hard drive clicking AFTER pc is turned off

[blackrabbit]

Ok so I started a new System Admin job about a month ago and I'm still getting used to the systems here but there is one system here that is the running joke in the office. They asked me to look into it and try to fix it. They said its been doing this for almost a year yet the computer still works. I got my first taste of it today, one of the developers has a pc running windows 2003 server that was just sitting in his cube (he's out today) and the hard drive light was going nuts and a very loud clicking was coming from the pc. I said to myself "Ah the clicking sound of death" and figured the hard drive was fried... not so.

I went to hold the power button in until it shut off so i could replace the hard drive but the second i pressed the power button the noise stops and the pc boots up into windows. The thing runs fine, no disk errors in the event logs, no noise NOTHING!. I do a shutdown and as soon as the power turns off in the case and all the fans stop... CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK, loud and fast and the HDD light is going nuts. I press the power button and again it boots fine, turn it off same thing. Unplug thw power and plug it back it, click click click. It seems that when the power is turned off it starts going nuts, seems to me it might be a faulty power supply and not the HDD. The people in my department said its been doing this for almost a year and no one has done anything about it becuase the pc still works just fine.

I'm thinking its the power supply and I'm thinking about replacing it before it really dies and catches fire, which I've seen happen several times lol. I've never seen the particular issue though, anyone seen this?

 

[acewarlock]

Instead of powering it down with the power button, thay just pulling the plug and see if it does the same thing. if it doesn't do it then, I would agree it's the PS.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[vacunita]

I second acewarlok. But turn it off first. Pull the power cord from the back, and see if it still does it. If it doesn't then yes it's most likely the PSU. It might have a short that sends just about enough power to the drive to get it to think its going to start up.
Its not enough to get it to run, but enough to make it think it will so it unparks the head and then parks it again when enough power is not found. Which would account for the sound.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[blackrabbit]

after playing with the pc I'm 98% sure its the power supply. the other 2% I'm thinking is maybe a short somewhere in the cables. I would unplug everything and then plug in power and nothing, but if i plugged anything in and then power i would get clicking and if i had the power plugged in and then plugged in something i could hear that tell tale faint "zwap" like when make a psark on the rug. This part scares me though, as I'm working I could have sworn i felt a little tingle in my arm, maybe it was the way I was leaning and i was putting my arm to sleep but still I'm not taking any chances.

 

[acewarlock]

The reason I said to pull the power cord while it was running,is to prove it's not getting any AC like he said the HD light keep flashing after it shut down using the power button.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[blackrabbit]

Well it was the power supply. I replaced it and VOILA no more ticking noise and no more tingly feeling in my arm. lol

 

[vacunita]

Glad you sorted it out. Most likely a short in the power supply, doing what I described earlier.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[G0AOZ]

If this machine has been allowed to sit like that with the hard disk whirring and clicking away for appreciable periods of time, I would also think about possibly replacing the drive. Although it may not be showing as faulty right now, if it's endured that sort of treatment for a while, I'd be somewhat concerned about how long it will last. At the very least, make sure the user is backing up data files very regularly...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[blackrabbit]

Luckily I just implemented a backup routine on all the developer pc's including that one.