Random Restarts, Internal Speaker "Clicking"

J

JTG2003

New Member
Posting for a friend because .. well, his computer isn't working too well.

Computer seems to randomly restart. When I say randomly.. I mean there doesn't appear to be any correlation between time/temperature/usage.

Sometimes it will be fine for several weeks. Suddenly it won't start up. It powers on and lights/fans run, but no display. The only thing happening is an audible sound coming from the internal motherboard speaker that sounds like a clicking. I know a 'clicking' is usually a bad hard drive, but trust me in that it is not coming from the hard drive.

He unplugged the hard drive and CD drive but the problem persisted. He reseated the CPU and RAM, checked plugs on the power supply, but nothing seems to stop it.

Every time he starts his computer, there is a chance it wont come up and just sit there clicking. Sometimes it will start and he can play a game for a bit before it restarts, although this does not appear to be a heating issue as it doesn't really matter what he's doing (and as I said, sometimes it will start to malfunction when starting up for the first time that day).


This problem seems impossible to diagnose. I've read through somewhat similar threads and it was suggested that the PSU might be bad .. is there any other things we can do to test this?

Thanks


Edit: The 'clicking' happens at odd intervals in a seemingly random pattern.
 
Can you post the specs of the system? Including model of power suppy would help. Have you physically looked at the motherboard to make sure there were no leaking or buldging capacitors? You can also try resetting the cmos by unplugging power from the power supply, remove the cmos battery, press the power button on the case a few times and then wait 5 minutes. Then reconnect everything and try it.
 
I will have to update later with the exact model #'s and specs.

The motherboard appears to be in tact but every inch has not been inspected thoroughly. If the problem is small enough, we might not even notice it.

The CMOS has been reset and although it started up after, this seems to have just been a coincidence. The setup isn't working or screwing up with any consistency.
 
Figured it out/

Just wanted to post the 'fix' here in case anyone else finds this.

It was the jumper from the case to the motherboard for the reset button. As soon as it was removed from the motherboard, the clicking immediately stopped and it's been running great since. It was a cheap case I guess. Not 100% sure what the problem was but I assume some wires were crossed somewhere and it kept 'pressing' the reset button over and over.

I've found several other topics about this same issue and the problem always seems to be something power related, usually shorting out or wires crossed.

My suggestion is to unplug EVERYTHING and attach everything one by one. It's a pain, but it seems like a good way to figure it out.
Anyways, hope this helps
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top