HDD Loud Click

[RYuReady]

Hi All,

Ok here's my scenario. I had my cousin's AMD XP 3200+ and Abit mobo in my computer. It worked extremely well and was extremely stable. My cousin had my AMD XP 2500+ and ECS (cheapo) mobo. My cousin's computer also ran extremely stable.

Now I swapped the CPU and mobo. My cousin's computer works extremely stable with the 3200+ and Abit mobo.

When I put my 2500+ and ECS mobo in my computer, my HDD will make 1 loud click after a few minutes. After this loud click the mobo doesn't recognize the HDD for quite awile. After 5 or 10 restarts, the mobo can see the HDD again. Then after a few minutes, the 1 loud click happens again and this keeps happening over and over.

Any suggestions on what is wrong?

I don't think it is anything wrong with my parts because it worked fine originally. I'm thinking a compatibility issue? Both mine and my cousin's computer is using the same DDR400 PC3200 Crucial RAM.

My cousin's HDD is a 160GB WD and mine is a 250GB WD.

 

[airfoil]

To rule out nastier possibilities, begin by ensuring the power to the HDD doesn't have a loose connection. You should also check/replace the IDE cable to be sure.

 

[RYuReady]

Hi airfoil,

I have tried different plugs from the PSU. Same issue. I have actually tried to connect the HDD to IDE1 and IDE2, same problem. I did not try a different IDE cable yet. I will let you know.

Thanks.

 

[S0Y73NTGR33N]

Run the western digital diagnostics tool.

This is a link to the ISO file of the tool.

Link

-green

 

[stockjock]

I have never heard a loud click from a HDD be a good thing. Usually means impending death!!

 

[RYuReady]

airfoil:

I tried another IDE cable, same issue

green:

I've run the WD diagnostic tool. I did the quick test and the full media scan. No problems. I realized it made some clicking noises when it finished the full medai scan.

When I reset, my computer it just stays at the detecting IDE drives ... phase.

stockjock:

Yeah I know this sucks. Good thing I don't have any thing important on this drive right now.


Any other ideas? Thanks everyone for your great advice.

 

[Biggerhammer]

Back that puppy up posthaste. You're getting close to my last WD experience

 

[Drakula]

That reminded me of my friend's old Maxtor, it went dead for no reason. But yea, like Biggerhammer said, backup whatever you needed. You probably can ask Western Digital about it, though they probably will just ask you to run the diagnostic tool, but you still might want to ask them to see if they would give some information. Is the BIOS on your computer the latest version? Sometimes BIOS can do tricky things to hard drives too. If you can, take your drive to your friend's computer, a computre that you know is stable, and test it would. You might want to try different PSU if possible, because I saw an article saying bad PSU, even if it is working, can kill your hardware.

 

[RYuReady]

I don't have the luxury to try my stuff on another computer right now. But I will give it a try when I have time. I think I'll give it a few more days and then RMA it to Western Digital.

When I get it back and have the same problem I'll know it's not the HDD.

I don't have anything important on the drive. Backed all the important stuff on my laptop.

 

[ZYFER]

this tends to be a common issue with WD hard drives before they keel over and die, happened to me three times so far, at least you get some kind of warning though, instead of instant death