Clicking Hard Drive on my T41?

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jank0003 · #1 Post by **jank0003** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:35 pm

Hi All,

I just bought a T41 and the HDD makes noise whatever I do. The HDD thrashes away even when i simply surf the internet. This is with 3/4 GB RAM.

Is this a known problem? What do I do?
Thanx,
janx

jank0003 · #2 Post by **jank0003** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:36 pm

Now that I'm working on it, the HDD clicks when I just move the cursor around the screen with the trackpad

hiengu · #3 Post by **hiengu** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:10 am

I have a T41 7200 rpm drive and don't have the problem you have.

I have noticed that occassionally I'd get a clicking noise but not like what you described.

Have you ran hard disk diagnostics and done a virus scan? If the HDD thrashes, you can also check in Windows Task Manager which process is using your disk I/Os ... that could help you narrow down the problem.

ashleys · #4 Post by **ashleys** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:33 am

Are you sure it's not just the normal sound of the heads seeking. My drive is being accessed regularly (the disk light flashes and I can hear a slight sound) even when apparently idle.

When the head has to move to access a track/sector then you will hear a sound. Rapid seeking produces quite a noise

If you ever see/hear a true large sequential access then it's quite different. Disk light stays on (virtually no flicker) and there is a very very faint noise. This only occurs when a large amount of data needs to read across consecutive tracks, thus requiring virtually no head movement.

If you're at all worried, download the Drive Fitness Test (DFT) and run some test just to check your drive.

Kenn · #5 Post by **Kenn** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:39 pm

ashleys wrote:Are you sure it's not just the normal sound of the heads seeking. My drive is being accessed regularly (the disk light flashes and I can hear a slight sound) even when apparently idle.

When the head has to move to access a track/sector then you will hear a sound. Rapid seeking produces quite a noise
If you ever see/hear a true large sequential access then it's quite different. Disk light stays on (virtually no flicker) and there is a very very faint noise. This only occurs when a large amount of data needs to read across consecutive tracks, thus requiring virtually no head movement.

If you're at all worried, download the Drive Fitness Test (DFT) and run some test just to check your drive.

100% sure this isn't the case. Once in a while the HD goes into a pretty regular "click, click, click" pattern, it's definitely not seeking and the actuation is strong enough to be noticed through the palmrest. I don't know what it is, but one morning I awoke to it when I left my machine on at night, I'm just hoping it wasn't doing that for 8 hours straight!

ashleys · #6 Post by **ashleys** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:15 pm

Mmm, define a "click"

No seriously, that does sound (no pun intended) a bit strange.
When you know it has occurred have you checked the event log for any strange activity ?

Kenn · #7 Post by **Kenn** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:24 pm

Hard to describe, but you'll know it if it happens to you. It sounds/feels like the head is snapping against the stop a little faster than once a second, very regular, and is definitely not a seek/read/write sound.

When it happens, it'll (naturally) stop for a while as I drill down through directories on the hard drive, and it usually stops on its own after a few minutes, but I've had it go on for longer before.

astpaul · #8 Post by **astpaul** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 9:58 am

It happened to me on a T42 (and i think it was reviezed several times on this board!).
IBM has a new firmware or BIOS update for that kind of problem. Give them a call.

Elhabash · #9 Post by **Elhabash** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:33 pm

Make a backup asap. A friend of mine had a broken display lock on her Thinkpad (the one that locks the display when it's closed), so the computer was running when she thought it was sleeping.
After coming home, the harddrive made funny noises, and after a short while it was completely broken...

Jesper · #10 Post by **Jesper** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:41 pm

http://www-1.ibm.com/cgi-bin/pc/support ... n944070707

Regards
Jesper

Clicking Hard Drive on my T41?

Clicking Hard Drive on my T41?

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