click click click ............. Grrrr ....

[sugo]

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~yau/download/5k80Recordings.zip

My T42 came with a Hitachi 5k80. While it's slient and fast most of the time, it can enter an unsteady state where bullet gun like clicking noise can be heard. I recorded the noise when it did that again today. It's the file 5k80ClickingNoise.mp3 file in above zip archive.

Once the hdd is in that unsteady state, hdd temperature will rise from 33'C to 41'C even at idle. The CPU was only at 40'C.

The only way to "fix" it is to shutdown the laptop. Upon shutdown, an abnormal sound can be heard (try the file 5k80ShutdownSound.mp3 in the above zip archive). The sound makes me think the drive is going to die soon.

Upgrading the firmware to A5DA helped only a little bit. I found a firmware A5EA at Dell support site that claims to fix some sort of clicking noise. The firmware won't install on the IBM Hitachi drive.

I talked with a Hitachi tech support. He said A5DA is at least 7 versions older than what they have. But the official Hitachi firmware won't work as the OEM drive uses proprietary firmware. I ran Drive Fitness Test. It reported no issue.

Has any 7k60 owner experienced the same?

[BillMorrow]

i have experienced this on a few other thinkpads..
a 600E being the most memorable..
if it happened today i would clone the drive and if it went with the OS i would know it is OS related..
and if not, i would clean the noisy drive and reinstall the OS and see if it happened again..

FWIW, i never DID figure that one out on the 600E..

[Kenn]

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~yau/download/5k80Recordings.zip

My T42 came with a Hitachi 5k80. While it's slient and fast most of the time, it can enter an unsteady state where bullet gun like clicking noise can be heard. I recorded the noise when it did that again today. It's the file 5k80ClickingNoise.mp3 file in above zip archive.

Once the hdd is in that unsteady state, hdd temperature will rise from 33'C to 41'C even at idle. The CPU was only at 40'C.

The only way to "fix" it is to shutdown the laptop. Upon shutdown, an abnormal sound can be heard (try the file 5k80ShutdownSound.mp3 in the above zip archive). The sound makes me think the drive is going to die soon.

Upgrading the firmware to A5DA helped only a little bit. I found a firmware A5EA at Dell support site that claims to fix some sort of clicking noise. The firmware won't install on the IBM Hitachi drive.

I talked with a Hitachi tech support. He said A5DA is at least 7 versions older than what they have. But the official Hitachi firmware won't work as the OEM drive uses proprietary firmware. I ran Drive Fitness Test. It reported no issue.

Has any 7k60 owner experienced the same?

I'm glad you recorded this. My t42 (80gb 5400rpm) does it as well. Sometimes I can get it to stop by running some disk-intensive apps (defrag), but I usually end up rebooting too. I don't know why it happens, or if it's serious.

In an earlier thread, someone said he described the same sound (clicking 6-8x per second) to IBM tech support and they told him to immediately back up his data, and sent him a new drive.

[taphil]

My 40GB 5400rpm drive makes the same clicking noises occasionally. It goes away on its own after a few minutes. The shutdown sound happens a lot more often.

[sktn77a]

Haven't experienced this on any of my 4 T4x drives. Back up any wanted data and call IBM. They should send you a new drive under warranty.

[Aramitz]

Has any 7k60 owner experienced the same?

My 7K60 (bought in March 04) is as totally silent as speedy

[Nabeel]

How old is the machine? Mine used to do that when it was relatively new, and it went away. I think it's just that it's "burning in", since its spinning parts and they're getting used to moving or something like that.

[Aramitz]

How old is the machine? Mine used to do that when it was relatively new, and it went away. I think it's just that it's "burning in", since its spinning parts and they're getting used to moving or something like that.

I've a R40 / 15'SXGA+/1,4 M/1 Go RAM/bought in January 04 and the 7K60 in March with extra 512Mo RAM .
Since the first days it's very silent but I'm a little disapointed by the case plastic quality which is becoming shining on the palmrest !
My old A20p is a much better quality made (case & keyboard)
I'm asking myself for buying a new TP coz I'm afraid of the quality loss after the chinese purchase !??
I'm balancing between a T42 and a T43 for the next 2 years waiting for the new machines shipped with Longhorn !??

[Kenn]

I'm asking myself for buying a new TP coz I'm afraid of the quality loss after the chinese purchase !??
I'm balancing between a T42 and a T43 for the next 2 years waiting for the new machines shipped with Longhorn !??

Two separate questions here. For now, Lenovo couldn't likely make any real design changes to the T43 or even the next revision of the TP line - anything you see for the next 18-30 months will be through IBM's set timeline. After that, we'll start seeing Lenovo's influence in design and parts. That's not necessarily a good thing, since they'll still use IBM's name, and as part of the deal have hired over 9000 IBM thinkpad and PC engineers as part of the deal. Also, IBM itself will continue to handle service and warranty for the next few years. IBM still has a lot invested in thinkpad even with the Lenovo sale, so don't expect too much change in quality for the next few years.

[Aramitz]

so don't expect too much change in quality for the next few years.

I think so too.
I'll wait for the next T43

[sugo]

Got a new fujitsu replacement drive from ibm - very quiet and just as fast. Finally my thinkpad can be a workhorse machine that doesn't need rebooting to temporarily fix some silly clicking noises

[beeblebrox]

I used to have Hitachi drives in my old Thinkpads and the new T4x series came with silent fujitsus.

HOWEVER: I got a brand new Seagate 3.5" 200GB drive as a common backup which does EXACTLY the very same noise noise during idle time and shut down.
Seagate said that with the new drive electronics the head is moving across the platter to avoid damages if staying on one track too long. many drives got damaged after a while because the head stayed on one track and subsequently started to shave of the sliding surface protection of the platter.

Kind of all new drives do that clicking noise (Maxtor and WD as well) it depends on the speed parameter set up (fast/silent coil move).

Your drive is certainly in perfect condition. The noise at shut down is the typical parking noise of the moving coil. I know a lot of Hdd's that make that noise.
If you use 3.5" drives you hear that very same noise much louder because of larger moving masses.

So in total, nothing to worry about. I recommend to change the firmware parameters (go to Hitachi website) to a more silent drive option.