Laptop makes weird noise on startup?

phillipryan

Honorable
Jun 11, 2013
37
1
10,530
So, just a couple days ago, my ASUS G751JT came in the mail. Ever since I started it up on the first boot, it makes a relatively silent...clicking noise for a split second. "Clicking" isn't really accurate, but I'm not sure the correct word to use here to describe it. What it sounds like is the actuator arm on the HDD touching the disk and...scratching it. But don't believe me on that - I could be wrong. It's not loud and it doesn't last long at all, nor does it happen when I'm using the computer (even when copying large files, etc.) during regular use. I'm just really worried that my HDD could be approaching death. Has anyone else had this problem before? Should I just replace the hard drive? (There are 2 in there, which makes it rather difficult to diagnose which one is causing it) What a bummer. Brand spanking new computer and it's already doing this. I'm hoping it's the optical drive. That wouldn't concern me as much. Thanks in advance for your input guys.

Here are the specs of the laptop, if it helps:
i7-4710HQ @ 2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo
GTX 970M 3GB
16GB RAM
2 HDDs, one 372GB and another 542GB
 

ChazE911

Reputable
Sep 5, 2014
6
0
4,520
Just off the top of my head, it sounds more like a fan spinning up. The blades deform slightly as they start spinning, and unless the fan comes to a complete stop you don't hear the sound again (or it is buried in the other normal mechanical noises that come form an operating computer).