Help with r620 please

Hi,im new here so hope this is in the right forum.
I have a samsung r620 and sometimes it makes what i would describe as a ticking type of noise.Its not a loud clicking like something disastrous was about to happen and its not all of the time.
Somedays its perfectly quiet and then other days it keeps doing it.
I have read that people have resolved similar problems with a firmware upgrade(bios) so i am considering doing this but am a bit worried because i have not done this before.
My bios is number 03LL and the updated one on the samsung website is 07LL.
Does anyone know the details of what is in the bios upgrade please?And also is there a way of backing up just the bios (not the whole drive) before i do this incase something goes wrong?
One more thing,samsung update plus doesnt recognise any updates for my laptop and yet on the samsung support site,there a numerous updates available.I have the latest version of samsung update plus installed but it doesnt seem to pick up any updates.
Any help is really appreciated and i thank you in advance.I dont want to kill my laptop by doing something without asking people who have knowledge first.
Thank you

 

1. The usual source of a ticking noise is the hard disk drive. The noise is caused by the heads moving or parking when idle. You should be able to see where the HDD is located by looking for the cover on the bottom of the computer (it's probably under one side of the palm rest) then put your ear close to that area and then confirm if it is the source of the noise.

2. Samsung rarely publish what is fixed by a firmware update. I work on the principle that the problems fixed in the updated outnumber any new problems.

3. Samsung Update Plus is rarely up-to-date. However, Samsung also have the confusing habit of appearing to have newer versions on their download site when, in reality, they are old versions with new dates. The only solution is to download the updates and try them.

If you are worried wait until any BIOS or driver updates are a couple of weeks old. This will give time for others to find any serious problems. It is easy to roll back a driver update but Samsung make it difficult to downgrade the firmware.

John

 

Hi thanks for the reply.Yeah i read a bout the noise being from the heads parking and when i put my ear to the underneath,i can hear it is coming from there.Do you know what causes this?And should i be very worried?
Does anyone know a way to stop this please.Strange that it doesnt happen all the time.
Thanks again
ps,the bios upgrade is date das being the 15th march so a couple of weeks old.Just wondered if anyone had used this and whether it would fix my problem.

 

What make / model is the HDD (check in Device Manager)? Seagate HDDs can be a little noisy as can the older Toshibas.

You may be able to adjust the HDD power management properties using HDparm.

John

 

Hi.Yeah i think the problem lies with "aggressive"power management settings from what i have been reading everywhere and i have come across the hdparm thing aswell but im not sure how to use it.Someone said they had written a bat file wich is as follows
@echo off
"C:\Program Files\hdparm\bin\hdparm.exe" -B 254 hda
But im not sure what to do with this.I have it saved on my desktop as a .bat file now but do i need hdparm installing first or something or do i just click on this bat file?
If this does run,will it revert back to normal settings when i restart the computer?Or is it permanent?Id rather have some kind of file that would just run when i wanted it to than it being permanent.
The only thing i can find in the device manager about the hdd is that it says samsung h203ji

 

So i installed hdparm on my laptop but i dont know what to do next.Can anyone help me please as i dont have any experience with batch files etc or using hdparm.

 

Do you mean H M203JI? It's not listed on the Samsung website but I assume it is a close relative of the HM250JI. Whatever the model, it will be a Samsung which are usually relatively quiet. Perhaps there's more head parking in the newer HDDs in order to reduce power consumption.

There is a windows version of HDparm here. You would need to install it, put the batch file in the same folder and then run the batch file. However, I can't help you further because I've not had the need to use this software.

John

 

oops sorry yes it does say hm320ji.
Does the batch file that i put up earlier in the post look correct ie with the " at the end and beginning or do i just need this part
-B 254 hda,and also do i need the @echo off aswell.
Sorry im so confused as i dont have any previous experience with this kind of thing.I just copied the line from a website that someone had written but i dont know whether it just means put it in "C:\Program Files\hdparm\bin\hdparm.exe" hence the "" or whether that is the whole line i have to put in.
I really thank you for your input and help and it is much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the clarification on the HDD model number. That's a 320GB.

I think you may be able to do without the batch file: In Windows Explorer go to the folder containing hdparm and the batch file and type "hdparm.exe -B 254 hda" (without the quotes) in the Start > Run box.

John

 

Hi,i found the folder with hdparm in it (it installed in c program files),there seems to be a file in a folder that has installed called hdparm.exe
and also a hdparm-run.bat file aswell
Im not sure where you mean to type hdparm.exe -B 254 hda into?
Also do you know if this is permanent (if i actually figure out how to do it ha ha)or is there a way to set back to normal?

 

OK. Open the batch file in notepad and then edit it to contain the relevant command (if it is in the same folder as the program then the path shouldn't be necessary).

My Google search suggests that the hdparm settings may be temporary (you will soon find out) while this page gives details of the command parameters in particular:

So -B 254 is one step away from completely disabling power management.

If you need to run the batch file each time the computer boots then you can put a link to the batch file into the startup folder.

John

 

Hey thank you very much for all your help.I think im starting to understand a bit now.I just wasnt sure what the text should look like in the batch file.I guess the one i put earlier in the post should work if i run it from say my desktop as it includes the path ie c program files etc
I think i will get there in the end.
Thanks again

 

So,i ran the batch file and it says it is setting apm to level 254,but its still making the ticking noise.Am i doing something wrong with hdparm?
Should i be using sda or hda in the batch file?
I dont know what the problem is.Its very strange because sometimes its worse than others but its definately the heads trying to keep parking.

 

I believe that hda and sda are Linux terminology. They may not be needed with Windows.

It's possible that the head movement is not related to power management, in which case hdparm won't be able to control it. Heads may also move for other reasons, such as calibration.

Just in case the noise is indicative of a more fundamental problem, I suggest that you look at the SMART data. You can download and run ActiveSMART in trial mode for a month. It will monitor the HDDs internal error data and alert you if there are worsening trends.

John

 

Thanks john,i will download it and run it

 

So i have run activesmart and everything is running fine and normal according to that.No problems whatsoever.
Its starting to drive me nuts now because i cant get to the bottom of it.
Has anyone used bios update 07l from the samsung website?And if so how did it go?Maybe this will solve the problem?
Im considering trying to upgrade it but i am concerned incase something goes wrong as i have never upgraded bios before.I dont know if there is a way to save the current bios incase of problems and if so how to boot back with this one.

 

You may want to contact Samsung support: Their HDDs are not usually noisy.

In the past I have contacted the support people via a send email link which was at the end of each FAQ on their (UK) support site. I would get a response within 24 hours and it avoided sitting on hold on a phone.

John

 

Thanks for all the advice,much appreciated

 

Hi,just a follow up.I installed notebook hardware control and been messing around witht the settings to see if i could solve the problem and found something out by accident.
I pretty always run my laptop plugged into the mains,but the other day i had it unplugged and it was running on battery power and it seems as though the noise doesnt happen (or is greatly reduced and only happens occasionally) when it is running on battery rather than when it is plugged into the mains.
Do you know why this could be?
Thank you