Hard drive making dodgy noises

Lenny

Ok, you know when you put your computer on standby
and then you move your mouse, and you can hear your harddrive boot up again
well I put my comp on standby eariler.. i took it out, then a few hours later, my harddrive starts making these weird noises (clicking and a high pitched air tone) the comper freezes for a few seconds and the CPU goes up to max, then it returns to normal about 10 seconds later, this just happened out of the blue and is happening quite frequently, I rebooted and its still happening, I don't like the sound of it, and I don't like keep the comuter on until I know what the problem is,
sujjestions below please, thanks

strat

Pretty much the same thing i have here in a 30 gig quantum, the pc only stalls for only about .5 a second but it makes lots of worrying noises. It started about 3 months ago when i had the HD out and id say it got a knock or a fall, anyway i recon its only a matter of time for it crashs - badly. As im writing this its making the noise again it does so a few times a night, anyway im gonna replace it with a nice new IMB 60 gig

flamegrill

OJ all i can say is dont let your computer go into standby. Windows/9x/nt/2k are known for their bad handling of power management.

usually its third party software from the vendor that does the job properly.

I have lost a disk to powermanagment so i dont use it any more and i suggest you either let the drive spin down by itslef with its own powermanagement or just leave the computer idle and switch of the monitor yourself


[This message has been edited by flamegrill (edited 02-09-2001).]

BNC

Sounds like the drive is on its way out to me. Have you tried using the Fujitsu Diagnostic?
The zip includes instructions on use.

phobos

To me it sounds like your hard disk is knackered. Tis only a matter of time before it bites the dust. But then again it could be highly fragmented. The pause could be due to the (search for next fragment latency).

Try running Scandisk to be on the safe side, and see if their is any physical dammage. Set it automatically fix errors and go out for the afternoon. If Scandisk doesn't find anything, run Defrag. Do a full defrag on your disk, and hopefully things should quiten down and speed up.

;-phobos-)

Balfa

Um, i'd start by making sure it's not some software doing it by closing all programs you have running (ctrl-alt-del, doubleclick anything that isnt "Explorer", repeat until only "Explorer" is left) and see if it still does it.

Lenny

I'll do the scandisk and defrag with norton util..
the harddrive is 10 months old.. so its still in gaurantee

Fand

Yikes! Back it up and call the makers while it's well within guarantee, get a replacement.

Dunno if it's an urban (or maybe rural) myth, by the way, but I've heard that if you blow smoke into a hdd it'll kill it daid. I've wondered since I heard this whether smokers hard drives have a shorter life.

Lenny

Well noone smokes near or around the computer, so it cna't be that
Would I ring the manufature of my PC or the manufacture of the Hardrive?

Lenny

My hard drive is a FUJITSU MPG3307AT
30 gig.. I haven't been messing with the box, so it hasn't fallen, anyone else know what the problem could be, or how I could go about seeing what it is?

beaver

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Fand:
Dunno if it's an urban (or maybe rural) myth, by the way, but I've heard that if you blow smoke into a hdd it'll kill it daid. I've wondered since I heard this whether smokers hard drives have a shorter life. </font>

Hard drives are made to be air-tight! Have you ever tried to take one apart? It's bloody hard - I've variously used walls, hammers, screw/hex drivers, chisels, pliers, floors and legs of tables to open the things. (Ah, but it's fun ). Sounds like complete myth to me.

In any case, if your hard drive starts acting up while it's in warranty, send it back. Making noise is not a good sign.

-Ross

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When I was young my mother told me not to look into the sun; so once, when I was six, I did...

beaver

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by OJ:
Well noone smokes near or around the computer, so it cna't be that
Would I ring the manufature of my PC or the manufacture of the Hardrive? </font>

If you bought the hard drive on it's own, ring wherever you bought it from.

If it came with the PC, ring wherever you bought the PC.

-Ross

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When I was young my mother told me not to look into the sun; so once, when I was six, I did...

Lenny

I recieved my computer back yesterday (wednesday) after it being in for repair for 7 days, without even recieving a phone call to sa it was ready, the enjineer report said "Tested harddrive, harddrive prooved faulty - replaced harddrive"
Though I notice that now, the problem is still persisting, after someone on #fortress.ie saying I could be scammed by them just restoring the computer, I decieded to open the case, and the harddrive reads this date on it "2000 09" in which I bought the computer in 2000 11, so by the looks of it, they didn't replace it, or else I have another faulty harddrive, so what do I do?
Will I ring them up and tell them I've opened the box and saw that the harddrive wasn't replaced? or Should I ring up about getting it repaired again and saying nothing about it being opened?

Also just on another note, do I have any rights if they did not replace it after they said they did on the report sheet?

Lenny

anyone know what to do?

Praetorian

Demand that they change it again. I think you should try a different brand (IBM )

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>OR<

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Check to make sure that your hard drive is well strapped in / securely screwed in. Also make sure that the drive has plenty of room to "breath".

But i would.....

Backup essential software / files as soon as you can. Try not to run programs that will stress the drive too much (things like defragment can).

Ive seen hard drive faults spread extremely quickly (ie within a few hours) but strangely enough your hard drive could still last for months / even years.

I wouldnt take any chances backup NOW!

Then replace with an IBM / MAXTOR drive. (IBM are the best atm)

Ive had problems with Fugitsu, Samsung, Seagate, and older quantum drives.

Kegser

Tell them the exact same problem is still there; and that you want the hard drive replaced.

BNC

Did you try the Diagnostic I suggested earlier? It would have given you the serial number of the drive which you could have kept and would also have told you what was wrong with the drive.
The company that replaced the drive should have given you some kind of warranty on the work that they carried out. Why not call them and tell them you still have the same problem. Except this time take note of the serial number of the drive.