Constant clicking noise

I have a HP Pavillion notebook that is running XP home. My problem is that my computer makes a clicking noise constantly. I read on some forums that the hard drive might be failing but when I mute the sound I don't hear the noise. I'm assuming that it is software related.

I've ran AVG (free) but it only found a few adware tracking programs.

Hope someone can help. What should I do?

Thanks,

ZZ

Edited by hamluis, 29 December 2010 - 07:45 AM.
Moved from XP to Internal Hardware ~ Hamluis.

When people say that it might be the hard drive failing, the clicking noise is coming from the computer itself. In your case, I'm guessing it's coming from the speakers (raise and lower the speaker volume and see if the clicking gets louder/softer just to make sure).

You could go into the Sounds settings through the Control Panel and set the Sound scheme to "none".

Great idea! Will this fix the underlying problem that causes the clicking???

No, this will not solve the mystery of the clicking noise. This was suggested so that you could determine if the noise was a glitch with the audio or if it is coming from somewhere else.

If the clicking persists with the volume turned down then it could only be one of a couple of things. A wire possibly being hit by the fan, or the hdd.

What is the model of this notebook?

If we can find out who the manufacturer of the hdd is you can go to their web site where you can download their diagnostic tool to determine the health of your hdd.

In the BIOS, do you have S.M.A.R.T. enabled? If not I would suggest enabling it, this will provide you with a warning if there is an eminent demise of your hdd.

The volume control makes the clicking get louder. Turning the sound settings to off turned off the clicking noise. Its a HP pavillion. Not sure of the hdd drive manufacturer, how would I find this info??

EDIT: I have removed your unrequested, unsuggested HJT log.

HJT is a malware tool and it is not used in the XP or any other forum...to attempt to resolve system or hardware issues. It is to be used for malware and it is not a general troubleshooting tool.

From what has been posted thus far, I would suggest that you follow the suggestions/direction of those attempting to help here in the XP forum.

I should also point out that erroneous submission of HJT or other malware logs...will probably currently result in an 8-day delay in that poster receiving any assistance, due to the time of year, the number of personnel available to diagnose/assist with malware issues in the Log forum, and the increasing numbers of malware which seem to occur daily ~ Hamluis.

Edited by hamluis, 26 December 2010 - 08:26 AM.
Removed HJT log ~ Hamluis.

Since we've targeted the sound to your speakers, it's not going to be a hard drive failure problem.

If you're not noticing any other problems, then I suppose you could just turn off your sound settings, if you don't mind the lack of sounds. If you still like the sounds, then go through each item, click the play button (the triangle near the bottom), and see which one matches yours. You can either report back to see what could possibly be wrong, or you could just turn that on sound off and be done with it.