computer clicking at startup

[Ky.Rose]

I am running windows xp and have a gateway when I turn the computer on I hear a clicking noise then it says,ntldr file is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart I have done that but still have the same problem I can't even get it to boot up for the clicking noise.

[slgrieb]

Ky.Rose, you have a dead hard drive. I'm afraid it's replacement time. It's unlikely you will be able to recover any data from the drive short of sending it to a recovery center and spending big bucks. About the only good news I can give you is that drives are cheap these days. Sorry.

[CeeBee]

If it says ntldr is missing then it may not be all lost since it's still reading the boot sector. Go to a computer place/friend with knowledge and try to salvage as much as possible from the drive. If you have a USB drive you can use a bootable CD such as BartPE and copy the files in the order of importance. Don't try starting the computer otherwise, the drive it's about to give its last spin/breath.

[slgrieb]

CeeBee has a good point here; perhaps I was being too pesimistic. Certainly it wouldn't hurt to connect the drive to another machine and see if you can copy anything off it, or even try a recovery with GetDataBack or PC Inspector File Recovery. GetDataBack can also be run from a WinPE bootdisk.

[Guts3d]

If it has a floppy drive in it and it is set to boot from floppy drive first in BIOS, it may be trying to do so with a non-bootable floppy. That will generate the same error message as you posted. Ensure there is no floppy in the drive and cross your fingers!

[NooNoo]

The only other clicking noise I can think of is a stuck keyboard key... but that wouldn't account for a missing ntldr... I think either you are very very lucky and Guts3d is right or it is the usual click of death... Does it sound like this?

Explanatory video here