T510 clicks & beeps in Linux

[lparsons]

My T510 has just passed its second birthday (and of course, I never bought the extended warranty). Suddenly it has started a troubling habit that I can't get to the bottom of - actually, two habits. I primarily run Kubuntu 10.10 (was planning to upgrade soon but had to stick to an old version while finishing up some work).

The first was a mystery beep. I tried all the usual suspects - closed amarok, my browser, even muted my sound and the beep was still there. It beeped randomly and sounded like it came from the speakers but as the beep didn't occur at even vaguely regular intervals it was impossible to tell for sure. I even rebooted the system and the sound was still random without anything running that should use sound. Later I booted to Windows out of desperation and didn't hear it there, but I'd sooner lie down on the interstate than try to do important work in a Microsoft OS.

Strangely enough after booting Linux, then booting Windows, then booting back to Linux, the sound has gone away.

Now instead, and more troubling, I get a random click. I suspect the HD might be the culprit but isolating the source of the noise is not easy. System is still running the original 320gb WD (shows as WD3200BEVT-0).

Is there anything else I might want to consider as the source of the click? It sounds like the classic "click of death" that so many hard drives have made in the past on other systems, though I can't be sure. And what might the beep have been coming from that was apparently not coming from the audio system?

Obviously, some data backups will be starting immediately just in case.