply: TURBOLINK SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY 12V 500W Max (ATX-CW 500P4)
RAM: 1GB of Corsair and 512MB of uh... a different brand I believe (I know, I know, don't mix and match. But they've worked fine together for a long time).
CD Drives: 1 very old Plextor CD Reader and 1 not-so-old-but-still-kinda-old DVD reader.

I don't recall installing a new software at the time in particular, nor connecting any hardware really. I'm not sure what the exact problem is, could be the hard drive dieing (not even a year old though) or it could be the PSU maybe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Duckster · 04-18-2007, 04:02 PM

Well, it may be many things but it's possibly an over heat problem, is it in an open area with good air flow?

Haelian · 04-18-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duckster

Well, it may be many things but it's possibly an over heat problem, is it in an open area with good air flow?

Yes, it has 3 fans running throughout the case and the case itself has 2 thermometer-wire-things that monitor the heat their on. I put on on the hard drive (stays around 21-24 C) and another in the heatsink of the processor (typically anywhere from 24 C when idle to 32 C when playing a demanding game).

I did recently dust the entire PC off with a can of air which lowered temperatures a bit. I believe I did it after the problem started though, so I don't think I damaged anything while doing it.

Duckster · 04-18-2007, 04:56 PM

Wow, well ventilated for sure, Check your hardware for damages. There's memory diagnostic tests (give you the link in just a moment) and also go to your HDD manufacturers website and DL the HDD diagnostics.

Duckster · 04-18-2007, 05:02 PM

http://www.memtest.org/ There you go.

04-18-2007, 03:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
Haelian Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 3 OS: WinXP	Hard Drive Clicks Off, PC Freezes 30~ Seconds Later Did a search of all forums and checked recent topics but couldn't find a problem similar to mine. Problem started a month or so ago after I left World of Warcraft on for a couple of hours by itself. After I had come back my PC was frozen, which hasn't really happened since I put it together that I can remember. Since then it's been doing it regularly, often when I'm not around but when I am, I can hear the hard drive clicking off (stops spinning) and then 30 seconds later the screen freezes. I have to reset the PC then and everything will load fine, more or less. It won't do it right away after I turn the PC back on, it will usually be several hours before it will happen again. I tried looking for other solutions and found similar problems but no clear solution to it. The hard drive seems to be the most likely cuplrit though. I read that it could be the power supply because some capacitors may have burst within it. I use 5 or 6 out of the 6 USB ports on the PC, but two things (external HD and external DVD burner) use their own power cords. It's a decent PSU specs wise (see below) that came with the case not even a year ago (I had also bought a new hard drive, graphics card, a stick of RAM, motherboard and processor at the same time). Hard drive: Western Digital 320GB IDE (Also a 80GB WD external hard drive for misc. storage). Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ Graphics Card: ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB Motherboard: Asrock Dual Series (939DUAL-SATA2) Power Supply: TURBOLINK SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY 12V 500W Max (ATX-CW 500P4) RAM: 1GB of Corsair and 512MB of uh... a different brand I believe (I know, I know, don't mix and match. But they've worked fine together for a long time). CD Drives: 1 very old Plextor CD Reader and 1 not-so-old-but-still-kinda-old DVD reader. I don't recall installing a new software at the time in particular, nor connecting any hardware really. I'm not sure what the exact problem is, could be the hard drive dieing (not even a year old though) or it could be the PSU maybe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

04-18-2007, 04:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
Duckster Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manitoba, Canada Posts: 257 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit My System	Re: Hard Drive Clicks Off, PC Freezes 30~ Seconds Later Well, it may be many things but it's possibly an over heat problem, is it in an open area with good air flow? __________________ Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. - Martin Luther King Jr.

04-18-2007, 04:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
Duckster Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manitoba, Canada Posts: 257 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit My System	Re: Hard Drive Clicks Off, PC Freezes 30~ Seconds Later Wow, well ventilated for sure, Check your hardware for damages. There's memory diagnostic tests (give you the link in just a moment) and also go to your HDD manufacturers website and DL the HDD diagnostics. __________________ Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. - Martin Luther King Jr.

04-18-2007, 05:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
Duckster Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manitoba, Canada Posts: 257 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit My System	Re: Hard Drive Clicks Off, PC Freezes 30~ Seconds Later http://www.memtest.org/ There you go. __________________ Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. - Martin Luther King Jr.