Laptop making click/shift noises...

[SubSonic]

Hello, my sisters laptop is making a sort of clicking and shifting noise... i dont know of any other moving part other than the internal harddrive that might be making the sound.
its an- Acer Aspire 3623WXCi
-Intel Celeron M processor 370(1.5GH, 400 MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
-14.1" WXGA wide TFT LCD
-Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
-40GB HDD
-512MB DDR2 Ram
it makes the sound whenever major activity is present and sometimes whenever if feels like it. it sounds like a clicking or resetting of something.... its not loud but rather soft and very smooth sounding. the sound is coming from the lower right side of the laptop. where your wrist would normally be when typing. any help would be appreciated! thanks~ :T

[Kevin P]

It's the hard drive most likely. Put your ear up to the laptop, and listen for a whirring sound (and clicky chugging sounds while booting up or during heavy drive activity). That's the hard drive.

If it's a soft sound and you don't get any delays during it, it's probably normal. Many hard drives do thermal recalibration every so often, which can cause a click sound. But if you get delays during the clicks, or they're loud or repetitive, then the drive is dying.

The CD/DVD drive could also make noises, but usually only when there is a disc in it.

[dyazdani]

Mine does that too if a lot of CPU power is being used. For example, when I calculate a large spreadsheet that takes a few minutes. In my case it is the cooling fan turning on. It clicks and then the fan goes to a high speed that makes the "whirring" sound.

[aud19]

Yeah if I had to guess I would say it's the hard drive dying as well.

[SubSonic]

Thanks for the responses u guys! :T I guess its checking its temps but thats the first time i heard it from a laptop... i use many of my friends laptops all the time but i guess its only my sisters laptop... the bad thing is that we got it only 4 weeks ago... i put my ear up to it and i hear a soft and smooth whirring sound... and those tiny little "click click click" sounds that even a desktop makes(older ones). and yes, the comp has been acting up... restarting and closing programs... it started this week only... closed vice city on me a few times and even small games. The click are loud and repetative, sometimes. sometimes its 5 clicks, sometimes its 1 click... i suppose we'll have to see what'll happen in a few weeks. :roll:

[Vinny]

Thanks for the responses u guys! :T I guess its checking its temps but thats the first time i heard it from a laptop... i use many of my friends laptops all the time but i guess its only my sisters laptop... the bad thing is that we got it only 4 weeks ago... i put my ear up to it and i hear a soft and smooth whirring sound... and those tiny little "click click click" sounds that even a desktop makes(older ones). and yes, the comp has been acting up... restarting and closing programs... it started this week only... closed vice city on me a few times and even small games. The click are loud and repetative, sometimes. sometimes its 5 clicks, sometimes its 1 click... i suppose we'll have to see what'll happen in a few weeks. :roll:

You would prefer the hard drive either die real quick or do not damage at all.
Luckly that's the case for most of the harddrives on the market. Or you would save everything into the harddrive and it died after you put everything in there(I had the experience once years ago, and lost everything in the computer).

Anyway take the laptop back and ask for a new harddrive, it's only 15mins to replace if they have an extra drive available.

[PewterTA]

If it's hangs what so ever when it clicks, it's the hard drive (though I'd say it's it in general). I've seen enough HDs die and they almost all do the same thing. Definitely get that thing replace quickly before you loose a lot of info.