[ineedhelp :-)]

i couldn't find a place for general computer support- move this thread where it's supposed to go, please.
anyway, i have a dell computer that i got two years ago---and now every once in a while it makes a clicking sound, like a switch turning on and off- it's quite loud and quite annoying. what is it, and how can i fix it? thanks!:4-dontkno

 

[koala]

Is the sound coming from the case or the speakers? Do you notice it during heavy hard drive activity, for example when moving files or running antivirus scans?

Check in BIOS to make sure you have SMART enabled. This is an early warning system that should indicate any imminent hard drive failures.

Download the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic disk to run some tests.

 

[ineedhelp :-)]

it is coming from inside the case.
i leave my computer on all night and sometimes it does it then... so i dont think there is a certain time.
umm...how do i know which diagnostic disk to use?
thanks for the help!

 

[ineedhelp :-)]

...and how do i enable smart?

 

[proanimaluver]

HEY now im concerned!! fried my motherboard a couple of nights ago and lucked up on a friend that her mom was selling her comp. well its a DELL and its making the clicking noise too!! also it sound realy loud booting up and has a slight ringing noise ? all the time . my 13 yr old even commented on it . im paying 300 for dimension 2400 256 ram and intel pentium 4 proc. 2.53ghz. and just when i went to support to se what ive got once it was through and info came up it made a loud noise like cliking or kinda sounded like taken a comb across something. i hope i explained the noise well enough.

 

[koala]

ineedhelp .... Not all BIOSes have the SMART feature. Tap the delete key at startup to enter BIOS and go through the options to find SMART.

What motherboard and hard drive do you have? You can use Everest to find this and any other system information.




Proanimaluver .... Open the case and see if you can find where the clicking is coming from. If it's the fans, they're easy to replace. Or it could just be a cable rubbing against the fan blades.

If it's the hard drive, run the manufacturer's diagnostic utility to find any errors. When the hard drive starts clicking, it's usually the click of death which can't be repaired. Backup any important data and replace the drive.

 

[ineedhelp :-)]

motherboard: Dell Dimension 4700

Hard drive- Maxtor 7Y250M0 (232 GB)

 

[koala]

Download PowerMax, the Maxtor diagnostics utilty, and run it to create a floppy disk. Reboot and change the boot order in BIOS to 'floppy first', insert the floppy, save settings and exit. PowerMax will find any problems with the hard drive. If it doesn't find any, then we can look at what else might be causing the clicking noise.

Note: PowerMax does not run from within Windows. Do not try to run the utility from an MS-DOS prompt window.

 

[ineedhelp :-)]

agh. it says my hard drive is failing. this is a pretty new computer too!
what now?

 

[Terrister]

Is it under warranty?

 

[ineedhelp :-)]

i don't know- is there any repair software for this kind of thing? I'll have to check on the warrenty.

 

[Terrister]

enter your service tag # in the below site to check your warranty.
http://support.dell.com/support/top...systems_info/en/details?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs