the noisy seagate harddrives

is this reported only to be for the 500Gig?

reckon i got the 320 with mine...

 

I think it's luck of the draw. Some just are inherently louder than others...

 

if u mean the "clicking noise" issue: it's reported with 320gb too, but it has been solved long time ago with a program, and now dell has fw upgrade for it which solves that issue without any programs. see this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=413334
so if u meant that, it's no longer an issue for any of them.

 

I got a tech update from Dell yesterday that gave me links to the Dell Support Downloads page, but when i clicked on the link for the firmware update file, it kept downloading the Dell Download Manager. I had no way of downloading the actual firmware file. After about 2 hours of scouring Dell's site to find an alternative way to get the file, along with checking Seagate's site (useless since it pointed me right back to Dell), I said screw it and decided to wait and see if they would fix the issue. I even tried to log in to the Dell chat, but kept getting a page load error. Talk about frustrating.

 

You can download the update using one of the links below:

http://ftp.us.dell.com/SATA/R250679.exe

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

160G - ST9160412AS DP/N J423T
250G - ST9250410AS DP/N K556T
320G - ST9320423AS DP/N F729T
500G - ST9500420AS DP/N G629T

http://ftp.us.dell.com/SATA/R250352.exe

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

For future downloads: Clear your browser's cookies and try again. Or try a different browser and make sure you click download only.

 

Life will Dell is inherently frustrating. It's like the 4th law of thermodynamics.

Someone else was talking about this issue, the download manager. On mine, it just directly downloads a *.exe file. Give me the file and I'll upload it somewhere/email it to you.

If Dell won't help you, damn it, we will.

~Ibrahim~

EDIT: And never mind...

 

OMG ABOUT TIME that they provide the firmware updates! man!!!!!

----------

EDIT: after I DL the file and extract (from Dell's site), I followed their instruction to run FLASH.bat, but it gives me an error saying that I'm using 64-bit and that it won't be able to continue with installation... O_O anyone else have this problem?

 

Fortunately, I am work right now, so i haven't had the opportunity yet to download, but I see someone already has and is having problems. Yeesh, it takes an act of congress to get things to work right on our machines.

 

How do you get this to install ? I couldn't @@

I burnt it to a CD and it only has a CD.txt in it ?

 

Flash.bat is meant to be run from a bootable flash drive (after booting the laptop with it). Either copy the files directory to bootable drive or burn a CD with the supplied ISO. I did the flash drive option and worked fine.

 

Try to boot the laptop with the CD; it should work.

FYI CD.txt contents:
Bootable CD
( Version A02 )
-----------------------

This CD has been successfully created.

This CD uses hard-disk emulation and only this file will be visible
from Microsoft Windows(R). Boot this CD on an Dell server and then
the bootable filesystem will be visible as files on the C: drive.

 

I don't get it. I already burnt to a DVD, I double click on that and it only showed a CD.txt which is what you wrote. How do I get it to install ? Do I have to restart ?

 

Ok, I gave up the CD way and go with flash instead. It still didn't work. I copied the Files to my usb flash. and When I run the flash.bat, it says invalid 16-bit application ?!

 

You need to restart, press the key for the boot menu (I think is F12; I do not remember at the moment) and select the dvd drive.

 

Yeah you have to boot off the CD or flash drive. The update program runs in DOS and yeah, that's what it's booting.

 

Okay, finally got it done. 500gb Mine was 4SDM1 rev. Is that what you guys got ? Why its not 5SDM1 ?

 

weird, I burned it onto a CD, restarted, booted to the CD, but I get an "Invalid PBR" error, and it stops there.

If I use a flash drive, do I need to clean out all my other files (format it), or can I just copy the files onto my used flash drive w/ everything else on it?

Thanks.

 

My usb couldn't work. CD works for me though. Try to burn again.

 

@entrance

Just put the files in the root and you should be OK, me thinks.

PBR: partition boot record?

 

I updated my 500gb seagate's firmware smoothly but I dont hear any changes or notice any improvements
I guess the 7200rpm is suppose to have a soft scartching noise?

 

Yea my USB didn't work either. Got an invalid error.

I'm using Roxio that came with my XPS to burn the CD, but I have a feeling I should be using something like Nero to burn a "bootable" disc instead (an option not on the Roxio it seems...)

 

I just use the ISO burner that comes with any Windows 7 install. Make sure you do "Open with..." on the ISO file and pick the Windows ISO Burner.

 

i dunno what soft scratching noise u mean, but so far the clicking noise issue seems definitely gone.

 

I used roxio to burn the iso and it didn't work. I tried to boot from it and heard it spin up but I just ened up with a black screen with a little underscore in the top left hand corner. I tried to press enter and all the other things that might help but it did nothing

 

GUYS I CAN HELP YOU ALL!!! I booted the image successfully! It didnt work with Roxio!!! Right click on the seagate's ISO image file and you will have 2 options creat an image with roxio or with windows image creator or something like that! I used the windows' tool and it worked booted and updated right away,,, as with roxio it burns it but never boots from it!!! Hope this helped!!

 

Unfortunately, that only works for Win7 users.

If you're still having trouble burning, consider Starburn, CDBurnerXP, or ImgBurn. All free and awesome.

~Ibrahim~

 

I don't get it, why would roxio not let us boot from it? It's the same either way right, if you burn an iso you burn an iso?

 

So guys, what revision is your hdd now ? Mine's 4S instead of the 5s :S

 

How are we meant to check?

 

It stopped my hard drive clunking noise completely.
500GB 7200rpm.

 

u can check it using hdparm, see this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5271635&postcount=33

i have fw 0005SDM1, 500GB 7200rpm seagate model.

 

Is yours ASG or AS ? Which firmware did you download ?

 

ASG. i downloaded the one from dell's site for it, there were only one for this (ST9500420ASG)

 

Thanks! I used ImgBurn, and it booted from the CD upon restart!

Basically what happened was I saw a blue screen saying it's attempting to update the firmware, and I heard 4 beeps from my harddrive, and then again, before it went to a green screen saying that update is complete. (just FYI for those who haven't updated yet, about 30 seconds total)

then you simply press the power button to turn off the computer, and power back up again. when Desktop loaded, I did get a "driver installing/updated" message for my harddrive, after which I was asked to restart my computer again due to "new driver."

It seems that the clunking noise is gone for good now!!!!!!!

=)

My firmware was updated to version 5.

G'luck everyone!

 

Is the update only to get rid of the random noise that sounds like the click of death or to just quiet the whole thing down in general? I haven't had one of the loud ticks yet but it still scurries arounds the place making little noises

 

Same here.. I updated it and still have little noises but I guess I never had loud clicks after replacing the HDD... So Im guessing this is normal for seagate or 7200rpm?

 

Weird, why was mine rev 4 for ASG

 

hi,chewyeong90,I think for 2SDM1 firmware after upgrade is 5SDM1,and 3SDM1 firmware after upgrade is 4SDM1,
both AS or ASG firmware is same file.but you still can upgrade to 5SDM1,i don't know it's any difference
between 3SDM1 and 2SDM1 hardware, i have tried 4SDM1 instead of 5SDM1.feeling same

 

My ASG drive is also Rev 4. I didn't check to see what it was before the upgrade.. Kind of wished I did. All is fine on this end though. I used PowerISO (my best friend!) and all booted great. I was shocked just how fast the update went.

Like the BIOS, Dell makes it easy to update firmware and BIOS. If only my Abit IP35Pro was this easy to update the BIOS....

 

Yup mine was 3SDM1 before this. How do you still upgrade to 5SDM1 ? Do you reinstall again after it's 4SDM1 with the same file ?

 

hi,

use same CD,after start use DOS command

FDLH -m HOLLIDAY -f 0005SDM1.LOD -i ST9500420ASG -b -v

when you finish upgrade would you check the disk S.M.A.R.T. information‎:

because my (Hardware ECC Recovered 23 217130227) is huge

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2608/33790339.jpg

 

What? Not sure if I get what your asking or talking about.

 

yea, I don't get him too @@ that was pretty random

 

mine was 1SDM1; upgraded to 5SDM1

also, @AlexSochi: I no longer having click-clap (cluncking, w/e we choose to call it) sounds; the only "sounds" are the regular "busy" harddrive sound, which seems even more quiet than before now after my update.

 

then Im guessing mine is a normal busy sound too then, I cant really expect it to become an SSD due to a firmware