Hard drive is clicking all the time!!!!

Message

thinkpadhk · #1 Post by **thinkpadhk** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:33 am

OK this is getting unbearably annoying! I have a T42 (2378-FVU) with a 40GB 5400 RPM HD and the thing is driving me nuts!

When I use my computer for about 30 minutes or so, my hard drive starts making this constant clicking noise! Click click click click click click...

It is a rapid clicking that lasts for about 5-10 seconds and then stops for what seems like a random amount of time and then repeats over and over and over again! And it's not quiet either. Just loud enough to be annoying.

Does anyone know what's going on and how I can get rid of this clicking? I read somewhere that you can install TweakUI from microsoft and disable the "Hard drive optimization". I tried this and it seemed to work for a day and now the noise is back! ArrrrgggghhH!!!

Please help anyone.

johnson · #2 Post by **johnson** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:15 am

Possible that the hard drive is going bad? Back up all your stuff now before its too late.

pipspeak · #3 Post by **pipspeak** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:14 pm

Yeah, back everything up now. A friend's Fujitsu hard drive recently died after making a similar clicking noise.

sugo · #4 Post by **sugo** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:46 pm

Is that a Hitachi drive?

thinkpadhk · #5 Post by **thinkpadhk** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:35 pm

Yup... it's a Hitachi Travelstar. I believe a 5k80.

Is it just the nature of the drive?

zverg · #6 Post by **zverg** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:52 am

Mine did the same, it was replaced with a fujitsu 80gb, which has held up so far (about 3 weeks)

firstep · #7 Post by **firstep** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:09 am

Will IBM cover the replacement?

zverg wrote:Mine did the same, it was replaced with a fujitsu 80gb, which has held up so far (about 3 weeks)

firstep · #8 Post by **firstep** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:13 am

I have the same problem occasionally. My solution is to restart and it works. You may try.

thinkpadhk wrote:OK this is getting unbearably annoying! I have a T42 (2378-FVU) with a 40GB 5400 RPM HD and the thing is driving me nuts!

When I use my computer for about 30 minutes or so, my hard drive starts making this constant clicking noise! Click click click click click click...

It is a rapid clicking that lasts for about 5-10 seconds and then stops for what seems like a random amount of time and then repeats over and over and over again! And it's not quiet either. Just loud enough to be annoying.

Does anyone know what's going on and how I can get rid of this clicking? I read somewhere that you can install TweakUI from microsoft and disable the "Hard drive optimization". I tried this and it seemed to work for a day and now the noise is back! ArrrrgggghhH!!!

Please help anyone.

S P · #9 Post by **S P** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:07 pm

I have a 2378 FVU also with the same 40 GB drive and mine is doing the same thing also. ANNOYING AS HELL!!! Yeah I'm afraid the drive is going to crash on me so I'm backing up frequently. Tonight it won't SHUT UP and I'm trying to concentrate and get some work done! grrr

Lemme try the reboot trick and see if it works.

EDIT: It must have sensed I was going to reboot, because now it finally shut up. LOL

Kenn · #10 Post by **Kenn** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:36 pm

This happens to a LOT of the 5400rpm drives that ship with T42s, including both my 7XU and 3VU. Some have said that IBM replaces them, some say they get replaced with refurbrished parts (Bill's confirmed this).

I'm not sure it signifies failure, but according to Bill, there's 1) a firmware patch that eliminates the clicking, and/or 2) a software patch that reduces it. I haven't looked for or found either. Maybe if Bill can speak up here

etherealtml · #11 Post by **etherealtml** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:24 am

I notice some clicking too. I wouldn't call it unbearable, but I definitely notice some clicking going on...

S P · #12 Post by **S P** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:01 am

Kenn wrote:I'm not sure it signifies failure, but according to Bill, there's 1) a firmware patch that eliminates the clicking, and/or 2) a software patch that reduces it. I haven't looked for or found either. Maybe if Bill can speak up here

Thanks! I'll definitely check into that.

I haven't done any updating since I got it last summer so there's probably a bunch of updates out there for it. Usually my motto is if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'll hunt for updates on this though and see if that fixes it.

Yeah it's standard practice to replace broken parts with refurbished ones in pretty much any business so I don't want them to replace anything unless it's already dead.

Still no clicking again tonight since I "threatened" the reboot, lol

ashleys · #13 Post by **ashleys** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:23 am

Probably best to look at this support article.
It also has links to the fixes mentioned.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... selected=5

zverg · #14 Post by **zverg** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:00 am

With mine, all I had to do was mention that it was constantly clicking and they replaced it "right away", and by that I mean it took months but should have only taken a couple days.

beeblebrox · #15 Post by **beeblebrox** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:28 am

see my answer in the other ...click... thread.

The clicking is the firmware that constantly moves the head around to avoid damage on the track when idle.

Kenn · #16 Post by **Kenn** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:51 am

beeblebrox wrote:see my answer in the other ...click... thread.

The clicking is the firmware that constantly moves the head around to avoid damage on the track when idle.

First, I think it's great that IBM actually provides a WAV file to demonstrate what they're talking about. So simple and intuitive, yet so rarely done (especially by large manufacturers).

However, I don't think this is the sound we're talking about. Someone uploaded a wav a few weeks ago (and is probably still in an older thread) - it is a constant, high-pitched, and very loud and fast 5-8 clicks per second that starts rather randomly, but then continues until you reboot - it's not a single, intermittent "clunk" as IBM describes in this article. I'm not sure I want to exchange for a refurb HD without knowing if this is an indication of imminent failure, but I'm being more careful to make frequent backups!

thinkpadhk · #17 Post by **thinkpadhk** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:36 pm

Yeah, that wav file is not the sound we're talking about.

The sound we're all complaining about is a fast "click click click click click...". (or is it "tick tick tick tick tick..."???).

Anyway the wav file on the IBM site is one large "clunk" sound. That definitely is a scary sound, but not an annoying persistant nuisance like the one we're talking about.

sugo · #18 Post by **sugo** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 6:32 pm

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

firstep · #19 Post by **firstep** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:52 pm

Yes, that's the 5k80 noise I got. Is it a serious problem?

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

gosha16 · #20 Post by **gosha16** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:35 pm

sorry to bump the post but this is exactly whats going on and the sound is REALLY annoying me. is there anything that can be done about it?

sugo · #21 Post by **sugo** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:26 pm

I called IBM and requested a drive replacement - specifically asked for a Fujitsu. You can't imagine how happy I am now, goodbye clicking noise devil 5K80 forever

thinkpadhk · #22 Post by **thinkpadhk** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:40 pm

There's a Fujitsu replacement for the 40GB 5400 RPM drive? Dang, I should've asked for one of those.

Anyway... I installed my replacement Hitachi drive. So far it's working fine and hasn't made any annoying clicking sounds. Knock on wood.

rhobite · #23 Post by **rhobite** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:06 pm

Yeah, I have a brand new 2373-5TU with the 40GB Travelstar, and I'm getting the same clicking noise. It sounds like the head is sweeping across the disk. Many drives do this to even out the wear, but it's not supposed to make this sound all the time. I may just buy a new drive, I've been thinking of going up to 80GB anyway. What's interesting is that my HD was manufactured in December so as of a couple months ago, they were still making drives with this problem.

sugo · #24 Post by **sugo** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:14 pm

rhobite wrote:I've been thinking of going up to 80GB anyway.

Whatever you get, stay away from Hitachi 5K80 series

If you are getting 80GB, have you considered the Seagate 100GB?

rhobite · #25 Post by **rhobite** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:45 pm

sugo wrote:Whatever you get, stay away from Hitachi 5K80 series

If you are getting 80GB, have you considered the Seagate 100GB?

Which is annoying because I'm a huge fan of Hitachi/IBM's desktop drives, I have a great 160GB SATA of theirs in my desktop. I haven't shopped around at all, is the Seagate good? I figured I'd just get a Fujitsu, I've had good experiences with their 2.5" drives before.

davidlg16 · #26 Post by **davidlg16** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:09 am

i also have a T42 2378FVU with the 40gb 5400 Hitachi. I experience this click sound about once every 5 seconds for a few min, then it stops, then it'll start randomly some later time. anyway, i guess i'm one of the luckier ones since i wont be able to stand that fast clicking i heard on the mp3 file posted earlier.

Roisin · #27 Post by **Roisin** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:40 am

so has anyone got rid of that 5k80Recordings.zip clicking with playing with 'acoustic management' on your hitachi drive?

Roisin · #28 Post by **Roisin** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:00 am

here they talk about hdd noise: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Sections+ ... id-29.html

Toshiba MK4025GAS
Not inaudible, but almost, at 15~16 dBA, easily dismissed in the ambient noise of all but the quietest spaces. There is no high pitched whine to speak of, and the seek noise does not seem more than maybe 2 dBA higher than idle. 8 mb cache helps with slow performance of 4200 RPM speed. Extremely low vibration, but mechanical decouple (suspension, sorbothane, etc) still helps and is recommended. Review. Added Apr/04

Fujitsu MHT2040AT
The first quiet notebook I experienced, identical to the Toshiba above, but slower performance because of its 2 MB cache. Review - Added Apr/04

Samsung MP0402H 40G
Just about as quiet as the 4200 RPM drives above, but much faster 5400 RPM / 8mb cache. It's been adopted (with elastic suspension) for use in SPCR's quietest reference PCs, including our Audio Recording PC. Added Jan/05

Hitachi Travelstar 5K80
Not as quiet as the Samsung, but still better than any 3.5" drive at 19 dBA/1m idle, this 2-platter / 80G / 5400 RPM / 8mb cache drive may have a performance edge. The 40G single platter model may match the acoustics of the 40G Samsung. There is some question whether they have some kind of built-in clicking noise which was not apparent in the review sample. When suspended, this could be a non-issue. See the article discussion in the forum. Review Added Jan/05

WD Scorpio
A forum member with and a 40G version of this new WD notebook drive is quieter than his sample of one of the Samsungs listed above. There is some question whether it is afflicted with random / regular clicking similar to that reported on the Hitachi. Again, if so, suspension may cure the problem. The Scorpio is recommended with caution; we have not reviewed it. Added Jan/05

sugo · #29 Post by **sugo** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:15 am

The Acoustic Management has nothing to do with the clicking noise. AAM helps when the hard drive seeks around but the clicking noise comes on upon idle.

Roisin · #30 Post by **Roisin** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:59 am

so has anybody successfully cured that 'clicking noise'?

Hard drive is clicking all the time!!!!

Hard drive is clicking all the time!!!!

Re: Hard drive is clicking all the time!!!!

Who is online