Hi. When windows is booting up the windows xp logo comes up and the progress bar scrolls across. then the hard drive makes a ticking noise twice, then 3 seconds later the same tick tick and then pc restarts and does it all over again. I have tried using the middle plug on the ribbon cable to plug the drive in but the same thing happens. I dont think it is a faulty hard drive as it ticks in exactly the same place each time and the drive is only a few months old. Any help would be appreciated. It does the same thing in safe mode aswell. It was working fine yesterday. Thanks.

What happens yesterday means nothing. We are looking at crap today. Mechanical devices do have problems. Harddrive manufacturers have software for download for testing HDD. Watch for help from others.

Here is a list of fitness test links by manufacturer. Harddrive Fitness Tests http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm...

i have tried diagnostic on it and it has come up as excessive shock. the comp has been sitting on desk for 6 months. i will just have to send the drive back as there is no way to fix it? i didnt think the warranty covered shock.. id remember if i dropped the pc or not! thanks for ur help everyone

The drive may have been mishandled during transit before you received it. I would think it would be covered by warranty. Where did you get the drive from?