So my computer died

[Lazerr]

Title says it all, I can log in to the desktop, and get the task manager open.  But the computer is non responsive.

The system idle process is at 99, and the computer is making a slight clicking sound, similar to when you open the game, but much shorter.  I've been having issues with this periodically for the last few months, but now it's constant.

Is the processor bad?

I attempted to show the task manager so you can see what I see.

[Lazerr]

Let me add this is an 10 yr old dell xps with and upgraded power supply, gpu.  I don't even think it's responsive enough to run a dxdiag on.

[The Fugitive]

Are all the fans running? A CPU can heat up really fast and shut down, clicking might be the blades hitting something.

[Lazerr]

Are all the fans running? A CPU can heat up really fast and shut down, clicking might be the blades hitting something.

The clicking I described is when the computer is "thinking", it doesn't sound mechanical and has done it since it was new.

[oboe]

One time after a move, one or two of my CPU's heatsink/fan plastic anchors pulled out of the motherboard, and my CPU was overheating and shutting down.   Might want to check the heatsink attachment.

Might deserve a disassembly and inspection and some new thermal paste.

Can you get to system temps from the BIOS before Windows loads?

[Drano]

Hard drive gone bad? Be my guess. Clicks of death. The CPU doesn't make any noise at all. Try feeling the hard drive and see if you can tell if the click is actually coming from there.

As for the rest I'd start with a thorough cleaning out of the case. Dust bunnies will get ya. I take mine outside and hit it with a leaf blower now and then. Just tie up the fans so they don't turn. They can become little generators and throwing voltage into the fan headers the wrong way can cause problems too. Blow out the PSU too.

Now that you have it open maybe reseat the CPU cooler? Clean off and replace the thermal paste too. It goes bad and if you hadn't for ten years it's way overdue.

If you do that and it's still making random clicking its time for a new hard drive. Back up what you can first and see about an SSD. They're cheaper these days and no moving parts.

Oh and stop watching so much porn! And the Brewers suck! Give up a run in the 9th. I needed that shutout for my 13 run pool!

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[Busher]

I would start by seeing if your local computer service business can clone your hard drive to an SSD. It sounds like hard drive failure to me.

[Bizman]

Since the CPU is idle 99% of the time it's not something CPU intensive running in the background. The memory usage is also very low so it's not that either.

Try booting into Safe Mode by hitting F8 (assuming that really is Windows 7) at boot to see if it's more responsive there. If it's better there, copy all your data to an external media. Cloning the entire disk to another isn't a bad idea either.

If the HDD is original, after ten years it has served well!

There's plenty of tricks to try AFTER you've got your data safe in case the HDD bricks in the testing/repairing attempts.

[AKQwik]

I vote HDD, I've had many die through the years.

[Lazerr]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll dig in this weekend and report back!

[SIK1]

I just replaced the hdd in one of my computers because it was dying. One of the symptoms was the clicking sound. I was lucky enough that there was enough life left in the hdd that I was able to successfully clone it. It was easy to do with the software that came with the new Crucial ssd.

 
Sik

[Eagler]

Old hhd click when they go bad as they spin to retrieve data

SSD drives do not make any noise as they are just memory

My guess is hard drive or its controller on the motherboard

Eagler

[Drano]

The good news is you noticed this was happening. It's basically your hard drive saying, "Hey bud? I'm about to die over here." So if you act quickly and get another drive, preferably an SSD and clone the dying one to that you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to do. Just a few mouse clicks and I know you know how to run one of them! Don't let it go. It'll be that one time you'll go to start and it won't even click and that's gonna be the end of that. Make sure the new drive is at least as big or better yet, bigger than the old one. Smaller is right out, just don't.

If you can get it onto the SSD you'll notice faster boots and programs loading. Otherwise, everything will be in the same place it was before. And they're perfectly quiet.

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[Lazerr]

The good news is you noticed this was happening. It's basically your hard drive saying, "Hey bud? I'm about to die over here." So if you act quickly and get another drive, preferably an SSD and clone the dying one to that you'll be good to go. It's easy enough to do. Just a few mouse clicks and I know you know how to run one of them! Don't let it go. It'll be that one time you'll go to start and it won't even click and that's gonna be the end of that. Make sure the new drive is at least as big or better yet, bigger than the old one. Smaller is right out, just don't.

If you can get it onto the SSD you'll notice faster boots and programs loading. Otherwise, everything will be in the same place it was before. And they're perfectly quiet.

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You got any recommendations for how to videos or SSD?  I don't use it much, just aces.


Ps.  The dodgers suck 

[Drano]

They kinda do just now!

Anyway, check this one out. Jay does a good job of explaining the process here.

https://youtu.be/jZBDluCITmE

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