Dell Inspiron 6000 - Hardware Problem (I assume, need additional diagnosis.)

[2sandler]

System Properties

-Dell Inspiron 6000 (Laptop)
-Intel Pentium M Processor, 1.60 GHz
-512 MB of RAM
-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition: Version 2002, SP2

History of Conflicts, Problems

-In Late December 2005, early January 2006, the Computer Crashed (1st Time.)
*Cause Unknown
-We were able to gain access to all of the Data and remove it quickly. We reformatted the Drive using Dell’s “PC Restore feature. At first, the computer didn’t run too quickly but gradually picked up speed. Within a week, it was good as new.

Current Problem

-February 21, 2005
-After attempting to upload a 58mb video file my server (never had any problems before,) I tried once more. During the last upload, I turned on an episode of the X-files using “RealPlayer (some 100mb.)
-After a few minutes, the computer started making weird noises. The first sounded like “clicks. These were followed by a loud buzzing noise, at which point the computer froze while the buzzing noise continued.
-I turned off the computer, and turned it back on. Once it got to the Windows start up screen, it stayed there (loading for 10-20 minutes.) At this point, I restarted the computer again, this time in Safe Mode. I used “System Restore to restore the computer to the day before.
-The “System Restore featured worked fine, such that it was able to start up windows.
-This time, as a way of testing the server, I uploaded an image into my server, and it worked. Then, I tried once more to upload the video file. After two minutes, the computer started to make the “clicking noises, and a little “buzzing as well. In turn, I turned off the upload and the noised disappeared.

There is no spy ware or viruses on this computer. In turn, I am left to assume that this is a “hard drive defect/problem.

Can anyone else offer a Diagnosis as well?

Thank You,
Warmest Regards,
Stanley

[dogbreath077]

The big question here is what component is making the noise. Where exactly on the laptop are the noises coming from? It may be that your laptop (LT) is trying to access a drive and finding nothing. If a program is told to access a drive and it finds nothing, it may hang, and freeze up the computer. That's because it is using all the cpu's capacity to look in the drive. Try to determine what is making the noise by duplicating the process. Then, when you can pinpoint the place, hit <control><alt><delete> and that will bring up your task manager. It may take a few minutes, but wait for it. You can then see what applications are running, and what processes are tasking the cpu. This will tell you what is making your LT hang. Good luck and please repost.

[bobbyraw]

That clicking sound could be your hard drive, evidence point to it, PC takes long to load, Upload takes forever. the system is trying to access area that are failing, therefore, the HDD is failing, the file you are trying to upload is stored in a bad sector on the HDD. to prove this try coppying the file to another drive or write to a cd. i suggest you run chkdsk /f on the hdd this will repair the sector if possible and move the file to a good area on the HDD

[jovi72]

i am lookeing out for type to begin to service dell insp 6000 whatn r the basci steps to start when the lap top is not power on