Computer Pros - what the heck could have caused this?

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I was just online, checking out something on eBay, when my computer started making a noise that sounded like a cell phone on vibrate then all of a sudden the CD drawer opened and the screen went to the Dell logo!

It was frozen there so we cut it off, let it sit a bit and restarted it. It was just stuck there on the Dell logo for the longest time then it finally went to the Windows scan disk screen and it did some checks that lasted about 4 minutes.

The computer eventually came back up and one of those pop ups came on that said that Windows has recovered from a serious error - send report. And now the CD-rom drawer is broken.

Any ideas? Is this thing on it's death bed?

 

[WDWguru]

It sounds like a power surge to me. Not sure where it came from - it could be internal to the machine (ie a power supply malfunction) or external (something in your home or outside your home that affected the wiring in your house).

If it was internal, a tech at Best Buy or CompUSA could check the power supply for you and replace it if necessary. If external, you can (and should) purchase a Universal Power Supply (UPS). Any piece of expensive electronic equipment should be on one of these. It's basically a power strip with a backup battery in it. They run anywhere from about $40 up to several hundred, depending on how many backup outlets they have and how much juice they provide (some can run your equipment for hours in the event of a power failure).

If you don't have a UPS, you should pick one up. And have somebody check out the internal power supply for problems. Hopefully, no permanent damage was done and you can prevent it from happening again.

ETA: A UPS will protect your machine from surges and also allow you time to safely and properly shut the machine down and power it off yourself in the event of a larger power failure in your home.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Thanks. We may have to look into that.

Any ideas on the CD drive? The drawer is still out and won't close all the way when I push it in. When I press the button to try to close it that way, it won't do anything.

 

[Aidensmom]

Try reinstalling the CD drive.

If it keeps occurring, you may have a hard drive that is ready to die. A lot of times when it is making a weird noise, that is what the problem is.