Tried to upgrade W3J HDD...

Hey all,

I just got 2G 667 RAM & a Seagate 100GB 7200RPM HDD to upgrade my W3J. The RAM went fine, however the HDD seems to have a problem and any opinions are welcome. Initially, everything seemed fine but my XP install stopped loading files and crashed. I rebooted and tried again, only to receive a message that I don't have a HDD installed... Not good. I checked the bios and sure enough, no HDD detected.

I opened up the W3J to make sure the cable was seated properly, and checked the jumper as well - all is fine. I packed it up and booted again - this time I started hearing the dreaded "Click of Death" - or at the very least it's trying unsuccessfully to read something. I opened up the laptop once again, and noticed the "Breather Hole" that Seagate recommends to leave uncovered has no choice but to be face down into the laptop due to the orientation of the cable.

Anyone have any suggestions regarding what may be wrong? I'm assuming I should just call NewEgg and try to get the drive swapped out, but thought I should check to see if it's Human Error on my part instead.

Thanks in advance,

Adam

[EDIT: The sound is actually more like a "chirp" than a traditional clicking noise...if that helps at all]

 

The one thing I would check before deeming it a defective HDD is that you have your PATA option in the BIOS set to "compatibility" mode. On my t60 Windows was not able to "see" my hard disk until I changed the setting.

Just an idea, you might have a dead disk.

 

Hmmm... even though it's a PATA drive it could be affected by SATA settings? And I'll check it out, thanks!

 

Hmm..nuts I forgot that its' a PATA drive...

Sorry about that--maybe still worth a look in the BIOS and see if there are hard drive-specific settings.

 

Thanks again for the quick reply I really appreciate it. I checked the bios, and I don't have any settings regarding SATA/PATA for my W3J. The only HDD relevant settings are in regards to setting a password, and boot device order.

Just to add some information in case its helpful - i noticed that the drive feels excessively hot when I checked it after trying to load windows. When I took out the original HDD, after the laptop was running for a while, it was nowhere near as hot. I know the 7200 will generate more heat, but would it be this significant?

 

Alright, so I think i'm going to have to RMA this drive to NewEgg. After doing some more research online, it seems that it indeed is a "chirp" and not a "click of death"... most drives that chirp still function, albeit some worse than others so an RMA is the best bet. The odd thing is that the only chirp information I could find had to do with SATA drives, primarily Seagate and Hitachi...

 

Hi A-Lit, sorry for asking an OT question, but you're saying that you just got 2G 667 RAM? Did you mean 2 pieces of 1 GB RAM, or 1 piece of 2 GB RAM? I'm really curious... since I'm planning to buy a 2 GB RAM (1 piece).

 

Going back nearly 2 years to when I had a W3A (like W3V except Intel graphics) I recall that HDD temperature was an issue. I found that the 5400rpm HDD (probably Seagate) would regularly get up close to the specified ceiling (60C) when under sustained load (such as a full virus scan).

A 7200rpm HDD is likely to be a little hotter but I would not expect the little extra heat to kill the HDD within an hour but might shorten its working life. 60C is actually quite hot to touch.

I don't think the covering of the breather hole is relevant. It would need to be well sealed to prevent the limited air movement needed to balance the internal and external air pressures.

Perhaps it is a dodgy drive.

John

 

I've heard people having strange grounded issues. On the HDD sled that you screw the HDD into, some people HAVE to have the black plastic on it so that the HDD is not grounded or the otherway around.

can you try the HDD in your desktop?

Insane

 

forget all else. its a dead drive. provided you hooked it up correctly (not much room for error in the w3j, so i dont see how you can hook it up incorrect). its a dead drive. with newegg do not buy open box drives and expect a good rma rate with 7200rpm drive in particular seagate.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

Robo: No, sorry, I should have specified - it's 2G total of 2X1GB 667 Dual Channel

Insane: Hmmm... You bring up good points. On the W3J, it's not possible to screw the HDD down - it just kinda lays down in a slot for itself. As for the plastic, the stock HDD had a plastic covering, however the new drive did not come with one; This might sound retarted but is that something I purchase separately or is it supposed to come with the drive?

Eddie: Thanks for the input. Its hard to tell from your last sentence, but are you stating (separately) don't buy open box items, and that Newegg has good RMA, or that open box items + newegg = lousy. The drive I purchased was a new drive, not OB or clearance, etc.

 

Ok, now stuff is getting a little weirder.

I put the 7200RPM drive into my W3j's 2nd HDD kit - and it works perfectly. Formats without a problem, windows can see it, I can write to it and delete fine - without any chirps. So I'm thinking that John or Insane might be on to something. If it's a heat issue, not much I can do about that. If it's the grounding issue Insane is talking about - where the heck can I get one of those black plastic pieces!

Thanks guys for your time and help!!

 

i remember a thread about upgrading a HDD in w3j. I'm pretty sure that you have to remove that black plastic from the original hdd and stick it to the new one... and it should work perfectly...

edit: I found that old thread

Solution to your problem
Originally posted by mastha212:
" hey swap this black sticker that is on the Hitachi drive to Seagate. And guess what?? That was it!! On Hitachi drive there was black sticker which probably isolate hdd from the flap which probably conduct current and makes some clasp. That's why it didn't want to turn on. I know there is a lot of PROBABLY here but it's the only explenation I have."

good luck... and let us know if this actually helps

 

Well I'll be damned... it actually worked! I asked a friend of mine who's a computer tech if he could get me an extra one of those black plastic things so I can leave one on the original HDD, and he told me it was a useless plastic thing.... so much for that idea! So anyone know where I can get another one of those!

Edit: Also, before I forget - THANK YOU Mike, I appreciate the help big time!

 

clicking hdd solved by a black vinyl ? well i knew there was a reson for it however it is definitely not the cure for this. the test hd we use (granted not 7200 but it dont matter) for all the custom w3j's we sent over the past year does not have any black sticker. Although i guess it does server a purpose. Our test drive worked fine in dozens of these things when we were cloning and testing. i dont see why it would make a diff but i guess it did in your case. try taking it off and reataching the drive to rule out any other factors

 

Yeah, I thought it was very strange also; especially since the drive did work in the media bay. While I'm definitely interested in what would happen again w/o the plastic, i think i'll leave it alone for a bit now that its finally working

 

i seem to remember a coworker telling me that in the z63a (w3a) one of the test drives we have which is an older toshiba never worked. he had to use another. it is possible that perhaps the layout of the mainboard on the drive comes in contact with something inside the hd bay. its prolly the same for the w3j. i never connected the dotts then and didnt really think anything of it but i bet if we attached the black vinyl to the toshi drive that didnt work before now it would work.

 

Yeah that sounds like a very plausible scenario to me especially since the HDD is virtually sitting on top of a metal (looks like copper) plate lining the floor of the w3j

Out of curiosity, anyone know if they make thin "sleeves" for a HDD to go into before placing it into a notebook? I'm assuming no because of heat retention, but this whole scenario is so weird already i figured why not ask!

 

The Black plastic thing is most undoubtably the HD tray... Not sure why you would just put it in without it.... didn't it fit loosely without it?

 

its not a tray its just a plastic adhesive only goes on the bottom of the drive. a vinyl tray exists on the m5 (z33) series. very different. I can see how someone can totally miss it. I could miss it my self.

 

Yeah, had it been a physical tray, it wouldn't have been an issue and I would have moved it over; the plastic is more like a "film" on top of the drive, and is only on the surface facing the bottom of the laptop, so i thought it was just a unique part of that particular drive, not an essential component.

 

Yeah I upgraded to a seagate 5400.3 and all was fine, to be honest I dont know how you could get it wrong, its an easy upgrade to make.

Like others say, just make sure you replace the black film from the original HDD onto your new one, this will ensure the drive does not ground on the copper plating on the cover.

check out this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=56224