Strange sounds

[kony]

I ran a PC Diagnostic Tool software to check for my laptop harddisk and
it returns fail although I can use the disk right now.

"PC Diagnostic Tool Software"?

There is only one valid diagnostic for the drive, the
diagnostic provided by the drive manufacturer, which is
available for download from their respective websites.

However, sometimes there is a continuous sound as if the disk is being
read but the pc hangs.

Previously when I performed a recovery installation of XP it stops
halfware and threw a message "Write sector failure result=1, drive 128
sectors ... ".

Strangely when I brought it down to the support center, it managed to
complete the installation successfully.

Was it the same environment? Did it use the same battery,
and/or, are you comparing use with a power adapter than is
then plugged into a different AC outlet, which is another
variable?

I suppose it's possible that a marginal drive might work
better at one temperature than other, that it fails in
either place is problem enough.

The next day after several hours of using it hanged again and the same
error message occurred save for the "sectors ..." range. The sound was
also there. something like tick tick tick continuously.

Presuming the sound is coming from the drive (fans rarely do
make a ticking sort of sound if the bearing is shot), yes
the drive needs replaced, ASAP.

I switched off and then tried installing again and it worked.

Now it's working again but the diagnostic tool indicated a "fail" for
the harddisk test.

What could be the problem? My battery is no longer functioning as after
charging it quickly drained out in a few minutes. Could the power
supply adapter be the cause? Because if i am not wrong the sound will
appear after several hours of usage.

How old is the battery? Are you sure it had charged fully?
Does it have a charge indicator and/or the laptop itself has
a battery charge indicator that shows it as fully charged
(after a recharge interval has been allowed)?

_IF_ your battery is old or malfunctioning, providing it did
indicate a full charge but the runtime is now really shot,
AND presuming you do definitely want to keep using same
laptop (after problems are fixed), buy a new battery for it.

However, most any modern laptop should shut down when
battery pack gets low, IMO the drive is failing and needs
replaced.

 

[Sleepy]

*snip*

temperature does make a differance to a failing hard
drive - in fact a common way to get a faulty drive to work long enough to
copy off valuable data is to put it a freezer for a few hours then pop it
back in your PC and grab the data off fast. so if you find that leaving it
alone for a while or running it in a cool room helps but running it for a
while so that it heats up causes write failures then that fits. replace that
drive quickly.

 

[kony]

1) battery
2) power adapter
3) harddisk

So can a malfunctioning battery or power adapter be the cause for the
harddisk to make the sound? Maybe there's no proper flow of power and
that could cause the harddisk to not function?

If the problem was intermittent, yes that could prevent the
drive from functioning properly. There's more to the power
than just the external supply and battery though, there is
also either an internal power board or it's circuit
integrated onto the mainboard. That too (instead) could be
problematic.

I would tend to suspect the hard drive though, yet if your
non-air-conditioned environment is fairly hot that too can
be a problem for some notebooks. It could be a combination
of poor notebook cooling and high ambient temp, and that
could have caused permanent drive damage... hard to
speculate about since there are further variables like the
short-lived battery. I suggest that you take ALL parts to a
service center and have them check them all. Also mention
to the technician that it's possible the ambient temp may
play a role.

 

[-]

I ran a PC Diagnostic Tool software to check for my laptop harddisk and
it returns fail although I can use the disk right now.

However, sometimes there is a continuous sound as if the disk is being
read but the pc hangs.

Previously when I performed a recovery installation of XP it stops
halfware and threw a message "Write sector failure result=1, drive 128
sectors ... ".

Strangely when I brought it down to the support center, it managed to
complete the installation successfully.

The next day after several hours of using it hanged again and the same
error message occurred save for the "sectors ..." range. The sound was
also there. something like tick tick tick continuously.

I switched off and then tried installing again and it worked.

Now it's working again but the diagnostic tool indicated a "fail" for
the harddisk test.

What could be the problem? My battery is no longer functioning as after
charging it quickly drained out in a few minutes. Could the power
supply adapter be the cause? Because if i am not wrong the sound will
appear after several hours of usage.

 

[-]

"PC Diagnostic Tool Software"?

There is only one valid diagnostic for the drive, the
diagnostic provided by the drive manufacturer, which is
available for download from their respective websites.

Yes, it's from the manufacturer.

Was it the same environment? Did it use the same battery,
and/or, are you comparing use with a power adapter than is
then plugged into a different AC outlet, which is another
variable?

They use their own power adapter. I didn't know the power adapter could
be a problem and thus i didn't tell them to use mine.

I suppose it's possible that a marginal drive might work
better at one temperature than other, that it fails in
either place is problem enough.

My place has no airconditioning but theirs have.

Presuming the sound is coming from the drive (fans rarely do
make a ticking sort of sound if the bearing is shot), yes
the drive needs replaced, ASAP.

What other components could make the sound? There isn't any cd in the cd
drive so that rules the cd drive out.

How old is the battery? Are you sure it had charged fully?
Does it have a charge indicator and/or the laptop itself has
a battery charge indicator that shows it as fully charged
(after a recharge interval has been allowed)?

It's about 1 yr old. It has been charrged fully for several hours and
when it says 100% charge i then switched off the power supply but a few
minutes later it told me that the battery is low and i should switch to
the power supply.

i suspected the battery was shorted when i accidentally stretched the
wiring which causes the socket (the two pins area) to be loosely plugged in.

_IF_ your battery is old or malfunctioning, providing it did
indicate a full charge but the runtime is now really shot,
AND presuming you do definitely want to keep using same
laptop (after problems are fixed), buy a new battery for it.

However, most any modern laptop should shut down when
battery pack gets low, IMO the drive is failing and needs
replaced.

That sounds expensive and i hope it's not the problem.

1) battery
2) power adapter
3) harddisk

So can a malfunctioning battery or power adapter be the cause for the
harddisk to make the sound? Maybe there's no proper flow of power and
that could cause the harddisk to not function?