Processor noise?

[sirjahmez]

Just wondering, but when you are doing something on your computer your processor starts making little clicking noises and the light keeps flashing showing that the processor is working. What exactly is this sound? What is making it?

I have a laptop with a P4 in it and everyone in a while when i'm just surfing online, I'll hear a single loud click and the processor light flash once. Just wondering if such noises is normal? Cause i'll be quiet and the sudden noise just scares me.

 

[GMtheBest]

Hmm, i don't think processors have lights. There is a light on you motherboard but that should be on all the time. I think you are talking about the light on your hard drive or the hdd light on your case that lights up when the disk is being accessed. It is normal for the light to turn on when the disk is being accessed and to make sounds when its being accessed. If the sounds are strange or loud, the drive may be failing. Make sure SMART is enabled in the bios and run hard drive diagnostic software from the manufacturer's site to be sure (Maxtor haas its own utility, other manufacturers should too).

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

i always wondered what that was. it happens and its like some static electricity flowing through something when you do some cpu heavy task.

 

[yourdeardaniel]

the flashing lights is your hard drive working and the loud clicking noise is probably coming from your hard drive. if you hear loud clicking noise all the time then your hard drive is probably going to die soon and you should back up your data asap.

 

[munchow2]

lol it sounds like those clicks are pretty loud if it can scare you.

I don't think I've heard it before from my laptop per se but I'd take yourdeardaniel's advice and back up your data in case.

 

[CheesePoofs]

That is the hard drive being accessed, and the light is the hard drive light. If the clicks happen all the time, even when you are just sitting at the desktop, yoru drive is on its last days. Back up your data QUICKLY.

 

[Jeff7]

Yes, if it is an outright CLICK sound, that is the hard drive.

Some terminology though. The large box is not the processor - that is basically the computer. The computer houses a processor, which is usually a small square thing about 1.5" on a side - that's also called the CPU. That is the brain of the computer.

The hard drive is a rectangular box, maybe 5" x 3.5" wide. That's where the data is stored. It's a mechanical device, and loud clicking is not a good thing coming from it.

 

[Yanagi]

Well you see the processor has trnasistors that switches between 0 and 1. Lets call it left and right instead. and when the processor is working the trasistors are switching as much as they can and thats when you hear the clicking sound























Dont fall for it mkay?

 

[l Xes l]

hard drive..

 

[Jeff7181]

Just to confirm what others have said, that is the hard drive making the noise. It's not something to worry about, it's normal. The only thing to worry about is a "clunk" not a "click" and is usually followed by the sound of the hard drive spinning down.

Hitachi's 7k250 drives are famous for making people think they're failing as they go through some sort of self check I believe about every 24 hours. It's a loud clunk that's pretty disturbing if you don't know to expect it. Hitachi does have a firmware update that prevents it from happening for the people it bothers. I'm content to leave mine as is seeing as though Hitachi aknowledges it and says it's supposed to do that, it's not malfunctioning.