Compaq Laptop making weird noises when I turned on the computer

[yng_tr]

Hey Everyone, I need some help with my Compaq Presario CQ60-215DX Laptop. A couple of times (not all the time!) when I turned on my PC my hard drive was making a grinding sound for only a couple of seconds, but my laptop was booting up normally and I have no problem accessing to my Hard Drive while my computer is running normally. And I don't here any grinding or continuing clicking on my laptop hard drive while using it. Is there something going on with it or is my Hard Drive is failing?

[KarumA]

Does it happen every time you start your laptop?

[yng_tr]

Does it happen every time you start your laptop?

Couple of times, not everytime

[KarumA]

I have here some sounds I want you to check, one is a grinding HD
Can you tell me if the sound is the same?

http://www.mediafire.com/?ntqidjt2cim


Sounds come from:
Don't Get Caught With Your Disk Down

I couldn't link the download page cause the forum does an internal error on me when I paste it in a post

[yng_tr]

I have here some sounds I want you to check, one is a grinding HD
Can you tell me if the sound is the same?

breakdownsounds.zip


Sounds come from:
Don't Get Caught With Your Disk Down

I couldn't link the download page cause the forum does an internal error on me when I paste it in a post

The noise is kinda sound like grinding but a little more calmer than what I've heard from the sound files

[KarumA]

Any grinding or scraping sound (grind.wav) is another sign of serious trouble. Your hard drive's read/write heads are in contact with the disk's media surface--where the data is stored. Shut down your drive immediately; the longer it runs, the more data you may lose.

I wouldn't say that it is on the level of "shut down ASAP" since it happens sometimes on boot but I would start packing everything important if I were you. If you still have warranty then use it for your laptop.
That sound to me without reading anything does not sound good at all.

If you encounter any of the symptoms described above, don't panic. Some of your data may have been scrambled by errant software or by an isolated hardware glitch. To check, run Windows' ScanDisk utility. In Windows 98 and Me, click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk. In Windows 2000 and XP, open My Computer, right-click the drive, select Properties, Tools, and click the Check Now button under 'Error-checking'.

Set ScanDisk to examine the entire disk for physically damaged sectors. To do this in Windows 98 and Me, enable the Thorough option (see FIGURE 1). In Windows 2000 and XP, check both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt to fix bad sectors. (On multigigabyte hard disks, this may take hours, so be patient.)

If ScanDisk reports more than a few physical errors, there's a good chance your hard disk is on the way out. But if it reports only a few logical errors, such as cross-linked or fragmented files, let ScanDisk repair the files and then run ScanDisk periodically to see if the errors recur. Running ScanDisk once a month is a good way to catch hard disk problems before they become irreparable.

the Don't Get Caught With Your Disk Down link I've posted has these above quotes in the text, quite a handy article. But running once a month is over rated IMO

[Munemasa Katagiri]

Maybe the cooler is dirty or the needle of your HDD is out of place, I suggest you to take to a store, if the HDD is faulty you need to replace it ASAP.

[yng_tr]

How can I clean my cooler fan?

[KarumA]

Youtube is your friend in these cases

YouTube - HP Compaq nx7400 vent cleaning

as well as google:
Repair4Laptop: How to Repair the Cooling System (Fan, Heatsink) of a Laptop or Notebook

However if the van was that full of dust then you would hear that grinding sound while doing heavy process programs as well, such as play games that require your PC to run harder than usual. Also if the van was that piled up then you would have had other problems, such as your laptop falling out of power all of a sudden, your laptop getting very warm and some programs after a while crashing your laptop (games etc.)

I've never cleaned a laptop van before since I don't own one, profession reasons, but you'll need to open it up

[yng_tr]

Youtube is your friend in these cases

YouTube - HP Compaq nx7400 vent cleaning

as well as google:
Repair4Laptop: How to Repair the Cooling System (Fan, Heatsink) of a Laptop or Notebook

However if the van was that full of dust then you would hear that grinding sound while doing heavy process programs as well, such as play games that require your PC to run harder than usual. Also if the van was that piled up then you would have had other problems, such as your laptop falling out of power all of a sudden, your laptop getting very warm and some programs after a while crashing your laptop (games etc.)

I've never cleaned a laptop van before since I don't own one, profession reasons, but you'll need to open it up

I think that would be it since when I turned on the computer is morning no grinding noise and everything is good.