Repetitive grinding sound from CPU

arana1963 · 10-12-2008, 11:17 PM

I am getting this repetitive grinding sound from my CPU. It is most likely from the hard drive. This sound repeats every 5 seconds (approx). The funny thing is I am not able to see any affect on the performance of the PC. This phenomenon has been going on for last one week and it is getting on my nerves....

Help please

**BCCOMP** · 10-12-2008, 11:46 PM

Hi Arana1963,
Welcome to TSF.
Your PC is making a noise (repetitive grinding)?
This is not the CPU as the CPU has no moving parts.
Chances are (as you state) it maybe the HD.
Does it sound like a scratchy clicking sound?
If so, it is your Harddrive and it will get on your nerves.
You had best backup all your data while you still can.
This sound indicates the HD is about to fail!
It is possible that a fan or something else is making the noise, but from your description I would guess the HD.
Bill

arana1963 · 10-13-2008, 01:38 AM

Hey Bill Thanx...

I found the source of the noise. It was that ancient thing in my CPU which I have not used for a long time...Floppy drive!!! I disabled it and now I am rid of that pestering noise.
But guess what, two more colleagues of mine have approached me with this problem!! Although I have given the same advice, I think there is more to this than all the floppy drives conking off together... I am still trying to investigate...

arana1963 · 10-13-2008, 03:18 AM

Ok the reason for the floppy drive making noise has been found. It appears that the my PC including those of my colleagues had been infected with a virus!!. The virus was trying to write into the floppy (and probably in other removable disks as well). But since there was no floppy in the drive, the mechanical sound of the drive was being heared....Now I have got to find the anti-virus for this since my Symantec programme has not been able to detect it.....any solutions??

**BCCOMP** · 10-13-2008, 06:59 AM

Hmm, never heard of a virus doing that, but anything is possible.
Seeing I am not a virus expert I suggest you run through these steps:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...oval-help.html
Once done post this in the HJL forum:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...this-log-help/
Have you checked out some of the obvious things?
Such as a program that has the A: drive saving or running causing the A: to search constantly (ex. Anti-virus, MS Navigator, MS Office).
In the mean time I will give a shot out to others.
Thanks,
Bill

dai · 10-13-2008, 11:02 AM

disable the floppy seek in the bios
i had the problem awhile ago cannot remember where i found the setting to check floppy on boot but once i disabled it the problem was gone

mommabear · 10-13-2008, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arana1963

Ok the reason for the floppy drive making noise has been found. It appears that the my PC including those of my colleagues had been infected with a virus!!. The virus was trying to write into the floppy (and probably in other removable disks as well). But since there was no floppy in the drive, the mechanical sound of the drive was being heared....Now I have got to find the anti-virus for this since my Symantec programme has not been able to detect it.....any solutions??

If your antivirus hasn't detected it, you might not have a virus. I went through the same thing a few years back. My A: drive kept trying to access "something", hence, the noise.

In my case, it happened to me the first time when I ran a small program's exe from a floppy disk. Then I did it to myself again a second time a few weeks later, when I opened a notepad file on a floppy disk, instead of copying it first to my hdd. I fixed mine by searching the registry for the offending file extensions, and if there was a path to a: drive, I deleted it.

Quote:

1. Open the registry editor.
(Start>Run Regedit will do it)
2. Go to the following key: HKEY CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts
3. Scroll down the list of file extensions to the one for which you want to edit or clear the list.
4. Click the + to expand OpenWithList
5. In the right pane, you should see a list of programs (for example, Word.exe, notepad.exe, etc.).
6. Click the one(s) you want to remove. Press the Delete key.

If this doesn't remove the program(s) you want to remove,

* Go to: HKEY CLASSES ROOT
* Scroll to the desired file extension
* Click OpenWithList, and remove the program there
(The settings under HKEY CURRENT USER apply only when your user account is logged on. The ones under HKEY CLASSES ROOT apply to all users).

And then I did it again. lol! I forgot and opened a Word document in a: drive. I went into Word options and de-selected Save AutoRecover information every: 10 min. Rebooted, and it was fixed. Then I turned AutoRecover back on and it stayed fixed.

I later found this tip from Fred Langa's website, which might take care of it easier.

Quote:

LANGA LIST TIPS:
Actually, there are several possible reasons for this behavior. One of the most common is that the floppy drive is in the "Path" that Windows searches when it's looking for a file to open or save. When there's no floppy in the drive, the drive heads seeks several times (and you hear "puka puka puka...") until Windows realizes there's nothing there to read, and gives up.

The Path is usually set in your Autoexec.bat file. There are several ways of seeing (and editing) what's in your Autoexec, but the one that works on all versions of Windows is to open Notepad, and then use File/Open to open the Autoexec.bat file, usually located in the C:\ directory.

In the Autoexec, you'll usually see a Path statement: this tells Windows where to look for files and in what order.

For example, PATH = A:\; C:\; C:\WINDOWS;...

would instruct Windows to look to retrieve or save files first on the A: drive, then in the root directory of the C drive, then in the windows directory on C:, and so on. Generally speaking, a Path shouldn't contain any references to any floppy drives because by their nature, they're used for temporary storage and often won't even have a disk in them.

To prevent this, just delete the reference to the floppy. In the above example, the Path would read PATH = C:\; C:\WINDOWS;... Reboot after saving your edit, and you're done.

(If your system doesn't have an Autoexec.bat, just create a standard text file with Notepad and either save it as or rename it to c:\autoexec.bat; that's all there is to it.)

Sometimes, especially after installing software from a floppy, the A: drive may be temporarily appended to the path, leading to the same effect---but this goes away after a reboot.

There are other ways you can get unwanted floppy activity, but those are the prime culprits!

Another tip is to clean out (delete) the recently opened documents list in the start menu.

Good luck!

arana1963 · 10-13-2008, 11:17 PM

Hey thanx mommabear!! But like I told earlier, this problem is not only with my PC, it is also with six other colleagues' PC in my office. Even my PC at home has started showing the same symptoms (floppy disk sound). Last night I even managed a floppy disket and inserted the same into the floppy drive.....then I opened the explorer to have a look at what was happening in the A: drive...I saw a Setup.exe program being installed in the A drive and then getting removed on its own....again and again repetitively!!!....What is going on???

arana1963 · 10-13-2008, 11:36 PM

I have checked again with a floppy in another machine and I saw an autorun.INF and setup.EXE file on the floppy disk. Both these files get written and then becomes hidden repetitively. I managed to open the autorun.inf file. It is as follows: -
[AutoRun]
open=setup.EXE
;shell\open=open(&O)
shell\open\command=setup.EXE
shell\open\Default=1
;shell\explore=Manager(&X)
shell\explore\command=setup.EXE
I had the common sense not to open the other file...somebody tell me whats going on please...

dai · 10-14-2008, 01:43 AM

check for an infection follow the 5 steps here
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=15968

arana1963 · 10-14-2008, 02:03 AM

done that....none of the programs as mentioned

Thanx

**BCCOMP** · 10-14-2008, 06:09 AM

I think you have a virus and are passing it around from PC to PC via the floppy disk.
If you have done the 5 steps, have you posted the results in the security forum as mentioned?
We are unable to assist in the open forum on spyware and viruses. TSF has well trained people in the security forum and recommends only these people to deal with this issue.
Bill

**jenae** · 10-14-2008, 02:58 PM

Hi, when you open a cd or floppy and autoplay is active windows will check the autorun.inf file in the root directory of the drive. Now badly coded software does NOT prompt you and attemps to run. Windows will prevent this in the registry exists "AutoPlayBlock list". One item on this list is setup.exe. Hence the constant chatter chatter as autorun executes and autoplayblocklist prevents. You could turn OFF autoplay and execute this setup file manually or remove setup.exe from the block list. I do think this behaviour is unusual so I would be checking the source. Have you posted in the security forum if so go back and have them get you to run "silent runners"

Here is the registry entries for this:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\AutoplayHandlers\CancelAutoplay\Files]
"*setup*.exe"=""
"*instal*.exe"=""
"*setup*.bat"=""
"*instal*.bat"=""
"*setup*.cmd"=""
"*instal*.cmd"=""
"*setup*.com"=""
"*instal*.com"=""
"Y?kle*"=""
"Felrak.exe"=""
"Imposta.exe"=""
"KUR.exe"=""
"Ayarla.exe"=""
"sfc2.ico"=""
"evanims"=""
"00000001.tmp"=""
"updmoney.exe"=""
"hs\\media\\y\\11399\\11399_cd_fp.jpg"=""
"hs\\media\\y\\9953\\9953_cd_fp.jpg"=""
"hs\\media\\y\\9951\\9951_cd_fp.jpg"=""
"hs\\media\\y\\9964\\9964_cd_fp.jpg"=""
"hs\\media\\y\\9968\\9968_cd_fp.jpg"=""
"ROTSRES2\\WPN_MOD\\WPN_RES\\WPN_VS4.MOV"=""
"ROTSRES3\\TMP_MOD\\TMP_RES\\TMP_SPVL.MOV"=""
"LotFiles\\Samurai.lot"=""
"ff7\\movies\\u_ropein.avi"=""
"GAME\\COURSES\\WHISTLER.CRZ"=""
"GAME\\ANI\\SHIRLE_1.SSF"=""
"Data\\speech.VDF"=""
"main\\Pak2.pk3"=""
"disk2\\wizm.rar"=""

Had a thought you could "edit " the autorun.inf file (use notepad) and remove the setup.exe entry.

10-12-2008, 11:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Repetitive grinding sound from CPU I am getting this repetitive grinding sound from my CPU. It is most likely from the hard drive. This sound repeats every 5 seconds (approx). The funny thing is I am not able to see any affect on the performance of the PC. This phenomenon has been going on for last one week and it is getting on my nerves.... Help please

10-12-2008, 11:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
BCCOMP Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 7,009 OS: Win XP SP3 / Windows 7 Beta / Open Suse My System	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Hi Arana1963, Welcome to TSF. Your PC is making a noise (repetitive grinding)? This is not the CPU as the CPU has no moving parts. Chances are (as you state) it maybe the HD. Does it sound like a scratchy clicking sound? If so, it is your Harddrive and it will get on your nerves. You had best backup all your data while you still can. This sound indicates the HD is about to fail! It is possible that a fan or something else is making the noise, but from your description I would guess the HD. Bill __________________ PC Wizard \| Everest \| Power supply info \| Memtest86+ PC Running Slow Speedfan

10-13-2008, 01:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Hey Bill Thanx... I found the source of the noise. It was that ancient thing in my CPU which I have not used for a long time...Floppy drive!!! I disabled it and now I am rid of that pestering noise. But guess what, two more colleagues of mine have approached me with this problem!! Although I have given the same advice, I think there is more to this than all the floppy drives conking off together... I am still trying to investigate...

10-13-2008, 03:18 AM	#4 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Ok the reason for the floppy drive making noise has been found. It appears that the my PC including those of my colleagues had been infected with a virus!!. The virus was trying to write into the floppy (and probably in other removable disks as well). But since there was no floppy in the drive, the mechanical sound of the drive was being heared....Now I have got to find the anti-virus for this since my Symantec programme has not been able to detect it.....any solutions??

10-13-2008, 06:59 AM	#5 (permalink)
BCCOMP Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 7,009 OS: Win XP SP3 / Windows 7 Beta / Open Suse My System	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Hmm, never heard of a virus doing that, but anything is possible. Seeing I am not a virus expert I suggest you run through these steps: http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...oval-help.html Once done post this in the HJL forum: http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...this-log-help/ Have you checked out some of the obvious things? Such as a program that has the A: drive saving or running causing the A: to search constantly (ex. Anti-virus, MS Navigator, MS Office). In the mean time I will give a shot out to others. Thanks, Bill __________________ PC Wizard \| Everest \| Power supply info \| Memtest86+ PC Running Slow Speedfan

10-13-2008, 11:02 AM	#6 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,539 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU disable the floppy seek in the bios i had the problem awhile ago cannot remember where i found the setting to check floppy on boot but once i disabled it the problem was gone __________________ Last edited by dai; 10-13-2008 at 11:13 AM.

10-13-2008, 11:17 PM	#8 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Hey thanx mommabear!! But like I told earlier, this problem is not only with my PC, it is also with six other colleagues' PC in my office. Even my PC at home has started showing the same symptoms (floppy disk sound). Last night I even managed a floppy disket and inserted the same into the floppy drive.....then I opened the explorer to have a look at what was happening in the A: drive...I saw a Setup.exe program being installed in the A drive and then getting removed on its own....again and again repetitively!!!....What is going on???

10-13-2008, 11:36 PM	#9 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU I have checked again with a floppy in another machine and I saw an autorun.INF and setup.EXE file on the floppy disk. Both these files get written and then becomes hidden repetitively. I managed to open the autorun.inf file. It is as follows: - [AutoRun] open=setup.EXE ;shell\open=open(&O) shell\open\command=setup.EXE shell\open\Default=1 ;shell\explore=Manager(&X) shell\explore\command=setup.EXE I had the common sense not to open the other file...somebody tell me whats going on please...

10-14-2008, 01:43 AM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,539 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU check for an infection follow the 5 steps here http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=15968 __________________

10-14-2008, 02:03 AM	#11 (permalink)
arana1963 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 7 OS: winxp	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU done that....none of the programs as mentioned Thanx

10-14-2008, 06:09 AM	#12 (permalink)
BCCOMP Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 7,009 OS: Win XP SP3 / Windows 7 Beta / Open Suse My System	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU I think you have a virus and are passing it around from PC to PC via the floppy disk. If you have done the 5 steps, have you posted the results in the security forum as mentioned? We are unable to assist in the open forum on spyware and viruses. TSF has well trained people in the security forum and recommends only these people to deal with this issue. Bill __________________ PC Wizard \| Everest \| Power supply info \| Memtest86+ PC Running Slow Speedfan

10-14-2008, 02:58 PM	#13 (permalink)
jenae Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,304 OS: XP & Vista	Re: Repetitive grinding sound from CPU Hi, when you open a cd or floppy and autoplay is active windows will check the autorun.inf file in the root directory of the drive. Now badly coded software does NOT prompt you and attemps to run. Windows will prevent this in the registry exists "AutoPlayBlock list". One item on this list is setup.exe. Hence the constant chatter chatter as autorun executes and autoplayblocklist prevents. You could turn OFF autoplay and execute this setup file manually or remove setup.exe from the block list. I do think this behaviour is unusual so I would be checking the source. Have you posted in the security forum if so go back and have them get you to run "silent runners" Here is the registry entries for this:- Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\AutoplayHandlers\CancelAutoplay\Files] "setup.exe"="" "instal.exe"="" "setup.bat"="" "instal.bat"="" "setup.cmd"="" "instal.cmd"="" "setup.com"="" "instal.com"="" "Y?kle"="" "Felrak.exe"="" "Imposta.exe"="" "KUR.exe"="" "Ayarla.exe"="" "sfc2.ico"="" "evanims"="" "00000001.tmp"="" "updmoney.exe"="" "hs\\media\\y\\11399\\11399_cd_fp.jpg"="" "hs\\media\\y\\9953\\9953_cd_fp.jpg"="" "hs\\media\\y\\9951\\9951_cd_fp.jpg"="" "hs\\media\\y\\9964\\9964_cd_fp.jpg"="" "hs\\media\\y\\9968\\9968_cd_fp.jpg"="" "ROTSRES2\\WPN_MOD\\WPN_RES\\WPN_VS4.MOV"="" "ROTSRES3\\TMP_MOD\\TMP_RES\\TMP_SPVL.MOV"="" "LotFiles\\Samurai.lot"="" "ff7\\movies\\u_ropein.avi"="" "GAME\\COURSES\\WHISTLER.CRZ"="" "GAME\\ANI\\SHIRLE_1.SSF"="" "Data\\speech.VDF"="" "main\\Pak2.pk3"="" "disk2\\wizm.rar"="" Had a thought you could "edit " the autorun.inf file (use notepad) and remove the setup.exe entry. __________________ Last edited by jenae; 10-14-2008 at 03:22 PM.*