Computer specifications :
Brand : Dell
Model : Dimension 4700
OS : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 version 2002.
RAM : 1GB
Processor : Intel P4 2.8 GHz
Note - I have had the computer for about 3 and a half years.

Problem :
At random times i get a weird ticking noise, then the blue screen of death.
It never used happen the first year i had my computer. I have reformated my hardrive
and reinstalled Windows for different reasons on different occasions. This hasn't changed anything.

Tell me if you need anymore information.

Ticking sounds.............I have in front of me a broken hard disk without the cover and when I spin it, there is a sort of ticking sound coming from the arm. Maybe your hard disk is dying.....but that's just a guess......

What are you doing when it starts ticking? Playing a game? Surfing the net?Its USUALLY random. The last couple of times i was surfing the net. Yesterday it did it because i opened lime wire.  Sometimes it happens when i'm not doing anything. I occasionally leave my computer on over night. 50% of the time i wake up and it has the blue screen. It  has gone from once a week (About 1 and a half ago) to 3 times a day (now).i've had lots of hard drives die and give me the blue screen before dying occasional times.... i had to back up my files immediately after i realised that's what it was. half the time when they did i didn't even get the chance to BACKUP, but it sounds like your problem is similar  i feel for you if it isYou said you've tried formatting and it didn't work... I don't KNOW what else might make a ticking sound...Its been going on for about 2 years. Getting better (not doing it for about a month), then getting worse (3 times a day), then better again. Right now its at its worst ever. Its really annoying. Dont you think it would have died by now? I might be able to check that place where windows keeps logs of stuff. If i can remember where it is  .

Edit: Event viewer. Thats what its called. I will check it now.yeah but the more hard drive activity there is, the more strenuous it is on the hard drive... if he formats it, that's strenuous, aggravating the problem if it is indeed the hard drive itself... has it gotten worse since it started doing this?i see.... so over all.. it's worse.. have any other hard drives?How about lets first check it is the hard drive.

Jahuro, open your computer case and turn it on.
(don't touch anything in case you give it a static shock)

Do something like open Lime Wire again and see where the ticking is coming from, then post back.I have a 20 gig hard drive which i took out of a computer at school which was in storage. I don't know how old it is. I don't know if its still works (Proberly not now that my dad has put his fingers all over it trying to figure out what it is). I don't know if it has anything on it. well try what *carbon* said and see if the other hard drives works if you think it is your hard drive  it wont really matter if a hard drive has been touched or not, i had one at a park as a soccer BALL substitute and it still  worked  Quote from: jahuro on June 19, 2007, 04:37:22 AM

I have a 20 gig hard drive which i took out of a computer at school which was in storage. I don't know how old it is. I don't know if its still works (Proberly not now that my dad has put his fingers all over it trying to figure out what it is). I don't know if it has anything on it.