Clicking Noise issue *resolved*

Ummmm...kinda? Not 100% certain...but enough that I'm not busy calling Dell to get the drive swapped.

 

1: Sure you can, but you might have to download the original version (not the patched Dell one)

2: deadsimple already answered this one.

 

Thanks for replying. It works!

BTW, I noticed that you can kill the annoying
noise by setting a lower value. So if someone is
really concerned with the use of power, a lower
value, e.g., 194, 160, also works for you.

I guess the reason is that the parking feature can be disabled even with a lower value. For my
Seagate HDD (ST9160821AS), I found that it has the following power management mode:

Power modes & Heads & Spindle & Buffer

Active (operating) & Tracking & Rotating & Full power

Idle, performance Tracking Rotating Self refresh—low power

Idle, active Floating Rotating Self refresh—low power

Idle, low power Parked Rotating Self refresh—low power

Standby Parked Stopped Self refresh—low power

Sleep Parked Stopped Self refresh—low power

So if only you put the HDD in "Idle, active" mode, there should be no head parking, which
kills the noise.

I like the solution. It saves trouble of replacing a
HDD. After all, who knows what other "problem"
may happen with a new HDD. So if your HDD
only has this "normal" click noise, you are
lucky. Someone said there is no such problem on Hitachi HDD, but different kinds of noise like
static electric one, may appear.

 

Any 64 bit solution for this ?

 

Hi there, your posts about this subject have at least made me realize i am not going crazy. Dell techs had no idea about what i was talking about and man, the clicking sound is maddening.
i want to install NHC but not sure about having microsoft .net framework. so here is my dumb question: after searching my C drive i do not see that i have that. is it standard with Vista? how else would i see if i have it? if i do not have it, what is my best bet for getting rid of clicking noise. i already changed power settings and going to change BIOS setting once defrag is done running.

this is all for vostro 1500 new out of box yesterday, nothing else put on it yet nor internet hooked up. 160gb seagate hd.

thank you for all you do and for the forum. used it to pick my laptop but wished i had seen this topic first!

Laura

update: ran defrag, tried the bios fix too and still getting the "tocking" sound. how do i check to see if i have the microsoft .net installed required to run the NHC. thank you

 

Cyanize...i could hug you. was ready to send back the two vostros i just purchased because the noise was awful. 4 techs later (the last one read your post and said it was OK to try it) and Viola is right...noise gone. Dell owes you big time. in the meanwhile, i have a new HD sitting here that they overnight shipped.

can you tell me where i can read why this worked? i want to understand what i did with the NHC software.

thanks again and i am going to contact the last Dell rep to tell him that they are really missing the boat on this one. Laura

 

Folks: thank you!

This really helped the sound level on my Vostro 1500. I have a Seagate SATA 160, and I had it in "performance Mode" in teh BIOS.

The parking sounds were terrible. It sounded like the actuator arms were getting stuck and freeing themselves. Ugh.

Now, it's vastly more quiet. nearly as quiet as my 2001 PowerBook.

Much appreciated information here. I'm really happy to have NHC installed.

 

i bought a new laptop. the model is HP dv2612ca. the hard disk is ST9160821AS.

i try the above method. The sound of the harddisk improve a little.but it still make clicking noise when i doubleclick harddisk or surf on the internet. what should i do?

 

Hmm. This might actually be a different problem. If I was you I'd check the health of my drive first: there are several software utilities that can do this for you. Just scan/test the drive with HDtune and see if it pops up any errors. Or if you have an app that reads the SMART status of the drive, this can also give you a hint if there is something wrong hardware wise.

It's quite unusual for the drive to "click" each time you double-click, so take precautions and back-up all your data.

 

Laura, sorry I didn't reply to your earlier post, I was in New Zealand to visit a couple of friends. Vista has .Net 2.0 already installed so NHC works right away. Since my brother used to work in techsupport of Dell, I know how frustrating they can be to the average person and even more frustrating to knowledgeable people. There was a nice guide over at extremetech.com on how to coax techsupport people into getting what you want (just can't find it right now).

What NHC does is normally provided by the HDD manufacturer in form of a small app. Unfortunately Seagate doesn't offer one for their drives.

NHC changes the internal power-setting of your HDD. You can find more details about the power modes in the post from simplest2007, that is above yours. The clicking noise itself is actually a good thing, as it saves power (if you're running on battery, and can even save your drive if your laptop accidentally falls off your table *lol*, but you'd have to be insane to tolerate that sound).

Hope you're satisfied with your vostro. And maybe check out the apps listed in my software compendium, might help to make the system a bit more faster and efficient.

 

I doubt if this HD related.....Just turn all windows sounds off on ur mouse click from Control Panel > Sounds

By default they are turned on in windows !!

 

hi Cyanize, hope you had a great trip and no worries about not getting back to me. thanks for the thorough explaination. i get it now!

i contacted Dell and made sure that i had the .net and that installing the software would not void my warranty. they said to "go for it."

posting my reply from Dell tech who sent me the unneccesary new HD; i sent him the link to this thread and i sent it to the tech who authorized me trying it. thought you would all be interested:
Hi Laura,
RE: DPS # 095921891
I received your e-mail and appreciate your concerns. Some of the recommendations from the forums are very good in resolving your sound issue and I suggest that you take full advantage of them. As with the new Dell Vostro 1500, there are engineering standards that are in effect to improve our products. It was helpful to me and Dell as a whole to incorporate the changes necessary for customer satisfaction and I ‘m in the process now to update our engineering standard for this product.
Thank you for your interest and I wish you all the best.

very interesting!!!!

i am at another crossroads with this issue that i was wondering if you had an answer to it:
Vista is blocking the NHC from starting automatically when i turn on the computer. i cannot seem to find a way to give it startup authorization. so i manually OK it, but then something weird happens, the monitor brightness goes down to almost dark. i am sure it is a NHC default power setting but i cannot find how to change it or fix this in Vista; the monitor brightness goes to its lowest setting, so i go into monitor settings and move the slider up to 100%. next time computer starts, same thing. do you have any suggestions?

once again i really appreciate your sincere concern and responses. would have been shipping the laptop back if not for you.

otherwise the Vostro is amazing. getting used to Vista quickly and happy with the performance of the machine. really fast and no matter what some of the reviewers say, i like the looks and feel of the whole thing.

thanks again and let me know if you think i should contribute to any of the other threads to help others with their Vostro.

ttyl...Laura

ps...where do you find those settings simplest wrote; in NHC or in BIOS or in another spot?

 

Hi Laura,

Regarding Vista: In my opinion the only good Vista version is the x64. But let's get back to your problem: The "blocking" is caused by a feature of Vista called UAC (User account control). As my slipstreamed version of Vista has UAC disabled I never experienced this issue. There is a simple workaround to this, that can be found in flamenko's thread in these forums.(13)

Now to the other issue NHC unfortunately wasn't programmed specifically with vista support in mind (although it supports Vista in the current version). I also experienced this issue with the screen "dimmer" activating at startup, and there is only one solution at this point. You have to change the the power scheme to always on (or minimal power saving) under the CPU Speed tab in NHC. (as in the picture where is says SAMSUNG)

This has of course the side effect of draining your battery fast. You should also change from dynamic switching to maximum performance (or max. battery when mobile), as dynamic switching is not currently working in Vista.

Now, just to explain what you're doing here: You'll change the power saving features of your system (through NHC) so that they don't activate at startup and don't dimm your screen. (I can't check if this was the right setting at the moment since I'm no longer using Vista on my laptop, so just give it a go and try changing those settings)

Regarding your last question, I think simplest either got those from his HDD manufacturers homepage or from here.

There will be a new version of NHC with improved Vista support, and dynamic switching working again by the end of the year. You won't have to manually set your power options after that anymore. But I still prefer a couple of mouse-clicks to the constant clicking of my HDD.

 

Hi..let's say I install this program and problem is solved..is NHC a background program?meaning that will have to run in background all the time?..I personally don't like such a programs that consumes memory. If I set the HDD to maximum performance and then uninstall the program I will hear the noise again..isn't it?
thanks

 

mohordbx,

I am an efficiency freak myself, so I can tell you that NHC doesn't hog any serious resources at all. And in the free version you unfortunately have to run it on each startup, but can disable it afterwards, the clicking noise will be gone for that session. You have to run it again after reboot though.

As the app barely uses any resources I just leave it on all the time as I customized a lot of its settings to my liking.

 

hi Cyanize,

thanks so much for taking the time to explain all this. it makes much more sense to me now. and yes, a few mouse clicks is way better than the constant clicking.

loved the tweaks in flamenkos thread; had put that in my favorites but didn't remember that was in there. got it!

once again i find myself in a position of having to ask for help. my version of NHC is slightly different and i don't see where to change the settings as you instructed. i am ashamed to say that after trying to get a screen shot in this reply, i can't figure out how to do it, so i can show you my NHC screen. believe me i tried to find the setting in NHC first and to get the screen shot in here but no go. when i click the insert image button it asks for an http:// not sure what to do at that point. My version of NHC is "Notebook Hardware control 2.0 Pre-Release -06 -personal Edition. should i be buying the upgraded version? will keep an eye out for the version coming out later.

Dell tech was supposed to contact me today and do a hookup to laptop with some senior tech guy. they say they are going to try and "release a global patch to resolve this issue." Will keep you all up-to-date on that.

thanks again and will be in touch. Laura

 

Question, I got 2 Toshiba 120 gig drives. The drives look very similar. One was purchased from NewEgg about 6-7 months ago for replacing my PS3 harddrive. One is the new drive in my 1520.
Ive been testing some things new vista installs on my PS3 drive inserted into my 1520. Thats when I noticed the implanted toshiba has the noise while my original toshiba doesnt. So would this solution work for me? Meaning is it a one time apply to the setting on the drive itself, so that after that I can reimplant it and it should stick? thanks in advance.

 

I got home and tried it, my PS3 disk still makes alot of noise. My Dell disk is silent as grass growing. Interestingly, on the PS3 disk label it says clicking noise is normal.

 

I'm also not thrilled about this "dimming" (setting of Display to lowest brightness level) because it may be the only visible sideffect from NHC (on VISTA). What other settings are automatically changed w/o our knowledge?

Btw, your screenshot is quite different from what the page looks like for me; either it's 'cause you're on XP or you have the Pro version, but I see that it lists my own custom power plan (the other avail. plans are those offered by VISTA & that one "Dell Recommended".)

But speaking of NHC, it indicates that my 5400rpm 160GB Spinpoint shows the following values:

Standby Time: Never (AC) / 30min (Batt.)
APM: Without Spin Down (128)
Acoustic Mgmt: quiet (128)

I haven't messed with spin-down or acoustic mgmt values with any other SW but I did set Windows' pwr mgmt settings to turn off the HDD after 5 mins / 30mins for batt/AC respectively, so I don't understand why NHC reports different values...

Lastly, I've left the BIOS setting for HDD Acoustic Mode at it's default value of Bypass (alt. opts are Quiet & Performance). I assume "Bypass" means use the HDD's own default and/or allow OS-level control... anyone know for certain?

Sidebar: I've had no less than 1/2 dozen HDDs crash on me over the years and while maybe one just died on the spot, most failed over a (short) period of time, during which, accessing data on the drive was occasionally (and towards the end, frequently) problematic and took much too long. During this accessing period, I could hear the drive "clicking" almost rythmically as if it continually tried to access one particular sector, etc.

The point being that those who think their clicking noises may be tied to a failing HDD should also note that the noise should occur while trying to read/write to the HDD and that the action is taking much longer than it should... .

What I did to (pretty much) rule out a real HDD problem was to run Window's Checkdisk routine with the "check for Bad Sectors" option checked (this will force you to reboot so that Checkdisk can run prior to loading the OS).

[edit] P.S. I created a bootable CD containing Samsung's HUTIL HDD Utility and ran the basic tests (skipping the sector-by-sector test for lack of time) as well as verified the Auto. Acoustic Mgmt. (AAM) settings [Disable, Quiet, Middle, Fast] as well as the Max UDMA Mode [ SATA, UDMA66, UDMA100, UDMA133). The AAM setting coincides with NHC, which is nice to see, but I'm still wondering what BIOS' Bypass value really does...

 

Traveller,

NHC doesn't change anything automatically. The screen dimmer is actually a built-in power saving feature that is by default enabled with the laptop/mobile power setting. Unfortunately while NHC runs under Vista some of its features aren't yet fully compatible. And since the default setting in NHC is dynamic switching, it will dimm your screen each time this power scheme is applied ( i.e. boot), unless you change the power scheme to a different setting. These issues will be addressed in the next version of NHC. (enhanced Vista compatibility)

The screenshot I provided is from the basic version of NHC, and you should see the same if you followed the instructions in the 1st post of this thread.

NHC is a low-level system configuration tool. It allows you to configure the setting of your hardware directly. Something like BIOS.

You can "mess" around with the APM and the acoustics settings of your HDD as much as you want.

And regarding the "bypass" setting in your laptop's BIOS. It's the default factory setting, it just means that the BIOS isn't forcing any acoustics management for your HDD.

Oh, and I'm sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with HDDs in the past. Perhaps you should get an SSD, like I did

EDIT: if this post seems inconsistent....I deleted the quotes from traveller's previous post, so my paragraphs are sort of a reply to his.

 

First up, thx for your words of wisdom, Cyanize

I don't quite understand what Dynamic-Switching mode [CPU] and [display] Brightness have to do with each other and secondly, the load-upon-boot power plan is my own, customised plan which includes dynamic switching (5-100%) and a brightness setting of 6/8, among other settings. But ok, I got the point that NHC is not fully VISTA compatible

FYI, I did follow your instructions, not that there's anything cryptic about installing & running NHC from an already .Net-enabled OS and my screen's different from yours (but there's no dramatic differences, I was just curious as to why...)

 

There lies the problem with NHC in the current version, dynamic switching isn't currently working properly in Vista. And unfortunately therefore the power scheme (this is what I meant when I addressed dynamic switching in my previous post) isn't applied properly on startup. (just to clarify more, I have a power scheme named dynamic switching in XP, this doesn't refer to the CPU speed management). Sorry if I confused you in the first place.

If you could post a screenshot of that NHC tab, then I could probably tell you what's going on.

 

Oh, ok, now it all makes sense

i'll get a screenshot out the next chance I get, but the page (tab) lists:

Power Plane (drop-down), incl. "Only NHC allowed to chg power plan" checkbox
Processor Speed Mgmt which includes:
-AC/Batt
-CPU Speed (drop-down incl. max, dynamic switching, etc.)
-Min & Max processor state (eg. 5%-100%)
Current CPU Settings (Info only, incl. ext/int. clk, multiplier, voltage...)
Clock Modulation (for CPU/AC, selectable in %)

 

this fixed the noisy hdd for me too

i have a question tough. i am a maniac of autonomy when using batteries. so i read if all i want is battery life, i' can try to use the normal 128 default clicking'mode. Will it be even better to use the "enable spin down (1)" mode?, or "without spin down (128)" is enough?

 

You can try ofc. The lower the number the more power-saving features of your HDD should be active. (you should also consider adapting your power-scheme settings to reach the goal of maximum battery life)

 

yeah i'm planning in the futuro to go extreme, try some underclocking and the like, but that will be in some time since i got the laptop just yesterday, and is my first one :O so i'll will try things as time goes by

too bad this clicking happens.. at least when you are in a noisy enviroment you can put power saving features on again

 

have another q:

does this clicking happens to you guys, like constantly with like one second of difference?



i have the exact same model of this user in a vostro 1400

the other question , if is anybody has succefully got this fixed by dell

 

webtax, yes the clicking was constant with my Seagate HDD. And the HDD light kept blinking at the same time (as you describe, every other second)....it was extremely annoying, but NHC solved the problem, for a lot of people.

 

Will updating my hard drive driver stop the clicking for me? I just got a new laptop with Vista on it and the driver for my Western Digital HD is from 2006, the new one that gateway has on their site is from 2007.

 

Check your PM. Normally the OS HDD driver will suffice. I never encountered any HDD driver updates, only new firmware for HDDs. (that doesn't mean that it's not possible).

Post me a link to this new driver, I can tell you more after that.

 

Thanks for the PM Here's the link to the new driver from Gateway NEW DRIVER FROM GATEWAY

Gateway isn't coming up for me right now and I'm hoping the link works

 

I joined just to say THANK YOU Cyanize! Major improvement on my Dell 1520 with WD Sata 250 GB HD. I'm running Vista and I get the dim screen on start up. No biggie I just Increase the light after each boot up. Takes about .5 seconds and no more clicking or irritating sounds.

 

My notebook never had clicking noise!

 

sinstoic,

not everybody did have the issue. Trust me it would drive you nuts.

Docsknotinn,

glad to be of service. And there is going to be a new release of NHC by the end of the year. If there is no release, I'll just code a small app that takes care of the clicking noise without all the additional options of NHC. (I just hate .NeT so badly, that I can't get my lazy a$$ to code the app)

 

I was looking into this tonight but couldn't find an easy way. Have to send ATA commands using Windows I/O calls? Any pointers?

 

deadsimple,

well there is a different solution to this available.
You can use the windows version of hdparm ( a linux app/command) to set the APM of your drive to maximum.

Check this page. There is some additional info here.

Worked for me with Vista, but then I switched to XP again as a couple of my business apps didn't perform well under Vista and I had some connectivity issues at work. (using NHC since then)

 

Read on: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking:

"Seagate Momentus 7200.1, On this drive, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, 193 Load_Cycle_Count ..... I have already accumulated a Load_Cycle_Count 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime! "

 

I used to have NHC installed and it worked fine but I couldn't stand how the dynamic cpu switching would always dim my screen during start up. any solutions to this problem?

 

Manuc,

you might have a different issue there. As it's quite unusual to have such a high load cycle count after a few weeks use. But don't worry just yet, as the load count doesn't mean that your drive will stop working. It's just the manufacturers reliability threshold. You might want to check back with Seagate though. They actually do respond.

 

Vista isn't fully supported in the current release of NHC. You might want to try out hdparm for windows. Just check the link. And dynamic switching doesn't work at all in Vista at the moment.

 

Does anyone know if this works with a Hitachi 7200 rpm with the dell inspiron 1520? I tried it and I still get constant clicking every other second. But I realized I had kept closing NHC. Now I've read I'm supposed to leave it on and change settings upon each boot up. So I'll try again. Thanks though. It makes me happy that there is a possible solution. I just don't like the idea of going to school showing off my new powerful laptop and its noisier then the guy beside me's 6400.

 

Yea, I was wondering the same thing. I don't have any clicking noises, but I hear a chirpy/clicky sound occasionally. Is this the same thing?

 

Most probably not. But I'd always run a HDD check utility, just to be on the safe side.

 

Yeah this thing helps-the ticking is gone, but still I hear smth. like quiet scratching when I'm opening smth. on my DELL Inspiron 1520-butI quess it's nothing, it's my first laptop so I can't compare it to any other notebooks on the market.
So if smb.(I adress it to Dell owners) could answer my question-do you hear anything when your HDD works or you have dead silence. I'm really curious, 'cause they say that DELL notebooks are good-but I had some slight problems with audio drivers and installing XP and then this HDD thing-so now I don't know what to say about Inspiron, despite that I don't see other disadvantages and the nVidia 8600 GT is brilliant

 

Hi there.

Well, after reading the entire thread about the clicking noise and the fantastic solutions that some people threw in, I have a different question regarding the same problem. Please, if any of you have the time and willing to respond, I will appreciate it.

I got the clicking curse in my new Inspiron 1520. I called Dell and everything went just fine. Finally they decided to send me a 'new' HDD. It came in but it says it's refurbished. So now that I've found the answer to this problem, I'm not sure if I should swap drives and take the one that just came in and send my current one back to Dell, or just send the new one back to them and keep mine.

What should I do, based on your experience?

CADjunkie.

Inspiron 1520,
Core 2 Duo T7500
2 GB RAM
120 GB HDD 7200 RPM (Seagate)
Windows Vista HP
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
9 cell batt
Bluetooth
No grainy Screen
No case skweaking or anything
Sturdy construction
Great performance

 

CADJunkie,

"refurbished" doesn't necessarily mean it's bad/old, most of the time it means, that they took it out from another laptop that had other issues.

I'd probably run a few tests, or look at the HDD's SMART data to see how "old/used" it is. If it's pretty "banged up", I recommend sending it back and keeping the original one, while using NHC.

just my 2c

 

Cyanize,

Thank you for your comments, you're awesome dude. I decided to stay with my hdd just because it didn't actually have anything wrong. I hope I made the right decision sending the replacement back to dell.

Another comment regarding this problem: I used NHC to adjust my HDD settings, and now it works like a charm again, but even better, I set my NHC to not start when windows starts so I'm not running it now, but even so, my HDD doesn't make the noise anymore!!!

I guess NHC changed the power setting for good, I really hope so.

Ok, just my 2 cnts for all of those who were suffering with this issue.

 

i kept using hdparm with a simple shortuct to avoid having to use NHC

E:\Util\hdparm\bin\hdparm.exe -B 254 hda

 

I recently bought a Dell laptop with a Samsung HM250JI Hard Drive. The drive did have the clicking issue discussed in this thread.

After reading this post, I downloaded the recommended program and it did stop the clicking. However, now my computer screen turns black once it sits idly for a few hours and the only way to get the normal screen back is to wait for the screen saver to begin and then move the mouse around again. Any thoughts or things I can do to fix this issue?

 

While you wait for an answer, did you try the other program?
It's HDTune, a small program just to monitor your HD.
You don't have configure anything, just run it.