Mystery noises and BSOD on my newish Acer Aspire One netbook. Am I screwed?

November 18, 2009 10:47 AM

Mystery noises and BSOD on my newish Acer Aspire One netbook. Am I screwed?

I bought an 11.6" Aspire One at Staples about a month and a half ago, and the night before last it started making a clicking sound followed by a beep which I can only assume is coming from the hard drive. Sometimes this sound is followed by a blue screen of death and sometimes i can just pick the computer up and it goes away. Is this the sound of a hard drive failing? I carry my netbook around a lot, but it's always in a padded laptop bag so I'm pretty sure I haven't damaged it in any way. Do I need to get a replacement?

posted by tealsocks to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Clicks are either hard drives or fans. Only two parts in there that have movable parts of their own on a regular basis. If you pick it up and it goes away, it may be a fan/heat issue, but if you can pinpoint where the click is coming from, you could better discern what may be happening. Try keeping it off of direct surfaces, have a way to prop up the back, and don't set it on anything soft (blanket, pillow, etc), as that constricts the fans the most.

And worse comes to worse, it should have a year warranty. Call Acer up.
posted by deezil at 11:24 AM on November 18, 2009

Oh, and if you can see what the BSOD says before it disappears, that would be handier. Use the BlueScreenView utility here to assist with what they say.
posted by deezil at 11:25 AM on November 18, 2009