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    Odd sound from M17X (not grinding)

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by PurelySatanic, Nov 23, 2009.

  1. PurelySatanic

    PurelySatanic Notebook Geek

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    So, in the past week, I've had two motherboards replaced, the chassis, and a daughterboard on my laptop.
    Prior to having this done there was no "odd" noise coming from the laptop during operation. However, now there is an "odd" noise that occurs occasionally.
    The best way to describe this noise is the same noise (at least on mine) when you turn on your computer and the hard drive spins to life, it has a kind of "click" as the needle begins to read.
    I noticed that my computer seems to almost freeze when this happens, which does suggest to me at least that there may be a hard drive failure imminent.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks.
     
  2. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    have you done a scan yet of the disk?
     
  3. PurelySatanic

    PurelySatanic Notebook Geek

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    You know, I feel dumb not having done that yet.

    You are referring to chkdsk are you not?
     
  4. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    chkdsk would be good but I would do a surface scan with HDTune assuming you don't have a raid setup. If you have raid use the dell diagnostics dvd.
     
  5. SillyHoney

    SillyHoney Headphone Enthusiast

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    I believe my M17x makes grinding noise. Pretty weak but audible. Does anyone have any idea about it?
    And since my drive is SSD so it does not come from the drive right?
     
  6. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    you'd have to be more descriptive like the OP.
     
  7. PurelySatanic

    PurelySatanic Notebook Geek

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    Alright, I'll do the HDTune scan after I get back from my Comp Sci class today.
    Thanks Mandrake, I'll post my results here.
     
  8. SillyHoney

    SillyHoney Headphone Enthusiast

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    Sorry! Im will look into it!
     
  9. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    how about a youtube video with sound? ;)
     
  10. rdalcroft

    rdalcroft Notebook Guru

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    Sounds like the buzzing i get from the graphics cards, and i don't mean the fans, If you listen to them carefully they buzz in different tones as the screen changes. You notice it more when on battery as the fans are not running loud.
     
  11. PurelySatanic

    PurelySatanic Notebook Geek

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    [​IMG]

    That's the image of the error scan on HDTune, there is supposedly one block that's damaged. Does that warrant a hard drive replacement or is that normal?
     
  12. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    probably not but these types of things tend to get worse. As long as it's marked bad and won't be used you should be OK. You'll need to keep an eye on it.
     
  13. PurelySatanic

    PurelySatanic Notebook Geek

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    Alright, sounds good. I'll do that scan every once and a while. If it gets any worse I'll just get AW to send me another one.

    Thanks again!
     
  14. SillyHoney

    SillyHoney Headphone Enthusiast

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    Yeah! If you can do the diagnostic on that :D

    Actually I looked into my problem but my grinding sound seems to be disappeared. I can't hear it any more. Its a good thing tho.