Windows 7: strange tapping sound

Roburite · 19 Jan 2013

I keep hearing a strange tapping sound from my laptop computer. It is just like the old windows assistant noise in XP when that annoying paperclip man would show up. It sounds like a paperclip tapping on glass. It seems to occur randomly or at least I haven't identified any connecting factor. It even occurs when I'm not actively using the computer. This tapping noise isn't in my windows sound scheme. What worries me most is that the computer may have identified someting I should be dealing with. Has anyone else come across this? What is causing it?

brummyfan · 20 Jan 2013

Hi, welcome to the forums, right click the speaker in task bar, select Sounds and adjust the settings as you prefer, you could see that I have set "None" for start navigation(snip). HTH.

Roburite · 21 Jan 2013

Thanks for your response Brummyfan. My concern isn't so much the noise but that I don't know what is launching it. Sounds usually accompany an event or action and since it isn't something that I'm doing then why is it happening?

fireberd · 21 Jan 2013

Is the sound coming from the speakers or inside the PC?

Roburite · 21 Jan 2013

The sound is from the speakers. Do you remember the paperclip man in WinXP?

fireberd · 22 Jan 2013

Can't say that I remember the paperclip man, so I can't relate to the sound.

There are a lot of posts (here and other forums) about "popping and crackling" in audio. Unfortunately there is no "one fix" for this problem. Things that have been found that can cause this are wi-fi, sound and video drivers, external sources such as a cell phone or wireless phone close to the PC, etc.

jc836 · 22 Jan 2013

Are you positive that it is a sound coming from the speakers? I had an issue with a hard drive making a tapping sort of sound intermittently. If you have a replacement available give it a try-this solution worked for me.

Windows 7: strange tapping sound

strange tapping sound problems?