Really strange computer behaviour ...

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.

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.

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

Yeah it still does ...

but only once in awhile

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

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.

Maybe you should reinstall IE.

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

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?

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

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?

I've run across this problem in a number of different contexts, and usually the cause is the simplest thing for which you could look.

All these other solutions posted could weed out more complex and weird causes, but in my experience (six years as an IT manager) it is best to go with Occam's Razor*:

There's something funky going on with your speakers or your sound card.

It is unlikely that a weird sound coming from your machine was caused by an application that otherwise keeps its lips shut. And Windows sounds are pretty trouble-free.

- Brian



*
For those of you who have an urge to Google here . . . "Occam's razor is a logical principle attributed to the mediaeval philosopher William of Occam (or Ockham). The principle states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed. This principle is often called the principle of parsimony. It underlies all scientific modelling and theory building. It admonishes us to choose from a set of otherwise equivalent models of a given phenomenon the simplest one." -- from the Principia Cybernetica

brichards99 - I do agree that looking for the simplest, or most common, problem is the best way to troubleshoot an answer, and I do not think my suggestions were in any way complex or weird.

Although my stats read newbie, I have been visiting AO for a long time. And since your stats read newbie I'm going to cut you some slack, but I am going to take you to task. Sharing your knowledge and attempting to help another AO member is admirable, but suggesting that the entire board is incompotent and that you are wiser than everyone else, by virtue of your claim to be a 6 year IT manager, is not a smart move. If you want to flame the entire board I suggest you take your comments into the COSMOS section, that is why COSMOS was created. The reprecussions may cause you to find yourself to be the recipient of an unprecedented amount of Anti-points.

All newbies should take heed.

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All these other solutions posted could weed out more complex and weird causes, but in my experience (six years as an IT manager) it is best to go with Occam's Razor*:

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I do not believe he is calling everybody here stupid. I think he is just saying that most/all people have posted solutions for rather complicated and complex problems. And that the problem should be queried in the simplest way.

-Sam-

I have had this same problem. It happened twice in a week so I decided to diconnect everything and open up my box and make sure nothing with off. I didn't see anything but I dissassembled and reassembled everything and cleaned inside and I haven't had a problem since. I was on W2K though, so it may not have anything to do with it.

Quick idea could it be overheating (may want to look at it) not sure. Will try to find some info for ya.

Overdue . . .

Ahhhh . . . I guess the definition of flaming has changed recently, because all I intended to do was focus the original author on the best way to go.

If you felt that I was calling you names or casting aspersions on your character, I apologize. Just try to spell incompetent correctly in the future.

(Okay, that was an unnecessary jab. But you were you were the one who threw the newbie title on the table.)

Ok. I can admit the "flaming" was possibly to harsh, and upon reflection, the word "condesending" would, in my opinion, better describe the tone of the post in question. If I took your post out of context, you have my apologies in return.

As for the spelling.... I do not have a word processing or spell check program on this box. I am actually pleasantly suprised that there were not more spelling errors.

No worries . . .

I'll own up to the condescending part. I'm not so great sometimes at watching my tone when posting to boards I've not posted to before, so I apologize for that.

I am impressed here with the frequency of posts, though. This is an active forum for these topics.

brichards99

I would be fascinated to know what you would deem to be a "simple" solution to an intermittent fault: :cool:

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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

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That tells me that the machine has "hung" and is no longer accepting instructions from its control peripherals? One of the most probable causes of that is lack of resource.

I have re-read your two posts, and do not see you suggesting ANY practical solution to the problem, simple or otherwise. :rolleyes:

The simplest solution is to buy a new computer?..............that is also the most costly!

Unless the solution is obvious, the best way to fault find a computer problem is to identify all the possible culprits and eliminate them one by one. You do this by starting with the simplest and cheapest and progressing from there.

Cheers

I have had this problem before and it used to happen to me when rundll32 would crash. and the noise that was heard comes from trying to push buttons or moving the mouse. Well atleast that was the problem with my comp.

PeacE
-BoB

fl34bit3

Yes I have had that, but I would call it more of a "very short complaining beep"? it usually happens AFTER the machine has hung, and only if the keyboard and mouse are still being responded to (hit capslock or numlock to test this)?

from the description that we have, it seems that the noise appears after the lockup? and is more of a tapping sound, or maybe I misunderstood it.

It is a useful future reference though :)

Cheers

EDIT: The test is easy...............hit the enter key 5 times and you will get 5 of the noise you describe. If it is continuous until you power off, it is the one that I am talking about. ;)

if its from speakers, I'd say it's an audio loop, the little click you heard was the click of you clicking the button, generated by windows....god knows why they built it in but hey. What happens when it hangs is it often executes the commands it still has bufferd over and over and over...which is why you heard the click over and over....you may have run into something like it with games, where if it crashes...the sound gets stuck......can drive you nuts.
How ever if it's from the PC speaker (The one on the inside) it is probablyyour system beeping at you because it is too busy to take your input at the time...again..another Windows feature.
I may be wrong, but thats my guess.

- Noia

Un-Plugging the speakers and giving the computer a clean up is what it needed. Thanks for the help guys. I really appreciated it ...

Great to hear! Oh and thanks nihil. Mine was just one possible solution haha.

PeacE
-BoB