I have 12 optiplex machines to set up at work. I will be interested to see if they do or do not exhibit the same behavior. If so maybe "small business" support will be more helpful. I will keep you informed. Thanks for the activity on the thread - misery loves company:)
I've build at least 11 PCs with WXP Pro, and none of them "blink". Also checked out a few Sonys, HPs, Compaqs, and Gateways at the local PC stores. They're all OK, too.
As I said before, this problem is unique to SOME Dell PCs. Could be the SATA interface and/or motherboard.
Only thing I would add as an 8250 owner would be that since this issue is common to both the 8250 and the 8300/4600 - could we assume that it is not the SATA controller as the 8250 does not have such a beast?
Since I added a controller card my HD activity light does not light at all - no where to connect the HD activity circuit on the controller card to the mobo unlike previous Dell mobos, however prior to this mod, my HD activity light was acting as described in the thread.
I see that I am not the only one with the blinking light problem. Just installed a new maxtor ata drive on my XPS T450 running Win98se as a master and kept the Dell drive that came with it as a slave. My light stays on constantly and I know it is not running defrag because for some reason it won't. I have tried to get answers as to a remedy but no luck as of this writing.
regarding the marathon thread, that is the whole point. I've never seen a thread this long in which a Dell Rep didn't give their two cents one way or the other. They're obviously avoiding it and that isn't very cool. You pay hundreds of dollars for a fast machine and a little green light blipping in your face 24 hours day for no apparent reason kinda ticks you off. I could live with it if I knew what the purpose was.
It's like buying a car (ok kinda a stretch here money-wise) and the check engine light is constantly blinking but there is nothing wrong with your engine so you call the dealership and they say "oh, that's normal don't worry about it". errr. Anyway, maybe I will make a movie about it...
If you have Microsoft's Office Suite installed on your computer, there is a little known background indexing service which runs automatically at startup - even if you haven't opened any Office files. This service, similar to, but independent of the XP Indexing Service, scans for Office data files and stores information on these data files in its own hard disk index file. The access to the hard disk drive is about once per second which drives some of us batty. (Mine is turned off)
To determine if Office is using its Indexing Service, open MS Word, Click on FILE... SEARCH. When the search window opens, select SEARCH OPTIONS. From the subsequent window, you can turn off the Indexing Service.
The CD check argument may be a valid one, but why don't other WXP P4 PCs from HP, COMPAQ, and SONY have this problem? And this problem remains unresolve for at least several generations of Dell desktops.
@Bobtt wrote:
If you have Microsoft's Office Suite installed on your computer, there is a little known background indexing service which runs automatically at startup - even if you haven't opened any Office files. This service, similar to, but independent of the XP Indexing Service, scans for Office data files and stores information on these data files in its own hard disk index file. The access to the hard disk drive is about once per second which drives some of us batty. (Mine is turned off)
To determine if Office is using its Indexing Service, open MS Word, Click on FILE... SEARCH. When the search window opens, select SEARCH OPTIONS. From the subsequent window, you can turn off the Indexing Service.
Message Edited by Bobtt on 12-31-2003 01:27 PM
That appears to just be a link to the windows indexing service. Mine is turned ON and I do not have the blinking light issue.
Depending on the internal parameters controlling the LED light, you may not see it blinking, but it is likely blinking nonetheless. The CD drives are normally set for AUTO-NOTIFICATION when a CD is inserted into the drive. (Control Panel - System - Device Manager - CD Drives) Since Auto-Notification can ONLY be determined by polling the CD drive(s), some IDE controllers force the LED light to be ON for 25-50 milliseconds when the CD drives are polled. This gives the computer operator a "warm & fuzzy" that the IDE drives are being used (including the CD drives). Unfortunately, this also causes the light to blink in response to the polling sequence. You don't normally think that a CD drive will be polled when there is no CD inserted. If you have two CD devices (i.e., CD-ROM & CDRW or DVD-ROM), the problem gets amplified because you will have TWO polls to the devices, stretching out the time the LED is lit in sequence.
To test this,
In 98, Open CONTROL PANEL... SYSTEM... DEVICE MANAGER... and turn off Auto Start
In XP, Open MY COMPUTER... select the CD(s) and turn off AUTO PLAY. (You may have to do this for the various types of media) The blinking light should stop if it was due to the polling.
Remember to turn this function back on after the test
"To test this, In 98, Open CONTROL PANEL... SYSTEM... DEVICE MANAGER... and turn off Auto Start In XP, Open MY COMPUTER... select the CD(s) and turn off AUTO PLAY. (You may have to do this for the various types of media) The blinking light should stop if it was due to the polling.
Remember to turn this function back on after the test "
As I stated in my earlier reply, I cannot turn off autoplay in XP. There is no option or tab. If anyone can perform the above, please say so. I see the option to "take no action" but assume this is done after polling finds a disk. That is why I unplugged the second IDE controller to test.
thebigv
1 Rookie
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13 Posts
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December 30th, 2003 00:00
hello again all,
I have 12 optiplex machines to set up at work. I will be interested to see if they do or do not exhibit the same behavior. If so maybe "small business" support will be more helpful. I will keep you informed. Thanks for the activity on the thread - misery loves company:)
Vaughn
Francis Nguyen
953 Posts
0
December 30th, 2003 01:00
I've build at least 11 PCs with WXP Pro, and none of them "blink". Also checked out a few Sonys, HPs, Compaqs, and Gateways at the local PC stores. They're all OK, too.
As I said before, this problem is unique to SOME Dell PCs. Could be the SATA interface and/or motherboard.
F.
jasonreg
11 Posts
0
December 30th, 2003 16:00
Only thing I would add as an 8250 owner would be that since this issue is common to both the 8250 and the 8300/4600 - could we assume that it is not the SATA controller as the 8250 does not have such a beast?
Since I added a controller card my HD activity light does not light at all - no where to connect the HD activity circuit on the controller card to the mobo unlike previous Dell mobos, however prior to this mod, my HD activity light was acting as described in the thread.
Francis Nguyen
953 Posts
0
December 30th, 2003 19:00
OK, so we're down to the proprietary DELL motherboard.
F.
Randerso2
1 Rookie
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86 Posts
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December 30th, 2003 23:00
robnalex
2 Intern
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720 Posts
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December 31st, 2003 03:00
asheville
6 Posts
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December 31st, 2003 11:00
I found the solution to this several weeks ago on the web.
I will bet anyone with this problem will have these things in common:
1) The light blinks about 1/second, even after any hdd activity has stopped (can tell by the lack of noise normally associated with disk activity).
2) You have 2 EIDE controllers. The one for the HDDs on your system and the one for a CD and or DVD.
3) I have had it occur with both Me and a fresh install of XP.
The blink is associated with the IDE controller not necessarily drive activity.
The blink and lack of hdd activity is due to a 1/second check on the CD to see whether a CD has been inserted and needs to be started.
You can verify this by unplugging the second IDE controller cable. The blink stops.
How to stop the autocheck on the CD, I do not know. However, I no longer worry about my hard drive.
daviddeguzman
152 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 12:00
Either that or were going for some kind of record for the longest Dell Forum thread. Talk about beating a dead horse.
hycotuss
5 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 17:00
regarding the marathon thread, that is the whole point. I've never seen a thread this long in which a Dell Rep didn't give their two cents one way or the other. They're obviously avoiding it and that isn't very cool. You pay hundreds of dollars for a fast machine and a little green light blipping in your face 24 hours day for no apparent reason kinda ticks you off. I could live with it if I knew what the purpose was.
It's like buying a car (ok kinda a stretch here money-wise) and the check engine light is constantly blinking but there is nothing wrong with your engine so you call the dealership and they say "oh, that's normal don't worry about it". errr. Anyway, maybe I will make a movie about it...
Bobtt
12 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 18:00
To determine if Office is using its Indexing Service, open MS Word, Click on FILE... SEARCH. When the search window opens, select SEARCH OPTIONS. From the subsequent window, you can turn off the Indexing Service.
Message Edited by Bobtt on 12-31-2003 01:27 PM
Francis Nguyen
953 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 18:00
The CD check argument may be a valid one, but why don't other WXP P4 PCs from HP, COMPAQ, and SONY have this problem? And this problem remains unresolve for at least several generations of Dell desktops.
F.
robnalex
2 Intern
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720 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 18:00
That appears to just be a link to the windows indexing service. Mine is turned ON and I do not have the blinking light issue.
Bobtt
12 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 19:00
To test this,
In 98, Open CONTROL PANEL... SYSTEM... DEVICE MANAGER... and turn off Auto Start
In XP, Open MY COMPUTER... select the CD(s) and turn off AUTO PLAY. (You may have to do this for the various types of media) The blinking light should stop if it was due to the polling.
Remember to turn this function back on after the test
asheville
6 Posts
0
December 31st, 2003 20:00
Bobtt says:
"To test this,
In 98, Open CONTROL PANEL... SYSTEM... DEVICE MANAGER... and turn off Auto Start
In XP, Open MY COMPUTER... select the CD(s) and turn off AUTO PLAY. (You may have to do this for the various types of media) The blinking light should stop if it was due to the polling.
Remember to turn this function back on after the test "
As I stated in my earlier reply, I cannot turn off autoplay in XP. There is no option or tab. If anyone can perform the above, please say so. I see the option to "take no action" but assume this is done after polling finds a disk. That is why I unplugged the second IDE controller to test.
robnalex
2 Intern
•
720 Posts
0
January 1st, 2004 00:00