Dell has no answer to the Dimension XPS blinking hard drive light because they deny that it's a problem. It's not a bug they say, it's a feature. So, my question is still open ... why is this wonderful feature not documented? If it's so good, then why don't they advertise it in the product literature ... [like this] ...
" ... And another unique and fabulous feature we added to this model is that the hard drive light keeps on blinking 24 hours a day, and you get this feature even when your PC has no RAID, no hard drive indexing, no anti-virus activity, no firewall activity, and no network activity. C'mon down folks, we won't even charge you extra for this cool feature!"
I own a german Dimension 8300 and my HDD light is also blinking the whole time. Until now I didn´t find a solution, too. And so does the german tech support. They say that this is a normal behavior and no reason to worry about!
But something new:
As also mentioned before the light stops blinking if you put a DVD/CD in the 8x DVD-burner by TEAC. Right! But if I use Nero Burning Rom 6.3 the light of the burner is blinking the way the HDD did before after the burning process has been ended! After opening and closing the tray of the burner the HDD light starts to blink again!
Quite interesting! What is going on with this PC´s by DELL? Well, I will call the service again after X-mas.
Btw: I also have another problem with my Dimension 8300 which I can´t explain so far! The IE seems to be responsible for OS crashes, if Hyper Threading is enabled in the BIOS! Could anyone help me? I you would like to read the whole story, please look here: http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=176968
Now I think Dell's Nasty blinking problem that some kind of Design matters did not want revealed to the Dell PC owners. I am still looking forward more information for How to solve this problem from Others and Dell.
Hey everyone, I just wanted to keep this thread going, because I got my girlfriend a Dimension 4600 for Xmas and noticed the constant EXACT One Second HD LED blink and it was driving me insane! This cannot be a feature, and if it is - it stinks. So of course the first thing I did was blow XP Home away and put XP Pro on it; I mean I got nothing on this thing right now except the OS and it's still happening. I have restore, indexing, msconfig blank - everything is off. This dang light is still blinking like it's going outta style. It's 100% idle.
People who are mistaking this for defragging running in the background or indexing, or anything else need not keep posting - it is not blinking from the HD being accessed, it is an idle blip that is very constant. Those of us who have this blinking light problem, with all due respect, do not need the bogus advice, we need an answer from a Dell Representative about why the HD LED blinks at a constant rate of once per second 24 hours a day, and how to make it stop. Because it's really bugging the living heck out of me.
Keep the posts coming, if a Dell Representative is reading this please respond with any information that can shed light on this problem.
Did you wiped the HD including the DELL diagnostic partition and clean installed WXP PRO? If the answer is YES, then we're down to the hard drive and the motherboard. Do you have the Hitachi Deathstar hard drive?
I don´t have the DELL diagnostic partition on the HDD anymore and still have the blinking light. So it has nothing to do with it. It must have something to do with the motherboard, controler and/or HDD!
Btw I´ve a Maxtor 6Y120M0 S-ATA installed in my system
I've installed many Maxtor HDs, but not the SATA. Glad to report that there is NO blinking light anomaly. Has to be that proprietary Dell MB.
Check out the P4 HPs at Circuit City with SATA. If they don't BLINK, then you know that this problem is unique to DELL PCs. Can you stick in a PATA HD and retest this system?
I have a new Dimesion 4600 and have the same 1 second HD activity light blink.
When I first got the machine I wiped out the system and deleted the partitions on the hard drive to make one partion (there was a smaller 40MB partion on my 120GB drive). I then reinstalled WinXp. The blink is still there.
Indexing is off as well as scheduled services. I don't have anitvirus installed and my MSCONFIG is set to Win services only and no startup items.
It is annoying especially when I am trying to diagnose DVD burning problems, because I'm not sure if it is causing interruptions in the process.
I'll try to send an email to support and see what they say. Thanks for starting a thread on this topic, at least I know it isn't just on my machine.
On behalf of "skang," "thebigv," "dukeman," and "hycotuss," I can summarize for everyone what we tried and to what extent we think we're closer to an answer. The drive light blinks all the time, for approx one-tenth of a second for each blink, at very consistent intervals of a little less than one second between blinks. If/when there is *real* hard drive activity, then the light behaves as normal, being on when there is an actual read or write, as you would expect on any PC. But when the hard drive activity is done, the light resumes its odd behavior, going into "eternal blinking mode". We ruled out all software issues and all background process possibilities. Evidence seems to lead us to suspect either the integrated SATA drive controller on the motherboard, or the integrated PATA drive controller on the motherboard. Dell refuses to accept this as a problem because if it did acknowledge it, then it would be bombarded by customers with valid requests for motherboard replacements. So when you call tech support, be prepared for them to either (a) say they never heard of such a thing, or (b) tell you that it's "normal". We're getting the same treatment from tech support like in the Monty Python skit where a customer tries to point out a dead bird issue to a pet shop owner. And a note to "Rickmtg", since you do not have anything constructive to add, we could do without your making fun of the problem. We could also do without your using this forum as a sales tool, trying to sell people your hard drives and other components. If you want advertising, may I recommend that you actually buy some advertising space. It does not help the reputation of your business to be a background parasite on Dell's site.
Thanks for shedding a little more light on this subject Joel with your post. I agree with your comments you made regarding Dell's likely response to this "feature". The few run in's I've had with dell tech support has been average at best with a heavy overdose of the "that's normal" mantra. That is why I always head to the community msg boards before I ever place any phone calls. I'm hesitant to call about this as well seeing as how it really doesn't seem to lessen performance or be a *serious* problem - but oh boy is it annoying.
If my HD is doing nothing, I would prefer the HD LED to be doing nothing as well. It just puts me ease. I would still like to see a Dell Rep show up in this thread and shed some light onto the purpose behind the constant blip - although as Joel pointed out that will only open them up to RMA heaven so we will probably never see that day. Thanks for all the posts on this subject everyone, keep them coming - especially if anyone finds out a definitive way to stop it.
Well I asked Dell Support and this is the respone I got. Not too informative, buy you guys guessed it correctly. They don't see it as any problem at all. What I find funny is near the end of the respone he states "if the issue still persists then please let me know". Hmmmmm. . ...
Dear Nader,
Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.
Nader, having read your mail and if I have understood the cause of the issue that you have stated correctly, then you are facing issue with hard disk drive light. If I have misunderstood, please feel free to let me know.
Nadar, there is no need to worry about this. The hard disk drive light does blink even though there is no user or process activity.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, they are both greatly appreciated. We value you as our customer and your satisfaction is very important to us.
If the issue still persists then please let me know.We are there to help you all the time.
kangs
12 Posts
0
December 19th, 2003 21:00
Hello Everybody!
I have not seen any more posts regarding Blinking Light Problem who owned Dell PCs.
I am still awaiting some one who solve this nasty problem that Dell did not fully suport any technical information.
Please post the information for how to solve the ploblem.
I wish Dell Come out this Forum for understandadble infdormation.
Happy Holydays Everyone!
S. Kang
JoelSheridan
8 Posts
0
December 22nd, 2003 20:00
Dell has no answer to the Dimension XPS blinking hard drive light because they deny that it's a problem. It's not a bug they say, it's a feature. So, my question is still open ... why is this wonderful feature not documented? If it's so good, then why don't they advertise it in the product literature ... [like this] ...
" ... And another unique and fabulous feature we added to this model is that the hard drive light keeps on blinking 24 hours a day, and you get this feature even when your PC has no RAID, no hard drive indexing, no anti-virus activity, no firewall activity, and no network activity. C'mon down folks, we won't even charge you extra for this cool feature!"
thebigv
1 Rookie
•
13 Posts
0
December 22nd, 2003 20:00
Me too.
Vaughn
Dukeman
12 Posts
0
December 25th, 2003 18:00
But something new:
As also mentioned before the light stops blinking if you put a DVD/CD in the 8x DVD-burner by TEAC. Right! But if I use Nero Burning Rom 6.3 the light of the burner is blinking the way the HDD did before after the burning process has been ended! After opening and closing the tray of the burner the HDD light starts to blink again!
Quite interesting! What is going on with this PC´s by DELL? Well, I will call the service again after X-mas.
Btw: I also have another problem with my Dimension 8300 which I can´t explain so far! The IE seems to be responsible for OS crashes, if Hyper Threading is enabled in the BIOS! Could anyone help me? I you would like to read the whole story, please look here: http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=176968
Best regards
Dukeman
kangs
12 Posts
0
December 26th, 2003 21:00
Now I think Dell's Nasty blinking problem that some kind of Design matters did not want revealed to the Dell PC owners. I am still looking forward more information for How to solve this problem from Others and Dell.
Please Post More and More!
Skang.
hycotuss
5 Posts
0
December 27th, 2003 06:00
Hey everyone, I just wanted to keep this thread going, because I got my girlfriend a Dimension 4600 for Xmas and noticed the constant EXACT One Second HD LED blink and it was driving me insane! This cannot be a feature, and if it is - it stinks. So of course the first thing I did was blow XP Home away and put XP Pro on it; I mean I got nothing on this thing right now except the OS and it's still happening. I have restore, indexing, msconfig blank - everything is off. This dang light is still blinking like it's going outta style. It's 100% idle.
People who are mistaking this for defragging running in the background or indexing, or anything else need not keep posting - it is not blinking from the HD being accessed, it is an idle blip that is very constant. Those of us who have this blinking light problem, with all due respect, do not need the bogus advice, we need an answer from a Dell Representative about why the HD LED blinks at a constant rate of once per second 24 hours a day, and how to make it stop. Because it's really bugging the living heck out of me.
Keep the posts coming, if a Dell Representative is reading this please respond with any information that can shed light on this problem.
Francis Nguyen
953 Posts
0
December 27th, 2003 13:00
Did you wiped the HD including the DELL diagnostic partition and clean installed WXP PRO? If the answer is YES, then we're down to the hard drive and the motherboard. Do you have the Hitachi Deathstar hard drive?
F.
Dukeman
12 Posts
0
December 28th, 2003 10:00
@Francis Nguyen
I don´t have the DELL diagnostic partition on the HDD anymore and still have the blinking light. So it has nothing to do with it. It must have something to do with the motherboard, controler and/or HDD!
Btw I´ve a Maxtor 6Y120M0 S-ATA installed in my system
Greetings
Dukeman
Francis Nguyen
953 Posts
0
December 28th, 2003 15:00
I've installed many Maxtor HDs, but not the SATA. Glad to report that there is NO blinking light anomaly. Has to be that proprietary Dell MB.
Check out the P4 HPs at Circuit City with SATA. If they don't BLINK, then you know that this problem is unique to DELL PCs. Can you stick in a PATA HD and retest this system?
F.
quasi_state
30 Posts
0
December 28th, 2003 18:00
I have a new Dimesion 4600 and have the same 1 second HD activity light blink.
When I first got the machine I wiped out the system and deleted the partitions on the hard drive to make one partion (there was a smaller 40MB partion on my 120GB drive). I then reinstalled WinXp. The blink is still there.
Indexing is off as well as scheduled services. I don't have anitvirus installed and my MSCONFIG is set to Win services only and no startup items.
It is annoying especially when I am trying to diagnose DVD burning problems, because I'm not sure if it is causing interruptions in the process.
I'll try to send an email to support and see what they say. Thanks for starting a thread on this topic, at least I know it isn't just on my machine.
quasi_state
30 Posts
0
December 28th, 2003 20:00
Do you suspect the controller as being faulty or is it just a quirk? What possible problems could arise from this activity?
Thanks.
JoelSheridan
8 Posts
0
December 28th, 2003 20:00
On behalf of "skang," "thebigv," "dukeman," and "hycotuss," I can summarize for everyone what we tried and to what extent we think we're closer to an answer. The drive light blinks all the time, for approx one-tenth of a second for each blink, at very consistent intervals of a little less than one second between blinks. If/when there is *real* hard drive activity, then the light behaves as normal, being on when there is an actual read or write, as you would expect on any PC. But when the hard drive activity is done, the light resumes its odd behavior, going into "eternal blinking mode". We ruled out all software issues and all background process possibilities. Evidence seems to lead us to suspect either the integrated SATA drive controller on the motherboard, or the integrated PATA drive controller on the motherboard. Dell refuses to accept this as a problem because if it did acknowledge it, then it would be bombarded by customers with valid requests for motherboard replacements. So when you call tech support, be prepared for them to either (a) say they never heard of such a thing, or (b) tell you that it's "normal". We're getting the same treatment from tech support like in the Monty Python skit where a customer tries to point out a dead bird issue to a pet shop owner. And a note to "Rickmtg", since you do not have anything constructive to add, we could do without your making fun of the problem. We could also do without your using this forum as a sales tool, trying to sell people your hard drives and other components. If you want advertising, may I recommend that you actually buy some advertising space. It does not help the reputation of your business to be a background parasite on Dell's site.
hycotuss
5 Posts
0
December 29th, 2003 06:00
Thanks for shedding a little more light on this subject Joel with your post. I agree with your comments you made regarding Dell's likely response to this "feature". The few run in's I've had with dell tech support has been average at best with a heavy overdose of the "that's normal" mantra. That is why I always head to the community msg boards before I ever place any phone calls. I'm hesitant to call about this as well seeing as how it really doesn't seem to lessen performance or be a *serious* problem - but oh boy is it annoying.
If my HD is doing nothing, I would prefer the HD LED to be doing nothing as well. It just puts me ease. I would still like to see a Dell Rep show up in this thread and shed some light onto the purpose behind the constant blip - although as Joel pointed out that will only open them up to RMA heaven so we will probably never see that day. Thanks for all the posts on this subject everyone, keep them coming - especially if anyone finds out a definitive way to stop it.
quasi_state
30 Posts
0
December 29th, 2003 20:00
Well I asked Dell Support and this is the respone I got. Not too informative, buy you guys guessed it correctly. They don't see it as any problem at all. What I find funny is near the end of the respone he states "if the issue still persists then please let me know". Hmmmmm. . ...
Dear Nader,
Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.
Nader, having read your mail and if I have understood the cause
of the issue that you have stated correctly, then you are facing
issue with hard disk drive light. If I have misunderstood, please
feel free to let me know.
Nadar, there is no need to worry about this. The hard disk drive
light does blink even though there is no user or process activity.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, they are both
greatly appreciated. We value you as our customer and your satisfaction
is very important to us.
If the issue still persists then please let me know.We are there
to help you all the time.
Warm regards !
robnalex
2 Intern
•
720 Posts
0
December 29th, 2003 22:00
Quasi-state-
FYI, my 4600 does not suffer from BLS (blinking light syndrome). The HD indicator on mine only lights when actual HD activity is happening.