[como]

I just bought a new laptop and fired the thing up and noticed that the CPU was making a electrical ticking sound. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU seeing as it's located in a corner with an airvent, and the sound seems to come directly from that location. It isn't loud or anything; I use it in my college classes and it isn't bothersome; but in a quite room, it's pretty noticeable. I noticed that when the CPU ticks a cylindrical symbol above the keyboard flashes in synchronization. I looked in the laptop manual for a legend but it didn't have one for the symbol. Is this normal? If not, any idea on how to fix it?

Thanks

[tomsega]

Well, the CPU lacks the capacity to 'tick', from a mechanical standpoint. If that noise is coming from that general direction it must therefore be the fan. Or the motherboard beeping. Something may have got lodged in maybe, and the fan blades are fwacking it occasionally?

Try and clear dust out of it. I have no idea if laptops can easily/safely be opened as I haven't ever tried. But its not the CPU itself - as far as the ability to 'tick' is concerned it's just an inanimate lump of metal.

[CITech]

Hi Como

I agree with Tomsega that it can't really be anything to do with the CPU's internals, but that light on your keyboard normal indicated activity on your hard drive.

Have you tried running a disc scanner to see whether there are any evident problems with your HDD?

[Ian]

Is it more of a high pitched whine (very very high pitched) or a mechanical sound? If its a whine, then try disabling power mangement of all USB hubs and disable speedstep in the BIOS to narrow it down - if that fixes it, you need a BIOS update.

Sounds silly, but an old D400 and my current laptop both needed this.

[floppybootstomp]

Just a note.

Lots of people actually refer to the main unit of any computer as the 'CPU'.

I've seen tower units of a desktop system refered to as such.

As for what the ticking is, I'd guess that the cylindrical symbol flashing is a definite clue but I'm really not familiar with laptops.

I have fixed a few though and believe me they can be very difficult to take apart and reassemble, to a word of caution there.

The noise could be a relay or on board sounder, but I'm just guessing and haven't a clue what it may mean.

All I can think of is low battery indicator or peripheral unplugged, but I'm clutching at straws.

[chelseafc2005]

i had this same problem on my desktop a while ago. IT turned out to be the hard drive because apparently a small magnet drives the drive around and if it doesnt stick the drive wheel bit basically bounces off of the drive hence making the clicking sound so it might be worth it bringin in the comp to get it looked at

[floppybootstomp]

Just had a thought.

Cylindrical symbol? Clicking noise?

That could be a symbol for a hard disk and hard disks click when they're dying.

I hope not, but it may be worth running an inspection facility software on the hard disk.

[Ian]

I didn't read the flashing light part, but Floppy is probably right on the mark - as it will be the hard disk light! Is it loud, as it could just be the normal operating sound.

[muckshifter]

Originally Posted by como

I just bought a new laptop and fired the thing up and noticed that the CPU was making a electrical ticking sound. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU seeing as it's located in a corner with an airvent, and the sound seems to come directly from that location. It isn't loud or anything; I use it in my college classes and it isn't bothersome; but in a quite room, it's pretty noticeable. I noticed that when the CPU ticks a cylindrical symbol above the keyboard flashes in synchronization. I looked in the laptop manual for a legend but it didn't have one for the symbol. Is this normal? If not, any idea on how to fix it?

Thanks

So what is this Loptop called ?

The 'cylindrical symbol' IS the hard drive indicator light ... you may be about to witness the "HD Click of Death" ...

[como]

Well, I said it was an electronical ticking sound as in it sounds like it's loading something even when left idle. It's basicly the same sound the cpu-area makes when loading up a program or installing something; but only in small, short-lasted "ticks". I do know where the CPU is and that is the area where the sound comes from. As for the cylindrical symbol... it is actually a cylinder, like a soda can, not like a CD. I should have clarified this in my first post. Also, just so you know you aren't dealing with a total computer newb, I know what all the components of a computer are and what they do

Thanks for all your replys