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  1. #1
    A. Body
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    Click sound from pc and freezing

    This has been going for a while...

    At first when FFXI screen loads my character and before it forms, my computer would make this click sound then the screen freezes and I have to restart. After restarting, it wouldn't do it, only everytime I first turn on the computer. When it does a disk check after the crash, it would say symantic (norton) and playonline files being "tranducted" (sp.) and would be removed. I reinstalled those files of POL and removed Norton completely. This was a process that kept going on for about a month or two.

    Now, it freezes everytime regardless of how many times I restart with that click sound happening before I freeze. Can not get into FFXI now without crashing as my character loads in-game.

    Specs:
    Intel Pentium 4 CPU 1.70 GHz
    1.69 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM

    Windows XP

    Radeon 9800 PRO

    Latest Windower, using as full screen.

  2. #2

    Hmm, i've run FFXI on those specs in the past.

    Find out where the "click" is coming from.

  3. #3
    Relic Shield
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    Sounds like your HD is fucked, transfer everything onto a new one quick before it stops working all together.

  4. #4
    Old Merits
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    clicking HDD = HDD header is off-track. POSSIBLE repair from a data recovery agency, but unless you have some important stuff on there, It's time to replace.

  5. #5
    A. Body
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    Would it really be the HD if it does this only with FFXI and nothing else I use full screen?

    I'll find the source of the clicking as well as copy the vital files onto my laptop sometime tomorrow when my father returns

  6. #6
    Bagel
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    Defrag?

  7. #7
    Cerberus
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    If the clicking is happening ONLY when you are loading ffxi... it could be a glitch from software, or an actual bad portion of your hard drive. I would run a chkdsk at the minimum, and backup all vital files ASAP. If chkdsk turns up bad sectors on the hard drive, time for a replacement. Bar that, if the system is a name-brand (*cough*Dell*cough*) boot to the utility CD and run the 32 bit diagnostics. Be warned, takes forever... but tests the other portions of hardware (proc, mem, mobo, video, etc.) Other than that, see if your video card and processor have adequate cooling (had a similar graphical glitch and lock where system would make rapid clicking noises from the speaker... turns out it was a combo of burned out vid card, power supply and processor... damn stock cooling from Dell )

  8. #8
    Bagel
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    I'd back up everything important first, then see where the click is coming from and run a chkdisk and a diagnostics if it's a proprietary brand computer ie a Dell.

    Hope this helps - back everything up before you do anything else - you don't want to lose anything important if it turns out to be the HD.

  9. #9
    A. Body
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    I have a Maxtor HD

    I have isolated the problem after having defragmented the pc and reinstalling.

    When the background resolution in the ffxi config is ANYTHING except 256 x 256, it makes that click sound and crashes. I opened my pc and I am believing the sound IS coming from the HD.

    This isn't making sense, what does the background resolution change have to do with the HD?

  10. #10
    Old Merits
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    Have you run the /chkdsk as suggested.

    Before you even begin to start questioning hardware you should run this to check for software/physical disk errors.

    Also make sure you have addequite cooling and your cables are correctly seated on your m/board, HD and GFX card.

    It could be one of many things - I had a very similar problem with my older PC and it turned out to be the PSU that was on the blink. You have to do the basics to start isolating hardare.

  11. #11
    A. Body
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    Everytime it did the click and crashed, it would automatically do chkdsk and it wouldn't mention any errors.

    But, when I did it manually through command prompt, it said this:

    "Windows found errors on teh disk, but will not fix them because disk checking was run without the /f (fix parameter."
    "Windows\prefetch\CMD.exe-087B4001.pf first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be trauncated.
    Windows\prefetch\CHKDSK.EXE-2CC4C59D.pf first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be trauncated."

    I did chkdsk again right away without the /f first, and then it said there were no errors.

    Afterwards, I restarted doing the fix command and it found no errors. When Windows loaded, I did chkdsk again in command promt and now it said this:
    Windows\softwaredistribution\reportingevents.log entry is not valid.
    Windows\softwaredistribution\datastore\logs\temp.e db first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be truncated.
    windows\softwaredistribution\eventcache\{9C54976F-B9E8-43DD-B36C-7CD8BDCC91F}.bin first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be truncated.
    The size of the \windows\system32\config\software.log entry is not valid.


    I continued doing this pattern, regular chkdsk at reboot after when it makes the click sound and crashes shows no error. When I do chkdsk in command prompt it always finds errors and random files not being valid like those above. When I attempt to fix it when restarting before Windows loads, it just scans and finds no errors or problems.

  12. #12
    Old Merits
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    Have you ran a physical scan of the surface - not just software paths/audit info?

  13. #13
    A. Body
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    sorry, could you be a bit more specific in what you mean? Not as saavy as I use to be when I was younger =x

  14. #14

    Could be wrong, but it sounds similar to an issue I had. I got the clicking noise, but it turned out that the drive was fine, it was the mobo that needed swapping out.

    Took fucking hours of trying different components. >_<

    Unfortunately there's no easy way of telling, just do yourself a favour and backup your data asap, then start reformat, and gradually test parts as you go along.

  15. #15
    Not Killing Ganon
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    ok guy

    you're going to want to assure yourself that your harddrive is the problem

    firstly if you have a floppy drive and some floppy disks hanging out head on over to Here and pick up this ultily and run it

    if you do not have a floppy drive

    head over to the ultimate boot cd website and download and burn that image, directions on how to do this can be found on the website, you will find the same utility as above on that cd if you browse the menus... hit f2 for harddrive utilities then find powermax

    when that finishes running on your hardrive it will tell you if you have bad sectors or not... if it finds any problems, if it says it found bad sectors, etc its time to get a new hard drive... you can get em relatively cheap so it shouldnt be too bad

    now... "why would this only happen when FF runs"

    question: is FF the only game you run?

    if so, then when you run something huge like FF (or any game for that matter) it causes a lot of hard drive activity (seeking... the sound you hear is called thrashing (the whir of the HDD)) and you probably hit a bad sector or the like

    why would it not do it after it does it once is beyond me (some things are just wtf in technology<.<)

    This isn't making sense, what does the background resolution change have to do with the HD?
    because files are located in physical sectors on the drive, when you set to 256 you are using a different file then say 1024 (or whatever silly resolutions those are i forget)

    if your hardrive returns no errors... then its time to look at the video card, ill help you from there if you find no errors on your hard drive again, but first run power max and see if its there...

    a couple other questions
    1) is your pc a name brand? (ie dell, compaq, hp, etc)
    2) how long have you had it?
    3) do you run up to date antivirus?
    4) are you sure no cables are hanging near any fans or any other obstructions near them that could cause heating problems?

    think thats about it for now<.< if you have any questions you can pm me if you dont want to post it here or you can post it here... whatever churns your butter

  16. #16
    Old Merits
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    My apologies - the physical scan only appears to be on 98 - just went to check on my PC and it ain't there. oops.

    Have a search here - I used to use and contribute on this site some time ago - some of the answers might be here supporting what ppl have said so far (first post).

    Good luck

  17. #17
    Cerberus
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    Honestly, I'm suspecting your graphics card.

    Try to do a visual inspection of the graphics card... look for ANY discoloration on the card (could be a small pin-head sized mark). If you see that... You've got a fried video card.

    Seriously doubt it's the hard-drive.

  18. #18
    Melee Summoner
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    Leviathan

    I'm not great with computers, but I had a problem about 6 months ago that might be a bit similar to what you're experiencing. It happened after a game update, my computer would reboot when I entered character selection screen or when I zoned. What it ended up being was a problem on SE's part with not recognizing my video driver (they fixed it a month after the fact). What you might consider doing is checking if your drivers are up to date/working properly/whatever and checking out your video card as well.

  19. #19
    A. Body
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    killganon, I have tried what you said with the disc

    It would take a while to scan then said finally that the harddrive was failing and needed to be replaced. Looks like that may have been it afterall...

    To answer the earlier question, FFXI and Half-life releated mods (such as Natural Selection) are the main games I use atm with my pc

    My question now is if I can copy the entire drive onto an image and put it onto the new drive, would that be ok considering the HD's condition?

  20. #20
    Cerberus
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    Fenrir

    It's possible... but it would be better to copy your user macros and such... not try an image.


    If your hard drive is failing... you have a narrow window before it goes to permapiff status. So... best to get what you can get off as fast as possible.

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