Computer Clicking while powered off

[richh]

My brother-in-law has a Emachine EMonster500, while computer is powered down it will start clicking. The hard disk activity light blinks very rapidily. I have look at everything I can possibly think of and haven't come up with any solutions. I've even reformatted and install Win2k on it. Most recent secuirty patches and serive packs applied.

[bobchang]

If the speakers are disconnected, and there's no disks in his floppy/cd-rom drives, then the only thing that can click when powering down would be the hard drive, in which case, it can't be cured by reformatting and reinstalling anything... Is it a very polite, mild-manner clicking sound (like whispering the word "chuck chuck chuck..."), or is it a series of blantant, ill-mannered clunks and knocks?

If it's a whispering chuck, then it's probably developing bad sectors that may or may not be cured by scandisk. If it clunks or knocks, then your brother-in-law can either fire his hard drive before it fires him, or his hard drive will fire him before he fires it - it's a simple case with only two possible outcome...:eek:

[viperman224]

I just got one in for repair. Man, that was the worst machine I have ever worked on what a pain. The one I recieved for repair has a high-pitch power supply whine and clicks every now and then. E-machines put cheap power supplys in their computers. Try puting in a better power supply. I believe the Emonster500 has a 145 watt Power supply (don't quote me on that I'm not positive).

[richh]

If the speakers are disconnected, and there's no disks in his floppy/cd-rom drives, then the only thing that can click when powering down would be the hard drive, in which case, it can't be cured by reformatting and reinstalling anything... Is it a very polite, mild-manner clicking sound (like whispering the word "chuck chuck chuck..."), or is it a series of blantant, ill-mannered clunks and knocks? If it's a whispering chuck, then it's probably developing bad sectors that may or may not be cured by scandisk. If it clunks or knocks, then your brother-in-law can either fire his hard drive before it fires him, or his hard drive will fire him before he fires it - it's a simple case with only two possible outcome...:eek:

:) Speakers are connected. Thing is Machine is powered on already, not powering down. May not happen till powered down for a couple of hours.

[richh]

I just got one in for repair. Man, that was the worst machine I have ever worked on what a pain. The one I recieved for repair has a high-pitch power supply whine and clicks every now and then. E-machines put cheap power supplys in their computers. Try puting in a better power supply. I believe the Emonster500 has a 145 watt Power supply (don't quote me on that I'm not positive).

Never had a problem, good cheap machine. I''ll try. Thanks

[bobchang]

You mean to tell me that (1) the machine is powered down, and (2) the hard disk activity light blinks on its own - while all the other indicator lights are out? We're in X-File territory now... Anybody? I feel compelled to buy this machine from your brother-in-law just to figure out...

Talk about weird, I once had Pentium 75 desktop with a hard drive running dos 6 and windows 3.11 (workgroup), which I fdisk'd, format'd, and put 95 on it - darn thing went thru the install without a hitch, restarted, and ran 95. Okay, so I started loading software (novell, plus some custom stuff that I C++'d) and then I'm done and turned it off and went home. The next morning I came back, turned the machine on, and guess what? I was staring at dos 6 and windows 3.11. I then fdisk'd and format'd and loaded 98 and the same thing happened - Long Live dos 6 and windows 3.11! This was my server, you see, so I stuck with dos 6 and windows 3.11 and it "served" without a hitch until I retired it years later to my garage. A year ago I took it out, repeated what I did five years ago, and got the exact same results. So back to the garage it went. I'm gonna give it another go five years from now - I know it'll do the exact same thing! Excellent entertainment value! :-|

[richh]

You mean to tell me that (1) the machine is powered down, and (2) the hard disk activity light blinks on its own - while all the other indicator lights are out? We're in X-File territory now... Anybody? I feel compelled to buy this machine from your brother-in-law just to figure out... Talk about weird, I once had Pentium 75 desktop with a hard drive running dos 6 and windows 3.11 (workgroup), which I fdisk'd, format'd, and put 95 on it - darn thing went thru the install without a hitch, restarted, and ran 95. Okay, so I started loading software (novell, plus some custom stuff that I C++'d) and then I'm done and turned it off and went home. The next morning I came back, turned the machine on, and guess what? I was staring at dos 6 and windows 3.11. I then fdisk'd and format'd and loaded 98 and the same thing happened - Long Live dos 6 and windows 3.11! This was my server, you see, so I stuck with dos 6 and windows 3.11 and it "served" without a hitch until I retired it years later to my garage. A year ago I took it out, repeated what I did five years ago, and got the exact same results. So back to the garage it went. I'm gonna give it another go five years from now - I know it'll do the exact same thing! Excellent entertainment value! :-|

:confused: Yes that's my point powered off all by it's lonesome it starts ticking. More confusing is I don't remember it happening at my house when I rebuilt.

[DMR]

If you open the chassis and poke around a bit you should be able to isolate the source. If it's the power supply or hard drive it should be pretty easy to determine which is the culprit. "Switching" power supplies can make clicking noises when they start to die, but then again, so can hard drives...

[aquarius]

When I worked for a computer graphics firm many years ago, I discovered that you can get a nasty shock from a thermal hard-copy unit when disconnected from the mains power. Some kind of residual power remained within the power-supply.
Similar to getting a shock from the coil on a car.
There is supposed to be something built-in these days which draws off the residual power, perhaps this isnt working.

[richh]

Sorry Its taking so long, but I finally got a chance to change the power supply over the weekend and it seems to be working. Thanks :p

[patgrauer]

Rich, was I ever glad to find you! I'm having exactly the same problem with exactly the same machine. However, I'm NOT a particularly good geek, but I'm daring. How hard is it to learn to change the power supply? And did you encounter any problems with getting shocked? :>}

Thank you!

Sorry Its taking so long, but I finally got a chance to change the power supply over the weekend and it seems to be working. Thanks :p

[DMR]

Rich, was I ever glad to find you!

You might not get a response from richh, given that his reply was posted more than two years ago. :cheesy:

Power supplies are easy to replace; it's usually just a question of fiddling with a few screws and connectors, as the power supplies themselves are self-contained boxes which just slide into the inside of the machine.

A search for the keywords [search]emachines "emonster 500" "power supply"[/search] should help you find the right supply.

[richh]

I agree this is a very easy process. I wouldn't be afraid of getting a shock because you are not opening the power supply, so there really isn't anything to touch. You can go to Best Buy or Circuit and pick up a power supply, just get same or better than what you have. If unsure take old one with you.