a8js concerns

Hey, I just took my a8js out of the box and its been making *clicking* noises every few seconds since I turned it on. I ran a search on the forums and someone said it his DVD player was making these noises, but I dont even have a CD in the computer. When the hard drive loads something it makes some normal noises but the isolated clicking noise is bothering me. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, do they know a way to solve it? Its driving me nuts. Thanks a bunch.

 

It's probably the HD though.

 

Cori could be right, it may be the hard drive. The hard drive in my A8Js was loud as well. What I did was start up NHC (notebook hardware control) and set the hard drive to acoustic mode so that it is almost inaudible. I don't know if there is a performance hit by doing this, but it sure makes the HD much more quiet.

 

Thanks for replys.

Where is the notebook hardware control options located?

 

It's a program. You can download it here.

~ Brett

 

yea it must be the Harddrive. After installing that NHC it did quiet the clicking noise down. Sadly, I can still hear it. If it was this quiet to begin with I probably wouldn't have been annoyed, but the fact that I know it is there - it still bugs me!!

Thanks alot for the quick and helpful responses.

 

I just realized that my hard drives are FAT32 file system. Isnt that windows 95? Is there a way to make it NTFS? Maybe that would calm the harddrive down some...

Im not a computer expect but I every computer running XP in my apartment has a file system of NTFS.

 

There should be a script on the desktop which offers to convert the partition to NTFS. If not,

Open a command prompt and type:

Code:

convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs 

I doubt it will calm the noise down much but it is more efficient.

~ Brett

 

You can use a program called "convert" to convert a FAT32 drive to NTFS. It's not just for Windows95 (it's used on USB drives, etc.), but it is an inferior filesystem to NTFS. Is it a loud click, or just the hard drive working? Because older IBM drives used to have something called the "click of death", which meant they were very close to dying. The "Deskstar" drives were commonly called "Deathstars". So don't put anything on the drive that you don't have another copy of, and you may want to call Acer about it.

 

I doubt it's that bad since it's a known issue with the A8Js. There's a more detailed thread here.

~ Brett

 

I just realized - this may be caused by drive indexing. If you want to turn it off (you probably should regardless), do the following:

Start --> My Computer --> Right click Properties on Letter of drive --> uncheck allow indexing

~ Brett

 

Yes that thread is describing the exact same thing.

 

NHC fixed it for me. it's pretty much silent now, and it drove me nuts the first few days.

 

turning off indexing did not seem to solve it. thanks for suggestion though.

 

For now, the only workaround seems to be using NHC in acoustic mode. Unfortunately, it sounds like this sound is common in the A8Js and the hard drive which comes with it.

~ Brett

 

its not present in mine at all

 

He said that he has tried both of the things that people suggested here... if it is still making noise, even in acoustic mode, then I would call Asus support and get it RMAed, and have them fix it.

 

One correction to something above: USB keys are generally FAT (FAT16) and not FAT32.

And to be on the safe side (performance-wise), you should align the XP partition to 4KB boundaries before converting to NTFS. Just search the forum or google for it.

 

This won't help the OP, but my custom A8Js came with a Hitachi 7200rpm 60gb HD, and when I was installing software on it, I didn't hear clicking noises, but I could hear the drive working. I just switched over to my mainstay Seagate 5400rpm 120gb HD, and installed XP fresh, and I can't hear it at all.

 

I hear the hard drive more than I heard my old western digital 40gb.

But that is the quietest manufacturer vs one of the noisiest ones. Its the exact same noises but hitachis are louder. I barely notice it unless I read this and put my ear six inches away and try to hear the access.

In a way a8js has no bearing on the hd used, a 100 gb 5400 hitachi is probably the most common hd in all notebooks because for the money it is the fastest and largest