DELL Studio XPS 1640 Strange Sounds

& Don't forget hdparm - it's a complete solution, across all operating systems.

 

btw rockhopper i tried that extra step and now it's just perfect, in all case. thanks for this

 

Just to update the thread with my situation, I called and got a refurbed drive (same one, 500 gb 7200 rpm seagate), and proceeded to load it up with all of my programs, media files, etc.

Been using the comp heavily for a week now and not once has the drive clicked. Still crossing my fingers, but maybe it's possible that they installed the new firmware before they shipped the drive out to me. Also I was thinking, I upgraded the BIOS to A10 as soon as I got Vista up and running, so maybe that fixed it as well? Not too sure, but all I can say is after I installed the refurbed drive, I have had 0 issues (and I'm using the drive quite heavily, fyi)

 

No probs scorpeeon, you were almost there yourself.

MMcCraryNJ, It's more likely to make the noise during light use than under heavy load, after a week it sounds positive tho. If you want total peace of mind you can use hdparm to check the firmware revision.

Away from hdparm & disk noises... Anyone notice noises from the power supply, especially upon activities like scrolling a web page & seemingly enhanced on full charge? Never noticed until now - just had the power supply on the desk next to me. I don't consider it an issue, rather intriguing tho.

 

rockhopper, I have no idea whether I'm having this clapclick sound but I do have noises from the power supply (sparking sound) and yes, especially upon activies like scrolling a web page..

So ur solution was to use this hdparm ?

 

lol..I did have the power adapter noise when I first got the laptop, you won't believe what the representative offered me before replacing it..he said that I needed to buy the extended warranty in case this power adapter issue ends up with a fried mobo!!!

 

That's absurd ! I got mine replaced, though mine comes with 2 year limited warranty. Anyhow, it's still buzzing.

 

I checked my firmware and it was 000 3SDM1 instead of 000 2SDM1. I got my XPS 16 on the 17th Sept. I do notice some hard disk noises (is it normal?) but I can't actually confirm whether I'm having this clapclick sound as I don't experience freezes.

 

With that firmware & no pauses I'd assume it'd be fine.

Thanks for confirming the power supply, at least it doesn't get red hot like others I've had.

 

Thanks for your assurance. Hopefully everything's fine !

 

chewyeong90: you have already 0003SDM1 firmware? i'm wondering if dell will release it to their website..

 

after hdparm/task manager my laptop still makes the sounds.

i do have a new hdd on the way though...we'll see if it does it still

 

Yup, apparently it's pre-installed. I have yet to experience freezes, but I do hear some noises from the hdd. I would assume it is normal, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

My situation had worsened to the point where the harddisk would start clicking after about 24hrs of uptime and my PC would freeze and BSOD.
Funny thing is, I disabled automatic defrag on diskeeper (and also disabled the service), and I haven't had any problems for 2 days.
Do you guys think this could be related somehow? Are any of you guys using diskeeper?
This might be far-fetched but could it be possible that automatic defrag is causing the harddisk head to read from some location on the disk that causes the head to get stuck or something?

 

Does hdparm work on all Windows OS? Win7, Vista, or XP with 32bit or 64 bit versions?

Anyone tried it on a Win7 64bit system? Would the basic setup be the same/similar?

Thanks!

 

U just quoted an answer..

 

Yes, I'm using it on Win 7 x64. It hasn't solved my problem though.

 

Funny how when you start looking into random posts, how you find out someone has a problem exactly like yours.

My SXPS 1640 HD has started (and I mean within the past week or so) to have those strange sounds, like a clicking sound when the HD shuts down. It does it frequently, but I haven't had anything catastrophic happen like a full shutdown of the machine or BSODs. If this IS a problem with those HDs, wouldn't you think DELL would issue a recal notice? This is equating to the RGB LED screen i had with the light leaks along the left edge of the screen. I had to go to Dell about the issue and i come to find out this was common.

I guess my question now is if i should take the time to contact Dell support about the HD clicking sound and see if it is in fact a hardware problem that warrants replacement or is this a DIY thing?

 

we think it is probably a firmware issue. As you might've read above, someone had the 3rd version who doesn't have that problem. I just wish either Seagate or Dell could make that firmware available to all of us who have the 2nd version.

probably not worth your time to call Dell about it. I pretty much accepted that this is something in common w/ almost all our 1640s.

 

I actually found the problem, at least with my laptop. It has to do with the power management in Windows. I initially had it set to balanced because of the heat issue, but then I applied AS5 but never changed the power options. Of course, thereafter I heard that clapclick sound. After reading the posts here in the thread, alot of folks discussed firmware, uisng hdparm, etc. but I never investigated those options. Well a couple of days ago while resolving screensaver settings, I inadvertantly set my laptop to performance or high power settings. Wouldn't you know the sound went away? So, I suspect that using a different power plan with the default settings that Windows has causes the sound, which leads me to believe the HD is powering down at times of non use or something like that. having the power options set high, no sound. I am going to run through all of the options within the power setting to find out what the HD settings are and tweak those along with everything else, like suspend, sleep hibernate, power button function, etc.

 

fw 0005SDM1 now out on dell's site (release date: 12/2/2009)

description: Firmware 4SDM1 or 5SDM1 fixes clicking noise on Seagate 2.5" 7200RPM HDD's Model #'s:

80G - ST980412ASG DP/N FC63Y
160G - ST9160412ASG DP/N C384R
250G - ST9250410ASG DP/N C385R
320G - ST9320423ASG DP/N C386R
500G - ST9500420ASG DP/N D111N



i already updated it and disabled hdparm, let's see how it wokrs.

 

I finally got tired of the noises from my drive as they had become almost constant. So, I gave dell support a call and made a warranty claim. I was very firm about the fact that I had read numerous accounts of problems with this series of seagate drives and that I did not believe this to be an isolated problem. The were more that happy to send me a different drive. They replaced my 320GB seagate with a 320GB WD Scorpio Black that also has a G sensor. The new drive runs cooler, is noise free, and it flies! Not only that, but I spoke to them late in the day on Monday, and the new drive arrived before lunch on Tuesday. Even if the new seagate firmware fixes the problem, I'm still glad that I made them give me a different drive.

 

update:
i cannot be more disappointed. I uninstalled hdparm, erased the task mentioned on page 2 i believe and proceeded to install this 2/12 firmware update hoping that it would solve the clap-click sound. It's been 30 minutes since I installed the firmware and the noise has already sounded twice (with the corresponding 1.5 second windows freeze). I'm really shocked that dell would put up a firmware update assuring that it fixes the clicking sounds of my hard drive and the solution lasted for 30 minutes....shame on u dell...shame on u.

pd: with hdparm my hdd still made the sounds
pd2: with hard drive inspector and settings to max performance there were sounds too.
pd3: note that i'm on a studio xps13, not 16

 

mine's fine so far, it didn't make a single click noise without hdparm or anything since upgrading to 5SDM1 almost 2 weeks ago..

 

i haven't heared any clicking noise.. but.. too often.. i've a freeze.. and after a second.. sometimes tll 10 seconds.. the system get to work.. i'm very disappoined...

 

I installed the new firmware about a week ago (it upgraded me to ver 5), and the clicking sounds have no longer turned up anymore! It worked!

I remember when I had the clicking, I'd be watching a movie/video file, and it would freeze for about 3 seconds (even tho the click was 1 second long); glad that's no longer a prob =P

 

i dont want to believe that i "misinstalled" the firmware, but considering your succesful experiences can u give me a step by step?

greetings

 

I upgraded to 5sdm1 and I havent experienced the clicking sound yet, but the firmware iso image from dell site didn't work for me so I had to boot system on a ms-dos and ran the whole thing from flash disk!!!

 

ugh, I am experiencing the clicking sound every once in few days, it is better than before but still is annoying .

 

It's just the heads parking and un-parking guys. It seems silly to me to disable all the power saving stuff just because you don't like the sound...

 

sorry for posting question on the old thread..

so this means nothing is wrong with the hdd?

just a normal power saving feature?

 

the sound was an issue not only because it happened periodically, but when I'm watching videos on anything, it would actually cause a pause in the video every time the click happens. and it would take 2 sec to recover every single time. It was a serious problem. After the firmware update, everything has been fine, and I've NEVER encountered such issues/sounds since then.

 

Sound Issue sorted, i cant believe i been living with it for almost a year. hahaha