XPS 630 HDD LED blinking all the time

Regarding constant disk activity: Vista may be running defrag in the background, which is a new feature. This may be causing the disk activity, especially when the machine is idle...

 

Ciao...

kostrom,

 

Unfortunately owners running XP are reporting the problem as well so this would seem to point to a hardware cause.

I decided to go on record with Dell as regards my blinking HDD light. ( I have been following this forum so I knew I would probably not get any solution.) Utilizing the chat on line, reported the problem, initial tech reaction was this is normal, but to further isolate given the steps to run a diagnosis on the hard drive using the program in the boot utilities partition. Tech called back in an hour, however the program was still running, so he gave me a case number. The program ran for 3.5 hours and the HDD passed all tests.  I  telephoned the XPS tech line giving the case # and re-explaining the blinking light.  This different tech also said it appeared normal given the results of the HDD test. I guess the official line is there is no problem.

Under investigation. Much discussion happening here.

This is the solution to this problem. I disabled my drive and the blinking now only happens with HDD activity. This is my second XPS 630i that has the blinking problem... what should we do now to make this test a actual fix??

 

Thanks for the help!

Sid

Chris_M

 

On my machine, disabling the dvd/cd device driver in the device manager changed the constant, rhythematic, blinking to an intermittant blinking light followed by occasional  longer periods of no blinking at all, up to one 10 minute period at which time I reenabled the device driver. ( I assume the blinking there was,  was associated with some kind of HDD activity, although I was doing nothing other than observing during this time period.) Immediately following the reenabling, the constant, rhythematic  blinking returned.

---

@Anonymous-Chris_M wrote:
All,

Quick test - disable the optical drives in the device manager. If the LED no longer blinks (with the absence of HDD activity), then we know it’s the same as the Auto-run issue.

---

 

Chris_M,

 

This isn't directly pointed at you, but how about DELL doing their own R&D huh?  We're not on your payroll.  Don't you have a team of "engineers" working on this?  Why don't they try this on systems themselves?

 

This isn't a test ground for Dell. We are all paying customers.  YOU FIX IT!

Far and few between RANT:

 

I think a point to remember here is that we are the ones who are monitoring the board for a solution to the problem on our machines.  And in that large number of people who are reading the posts it's sometimes faster to have the consumer check a possible solution or at least help to identify it better using the expansive base of configurations that we each have seperatly. 

 

Were it you as the engineer would you rather test only a handful of machines that you have available in factory configuration or test it on the consumer's machine that is experiencing the issue using whatever configuration it is they happen to have or have modified since receiving the system?

 

While alot of us could say that we would of done better testing in the begining, mistakes and oversights are made.  Granted, we as the consumer don't expect that of such a major company but it happened.  The best they can do now is to try and resolve it and that is what they are trying to do.  Do I care if their legal reps are trying to cover the collective behind?  No, I just want a system that isn't going to freak out if I decide to up a fan speed or change a light color. 

 

 I've seen alot of people on the forums get all bent out of shape over this and the other issues so far associated with the 420's, 630's, 720's, and 730's and where has it gotten them???  Usually not very far...

 

Simply put, this is a user to user forum.  Our collective objective is to help others solve problems where they might not be able to find solutions through our favorite scripted India rep or have the means to pay for out of warrenty support....  If I am asked to try something relatively simple by dell to help further the research to a solution then by all means, I'm gonna do it and report back... 

Lonewolf_NW08,

 

I've been trying to find something to counter your post, but honestly I can't. You are right, we should all be willing to try the "workarrounds" posted, we are after all in the same boat. I also understand the frustration people are feeling, I feel it myself.

 

Thanks for your post, sometimes we need a "keep it real" nudge.

Lonewolf,

 

Well put and I agree with you to an extent.  However, while some here are looking for a solution to their problem, other's are not.

 

Personally, I've worked around all of these issues rather easily.  My fans are completely controllable, my HDD light only blinks when being accessed, and I have no use for flashing lights on my computer.  So then, you may ask why am I here?

 

I'm here to question Dell's ethics and hold Dell accountable for their actions.  LightFX 2.0 is not an oversight by the engineering department, it's flat out false advertising.  ESA compatibility is not a simple oversight.  It was promised and not delivered.  No XPS 630 shipped from Dell with working ESA or LighFX.  This is purposeful behavior by Dell, not a mistake.  There is no way to miss either of these issues with even the most simple of system tests.

 

The fix we Dell owners are waiting for is a solution to our problem.  The fix Dell is looking for is to find the cheapest and least damaging way out of this situation that they caused.  Imagine for one moment that the Dell Corporation actually cared about their clients instead of caring about their client's money.  Would we even be having this conversation?

 

 

djcypher,

 

The longer this drags out the more I find myself comming round to your way of thinking. It's just I still feel there must be another way, not sure what that might be though.

Guys,

 

I booted my system to DOS and the HDD lights didn't blink

-> It's evident that the hard drive is actually being accessed in Windows that causes it blinking.

 

Now, the question is which thread/process runs.  You guys have tried to disable autorun or indexing, but apparently these are not the ones that cause the problem.

 

Another test could be using the exact HDD on a different system (ATI or Intel chipset), and if its light blinks as well, it's obvious that the OS is the root cause. I don't have one, so can someone try?

I just got my XPS 630 and ran into the same exact problem,

 

I disabled indexing and then turned off autorun.

 

Turning off autorun stopped the blinking, but when I do that, I cannot access the cdrom's anymore?  everytime I put in a dvd or cdrom, and try to explore it keeps wanting to try and format or burn something to thinking it is a blank disc.  Is there a way around this?  This is in vista sp1.

 

So either I put back autorun and stuck with the blinking lights, or turn off autorun and cannot use data

 

 

"

So either I put back autorun and stuck with the blinking lights, or turn off autorun and cannot use data"

 

 

That pretty much sums it up.  Enjoy your new Dell 630, you have not even come to the fun problems yet.