I recently bought a refurbished PC from Best Buy, and I'm hearing this odd noise. It sounds like rapid clicking, kind of like someone is hitting a key repeatedly about 5 or 6 times, with a brief pause before continuing. Also, I saw a flash of black and white static on my screen for a second right after restarting. Could this be a sign of something wrong?
2 Answers
It might be worth checking if any of the fans have obstructions. Sometimes random clicking noises can come from fans hitting cables or dust buildup. It could also be an indicator of a failing hard drive, especially if it’s the old HDD type. But don’t stress too much just yet!
Just a heads up, if one of your fans is making noise and isn't spinning, it could definitely slow down your PC. Maybe run a stress test like OCCT to check performance.
Do you know if your setup includes an HDD, SSD, or M.2 drive? The clicking could be related to a failing hard disk drive, which sounds like the old-style HDDs before they fail. If you have an SSD, that should be fine since they don't have moving parts.
I checked, it has a Samsung SSD (MZAL8512HDLU-00BL2). So, that might rule out the HDD issue?
I'll take a look when I get home, but I can't do much from work without tools!