Compaq Presario XP Home. After some 20 mins of browsing, HDD started clicking. I could hear the heads sweeping back and forth. This went on for about three or four minutes (I thought Microsoft was loading an update). Computer then shut down. Rebooting failed on Windows start page or Compaq splash page. Tried rebooting in safe mode and last good version, didn't work. I ran Compaq HDD diagnostic and it reported no problems. The next day I tried booting again and it booted up fully. I started Spybot S&D and after about 10 minutes, the HDD started slamming again. Ctrl+Alt+Del would not work and Alt+F4 several times would not shut it down. I used the power button to turn off the computer as this was the only thing that would work.
Is it possible that I have a corrupted RAM stick (2 Gigs installed on two sticks)? If the RAM is exhausted it would try to use virtual memory on the HDD. I can try to run a RAM diagnostic from MS, but I don't want to kill the HDD if I can get my files transfered to my backup computer. (My important files are on a thumb drive, but there is a lot of stuff I wan't to strip off the HDD if I can get it to limp along long enough. I am thinking of booting off a CD to do this.
Any suggestions are much appreciated.
RM
That certainly doesn't sound good, I'd associate clicking sounds with a failing drive, I suggest getting you're data off as being the priority at this stage, if the drive is on the way out, it could go at any time, so get the files first, then investigate with further scans after is my best advice currently.
Assuming the drive wont allow you too boot to, or stay open in a working environment long enough to get the data, I suggest trying Puppy Linux, it loads to the ram, it doesn't touch the drive, and once loaded you can mount the problem drive, then move data off (assuming you can access it), my hope is that even if it's been corrupted from loading a working system, you would still be able to access the drive to save the data before it's too late.
Once the data is saved, then identify the maker of you're hard drive, often the BIOS shows a code that is obvious to the maker, or that a quick search will easily reveal, once identified go to that makers site, and download they're utility to scan the drive, do an extended scan, and see what that reports, then go from there, hope this gets you started at least.
Thank you for your prompt reply, 8210guy. That is the plan I had come up with overnight. I have PuppyLinux already. I can pull the drive out and check the manufacturer. I did run the HDD check that Compaq had loaded on the recovery partition and the full scan came up clean. Any chance that it might be a RAM problem forcing the HDD to do a lot of extra work? Once I have my stuff saved off the drive I could check that by pulling one stick and then the other and see what happens.
RM
Well I can't say it's not possible, but to me the only time a drive clicks is when it is starting too fail, if the drive was simply spinning up then yes I would look elsewhere, but from what you have said the drive is my suspect at this time.
The fact that the Compaq scan found nothing wrong doesn't mean much to me TBH, I dealt with a system like that which came with it's own diagnostic software, and it too said all was well, but it turned out the drive was failing in that one as well, my guess is these scans are not that deep in nature, you need to do an extended scan to get a better idea, and even then, just because the report says all is well, it isn't always right.
One of my Raptor's was failing, and even though the WD scans said it was OK, but WD tech support called it and replaced it based on my tests\scans etc, and the only scan that set that drive aside from the other 2 was Speed Fan, it showed the temp to be higher than the other 2, yet they were all directly by a fan, crazy sometimes lol.
Anyway save the data, then run the extended scan on the drive, if you want to remove the ram from the equation, put the drive in a working system as a slave, then scan it in there, that completely removes the ram from it, then if the clicking has stopped, of the scan says it's good, then test the ram a stick at a time, you could do that anyway if you want peace of mind, but lets see what the drive says to begin with.
Thanks for your advice and for sharing your experience 8210guy. With so little to go on, it is impossible to be certain. I intend to follow your advice and scrape the HDD of those files which I did not back up and then play with the various other components. If I find somethin definitive, I will post the results here so that we can add one more bit of experience to the wisdom.
RM
NP, thats what sites like this are for, ultimately you are the person there with the equipment, and you're own judgement plays a large part at times, as you know the noises that change, the feel of the way it's working, all we can do is advise based on what we are told, and for most of us the only thing that sets us aside is the varied systems\problems we have encountered, and can relate to other situations.
A bit like a knocking noise in you're car, one mechanic may have no idea whats causing it, but another who has dealt with similar before can go straight to it, so it's all good, heres hoping that the solution becomes an obvious one.
