[jayash.raj]

I was checking my new HDD and then while I moved the cable and the port broke. I just put that back and the computer works fine but sometimes there is this clicking sound from the CPU box and the computer gets hangged and sometimes it automatically restarts. I also see a blinking crusor at the start while I turn on the computer. Can anyone helpep me, what should I do? I use Windows XP, I have 500 GB HDD, 3.00GHz and 256MB RAM.

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256Mb of RAM? That is a very tiny amount, barely enough for Windows, let alone anything else you need to run, like a firewall, anti-malware and a browser. With that little amount of RAM, the page file on the slow hard drive is really getting banged on a lot. That would not be your clicking sounds, but certainly would expedite wearing out the drive. I recommend at least 1Gb for XP, preferably 2 if using a multi-core CPU.

Did the connector on the drive or motherboard break? If none of the pins are broken, I might use a bit hot glue to keep the connection tight. I suggest hot glue because you can peel it off fairly easily if you need to disconnect again.

If the drive connector is damaged and pins are loose and you value your data, you might start shopping for a new drive.

[Digerati]

256Mb of RAM? That is a very tiny amount, barely enough for Windows, let alone anything else you need to run, like a firewall, anti-malware and a browser. With that little amount of RAM, the page file on the slow hard drive is really getting banged on a lot. That would not be your clicking sounds, but certainly would expedite wearing out the drive. I recommend at least 1Gb for XP, preferably 2 if using a multi-core CPU.

Did the connector on the drive or motherboard break? If none of the pins are broken, I might use a bit hot glue to keep the connection tight. I suggest hot glue because you can peel it off fairly easily if you need to disconnect again.

If the drive connector is damaged and pins are loose and you value your data, you might start shopping for a new drive.