Hard Drive Issue?

[GRNET NYR]

Hi! I'm at my wits end here. About 4-5 months ago I started experiencing random lock up with my rig that was accompanied by a very distinct "click". Now this "click" sound is something that always happens during the boot sequence. After this issue first cropped up it was suggested to me that my Maxtor HD (Model 6Y080P0) was failing, so I replaced it with a Western Digital (Model WD800JB). After recieving my replacement drive and getting my files copied over I thought all was well (the "click" noise I described before continued to occur on boot up). However a short time later the problem returned, in a different form. The "click" sound would occur during normal operation but unlike with my Maxtor drive installed the system would not freeze, only hang, while that was ocuring it sounded as if the HD was spinning up then down. So I looked to my new Antec 430 Truepower as a possible culprit. I RMA'd it back to the retailer and used my back up 350 Antec Smart power in the mean time. However the porblem started happening with that PSU installed. Now here's where it gets more expensive. After consulting with a more knowleageable friend of mine and bouncing ideas off him I bit the bullet and purchased a new Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard to replace my old P4PE. For the past 2 months the problem went away, but low and behold it has returned twice. The past two times however I've looked at a molex splitter that came with my ATi 9800 pro as a possible culprit. Anyone ever hear of something like this? Its driving me nuts! Thanks a bunch!

Motherboard: Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
CPU: Intel Pentium 4b @ 2400 mhz (533mhz fsb)
GPU: ATi Radeon 9800PRO 128MB (Built by ATi) -- Omega 4.7 Drivers
Hard Drive: Western Digital Model WD800JB
RAM: 1.0 GB of Cruical PC2700
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
PSU: Antec True Power @ 430 watts
Case: Antec SX635BII
HSF: Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu
Case Cooling: 3 80mm Case Fans (2 Intake, 1 Exhaust)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've had occasion problems with a "click", and then HD spindown/spinup happening. First I thought that it was the HD, then the cables, and now I've tracked it down, I think, to the molex socket on my WD 160GB JB drive. With the computer off, when I wiggle the molex, it makes a slight mechnical "click" sound, like perhaps there is a poor solder joint there. Next time that I have time to work on it when the computer is off, I might pull the drive and re-solder the connector. I've heard that this is often an issue with some of the recent-model HDs.

(I already went through and re-crimped/adjusted the molex connectors off of the PSU and the splitters that I have installed, in case those were getting loose and causing the problem. But the most recent spindown episode proved that not to be the case, although I may still have an issue there, as when I recently moved my PC, the top two optical drives didn't show up during boot, and unplugged/re-plugging their molexes seemed to fix it.)