shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Ok guys I'm very new and I've done a bit of search but I can't seem to find out what gives with my PC.So I'm asking the titans of the MS world for their help.Here is the gigI have a dell 8400 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Pentium IV 3.4 processor1 Gig of Ram80 Gig hard drive on board sound And have just recently picked up a ATI Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB DDR2 / PCI Express And am running Norton UtilitiesYah not the sexiest piece of equipment out there but it works.so here is the gig as of last month things really started going strange on the PC.It works great, starts up and does all the usual stuff except every 10 or so seconds the hard drive has a little hick up and does a little clickat clack. It runs for 10 seconds for no reason.I could be in the middle of reading an article or a word document and the hard drive light comes on and I hear the hard drive spin.If all your doing is surfing the net or typing up a report it won't affect any thing.But when go to play a game every time the hard drive doest its little dance your game will have a momentary hick up/freeze. At first I thought it was the video driver, Dells are known for their very cheap video cards.Mine didn't even have a cooling fan nor a decent heat sink.So I convinced my self and my wife that it was the video card killing its self thus causing the processor to work extra hard. So I went out and picked up the ATI card.Installed it and sure enough it improved things, the PC runs smoother but for the love of god THE DAM HARD DRIVE STILL IS DOING SOME FUNKY READING!What gives!I was up till 1AM trying to figure it out!Ran anti virusRan Ad-Aware SECleaned up the hard drive,Threw away a tone of old stuff that I didn't use any moreDefragmenterChecked the hard driveScreamed at the computerFound a chicken and a virgin and did some voodooMade a donation to Green PeacePleaded with itbut like Hall 2000every few seconds that dam light would come on and the dam hard drive would spin!I'm ready to freaking F disk the HD and start from scratch but guess what!Dell doesn't give you a window CD when you buy their PC's!Aint that nice!So if any of you great minds could help me I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance! And guys.....I'm a dumb a** when it comes to computers ok!A smart guy could fix this so when you give me advice keep it simple ok!Cars / Bikes i'm good at, PC's.....aaah not so good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binarykult Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 mmm, what brand is you hard drive ?depends on it, HD Manufacurers provides free tools to check their drives (eg. : S.M.A.R.T., etc...).I did have the same problem not so long ago, and such a noise is not really encouraging...seems like you drive is going to be ... dead.ANY abnormal noise coming out from a drive when no operations requested is never good...better check it out.Pierre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 well its not bad noise, its the usual sound you get out of a HD when you start up a program.Nothing really loud or unusual.Its the usual but at an unusual rate!Now I've been thinkingthis all started last month when i was trying to install equation editor for my wife to do her labs.I know that while i was installing that i did install a number of other things because at first i coldn't find the program.Do you think i accidently installed some funky MS stuff that keeps looking at the HD looking for some thing?This is driving me nuts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Try out HDTune and tell us if there is anything highlighted in yellow or red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 well i'm not at home, when i get home i'll let you know what that program puts out.Are you guys sure I didn't accidently install some messed up half assed MS file from office when i was trying to install equation editor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binarykult Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 he hard drive has a little hick up and does a little clickat clackhey, what's this ?!I can be wrong, but i think it's not a software problem.My answer can be : Find and boot with a BartPE CD. Wait. Do nothing. Does the noise still appear ? NO > Consider some software to be the problem, and try to find out which one.YES > Consider the problem to be a hardware problem, such as your drive beginning to fail.If this is the case, find you HD Manufacturer URL / Support on the Web to download tools related to it, and try to find out what kind of problem it is (S.M.A.R.T. test, cylinders test, etc, ...)for HITACHI drive, you can try http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm(sorry for bad english ... )Pierre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Pierrethanks mate when i get home i'll look and see what my HD is and if there are any specific tools from that company for checking out its performance. But its bizzar, i can read and write files to the HD.....I'm thinking i should maybe alos kill off office and then reinstall it?God i hope its not some dam bot i picked up some place!That would so suck! hay mates what do you think of thishttp://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t1083.htmlGod give me an engine/car/bike!I can put my hand on it and tell you whats wrong!Computers are like women, no one knows that the hell is wrong with them whey they cry on Tuesdays!And god forbid you ask them "hay whats up?!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binarykult Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 mmm... dunno what to say... except : "every drive have his own story ..." ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 This is a war! On one hand its me! Man! Angry man! On the other its a cold soulless machine who wants to kill me!I think i'll call him Hall 2000 from now on!What really gets me is that i can't F disk my drive because Dell doesn't give you a freaking Windows CD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Ok thank god for the guys at the IT department!Hook them up once with a hot girl and your god!They feel that while i was hunting to install Equation editor i som how accidently installed a part of some database program, and its doing its best to find the data base.They indicated that i should kill off office and start installing it one piece at a time to ensure stability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 So before i get on my bike fly home at 110mph run up three flight of stairs wearing full leather and scream and laugh while killing office what do you guys think?Could an office application do such a thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Soul Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 hmm very strange problem that you have indeed, id say yes and no to your question about the office app, but yes theres always a chance,, id say during this strange occurences that you have with the pc open up windows task manager and see whats actually running,, you may prove its the office app if its system consumptons are higher then normal.well that would be my 2 cents any ways,, but id definatly also run HDTune like turan suggests,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shahsxfx Posted September 29, 2006 Author Share Posted September 29, 2006 How to fix a seriously Fed up computer.Phase one step oneBe reasonalbe, do every thing you know how to do and be nice to it thinking that maybe its sickPhase two step oneGet a bad nights sleep wondering that the F is going on!step twogo to work and ask every one and their brother what they think and what would they dostep three gather some possible soultions Phase threeStep one Ride your bike home at well over 100mph because you are seriously p***ed off.Step twoRum up three flights of stairs decked out looking like DarthStep threeUninstall office and norton turn back or what ever bs they put on the latest norto utilities to save you pc if it is ever killed off by nortonStep four Get angry! Really freaking angry!Step five Stand back put your lid on and scream inside your lid till the face shield is all fogged upStep six Get midevil on its a**! Treat it like a little b***h by giving it one hell of a punchStep sevenrestart pcstep eightinstall office againstep nine take of leather protective motorcycle clothing and go get your self a drink. your pc is just fine and will continue to behave it self for it now fears for its very existance and knows you have no fear about throwing it out of the window and doing doughnuts on its dead guts!Long story shortI'm guessing it was that pesty nortun turn back feature and some corrupted office files.And yes i did puch the pc head on with a closed fist.And all i have to say is "wow, dell makes some really tough stuff!"Attached is the HDTune immage i took of the pc while enjoying my Martini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Anything red or yellow under health? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 except every 10 or so seconds the hard drive has a little hick up and does a little clickat clackBackup your data NOW. Your drive is going to die very soon.This is the infamous 'Click of Death', and it means the end is near. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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