[womanandmom]

My Mom's laptop is an HP G60(so it says underneath) running Windows 7 and has begun to have some odd problems.
The ticking/clacking comes from the left corner furthest from the screen. It's constant and fast.
Then the computer freezes (screen goes pale) and eventually we get the blue screen which says it is preparing for a crash dump.
The message displays a bunch of 0's and letters..one set I got was 0x000000f4. The crash dump message is displayed for a long time, then the screen goes dark and the clicking continues..but it never shuts off.
It doesn't happen every time, but it happens most times. I'm using it right now after restarting it once it displayed the blue screen and it seems to be running fine.
Any ideas?
Thanks! I've always gotten great help here!

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Sounds like what you might be experiencing is known as the Click Of Death from the hard drive.
This means the hard drive is failing.
How old is the laptop and is there a warranty on it still?
Being this could be possible I would highly recommend while it is running now that you backup all important data like documents, videos, music and movies.
Once that is done the I suggest testing the hard drive using the instructions below. But please backup your data before doing this as you may not be able to boot the system later.
As for the actual error message you reference I'm including a explanation.

0x000000F4: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
One of the many processes or threads crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated. As a result, the system can no longer function. Specific causes are many, and often best resolved by a careful history of the problem and the circumstances of the error message. One user, who experienced this on return from Standby mode on Win XP SP2, found the cause was that Windows was installed on a slave drive;

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[rshaffer61]

Sounds like what you might be experiencing is known as the Click Of Death from the hard drive.
This means the hard drive is failing.
How old is the laptop and is there a warranty on it still?
Being this could be possible I would highly recommend while it is running now that you backup all important data like documents, videos, music and movies.
Once that is done the I suggest testing the hard drive using the instructions below. But please backup your data before doing this as you may not be able to boot the system later.
As for the actual error message you reference I'm including a explanation.

0x000000F4: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
One of the many processes or threads crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated. As a result, the system can no longer function. Specific causes are many, and often best resolved by a careful history of the problem and the circumstances of the error message. One user, who experienced this on return from Standby mode on Win XP SP2, found the cause was that Windows was installed on a slave drive;

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions