Issues with Laptop

[Hera]

I know this is incredibly silly to ask of you people but I am baffled by this and admittedly know very little about this laptop other than it's useful for school, was a gift, and I hate it.

So about eight months ago my Toshiba Satellite began to make clicking sounds. I suspected it was the fan, but it was different. It wasn't the fan sort of sound. It sounded as though someone tapped loudly on it. After a few times of this happening, I began to suspect it was the hard drive. However, I had no time to bring it in to get looked at (it's still under warranty) so I risked using it knowing it could break down and just began to save my school work a lot more. Two weeks ago, it just got out of hand and the screen blacked out with a blue line just going through it so I finally got off my ass and brought it in. I got it back a week later and apparently my hard drive was poo and they replaced it, thereby wiping it out. Luckily, I saved things anticipating something like this would happen. The fan, to their knowledge, is fine.

Anyway, you'd think everything would be sunshine and farts but it's STILL making the annoying clicking sound and no it's not the sound of me typing or anything like that, it's the same sound. When I hold my hand on the keypad, I can feel that it sounds like it's coming from the CD-Drive but they said not to worry.

I'm embarrassed I even have to ask, but... What do you think is going on?

 

[nstarz]

What is the model of the Toshiba Satellite you have?

 

[Athenian200]

It could mean that there's a design fault in that particular Toshiba Satellite that causes it to have repeated hard drive failures, or possibly just repeated hardware failures in general. The clicking sound sounds as if something is loose.

I would suggest that you continue saving your work, and prepare for it to fail again. That's all you can really do about it... and then once it does, you can take it in again and see if they find the root problem. If it's not fixable, you may have to get a new laptop.

 

[Hera]

I think it's Toshiba Satellite L355-S7905.

 

[nstarz]

Under the keypad is the DVD Drive. So I suspect it could be that.

Does it make the sound if your have a CD/DVD in there and without one?

If yes there is a CD/DVD, it could be a not secured CD wobbling.

If not, then something inside is loose (screw/fasteners). When it spins or the lasers moves...that could be causing the sound.

 

[Hera]

Under the keypad is the DVD Drive. So I suspect it could be that.

Does it make the sound if your have a CD/DVD in there and without one?

If yes there is a CD/DVD, it could be a not secured CD wobbling.

If not, then something inside is loose (screw/fasteners). When it spins or the lasers moves...that could be causing the sound.

I tried using my laptop with the CD/DVD drive out, meaning it's just open and chillin', and it still made the sound. I want to believe that I brought it to technicians who'd think to tighten anything loose but then I'd have to trust they know what they're doing.

The sound isn't constant. It's pretty weird, sometimes I'll hear it and sometimes I won't and although it sounds sort of like it's coming from the CD/DVD drive, my tests really prove it can't be.

Ahhhh I don't want to bring it in. Warranty or not, they are so stupid it kills me and they will tell me it'll be a week again.

 

[Patches]

This sounds like HDD head parking. If it were your fan it would be rhythmic/constant. And you said it does it with your CD drive popped out. So you're probably right that it's your hard drive.

The good news is, this usually isn't a big deal and is either a result of drivers that need updated, or it's a Vista problem.

So, If you know how to update your harddrive's drivers, do that first. If you don't know how to update them... Get me the name of your harddrive for me and I can walk you through it. If that doesn't solve anything: Are you using Vista as your operating system? If yes...... I'll look up the fix for that.

 

[nstarz]

As Patches said, it sounds like the hard drive. The sound of a fan would be constant, the sound of a hard drive would be intermittent.