"Click" sound in my inspiron 1520

Hi
at first when i got my inspiron i heared "click" sounds from the left...
i googled it and understood that it's the hd head that is resting, & that i could install "notebook hardware controll 2" to fix that. i did, & i didn't heared this sound for a year... until now!
i hear it every hour or so. sometimes 2-3 times in a row!
what is the problem now?
my hd is going to die?
or...
maybe my vista got a new update & "notebook hardware controll 2" is not effective anymore?

 

It is possible that over time the hard drive has gotten a bit older and the fix less effective. Have you noticed any decrease in performance lately? One of the signs of a failing hard drive is slow performance when you open files and such.

 

not really...
i checked the HD SMART status at the notebook control application & it said "status ok".
but i keep hearing these clicks. like a camera.
sometimes there's even short hi tone beeps. (rare but there are some).

 

if this is a 7200 rpm drive, check dell support for firmware fix

 

SMART is not that accurate so I would not rely on it to determine the total health of your drive. However, check if you have any firmware updates on the Dell site. Are you still under warranty?

 

Seems to be a fairly common problem on these machines and it is not dependent on the hard drive.

My 1520 does it and I run XP and either WD or Fujitsu drive.

 

it's 5400rpm...
yes i'm under warranty but it will be a waste of time & money to go there they are far from me... (so i'll go only if there is REALLLY a problem, & for now i don't know).

not dependent on the hard drive? so what is it? magic? it's a pros forum i think we should know why there is a very strange clicks on our machines...

 

I had stange clicking too!It is from HDD (most common) and it is caused by incorrect command for HD Power Safe mode (or someting like it)

 

ok so how to fix this incorrect command ?