"dreamweaver79" <dreamweaver79@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:33DCB83D-ED61-450D-B885-89C2D92F2FBD@microsoft.com...
>I have been having the following trouble starting regularly about a month
> ago. When I go to start up my computer from cold (after not using for
> several
> hours, like overnight), then, almost as soon as I press the power button,
> I
> hear a sort of click sound from the HDD, like the read/write head is
> disengaging (or having trouble first reading), or has skipped, or
> something.
> It may do this two or three times, then it freezes, and I get the message
> on
> a black screen to insert boot media, or to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to
> reboot.
> Other times it will just hang, or freeze when trying to first load Windows
> XP
> (due to not being able to read the HDD for some reason). When I reset or
> it a
> few times, then it will begin to load up normally. Once it can begin
> loading
> Windows XP (Home), then all is fine, and I have absolutely no problem
> whatsoever for as long as the computer is on. No further hard drive
> problems,
> either, at all. When I go to warm restart, it also will reboot without
> any
> problems whatsoever. It is only upon cold boot. I did not install any
> hardware when the problem began occuring. Just an upgrade to Zone Alarm,
> which I undid to test if it had affected my computer, but I still got the
> same problem even when going to my original version. My computer is a
> Compaq
> Presario, 3 GHz, 250 GB HD, about 2 years old (and no Windows XP install
> disk
> came with it BTW).
>
> Could any of you give me any suggestions on this problem, and if anything
> can be done about it (and how)? Could it be a corrupted boot sector or
> boot
> files? Could it be an error in CMOS or something? Or a HDD problem? Etc.?
> Should I just get a different hard drive, or can this be salvaged? Seems
> it
> would be a shame to trash this hard drive since the problem is exclusively
> only when I first try to boot up; otherwise it is fine.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks


dreamweaver79:
Notwithstanding the responses you've already received to your query (let
alone others that you'll probably receive), understand this...

A noisy hard drive, for *any* reason, is an ominous sign that the drive is
failing. Yes, there could be other causes - a defective power supply, loose
cable connections, and a few other possible causes. But in nearly every case
a noisy clicking sound emanating from the HD means that that's a troubled
HD.

Will the drive fail today, tomorrow, next week, next month? Who can say? But
it's probably living on borrowed time. You should immediately back up any
files that are important to you. If you have another internal or external
HD, it would be wise to use some disk imaging program, e.g., Symantec's
Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, etc., to clone the contents of the drive
to another drive.

Virtually every manufacturer of hard drives has a diagnostic utility that
you can download from their website. Ascertain the make/model of your HD and
obtain that diagnostic utility to test out your HD.
Anna