Optiplex 5050-micro: issue with power on and HDD clicking
The Optiplex 5050-micro, monitor, plus some desktop accessories and peripherals are all powered from a power strip with on/off switch, which I turn OFF whenever I leave a house for some time, or for the night, etc. (certainly, before doing that, I shut down the computer properly.)
Now the problem: when I turn power strip switch ON (so the power to Optiplex's PSU is restored), the computer turns itself on for about three seconds, during which:
power LED starts orange for 1/2 sec;
it then turns normal white for the next 2-3 sec;
computer turns itself OFF, and LED goes OFF;
at that time there is rather distinct single clicking sound.
This annoying click is from HDD, it's not there when I remove HDD.
After described sequence, there are no clicks during any other activities: when I turn computer ON with power button, when I shut it down, etc. This click is only audible when power to PSU is restored and computer goes through this "on then auto off" procedure. I suspect, the HDD may not be properly shut down by whatever BIOS process that turns computer ON for 3 seconds when AC power is restored.
Partial solution was to set BIOS AC Recovery option to "Power ON". Then computer starts normally without any clicking sounds, when power strip switch is turned ON. I don't like this solution, because I may e.g. want to turn desktop lamp on without powering the computer. Plus, strangely, with this option, sometimes Windows 10 reports it was not shut down correctly (??), but maybe it was only once or twice before I turned OFF all advanced power saving options in BIOS and/or hibernation and fast startup in Windows.
I flashed the latest BIOS 1.4.4. HDD is Toshiba 500 GB MQ01ACF050. It's secondary data/backups drive, the primary is NVMe SSD. Besides this problem, everything works OK, all diagnostics are OK.
Particular questions:
should I be worried about this clicking sound? I don't like it. I'm not used to my HDDs making such noises, and Google search returns nasty results about "HDD clicking".
what for is this "on and then auto off" sequence? Which tries even to power ON the HDD and then fails, it seems, to turn it OFF properly? Can this behaviour be changed to anything I'm accustomed to, i.e. connecting AC power doesn't lead to 3 seconds of power ON?
Sorry if this post is too long or all of the above is not considered problems, by specialists.
