Ok, i dont have the same drive but i have the same problem. I have a Inspiron 9200 with the 60gb 7200 rpm drive. I figured out where is coming from but i can't figure out what it is. Open windows task manager, click on processes and scroll down to the bottom. On mine it shows System, but then another one "System Idle Process SYSTEM" its showing there is cpu usage, also when my hard drive is not clicking this is on. I can't shut down the proccess, and have no options for it. Anyone have any ideas what it could be, i have turned of indexing, ive done the Hitachi acoustic sound and power management, it made the sound happen less and not as loud, and my system has been tweaked to get rid of all the stuff taht comes on it and thats enabled. It has to be an XP function, im also running XP Pro if that matters.
Message Edited by DeathMoJo on 03-06-2005 05:09 AM
I should also mention that my drive is 5400rpm, so I would assume that also means it should theoretically be more quiet than a 7200rpm.
Do you know the brand of your hard drive? Is it Hitachi or IBM? Mine's western digital. It should say somewhere in your dell information, which you can get online
Its a Hitachi. I ran that bios program to lower the acoustic sound and uping the performance, but its not our drives its that process that is running.
If anyone knows what, "System Idle Process SYSTEM" is that is what is making my hard drive tick. Its constantly running know matter what i do.
"System Idle Process SYSTEM CPU:90-95, MEM Usage: 16k. So its a tiny file but its running something and i can't shut it down or turn it off. Im going to email microsoft here in a few and see if they could be any help.
Well i ended up calling Dell tech support, i found out this is a problem that occurs in some of the drives. They had me run through some diagnostics and then said they are shipping me a new drive overnight, so i will have it tomorrow. They are replacing my hitachi 60gb 7200 drive with a brand new IBM 60gb 7200rpm drive. We will see if this works for me.
i am curious as to whether the ticking noise stopped with the new drive or not? I too have clicking noise on my wd 60 scorpio. they are sending me a replacement with another scorpio. Before i go thru the trouble of replacing it, i wanted to know if replacing it does work and the clicking stops?
I personally didn't get a replacement, I didn't have time to do it just yet. I was told that if it continues, I could call and get a replacement... But, I am away from home at the moment.
Anybody got an update? I've got a 40gb version that does the same thing. The drive is quiet while it runs, but the clicking is annoying. Any feedback on the IBM drive yet??
I just got the 600ve and it makes the same annoying clicking noise. This is not really a normal noise as the normal write and read noise is actually very quiet. This is a very annoying and frequent drip noise that happens when there doesn't seem to be a need for harddrive access...
anyone know what is causing this? or how to stop it? new harddrive?
okay...setting the Hitachi powerbooster to performance totally stopped the click...I'll see if I can test the effect on battery life later...
Yes, the PowerBooster totally fixed it... not TOO detrimental to the battery life, but it still worries me since it's not meant to be used on a WD drive. But hey, it works.
Well...apparently this is just how the harddrives sound when parking their heads. My second one does it more often than the first one, but seems less loud. When I'm in a quiet place, I just use powerbooster. If there's much ambient noise at all, the click sound is mostly inaudible...
just click OK (you can use it on nonhitachi drives) and slide the toolbar to the right. Then wait a few seconds, and it should stop the clicking. Then make sure you leave it open. Basically it makes sure the hard drive is always spinning so it doesn't ever park the heads.. this is bad for battery life, but good for sanity
I recently updated my Apple iBook with the 60GB Scorpio (WD600VE) & have suffered the same issue. Seems more like a "tick-tock" noise to me but anyway...
After contacting Western Digital technical support I received the following response...
"The noise occurs when the drive read/write heads repeatedly move out of the predefined boundaries of the data surface of the drive. The patch will correct the problem without damage to the drive...
...your data and drive should be fine, though you may notice slight delays when the drive begins clicking. Other than that, you should notice no problems with using this drive..."
They e-mailed this patch (firmware update) directly to me however whilst searching for people with similiar issues with this drive & stumbled across this thread as well as the same solution from Dell.
Check it out!
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=RC956904&l=en&s=hied&releaseid=R99039&formatcnt=2&fileid=129381
You do not have to return the drive. A simple firmware update should fix it.
I have yet to update my drive as I have to pull it out & put it in a PC based system due to lack of Macintosh support however I would be interested in seeing the results of those affected. Running the drive in "performance mode" is not a solution.
DeathMoJo
3 Posts
0
March 6th, 2005 09:00
Message Edited by DeathMoJo on 03-06-2005 05:09 AM
mattm1999
5 Posts
0
March 6th, 2005 18:00
I should also mention that my drive is 5400rpm, so I would assume that also means it should theoretically be more quiet than a 7200rpm.
Do you know the brand of your hard drive? Is it Hitachi or IBM? Mine's western digital. It should say somewhere in your dell information, which you can get online
DeathMoJo
3 Posts
0
March 6th, 2005 20:00
If anyone knows what, "System Idle Process SYSTEM" is that is what is making my hard drive tick. Its constantly running know matter what i do.
"System Idle Process SYSTEM CPU:90-95, MEM Usage: 16k. So its a tiny file but its running something and i can't shut it down or turn it off. Im going to email microsoft here in a few and see if they could be any help.
DeathMoJo
3 Posts
0
March 7th, 2005 04:00
i4c
11 Posts
0
March 13th, 2005 23:00
i am curious as to whether the ticking noise stopped with the new drive or not? I too have clicking noise on my wd 60 scorpio. they are sending me a replacement with another scorpio. Before i go thru the trouble of replacing it, i wanted to know if replacing it does work and the clicking stops?
thanks.
mattm1999
5 Posts
0
March 14th, 2005 03:00
quietpc
285 Posts
0
March 18th, 2005 22:00
Anybody got an update? I've got a 40gb version that does the same thing. The drive is quiet while it runs, but the clicking is annoying. Any feedback on the IBM drive yet??
TIA
jankerson
2.8K Posts
0
March 19th, 2005 11:00
The light ticking on your WD is normal, but if it starts to get loud then there is a problem.
All HD's make alittle noise some are louder than others, thats what makes the sound noticeable.
wjhung
3 Posts
0
March 20th, 2005 06:00
Message Edited by wjhung on 03-20-2005 03:09 AM
mattm1999
5 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2005 18:00
wjhung
3 Posts
0
March 25th, 2005 02:00
Message Edited by wjhung on 03-24-2005 10:47 PM
wjhung
3 Posts
0
April 15th, 2005 16:00
TheGSRGuy
2 Intern
•
281 Posts
0
June 24th, 2005 13:00
Message Edited by TheGSRGuy on 06-24-2005 09:15 AM
mattm1999
5 Posts
0
June 25th, 2005 14:00
Dr.Kildare
1 Message
0
June 28th, 2005 07:00
After contacting Western Digital technical support I received the following response...
"The noise occurs when the drive read/write heads repeatedly move out of the predefined boundaries of the data surface of the drive. The patch will correct the problem without damage to the drive...
...your data and drive should be fine, though you may notice slight delays when the drive begins clicking. Other than that, you should notice no problems with using this drive..."
They e-mailed this patch (firmware update) directly to me however whilst searching for people with similiar issues with this drive & stumbled across this thread as well as the same solution from Dell.
Check it out!
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=RC956904&l=en&s=hied&releaseid=R99039&formatcnt=2&fileid=129381
You do not have to return the drive. A simple firmware update should fix it.
I have yet to update my drive as I have to pull it out & put it in a PC based system due to lack of Macintosh support however I would be interested in seeing the results of those affected. Running the drive in "performance mode" is not a solution.