the free fall sensor didn't sense anything

yesterday my e6400 fell from 5 feet!!! 1.5m !!!!! I almost caught it but it just fell. Fortunately it fell flat and there was en empty box of cleenex that fell with it and fortunately made the impact with the ground a little softer.

But STILL, I have a free fall sensor that did absolutely nothing. I picked the 6400 up and it just kept running as usual. Nothing happened to the machine, which to me is a great sign of durability, but AFAIK the HDD should have shut off, otherwise what's the point of having a free fall sensor?

 

Hmmm...I'm going to try the same thing to make sure mine is working...

 

I didn't think those shut off the computer, just stopped the hdd from spinning for a moment. How do you know it continued to spin?

 

I don't think it shuts off the hard drive, I think it just parks the heads... as soon as things are normal it just continues with it's task.

 

Let us know what happens.



but yeah, i agree with everyone else. it doesnt shut off the hdd. it just place the needle back into park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_fall_sensor

 

If it actually fell with heads over the hard drive platters, you would have had a head-crash. I think it worked and you are very lucky.

 

I am amazed

really? .... I doubt it did anything.

 

you wont notice any change in operation, you may hear a small click as it parks the head in a split second.

try this: hold the laptop at about head level, and quickly reduce it to waist level by "swinging" it down. you will hear the click as the head is parked when it senses the "fall".

other than this click there is no indication of anything happening.

 

What did you expect? Windows to shutdown before it hit the ground?

GK

 

Yes - the free fall sensor parks the head on a fall. If it hadn't parked the heads, your HDD would be borked right now.