T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

T400/410/420 and T500/510/520 series specific matters only
Post Reply
Message
Author
djpharoah
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 472
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:25 pm
Location: Irvine, California
Contact:

T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#1 Post by djpharoah » Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:13 pm

So I've searched for a good hour or so and I can't seem to figure this out.

When I unplug and roam around with my T400 the hard drive light on the bezel is constantly lit up and not blinking. The hard drive is also hauling it's butt off and I can hear it as well as feel it under the palm rest. I've noticed this behavior only when I'm on batteries which in turn is killing my battery life.

I've looked for programs that might be accessing my hard drive constantly and couldn't find any clear cut winners. My anti-virus is Avast Free and this is Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Might it be some Lenovo software??

Any help would be appreciated as this is driving me nuts.
T400 14.1" WXGA+ LCD / T9400 / 4GB / 160gb / ATi+Intel GFX / 9C / W7 64
T42p 14" SXGA+ / 2.0GHz / 1.5GB / 60GB / 2 x 6C / XP
T40 14" XGA / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 9C / XP
T40 14" SXGA+ / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 6C / XP
Sold: A31, A31p, A20m, T20, T23

emeraldgirl08
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1759
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:59 pm
Location: Window Rock, Arizona

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#2 Post by emeraldgirl08 » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:07 pm

Have you unticked drive indexing?
Thinkpad X230 | Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 | mATX Haswell Desktop

djpharoah
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 472
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:25 pm
Location: Irvine, California
Contact:

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#3 Post by djpharoah » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:08 pm

emeraldgirl08 wrote:Have you unticked drive indexing?
Yup I did but just to make sure it's the one where you right click on "C:" , then properties, and then go disable indexing on the first tab at the bottom?

EDIT: I also did the services.msc and stopped+disabled Windows Search.
T400 14.1" WXGA+ LCD / T9400 / 4GB / 160gb / ATi+Intel GFX / 9C / W7 64
T42p 14" SXGA+ / 2.0GHz / 1.5GB / 60GB / 2 x 6C / XP
T40 14" XGA / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 9C / XP
T40 14" SXGA+ / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 6C / XP
Sold: A31, A31p, A20m, T20, T23

emeraldgirl08
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1759
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:59 pm
Location: Window Rock, Arizona

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#4 Post by emeraldgirl08 » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:29 pm

I'm not sure... when I received my T400 it had Vista Basic on it and it exhibited the same behavior. I installed XP Pro because I did not like Vista and XP Pro did the same thing also. I never did find out what caused that blinking and resorted to ignoring it. Nevertheless it is a PITA. I'm afraid I don't know what else it could be! I've since switched over to SSD. No problem with the hard drive being accessed constantly anymore :)
Thinkpad X230 | Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 | mATX Haswell Desktop

djpharoah
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 472
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:25 pm
Location: Irvine, California
Contact:

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#5 Post by djpharoah » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:55 pm

emeraldgirl08 wrote:I'm not sure... when I received my T400 it had Vista Basic on it and it exhibited the same behavior. I installed XP Pro because I did not like Vista and XP Pro did the same thing also. I never did find out what caused that blinking and resorted to ignoring it. Nevertheless it is a PITA. I'm afraid I don't know what else it could be! I've since switched over to SSD. No problem with the hard drive being accessed constantly anymore :)
Thanks for the help. I don't know what it could be either. I had issues like this on my old T41p and I think it was something with the IBM Software.
T400 14.1" WXGA+ LCD / T9400 / 4GB / 160gb / ATi+Intel GFX / 9C / W7 64
T42p 14" SXGA+ / 2.0GHz / 1.5GB / 60GB / 2 x 6C / XP
T40 14" XGA / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 9C / XP
T40 14" SXGA+ / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 6C / XP
Sold: A31, A31p, A20m, T20, T23

Harryc
Moderator Emeritus
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 13228
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:23 am
Location: Upstate New York

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#6 Post by Harryc » Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:05 pm

When you say 'roam around', are you saying that the hard drive light stays on when you are carrying it around, but when it is laid down it is normal? If so that is the normal function of the drive protection system. (APS)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... migr-53167

djpharoah
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 472
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:25 pm
Location: Irvine, California
Contact:

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#7 Post by djpharoah » Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:07 pm

Harryc wrote:When you say 'roam around', are you saying that the hard drive light stays on when you are carrying it around, but when it is laid down it is normal? If so that is the normal function of the drive protection system. (APS)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... migr-53167
Sorry - I meant 'roam around' like if I'm mobile with the laptop aka away from my desk. I always close and put the laptop to sleep when I move it. I'm talking about as soon as it's resumed from sleep the hard drive light is always on. I also always sit at other tables and never put the laptop on my laptop or any other non-flat surfaces.
T400 14.1" WXGA+ LCD / T9400 / 4GB / 160gb / ATi+Intel GFX / 9C / W7 64
T42p 14" SXGA+ / 2.0GHz / 1.5GB / 60GB / 2 x 6C / XP
T40 14" XGA / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 9C / XP
T40 14" SXGA+ / 1.7GHz / 1GB / 40GB / 6C / XP
Sold: A31, A31p, A20m, T20, T23

Navck
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1036
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 2:20 am
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: T400 Hard drive being constantly accessed when on batteries

#8 Post by Navck » Thu Jul 01, 2010 3:22 pm

Go to task manager, performance and click Resource Monitor, go to the disk tab and check what might be accessing the disk. Might be the AV doing a scan in the background too.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T400/410/420 and T500/510/520 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests