[megamanx.sam]

So just recently, I was playing Team Fortress 2 (that was the only program open, not counting virus protection) and my tower started making odd squeaking noises that I've never head before. The sound was in some sort of rhythm, not just random. Stuck in a loading screen, I planned on waiting to be able to quit, then just reboot and see what happens. Before I could, a blue screen came up with "kernel_data_inpage_error" and I guess I didn't find it important enough to write down anything more specific (I will if this happens again).

So... I really don't even know where to start. I'm hoping this is a one-time thing, maybe I screwed something up and didn't know about it, but, any ideas on what it might be would be much appreciated.

Also:
The sounds seemed to come from about where the DELL logo is on the right side of the case in this picture http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/gr...5/24130_g1.jpg

And a picture of the inside of the case, if it helps http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/gr...5/24130_g3.jpg

Thanks in advance

[stormfish]

It could be a fan making the noise.Does window not load anymore?

[Rollin' Rog]

kernel_data_inpage_error

These are "virtual memory" errors usually related to the drive itself -- and the noise you are hearing could be the drive going south. In the Event Viewer (run eventvwr.msc) look for "Disk" errors in the System log.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms793989.aspx

Run chkdsk on it. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/315265

After reboot, the log for the chkdsk will be available in the Event Viewer (run: eventvwr.msc) in the Applications log > Winlogon entry. You can copy/paste that here.

[megamanx.sam]

Rollin' Rog

Thanks for the tips, but frankly, now I'm pretty worried about my computer in general.

The event viewer shows 14 disk errors from roughly 9:30 to 9:34 on the night of the initial problem. Looking further (farther?) back, there are 19 errors from 9:28 to 9:29 of the same night. Continuing backwards, I found maybe 100 to 200 disk warnings about 3 days earlier. No, I'm not exaggerating the amount - 100-200 may even be an understatement. Many of the warnings occur at the same time, and under properties read:

"An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operation."

I'll work on checking the disk errors, but I don''t know...

[Megabite]

I would back up your important Data now as a precaution

[Rollin' Rog]

Do backup all your vitals before running chkdsk.

Instructions can be found here if you need them >>

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/315265

After chkdsk completes and reboots, you can run eventvwr.msc and open the Applications log. In XP the log for chkdsk should be found in the last Winlogon entry. Doubleclick for its properties and use the double-paper copy icon to copy the list to the clipboard for pasting.

You can also do a quick scan of the drive (this doesn't fix anything) for "bad blocks", which you probably have, using HDTune >>

http://www.hdtune.com/