It does it with irregular periodicity, probably around once every two hours on average – simply and without any prompt or other activity plays a ‘ca-chunk’ noise over the speakers, a sound very much like pressing a key on an old keyboard (so much like that, in fact, that I believe it might be a recording of it). So far, I haven’t been able to find any regularities – particular programs that were running, events that happened, inputs, outputs, nothing.
Now here’s the weird part – some weeks ago, my computer basically crashed and burned, and has now for the most part been replaced. Only a DVD burner, a hard drive (which is now externally connected, formatted, and not necessarily active at the time of ‘ca-chunk’), the keyboard and the speakers made the transition from my old system. Completely new OS install (WinXP SP2), all-new software, everything.
It still goes ‘ca-chunk’ every now and then without rhyme or reason. As an entirely too vague hypothesis, since the sound seems so much like a keystroke, I’ve been speculating that it might have something to do with the actual keyboard, which is a Dell model doubling as USB hub. Does the driver every now and then want to remind me of his continued hard work? Do I not appreciate him enough?
Has anybody experienced a phenomenon like that and knows what causes it?