M1530 Hard drive noise

I just recieved my laptop today, and I am pleased with the overall performance. However, I couldn't help but notice the hard drive noise. I ordered the 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor, Seagate Casey for my XPS m1530, and it creates a noticable and constant clicking noise when I'm away from background noise. It even clicks when I leave the computer alone.

Has anyone else experienced this with their m1530? Do you think there's something wrong with the hard drive, or is it normal?

 

Clicking hard drives are a very bad thing. Is it a regular clicking? How loud is it? That's usually the drive heads hitting either the platters or their docking area, either of which is bad. Talk to Dell.

 

I was about to start a thread with the same exact problem. I just got a replacement computer today. It clicks all the time. I have my old one right here and there's no noise whatsoever!

The guy who got me the replacement told me that if there was any problem to contact him. Is this a problem that can be fixed by tech support i.e. someone coming to replace things; or should I be asking for another computer.

Eager to hear responses. Thanks.

 

I have a clicking noise too!

 

Thanks for the response. The clicking isn't rapid, but it clicks once every second or so. It's hard to describe the exact loudness of the disk, but it is definitely noticeable in a relatively quiet room, even from several feet away.

 

That's exactly how mine is. And it's driving me crazy. In no way can I live with this. If there are three of us on this board, right now, I imagine it's a quality control issue!

 

Yeah that sounds like a faulty hard drive to me. If you still have your old one, swap the drives
Otherwise, go into Dell support and tell them you did a test on your drive with GWScan and it failed SMART and/or full media scan, and tell them about the clicking noise.
They'll surely expedite you a new part, XPS support is very good.

 

I have that problem as well but I believe that it's just these newer hard drives that are slightly more audible than normal and your ambient noise level. During the day with a fair amount of ambient noise I cannot hear the clicks at all unless I have my head near the hard drive. During the night studying, I can clearly hear each click and it does get a little annoying. Almost all laptop hard drives I have used made clicking noises but they were very quiet or subtle. But then again they have all been really old. Something new however is when I use my laptop on battery, the laptop makes noises like it is losing power every now and then and that noise I am not sure if it is normal or not but it makes me feel very very uncomfortable.

 

I'd love to swap my hard drive. But I have no clue. If all you can do is swap your battery ;-) is this relatively difficult?

 

I've had five Dell computers over the years, and have never heard a hard drive clicking.

BTW... the sound seems to be coming from the top left hand corner of the computer. Does that make sense?

 

Well I have an M1330 not an M1530 so I wouldn't know. But I assume that they use the same or similar hard drives. I've had about 3 Dell laptop computers over the years and they all make the noises but you had to put your ear near the hard drive.

 

msboc: there should be a caddy on one of the sides of the laptop with a screw on either side. Beside the screws are pictures of cylinders. Take out those two screws (with the system powered down) and pull out the caddy. Do the same on the other system and swap the two.

Done


It really is about as easy as a battery swap.


EDIT: more info for you, it's the dell service manual on hard drives on the M1530
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsM1530/en/SM/hdd.htm#wp1109848

 

I believe this may be the solution to all your woes:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168425