I was online checking email when I heard the weirdest sound I've ever heard.  At first I thought is was ONE of those banner ads with sound but the sound was coming from the tower (!) and not the speakers.

Witnesses describe the noise as a clicking, like a rotary phone (if you remember them). Or a ticktock, like a mechanical or wind-up toy. Maybe something like a cuckoo clock?

This sound goes for a couple minutes, then the computer just shut down with out warning. The next thing you see is the monitor saying "no SIGNAL."

I never even dreamed a computer could make a sound like that.  We have no idea what to make of it.*baffled* Basically, everyone was "*censored*"....

I run XP Home Edition on a eMachines T3256. It's 2 1/2 years old...

Thanks.

PS That was 2 weeks ago and my comp SEEMS to be back to normal. But just to be on the safe side, most of my hard drive is backed up now...
well it sounds to me like your one of the fans is busted , its the only thing i can think off , and its also shutting down , im thinking your system fan is broken and your cpu is overheating = automatic shutdown..... or a wire of some sort was caught in your system fan making the sound and everyime to started up it would flick itself out , but when it was LEFT in for a while it would go back into the fan....just a THEORY