Click of death first aid

uly · 03-28-2006, 09:38 PM

I had left my Dell Inspiron notebook runninig overnight, and I have just, minutes ago, been woken up by what I believed to be the click of death. It was a rather loud noise that, on retrospect, could have been a malfunctioning fan as well. Well, the click of death was my first reaction, though, so I immediately did a hard power-off, unplugged everything and stuck the whole thing into my fridge.

I've only very recently heard about the whole sticking-near-dead-harddrive-into-fridge thing, so it came very timely. But like I said, I'm actually not so sure about what actually happened, as I'd never heard the click of death before. So two questions immediately popped up. First, the obvious: what to do? And second, possibly more importantly: is it a dumb move to stick the entire notebook into the fridge? Do I risk damaging, say, the LCD by subjecting it to that temperature?

Spektyr · 03-28-2006, 10:03 PM

No idea on the first one... I'm new to playing techie for notebooks. I haven't heard of the click of death.

The second one... I can't imagine it being a problem if you're talking about the fridge rather than the freezer. Think about it: you don't hear them saying "it's too cold to take your laptop outside", right? A decent winter's day in most of North America is colder than the average refridgerator. The main concern would be condensation caused by reducing the temperature. Probably best to just pop the battery out beforehand just in case.

Aside from that I can't really see how it could hurt.

uly · 03-29-2006, 12:45 AM

Thanks for the response.
Yeah, that was my reasoning, too. But unfortunately I was talking about the freezer, and in my slumber I didn't even think about taking out the battery. Well, now it's been rescued from the freezer and moved into the fridge fridge. But I'm not going to find out if that did any damage until someone can answer the first question...

Volt-Schwibe · 03-29-2006, 12:55 AM

i noticed you started two threads on this subject. please try not to do that in the future, as it just confuses things to have to follow both.

but, to answer the question, i saw a manager at a food packaging facility forget a laptop in the freezer for an entire weekend.

they came back on monday, and realized they couldn't find it. they started looking around, and found it in the freezer, open and everything. it had sat there until the battery went dead. he brought it back to his desk, waited 10 mins, and plugged it in.

started right up, no problems whatsoever, and as far as i know, still works.

one thing i did note, was that the outside of it was sweating while it was sitting there running, and so i was worried about it, but it seemed to be fine.

and that was a food service freezer, uaually far below 0 degrees farenheit.

**Terrister** · 03-29-2006, 06:27 AM

The freezer thing is JUST for the hard drive. I do not think it is a good idea to put the entire laptop in the freezer.

I only use the freezer thing as a last resort. It MUST be put in a ziplock type bag and left in over night.

Try the manufactors diag program for your hard drive 1st. See if it can tell you what is wrong. You should be able to find it here. http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

uly · 03-29-2006, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Volt-Schwibe

i noticed you started two threads on this subject.

Actually, the two post concern different questions. The one I posted in the harddrive forum concerns the harddrive, and in this post I ask specifically about putting notebooks in fridges. I see how it can seem like cross-posting, but I don't think it's inappropriate if you look at the content.

That said, I tried powering on the notebook to the POST screen (stopping before the HD starts spinning), and I don't think it's done any harm to the notebook itself. Thanks for all the info, I will now try to diagnose the HD.

**RZA** · 03-29-2006, 08:04 AM

So..what did the click of death sound like??

uly · 03-29-2006, 08:25 AM

It's pretty hard to describe. I've had harddrive failures before (several years ago). It wasn't quite the click of death, but it sounded like the initial click you get when inserting a floppy -- only more accute.

The "click" I got last night was actually not that clicky at all. It sounded like a raving engine's vroom but without the pops, so I suspect it could be the fan as well. It was loud enough to wake me, though, and it changed pitched halfway. So, like I said, it's hard to describe.

I tried to open up the notebook but without success so far; didn't want to do anything rough. Is there some kind of guide out there for notebook disections?

Volt-Schwibe · 03-29-2006, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uly

Actually, the two post concern different questions. The one I posted in the harddrive forum concerns the harddrive, and in this post I ask specifically about putting notebooks in fridges. I see how it can seem like cross-posting, but I don't think it's inappropriate if you look at the content.

no, you are right, i didn't actually read them. :p

but, before i would have deleted or merged them, i would have noticed they were different.

sorry to raise an alarm.

Spektyr · 03-29-2006, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uly

It's pretty hard to describe. I've had harddrive failures before (several years ago). It wasn't quite the click of death, but it sounded like the initial click you get when inserting a floppy -- only more accute.

So the click of death is not a hard drive failure? What is it? I'm guessing probably an electrical failure of a motherboard component? If you lose a capacitor or resistor completely and instantly (which is basically a rapid conversion from solid to gas) it will make a loud pop. As we used to say in the Navy, that lets the magic smoke out. (The magic smoke being what makes electronics work. Once it gets out, they're dead.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by uly

The "click" I got last night was actually not that clicky at all. It sounded like a raving engine's vroom but without the pops, so I suspect it could be the fan as well. It was loud enough to wake me, though, and it changed pitched halfway. So, like I said, it's hard to describe.

Yeah, if it's something that sounds like it could be linked to a object in rotation it's probably a fan, especially if it happened when the computer was not in use. The hard drive shouldn't really be spinning much (if at all) when the computer's idle. Not to mention I would think that if the hard drive were making sounds like that it would be long dead. The bearings in a fan can make a wide range of frightening noises.

Typically, whenever I have a desktop that starts making "bad" fan noises I just pull fans one by one until I find the bad one and replace it. I used to wait until failure, but that turned out to be much too expensive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uly

I tried to open up the notebook but without success so far; didn't want to do anything rough. Is there some kind of guide out there for notebook disections?

If you look hard enough you can probably find a service guide online. Dell actually has theirs available. Just go to the service area of their website, put in your laptop model, and look in "User Guides and Manuals". It's infinitely more useful than their tech support.

uly · 04-01-2006, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spektyr

So the click of death is not a hard drive failure?

No, I wasn't clear enough. What I meant to say that I had a HD failure with a different computer a few years ago but didn't get the click of death. So yes, the click of death is a HD failure thing.

Well, I finally succeeded in taking out the harddrive and did a few testings. I'm happy to report that, in the end, the HD was working fine. The sound was a false alarm, as far as I could tell. I didn't find out the cause, though, so I can only guess that it was some dust getting jammed in the fan or something.

03-28-2006, 09:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
uly Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 103 OS: WinXP SP3	Click of death first aid I had left my Dell Inspiron notebook runninig overnight, and I have just, minutes ago, been woken up by what I believed to be the click of death. It was a rather loud noise that, on retrospect, could have been a malfunctioning fan as well. Well, the click of death was my first reaction, though, so I immediately did a hard power-off, unplugged everything and stuck the whole thing into my fridge. I've only very recently heard about the whole sticking-near-dead-harddrive-into-fridge thing, so it came very timely. But like I said, I'm actually not so sure about what actually happened, as I'd never heard the click of death before. So two questions immediately popped up. First, the obvious: what to do? And second, possibly more importantly: is it a dumb move to stick the entire notebook into the fridge? Do I risk damaging, say, the LCD by subjecting it to that temperature?

03-29-2006, 12:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
Volt-Schwibe Asst. Manager, Automotive Forums; HJT Trainee Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Behind you, watching you as you type. Posts: 7,352 OS: Click "My System" to view details My System	i noticed you started two threads on this subject. please try not to do that in the future, as it just confuses things to have to follow both. but, to answer the question, i saw a manager at a food packaging facility forget a laptop in the freezer for an entire weekend. they came back on monday, and realized they couldn't find it. they started looking around, and found it in the freezer, open and everything. it had sat there until the battery went dead. he brought it back to his desk, waited 10 mins, and plugged it in. started right up, no problems whatsoever, and as far as i know, still works. one thing i did note, was that the outside of it was sweating while it was sitting there running, and so i was worried about it, but it seemed to be fine. and that was a food service freezer, uaually far below 0 degrees farenheit. __________________ <signature> TSF is funded by our Admin's pocket, care to help? Power Tip: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. New Members: Creating a single new thread in the correct section is the best way to assure your thread will receive a reply. </signature>

03-29-2006, 06:27 AM	#5 (permalink)
Terrister Moderator Hardware Forum Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: West Georgia, USA Posts: 7,098 OS: Xp	The freezer thing is JUST for the hard drive. I do not think it is a good idea to put the entire laptop in the freezer. I only use the freezer thing as a last resort. It MUST be put in a ziplock type bag and left in over night. Try the manufactors diag program for your hard drive 1st. See if it can tell you what is wrong. You should be able to find it here. http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 __________________

03-29-2006, 08:04 AM	#7 (permalink)
RZA Student of the Art Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Scar town, T dot Posts: 1,642 OS: XP /98 /2000 My System	So..what did the click of death sound like?? __________________ AM2 X2 3800 - Gigabyte GAM51GM - BGF7900GS OC - 2GBDDR2 - 360GB - Antec 550w - Samsung 19" LCD

03-28-2006, 10:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
Spektyr Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 102 OS: XP, Vista Home & Ultimate / Ubuntu "Hardy Heron"	No idea on the first one... I'm new to playing techie for notebooks. I haven't heard of the click of death. The second one... I can't imagine it being a problem if you're talking about the fridge rather than the freezer. Think about it: you don't hear them saying "it's too cold to take your laptop outside", right? A decent winter's day in most of North America is colder than the average refridgerator. The main concern would be condensation caused by reducing the temperature. Probably best to just pop the battery out beforehand just in case. Aside from that I can't really see how it could hurt.

03-29-2006, 12:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
uly Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 103 OS: WinXP SP3	Thanks for the response. Yeah, that was my reasoning, too. But unfortunately I was talking about the freezer, and in my slumber I didn't even think about taking out the battery. Well, now it's been rescued from the freezer and moved into the fridge fridge. But I'm not going to find out if that did any damage until someone can answer the first question...

03-29-2006, 08:25 AM	#8 (permalink)
uly Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 103 OS: WinXP SP3	It's pretty hard to describe. I've had harddrive failures before (several years ago). It wasn't quite the click of death, but it sounded like the initial click you get when inserting a floppy -- only more accute. The "click" I got last night was actually not that clicky at all. It sounded like a raving engine's vroom but without the pops, so I suspect it could be the fan as well. It was loud enough to wake me, though, and it changed pitched halfway. So, like I said, it's hard to describe. I tried to open up the notebook but without success so far; didn't want to do anything rough. Is there some kind of guide out there for notebook disections?