Erm...

[byslantedlight]

My laptop is ticking. That's probably not a good thing, is it? (And no, I didn't leave a clock underneath it...) Actually ticking, as regularly as a clock... It never has before... I wonder how worried I should be...

*gulps*

Comments

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

Call the Bomb Squad...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, and I've just been outside and the stars are all crisp and clear - and google thinks it's snowing here... the world's gone mad...

[3745rule.livejournal.com]

OH says hard drives can do this when they are dying! He added it may not be dying just rotating! Or is there a CD in the CD drive? He suggests you back up everything immediately off the hard drive and then seek professional attention.

Oh and things were better but Step Mother has just been rushed back to A&E. Will be in touch soon via email ...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh don't say that, I can't buy another computer... Maybe it was just rotating... there's no CD... I backed up the other day, and I've just backed up everything new since then... eeep... I can't afford professional attention either!

It's just rotating... it's just rotating...

Sorry to hear about StepMother - hope everything works out...

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Do you everything important backed up, just in case?

Have you rebooted?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I do have everything backed up - at least I hope I do... it's been slow for the last couple of days too... eeep... I haven't rebooted - now I'm a bit worried she won't start up again...

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Oh dear - yes, that's a thought!

Do you have a disk-check utility you can run without restarting?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well I ran Norton diagnostic, and it's coming up that everyting's okay, except that I apparently have too many programmes on here (I got rid of some, but I don't want to delete what I don't understand, you know?) and the ISATAP device isn't working - but from what little I can see and understand of the forums that come up when I google, that's an old, common and effectively insoluble problem...

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Mine did that about a day before it died. Hope that's not what's happening to you - but backup quick!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh don't say that, I can't just go out and buy another laptop... And yeah, I backed up just the other day, and I've just added the new bits and bobs... But please don't be that!

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I hope not ::gulp:: Maybe it's just overheating or something? ::pets poor ticking baby::

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Actually, she's stopped ticking now... maybe she was just nervous... or had the hiccups... She was just rotating, she's going to be okay...

My gmail still thinks it's snowing here though...

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Xmas announcements for Proslib while the going's good!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh yes - I've not done my NaNo for today either - was distracted first by stoopid car insurance things, then by dinner, then by ticking... I'll try and do it now though since NaNo's looking like a write off today...

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Do a disk check to see if any errors show up, and clone your hard drive.
Macrium Reflect (free version) is great, but you'd need a big enough external hard drive.
Make a rescue disk, and if your hard drive fails, you can use that and the backup to get everything back the way it was on a new hard drive, which is much cheaper than a whole new laptop!

But hopefully it was just running a task in the background, and everything is fine!

And I wish you snow! Our's was a one-day wonder, and we are back to 40F, but it's nice and sunny!
Time to start cooking pretty soon! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hmmn, Disk Management says that my disks are healthy - presumably it'd show up there if they weren't? Where in particular would you expect me to go to do a disk check? (In case what I just looked at wasn't a disk check?!)

Clone my harddrive? Make a rescue disk? Erm... I'll go away and look up how to do that tomorrow... *g* I never thought of a new harddrive for it - though a quick google brings up instructions on how to install one - eeep!

But mostly - I'm hoping it was just running something in the background... It's all quiet now...

Quiet outside too, and still starry... I don't think we'll have snow tomorrow, though maybe ice... Hooray for you having a one-day-wonder of snow, which is better than none at all, right? And then for sunniness... *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Where in particular would you expect me to go to do a disk check?
It depends on your operating system, but usually you can find it by going to
"My computer" and right clicking on the drive you want to check, choose "Properties" and then something like "Tools".

If you install Macrium Reflect, and have a cd burner, making a rescue disk is very easy, and if your computer ever doesn't start up, you pop that into the cd/dvd drive and restart. From there you can install your back-up, if you made one and saved it on an external hard drive.
IIRC, you could also transfer the drive image to a new hard drive if needed.
Can you tell I was caught out in the past with no backup, and hated losing everything? ;)

And yes, I loved that one day of snow! As far as I can remember, this is the earliest we've ever had snow in Eugene. Hoping for more this winter!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

See, now I knew that and I always, always forget it! Right click on the drive - thank you! I need to write some NaNo now, before bed, but I'll have a go this weekend...

Thanks for the heads-up about Macrium Reflect too - I shall have a look at that as well... And yeah - I've been through lost-everything thing too, when my uni-laptop was fried a couple of years ago. In fact the harddrive was saved, but not until my landlady revealed that she knew a woman who could... *g* In between then - about two years - I started almost again... luckily it wasn't *too* long after I'd moved from Alaska, and I'd had my Alaska stuff backed up to move in any case, and I had also backed up my files not too long ago - though not recently enough that I didn't lose things... a lesson, a lesson! I never did look into hard drive recovery and backup though, so there's another thing to do! We depend so much on our computers these days, don't we - and really, perhaps, we shouldn't... *gulp*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

perhaps, we shouldn't... *gulp*

Oh, yeah!
It was kind of nice only using a computer occasionally while traveling this summer, but even then, it was kind of invaluable for keeping in contact, meeting people etc.
I'm sure if it all went away tomorrow, it would be hard for a while, but we'd all somehow adjust again.

[sineala.livejournal.com]

Seconding the above -- if your computer starts making a clicking noise during activities that involve reading data off the hard drive, this is usually a sign that the drive is in the process of going bad and you should make your backups very very soon and start considering a replacement hard drive. (The search term you want is "click of death," which means the drive heads are actually hitting the platters and destroying data. There are sound files of what this sounds like, if you want to compare. One short-term fix while you're getting the data off is to keep the drive cold, if it's that broken, but it doesn't sound like it is.)

(It looks like decent-sized new drives are under US$50, but you'd have to manage the installation.) I would suggest diagnostic software to make sure it's the drive but I don't know enough about Windows to recommend a program.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It wasn't clicking while on any particular task - I just noticed it when I came and sat down, having left it for a wee while... and it's stopped now... I don't like the idea of it going bad though, eep... Would that show up in Disk Management - oh hee, you said you don't know enough about Windows to know... *g* Windows and Norton both seem to think everything's fine, though Norton's worried about my programme-count...

I'd not thought of just a new harddrive, but if that turns out to be the problem then it definitely sounds more affordable - as long as I'm either brave enough to try the installation myself, or can find someone who can... *g*

She's all quiet and happy-seeming now, and she was when I gave her stuff to do too - cross fingers, maybe it was just a bit of dust clicking away in the fan or summat... Or, you know... me imagining things...

Just eeep!

[izzie7.livejournal.com]

I have had a long, hard week, so do not expect a coherent response, but when I read 'ticking', it just made me think of Peter Pan. Perhaps your laptop is about to go 'content to the crocodile'...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, see at first I thought I was going to giggle at your metaphor, but then I was horrified! Eeeep, no!

(And I hope you've got a lovely calm (or at least fun *g*) weekend due!)

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Only you could have a ticking lap top!!! ;-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'll have you know that Sineala reckons it's a common phenomena... of course she also calls it the Tick of Death, but... eeeep!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that it's any comfort but when my Vaio died it didn't tick - nothing so lively... My Compaq also died but was resurrected by having its filters cleaned. It was running very hot before that and the fan was constantly on. Maybe that could tick?? Shows how technical I'm not!! But I do hope it all turns out to be temporary and curable. And an external hard drive for backups lets you sleep at night.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm all about external harddrives - mine is sitting glowing gently at me right now, having been given a wee update tonight... *g*

Good to know that your Vaio didn't tick, too! The fan sounds alright - I'm hoping it was maybe a piece of dust caught in a tick-y sounding place right now (see, I can do technical too... *g*) Hmmn, it feels a bit hot, but then it always has, I think...

And look at you - posting from Portugal! *g*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I feel as if I've rejoined the human race. You're right about how much we rely on our computers! Access is still intermittent and I'm having to train myself to unplug in case of power cuts. But it's wonderful!!

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

I've realised that all our laptops die in the end... it's just a question of quality of life in the last few months.

But hey! Some of them make miracle recoveries too *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know she'll die one day cos we all do (that's entropy for you... *g*) but... not yet! Not when I've just had to buy a new car and I need car tax this month and it's Christmas and I've had to spend a zillion pounds on this stupid van driver, and I desperately need a haircut, never mind I've not bought new clothes for well over a year and am about to fall apart in patches, and... and there's the Scarsdale coming up, which was planned and committed to before half of the above was set in bang-crash motion, and... just not yet!