My PC problem...(Warning: A little long winded!)

[Father Bronze]

I troubleshoot computers at school all the time and when I hear clicking it's usually the hard drive.

Depending on the age of your computer, you might be able to get a temperature reading in the bios. Or try downloading a CPU temperature monitor. I use MBProbe with few problems. If this is an option for you, you could at least eliminate overheating as the source of the problem.

[Animal]

A clicking HD is a very bad thing, usually indicating an impending failure. Having said that though, it won't cause a reboot.

So you unselected the auto reboot feature? Do you get any STOP errors or does it still reboot? A STOP error will indicate a software problem, whereas a reboot will indicate hardware.

Is this the same PC that gave you the corrupt registry problems? If so, are you running an early VIA chipset, as these are known to have problems under XP.

I'd suggest getting your Power Supply checked, but I have a stong hunch that you're running an early Athlon with perhaps a 133 revision of a VIA chipset. If that's the case and you want to keep Win XP, keep saving your money. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[slicer15]

Argh, argh, argh, I knew I forgot something! My CPU is 1.5Ghz, Pentium 4. And it isn't the same clicking as in a dying harddrive. The reboot problem I had since I got it, two years ago this Christmas (so at the mo its about 1.5 years old.) Sorry about this lack of info!

Oh, and I didn't build it myself, the company assembled it for me. I only chose the parts. Simply Computers is the company name, if that helps...

Also, it gives no warning when it reboots. Just stalls, and cuts out.

Thank you very much for all the replies! Help very much appreciated!

[Zero Alpha]

Originally posted by slicer15: Argh, argh, argh, I knew I forgot something! My CPU is 1.5Ghz, Pentium 4. And it isn't the same clicking as in a dying harddrive. The reboot problem I had since I got it, two years ago this Christmas (so at the mo its about 1.5 years old.) Sorry about this lack of info! Oh, and I didn't build it myself, the company assembled it for me. I only chose the parts. Simply Computers is the company name, if that helps... Also, it gives no warning when it reboots. Just stalls, and cuts out. Thank you very much for all the replies! Help very much appreciated!

ive had an idea. check all the fans in your computer. fans can make some strange noises when theyre dying, and if you have a dying PSU (power supply unit) fan or a dodgy cpu fan then everything will overheat and you'll get random resets. try and trace the sourse of the clicking, but it sounds like a fan has gone. much better than a hard drive, if its on the cpu. unfortunatly a new psu could set you back some if you decide to go for an Enermax 550w (not that you'd need such power )

yup, if its a dodgy fan thats alot better. overheating can kill your computer if you exose it too long so deal with the clicking (assumed fan) ASAP

[slicer15]

I know its the harddrive making the sound as when I removed it and connected it to a different PC in the open, it made the same noises when transferring data. I guess its just a loading noise it makes, and I know its not dying, unless it takes over a year to die.