laptop makes what sounds like a clicking noise

[Kaitlin Kaschak459]

ok so i have an old COMPAQ ARMADA 5200DM that my uncle gave me for free as an xmas gift because i love to tinker with old computers. it has a floppy drive a cd drive and a 3 gig HDD ide with windows 98se on it. powers on fine loads the os ok but i hear a clicking noise from time to time. dont hear the noise every second but i do hear it only when im in the os im guessing the hard drive is going bad any idea whats causing this sound

 

[ffg7]

try to isolate the noise location as might be cpu fan, hard drive or even the cd drive is causing it.

 

[Geekwad]

I have always found a stethoscope to be perfect for this task. Taking the back off and starting it to help zero in on the piece of hardware causing the noise is the first step.....

 

[Kaitlin Kaschak459]

the noise comes from the side that the cd rom is on which is the right side the hdd is on the left side

 

[Geekwad]

You can either disconnect it (if you don't use it), or could find a replacement online. In a machine of that age I'd just disconnect it, and get a USB DVD drive for those rare moments when you need one.