For some reason my laptop makes a continuous sound when I tap, e.g. on the keyboard, slightly hard and as soon as I gently shake the laptop it stops. During the noise process the busy led light is flashing. I have no clue why this is happening. Anyone have any idea about it?

About the only noise makers are fans or disk drives.

As you mention the activity LED I would guess a failing hard drive.

What is the make and model of the computer? Is it old? Is it under warranty?

We can probably find diagnostic tools if we know the exact make and model.

Originally Posted by jephree

About the only noise makers are fans or disk drives.

As you mention the activity LED I would guess a failing hard drive.

What is the make and model of the computer? Is it old? Is it under warranty?

We can probably find diagnostic tools if we know the exact make and model.

Thanks for the prompt reply.
The laptop is a Toshiba P15-S479 that is about 2 years and 3 months old. It is NOT under warranty anymore as per the contract I had for two years.

Another thing I should add is that the noise randomly starts even if it is just sitting there.

Is the sound like a rattling? Or humming? Or?

And it always coincides with the activity LED?

Try right clicking the drive under My Computer then choose Check for Errors.

Also try the Device Manager: Start/Run/ devmgmt.msc
Expand (+) Disk Drives ... right click the drive and choose Properties. Any errors here?

Unfortunatly I cannot find a Toshiba HDD diagnostic.


http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ceghdgngdgnn.0

http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Pat...006598000000E7

Hopefully it is a fan but if not you might want to backup any important data on that drive.

I did ChkDsk and there were 2 errors. Unfortunately, while in DOS mode, I could not copy down the error. The sound is however still present. I don't know what else I could do. Any suggestions?

Unless you are prepared to open it up I would suggest taking to a shop.

Again I would suggest backing up any important data ASAP.