Jimellow

Lately my computer has been making a physical clicking sound within the case. The clicks vary; sometimes it's just one, others it's many repetitive clicks. After the initial click(s), the computer freezes entirely, and only resumes after more clicks. I can't move the mouse or perform any actions when the computer is in this frozen state.

Furthermore, on occasion the clicks are so rampant and closely spaced that the computer will reboot entirely on its own.

I've taken the case off and listened, and if seemed that the clicking sound was coming from the front portion of the computer, specifically near the hard drives, though it's surprisingly difficult to pinpoint a sound in a such a small and confined area.

The computer is a Dell Dimension Pentium III 866MHZ, with 256 MB of RAM. I've formatted in the past, and if I remember correctly this may have been an issue with this computer at some point in the past, and I'm not entirely sure if I did something to resolve the issue (formatting, perhaps), or if it resolved itself.

I've run virus and spyware scans, and generally have minimal programs running in the background. The computer serves a basic purpose and does it well, with the exception of this recent issue that is becoming rather annoying and limiting.

I noticed recently that if I am watching a video and the clicking begins, the audio will cut out, and then a short while later, the video will start to stutter as well. Perhaps that could be of value to resolving the issue, or perhaps not.

I would suspect it's a hardware issue, on the basis that the clicking is the result of a physical piece of hardware making it, but perhaps a program is initiating the clicking. I can go a stretch of use and not experience the clicking, and other times will experience it often. I suspect it could relate to a specific part of the hard drive being bad, and thus only clicking when that portion is accessed, but that's only a theory and based on little more than a hunch.

The computer just clicked while I was typing this message, and there was no delay. Perhaps there are varying degrees of severity in regards to the clicks and if they aren't severe enough the computer continues working uninterrupted.

If anyone has thoughts, comments, feedback, or any sort of advice, please share it.

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dogzilla

That does sound like a hard drive failing. The software gets an error reading or writing and retries one or more times by trying to reset the read/write head in the disk, which is how you get the click. The operating system may lock up waiting for the retry operation as well.

This can happen with CDs or DVDs as well, same idea.

If you have important data on that disk and you're not doing anything with CDs or DVDs, I'd try to back it up now.

SecretMethod70

Turn off your computer. Buy a new hard drive. Turn it on and hope all your files copy over before the hard drive dies.

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Martian

Warning: Head crash imminent.

Back up the crucial data asap.

...

Pentium III 866? That's a coppermine, m'boy. Gotta be, what? 2000? 2001?

Might be time to look into an upgrade. 8 years is a damn good lifespan for a PC.

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Jimellow

Thanks for the replies.

In regards to a new hard drive... I'd likely be buying internal, and going to Newegg, as the prices there seem reasonable and I've used them once or twice in the past.

What sort of compatibility issues should I be concerned about?

Would I be able to install it myself? I've installed a new graphics card and other "PC Card" type devices, but internal hard drives seem a bit more secluded and embedded in the computer's case.

Does anyone have any recommendations in regards to which hard drive I should buy specifically, or how much I should spend? The computer is about eight years old or so, and I'd be a bit concerned about one I find being incompatible and/or too new for my system.

In the meantime, I will back up the data I need, though my main concern is getting a new hard drive up and running while I still am able to access my computer. I've formatted and reinstalled before, but it's reassuring to have some control in regards to when a format occurs, and not just have it stop working at an unspecified time.

Thanks again for the replies and assistance. If anyone is familiar with hard drives and could recommend a specific model, or even link one on Newegg or another site, it would be very helpful. Given the age of the computer and the fact that I'm not looking to invest a lot of money into it at this point, I'd like to find value and an acceptable amount of reliability for a piece of hardware that is going to be installed into a computer that is over eight years old.

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Wyodiver33

Jimellow, the biggest compatibility concern is the this: Newer drives are Serial ATA (SATA), older drives like yours are Parallel ATA (PATA). The SATA drives will not work in your computer. Well, you can get an adapter, but I don't recommend that.

Here's a Newegg link: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJB 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Good price, and probably much larger than the old drive. I, of course, can't guarantee that the drive will work in that old of a computer, but it should.

Best of luck!

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Lasereth

Yeah that hard drive is on its death bed. Good luck.

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Jimellow

Thanks for the replies.

I had an even older PC (15 years?) in my basement, and as a experiment, pulled the hard drive out of that (2 GB, I think) and installed it into my Dell Dimension. I am going to format and attempt to install Windows XP on this drive and see if I can use it until the new drive I orders arrives.

To this point, it has been a learning experience for me... I've learned how to remove the front case and plastic casing, as well as both hard drives from the respective computers and install the functioning, albeit old, hard drive in the newer computer. It's certainly a satisfying feeling to be able to do these type of things myself, and it's nice to have the option of attempting to fix/replace a hardware concern without having to rely on others.

I will likely order the hard drive referenced in this thread. So far, the old hard drive I installed appears to work, and while I don't expect much in terms of using it, I am glad I got the experience from learning how to remove and install a hard drive from my computer.

If anyone ends up searching for this thread as a result of having similar problems with their Dell Dimension 4100 hard drive, I came across a well written and diagramed guide that instructs how to remove the various casings and hardware so that one can remove/replace the hard drive itself. That guide can be found here: Removing and Replacing Parts: Dell Dimension 4100 System Reference.

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Wyodiver33

There's no better way to learn how to fix computers than to, well, fix a computer, Lol. If you had taken your computer to a shop for repair they would have charged you a lot and probably would have lied to you in order to coerce you into buying things you don't need. It really is satisfying to be able to fix your own stuff. You should think about eventually building your own system. As long as you take the time to do proper research it's really not that hard.

Give us an update when you get the new hard drive. Keep in mind, my recommendation of that drive was after a quick search on Newegg. It's a fine drive, I like Western Digital a lot, and I thought the price was fair. But you don't Have to get that one. Just make sure that you get ATA 100 or ATA 133, not Serial ATA (SATA.) Let me know if you have any questions.

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Jimellow

Sounds good. I have no reason not to give the one you recommended a shot, so I probably will.

In regards to my oldest hard drive that I attempted install Windows XP on... It started clicking and not making progress at 95% of the formatting process, and I suspect its failure was ultimately what resulted in me buying a new computer (the one I use currently) so many years ago.

After discovering that the very old hard drive was essentially a paperweight, I got a hammer and screwdriver out and pried the casing apart to get a look inside. It's pretty interesting and I'm glad I did it.

The harddrive I took apart was in fact 2 GB and was made in 1996. I re-inserted the current hard drive and tried starting up the PC, but it's been a click fest lately, and occasionally I will receive a boot error before the system loads Windows.

I'm very intrigued by what specifically is causing the hard drive to try and access bad sectors, but given that the clicking occurs at no set time and often when no programs or running, it's likely something running in the background that isn't referenced/used all the time (which would explain why I can sometimes use the computer for extended periods without issues), but when it the data is attempted to be accessed, it starts clicking, and ultimately restarts the computer most of the time. Interesting stuff.

The computer and hard drive has served me well to date, especially for being over eight years old. If I can keep it going at the cost of investing in a new hard drive, I will give that a shot, as I don't use the computer for demanding things lately and it generally serves a very basic purpose.

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Jimellow

The hard drive arrived today. After installing it and Windows XP, all seems to be well.

__________________
Desperation is no excuse for lowering one's standards.