Question regarding noisy hard drive on E510

Question

Hi:   Dell has sent me a replacement E510 and when the system boots up, or is accessing the 80 gb hard drive, I find the hard drive quite a noisy compared to the one in my older 4600.  It is not a whine or anything that sounds like it is failing, it just sounds like small firecrackers popping (for lack of a better description).  Dell sent me a 5100 system by mistake, and the hard drive on that system also sounded the same - so I don't think it is a defective hard drive.   I'm not sure what manufacturer made the hard drive.  The identity starts with 'ST' under control panel.  I can't remember the numbers that follow after the 'ST'.

Will91 · Answer

Thanks Bev:

Considering I had a 5100 and 510 system side by side last night with the same hard drive making the same noises, it makes me think this might be normal for these drives OR maybe they had a defective lot. ?

I'll try the diagnostics tonight. I think I read somewhere about a "quiet" mode that can be activated. Do you know anything about this?

shesagordie · Answer

Will91   ST > Seagate.   With a noisy hard drive, there's not much you can do, except replace it.  You could try running diagnostics extended test on the drive.   Reboot the computer, when the Dell logo appears, press F12, a boot device list, highlight the 'Boot to Utility' partition and press 'Enter'.   Bev.

Will91 · Answer

Thanks for that great link Bev.

I had seen the other one regarding vibration. In my case, I'm pretty sure the drive is not vibrating against the internal holders or chassis. The noise seems to eminate from inside the drive itself. I sent a message to Dell. I will post back any helpful replies.

shesagordie · Answer

Will91   Yes, I know about the 'Quiet Mode' you can try it, but, I don't think you will find there's much difference.   Scroll down to the 'HDD Acoustic Mode' in the setup,   http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/sm/syssetup.htm#wp1100608   I also found this post about E510 noise,   http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=264470   Bev.

MarkyMarc2 · Answer

I just bought an XPS 400 and am having similar problems. I found out that my hard drive - a Seagate, was made without a "switch" to change its AAM.

Essentially, this means the hard drive only runs on a high performance mode with no noise reduction setting. Most other hard drives have a switch to reduce the noise (and slightly lower the performance) if you want to choose that setting.

I want that option! I won't be getting it though, as my Seagate's settings CANNOT be changed with the Hitachi boot tool that's talked about, or any other tool for that matter. I've searched, and it appears this model can not be silenced!

Google seagate and AAM.

FYI, Seagate Hard Drive model numbers start with ST.

I bet you've got a Seagate..

Message Edited by MarkyMarc2 on 02-02-2006 08:23 AM

Will91 · Answer

Hi MarkyMarc2:

Thanks for your reply. The information from google regarding AAM was indeed very interesting.

I think it is really disappointing that an otherwise whisper quiet pc such as the E510 or XPS (which both use the BTX case from what I understand) is built with a noisy drive.

I definitely have a Seagate. I've confirmed it is the Baracuda model ST380013AS 80 gb SATA drive. Seagate is flip-flopping on their diagnosis. They feel it is defective and Dell should replace it. On the other hand, I'm beginning to fear that this is in fact normal for this drive.

Can anyone else on the forum report their experiences with this drive?

I tried switching to quiet mode via F2 but it made a very slight difference at best. I'm pretty disappointed right now. I thought Seagate was top of the line.

Dell is going to send a replacement. I'll post back once I have it installed to see if there is any difference.

shesagordie · Answer

Will91

It's great that Dell is sending you a new"hopefully quieter" hard drive, unless the hard drive is sent "pre-imaged" by Dell, you will have to reinstall Win XP, drivers and applications. Check that you have the WinXP reinstallation CD, Resources CD and the Drivers and Utilities CD. If not, then you need to obtain them Dell ASAP, read the following,

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_mediaexp&message.id=2495

Bev.

Will91 · Answer

Hi all:

Back with an update.

Dell sent me a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160 gb drive compared to the Seagate 80 gb drive that was in my exchange E510.

Here is my question. It seems Dell got my tag number mixed up with another tag number and the drive was preimaged according to that other tag's components. I was able to look up the components of the system they imaged on the dell site. The main difference in the systems seems to be the processor and amount of RAM. One system has a P4 3.0 ghz 630 and the other has a P4 3.2 gbh 640. Would this mean the hard drive has a different chipset utility on it so that the hard drives are not compatible between the two systems? Other than that, there are some differences such as optical drives, etc. but I think these drivers are determined by windows anyway, and so that part shouldn't matter. Are there any other components that would have been preimaged that I should be aware of that would not make the preimaged drive work on my system?

If it is not advised to use a drive preimaged for one tag system, with my system, then I guess my options are:

1) Try to get Dell to send another drive imaged for my exact tag system - but this will cause more lost time

2) Reformat the drive and obtain the correct chipset program, drivers, etc. from the dell site. (In this case, I guess I lose the Dell recovery partition but I'm not sure this is a big deal - is it? I have read in the past on this forum that some people do this anyway with a new Dell pc just to get rid of the extraneous programs such as free AOL, etc. etc.

Finally, are the Maxtor DiamondMax drives decent? I don't have a "feel" for Maxtor brand. I've always been partial to Seagate.

Advice is appreciated.

Message Edited by Will91 on 02-04-2006 12:16 AM

shesagordie · Answer

Will91   Personally, I would install the new hard drive and see if it runs satisfactorily, if not, then contact Dell.   Maxtor hard drives do not have a good reputation, due to a history of failure problems.   You can browse this board, there are many, many posts on this subject.   Do you have all the Dell XP reinstallation CD, plus all the other CDs required for a manual reinstallation?   Bev.

Will91 · Answer

Thanks Bev.

The pc didn't come with ANY disks! Fortunately, I have Windows XP with SP2. I'm hoping I can find everything I need on the Dell site under "downloads". Do you happen to know what the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" is under "SATA drives"? If I buy my own new hard drive, do I need to install that too?

Is there a preferred order of driver installations after Windows XP is loaded?

Thank you.

ju421019 · Answer

I just bought a E510 and got my desktop today and am having the exact problem with the hard drive.   The popping/crackling sound is driving me crazy.   Is there a way to get it fixed?   I ran diagnostics - its no problem - I ran F2 setup, the quiet mode did not make a difference.   It's a Seagate 80gb.   Now, I have sent Dell Hardware Support Email - I hope this can be resolved quickly - and I dont have to do any manual installations.   Any help would be appreciated.   Thanks.

shesagordie · Answer

ju421019

I've found the best way to resolving anything, is to call Dell's Hardware Technical support. Recently I've found eMailing Dell, to be an exercise in futility.

The instruction manual, is on the hard drive, there should be an icon for it, on the desktop, this is very handy if the hard drive fails.
Dell no longer prints hardcopy manuals, due to their Media Reduction Initiative.

Bev.

ju421019 · Answer

Update from my side:   I told Dell about noise from hard drive, they make me troubleshoot, send me another Seagate 80gb hard drive, same problem, the noise from the drive is ridiculous, even the tech said its not suppose to be that loud.   I tell them I have same problem, this time i troubleshoot for about 5-6 hours, then they give me option of what hard drive I want, I told them Western Digital from their list.   I can get the hard drive, it gets installed, guess what - it has WinXP Home on it instead of Media Center what was in my config, plus no drivers.    The noise went down, so I was upset at WinXP Home, so I insert a DVD to try something out, the noise on dvd burner was like a vaccuum, it was just insanely loud, like something was about to explode, I have dvd burners in other drives, nothing as loud as this.   At this moment I'm upset, I contact Dell and told them Im just frustrated in the amount of time I spent with a new system trying to repair problems it has, they said they will send me replacement system, since I requested one.   Now, I verified with them the replacement system will be brand new, they told me yes, and not refurbished.   My concern is that is it really like it would be that I got a brand new system? Secondly, I'm afraid if the replacement would be worse than the existing system.   Help.   Thanks.

shesagordie · Answer

ju421019   As Dell is shipping you a replacement system, all you can do, is wait until it's received and you have the replacement E510 running.    Bev.

skmalo · Answer

just to add to the numbers, I also am experiencing a VERY noisy hard drive. I am extremely dissapointed and feel like i just wasted a bunch of money.

Storage, Drives & Media

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