Really strange computer behaviour ...

[Agent_Steal]

I dont know but has this ever happen to anybody... I was on the internet posting a new thread. Right after I hit the "Submit New Thread" button. My computer totally froze.. Then the weirdest thing happened I heard a clicking sound coming from my computer speakers. It sounded like when somebody hits a penny on a table sofly but really fast at the same time.Making this click,click sound over and over. I tried the usual Alt+Crtl_Del but that didn't work. I tried Esc key that didn't work either. I ended up having too hit the reset button on my computer.
When this happen I also had Outlook Express Open cause I was reading some mail. I had another browser window open. Norton and ZoneAlarm were on. I just cant seem to figure out what that weird sound was.. Has anybody ever had this happen to them.
OS=Windows 98 ,, all the Most important patches installed
Internet Explorer=6 with SP1
Norton=Latest Version with latest virus def's
Zone Alarm Free Edition=with it being up to date as well
Ad-Aware Free Version=Latest with up to date ref. file

Can anyone give me any insight as to why this might have happened... Any insight at all would be great thanks.

[el-half]

I don't think it's anything special, once my Win98 box began to make strange noises too(speakers), after restarting I never heard them again.

[JohnHACK]

Did the problem still occur after you restart up your pc?

[Agent_Steal]

Yeah it still does ...

but only once in awhile

[Dr_Evil]

Unplug all your peripherals and replug them and restart and see if it still has the problem. Sounds aaaa... like hardware to me.

Dr_Evil

[JohnHACK]

I think the problem is concern with your hardware.... I myself facing that problem last time, Hardware conflict.... or you need to clean up your system.... sometime the dusts can cause this thing happen.

Hope my view can help.

[theeon]

Maybe you should reinstall IE.

That could fix it and maybe download the latest java and flash engines!

[disc0rd]

Sounds like a cell phone sitting too close to the speakers to me! (just kidding)
Really though, Windows 98 is really sketchy with hardware, in that, when something goes bad, it doesn't tell you, it just freaks out and crashes 9 times out of 10. Check for any IRQ conflicts on your device manager, that could be your problem right there. Although it is pretty weird that it would just happen out of nowhere.

That sound that you described though kind of sounds like a HD burp to me though...but hearing it out of the speakers isn't normal at all. Are you positive it came from the speakers?

[nihil]

Hi, I have had an identical experience, although I was not running the same combination of applications as yourself.

I have certainly had it on low spec. PIIs running Win 98 and Me. I only got it when I was running the "Freespace" game, which is pretty intensive. Were you playing a game (that is, had it loaded into memory) at the time?

Win98 and Me are very resource greedy, and it sounds as if you were running out of resource, i.e. RAM? You don't give us your hardware specifications. I would also comment that Norton is resouce greedy, so may be compounding the problem.

I have no idea why you get the tapping noise through the speakers, but that is exactly what I got as well

You might like to look around for one of those "memory manager" tools and get a trial or free version. Use this to monitor RAM availability for a few days, and try to provoke the problem by running multiple apps at once.

I do not recommend using memory managers all the time, but they can be good diagnostic tools.

I do not think that it is malware.

Good luck

[OverdueSpy]

Have you ruled out the possibility of the speakers being defective by using headphones?
If the problem presists I would check out the Mic option within volume control and ensure that is set to "mute".
Since I have not heard the noise myself, is it possible that the clicking noise is coming from the system fan?