Computer won't boot and is making clicky sounds.

imattacus

Honorable
Jul 14, 2013
13
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10,510
I left my PC unattended for a few hours with Civ 5 running accidently. When I came back the pc had frozen on the win 8 lock screen. I reset the PC and it booted up and BSOD'ed. But, again it froze because it said it would collect information about the crash and the percentage never went up. The error message was Machine_Check_Exception.

Now, the computer won't turn on - the lights light up but it won't boot and it just makes 2 clicking sounds every 5 seconds or so.

I've cleaned out all the insides incase dust was causing it to overheat but this did not fix the problem.

The specs of my system:
Intel i7 930
Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB Hard Drive
Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL SATA Optical Drive
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3 iX58 Socket 1366 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Geforce GT 210
Coolermaster Elite 460W PSU

What could the problem be?
Also - I was looking to upgrade my system anyway with the following items: http://www.ebuyer.com/lists/list/205893
Would these items fix my problem?
Is the AMD stuff better than the Intel stuff?
Would my current PSU be able to support these things?
Are all of these upgrades necessary? I'd obviously rather not buy too much stuff.
 
Solution


In my experience when I had something similar happen to me in the past and it turned out the hard drive was bad. The end result was to replace the drive but i was able to work around the problem by opening the case and placing the drive on it's side while powering up the system. My guess was that the arm that moves across the platters became stuck. I suggest giving that a try.
 
Solution

imattacus

Honorable
Jul 14, 2013
13
0
10,510
I thought it may have been the hard drive but I'm not seeing any bios or anything when turning the machine on. If the hard drive was the problem surely I'd still see the bios and post?
 

imattacus

Honorable
Jul 14, 2013
13
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10,510
Just completely disconnected hard drive and removed it from the machine, still making the clicks sounds so it must be something else. There is no sounds coming from inside the hard drive whilst I move it around or jiggle it a little bit - I don't know if that's good or bad thing..
 
Since the drive doesn't seem to be the problem you will need to try and isolate the location of the noise. Besides the fans and possibly an optical drive spinning I can't think of any other mechanical parts that could make clicking noises.
 

imattacus

Honorable
Jul 14, 2013
13
0
10,510
I will try to isolate where the sound is coming from in a bit. Seeing as I was looking at upgrading my computer before this tragic incident occured however. I would also like some advice on building a completely new PC (I might make a new thread if I don't get many answers here).

I have an ebuyer list here of the components that I am considering purchasing for the new PC: http://www.ebuyer.com/lists/list/206017

Are all of the things listed there compatible with each other?

I want to use the optical drive (Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL SATA Optical Drive) and the hard drive (Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB Hard Drive) from the old machine in this new PC. Would both of those things work okay?

I have a corsair h60 self contained liquid cooling system in the old PC, I had a coolermaster elite 330 case - the h60 didn't properly fit into the old machine so I drilled some holes onto the side panel for the case to mount the h60's fan and radiator onto. I don't want this to be the case for the new PC - so will a corsair h60 fit in a coolermaster elite 430 properly?

In order to prevent me from spending additional unnecessary money - I have a gigabyte socket 1136 mobo. Can you just confirm this will not work with the newer intel sandy or ivybridge CPU's? Is the performance of the AMD fx-8320 comparable to the newer gen intel CPU's? Or is that not a very good CPU?

I know very little about AMD - what are the main differences from intel and will the AMD cpu I've selected work with the motherboard I've selected?

Why would I spend more money on a more expensive motherboard? Should I?

Will the 500w psu supplied with the case be able to support all of the things I want?

Sorry for all the questions! Don't want to make any mistakes!!