PC won't boot, making a clicking noise

missionman · 10 Jun 2010

Hey guys,

Recently came home from work and found my computer turned off (it was on when I left) I figured a simple Windows update...but to my dismay when I came to turn on my computer I heard this weird clicking noise (see video) I need to specify that the sound IS NOT emanating from the hard drives. In the video I disconnected the power source to all peripheral devices (Bluray drive, graphics card, hard drives) and the sound remains. The computer will not boot. I've also read in some other forums that this type of clicking noise (with about a 3 second gap) would indicate a RAM issue. I've removed all my RAM sticks but one, and then tried again...the sound remains (I tried this using another stick to avoid the chance that the stick I left in there was the defective one). I should also note that in this video I have not pressed the power button located at the front of the computer, I have tried this, and nothing happens (clicking sound ensues) the blue light for power goes on and off at the same frequency as the power on the motherboard.

I'm a little dumbfounded at the moment. Does anyone have any ideas?

Here's the youtube link, it may offer more information
YouTube - Computer won't boot, making a clicking sound.AVI

Here are my computer's specs (copy pasted from this site)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU: i7 960
Motherboard: Gigabyte X58A-UD7 LGA 1366
Memory: 12GB DDR3 Crucial
Graphics Card(s): XFX Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 765 MHz 1GB DDR5

Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB
Western Digital My Book Home Edition 1TB
Western Digital My Book 1TB

Case: Antec p193
Cooling: Nexus FLC-3000 92MM CPU Heatsink
Power Supply: Antec CP-850

severedsolo · 10 Jun 2010

You have what is known as the click of death.

Basically, your hard drive is dying.... If there is anything on there you want, get it into another computer QUICKLY and make backups. and then replace it.... obviously

Click of death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

missionman · 11 Jun 2010

severedsolo said:

You have what is known as the click of death.

Basically, your hard drive is dying.... If there is anything on there you want, get it into another computer QUICKLY and make backups. and then replace it.... obviously

Click of death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But wouldn't it stop clicking once the hard drives were disconnected?

kodi · 11 Jun 2010

Could be Power supply tripping on and off

Phone Man · 11 Jun 2010

My first guess would be Power Supply. Here is a link for a testing method. The trick is to short pin 15 (Black - Ground) & 16 (Green - Power On) on the 24pin power connector and this should allow the power supply to come on. You can check the voltages with a meter or a quick test would be to plug in a fan to the power supply. Read the instruction and if you have any questions, please post back before testing.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolso...multimeter.htm

Here is a quick Tutorial on this site. Check it out first.

PSU - Jump Start

Jim

missionman · 12 Jun 2010

Phone Man said:

My first guess would be Power Supply. Here is a link for a testing method. The trick is to short pin 15 (Black - Ground) & 16 (Green - Power On) on the 24pin power connector and this should allow the power supply to come on. You can check the voltages with a meter or a quick test would be to plug in a fan to the power supply. Read the instruction and if you have any questions, please post back before testing.

PSU Test - How to Manually Test a Power Supply With a Multimeter - Test PSU

Here is a quick Tutorial on this site. Check it out first.

PSU - Jump Start

Jim

Thanks alot for the response Jim,

I will be doing the test later on it the day. But just to clarify, would the "Click Of Death" still occur even if power as been cut-off from the drives? It seems logical that it wouldn't but I've been surprised by weirder things when it comes to the internal workings of this fascinating machine we call our computer.

severedsolo · 12 Jun 2010

No it wouldn't :) sorry missionman... that was me not reading the thread properly. I saw "the computers clicking" and assumed "Click of Death"

fishnbanjo · 12 Jun 2010

It could be the power supply fan if it has ball bearing or a component is failing in the PSU. Did you find out why it was off, i.e. family member, power failure, lightning storm etc?

chev65 · 12 Jun 2010

Does it sound anything like this one?
YouTube - Computer won't boot, making a clicking sound.AVI

missionman · 14 Jun 2010

chev65 said:

Does it sound anything like this one?
YouTube - Computer won't boot, making a clicking sound.AVI

thats the video I posted....

After doing the testing as Jim so elegantly explained the problem seems to be surprisingly, and sadly isolated to my motherboard.

I first used the multimeter to get power read-outs for the power supply and everythying checked out fine.

1. I took my cp-850 and put it in another computer and it booted up fine.

2. Took another power supply and put it in my desktop that is the source of the problem and the same "click on/off" problem continued to occur.

At this point since nothing else was connected to my computer other than the PSU and the motherboard. I find it hard not to say that the motherboard is not the source of the problem. I'll be contacting Gigabyte shortly to get a replacement.

OHH FUN!

THanks to everyone for their help