Seagate Momentus 7200 rpm HD in Studio 1557 vibrates laptop - proven

** I posted this exact thread at Dell.comm Community - thought I should post here as well**

All,

I purchased a Dell Studio 15 (1557) about a month ago and as soon as I turned it on I noticed the entire bottom portion of the laptop (where the kybd and mousepad are) 'vibrated' - enough so that I called Tech Support for help. At first I thought it must be a bad fan, but after we ran through the Diagnostics and tried different fan settings, the vibration stayed. it wasnt until we put the HD to sleep temporarily that the vibration went away.

Tech Support said it was a bad drive so I had to send my laptop away for 2+ weeks (wow!). I eventually got my laptop back with a new HD installed - the exact same model - a Seagate Momentus 7200 rpm. Im not sure how the repair depot determined the laptop was fixed, because the vibration was still there.They also gave me my old HD back so I could grab any data - so I tried my old HD again to make sure there wasnt a mixup. Sure enough, both the Seagatedrives Vibrated.

I did some googling and this seems to be a common issue with 7200 RPM HD's, specifically the Seagate. Besides running HOT, they also VIBRATE.

I called Tech Support again and they wouldn't believe me. They wanted me to send the laptop back to the repair depot so they could replace all the replaceable parts and find the issue - I said 'no way' - this laptop is brand new, only been used for 2 days, and Im not going to wait another 2-3 weeks to use it.They said, ok, we understand and we'll send you a brand new laptop (same model etc) so you wont be without a laptop. Unfortunately, they wouldnt let me pick a different HD (sigh) even though I was 110% sure it was the issue.

Sooooo, I went out and purchased a 5400 rpm WD Scorpio Blue. I installed it in the Laptop and BINGO!!! 'No Vibration'. None at all!

Im at a loss as to where to go from here. I've already forked over $1500 to Dell for a laptop that has a proven issue with the HD. Dell wont give me a different model of HD. I've spent another $100 for a 5400 RPM drive that fixes the issue.

I suppose I can sell the Seagate 7200 - but will it void my warranty?

Anyway, I thought I should post my experience so others could benefit from my frustration and troubleshooting.

 

No, it won't void your warranty.

 

I noticed a constant hum feeling while typing ( laying my hands on the laptop) but not enough to bother me.
That sucks for you tho.There a good difference in seek times and big file moving going from 7200 to 5400rpm's.

 

I've got a Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm drive in my 1555 and you can barely even HEAR it let alone feel a vibration from it. The house is currently dead quiet, and I can barely distinguish the HDD from the fan barely-spinning fan.

 

Thanks for the replies. It's seeming more and more like its just the Seagate Momentus 7200 RPM. I posted this same thread on the Dell forum and replies to it have suggested the same (no vibration from other 7200 RPM drives).

 

I purchased my Dell Latitude E6400 from the Dell Outlet (for dirt cheap) but it only had an 80GB 5400rpm hard drive. As soon as I placed my order for it, I went to Newegg shopping for a larger, faster hard drive.

I've always had great luck with Seagate desktop hard drives and I'm very fond of their "FreeAgent Go" external portable drives. So it seemed like the safest bet for a 7200rpm drive was to go with a Seagate Momentus (320GB).

I was quickly disappointed by the noise level, vibration and toasty operating temps! I've been using it for close to 11 months hoping that I'd either find a fix or learn to live with it. So far, no fix and it constantly annoys me!

I'm planning to replace it with a Western Digital Scorpio Black (7200rpm) or possibly the Blue model (5400rpm). NBR reviewed both Black and Blue variations of the WD Scorpio back in April - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4954

 

allfiredup -

Thanks for the review! Looks like I'll stay with the WD Blue 5400 as there really wasnt a significant enought performance difference to justify pulling the 5400, returning it, then rebuilding on a 7200 Black.

 

I recommend everyone to get a Western Digital. Why? Because the Diagnostics CD is very good (check bad sectors, write zero's, and etc) Most of all, the drives are very good, and reliable.

Seagate IMO is a worthless piece of crap. Even the Diagnostics CD is worthless. The only thing I found that it can do is write zero's to the drive. It doesn't offer the options WD offers.

 

Just to chime in on this, I put a Seagate Momentus 7200 rpm HD in my MacBook Pro Unibody and have the same vibration issue. It's not a huge deal and there is a noticeable speed increase using this drive. There is no noise increase but I feel it while my hands are on the keyboard and my battery life is reduced (expected).

 

UPDATE

Dell sent me a new laptop, with the same model HD (Seagate 7200) and it had the same problem (no surprise there). I informed Dell tech support that the issue was still there and now they are sending me a Western Digital 7200 RPM drive.

Will post an update when that arrives and is installed.
Thanks

 

I thought a firmware was released to fix the vibrating drives?

 

I've learned that when it comes to dealing with Dell, you should speak with Supervisor's about the problem.

 

I just ordered a studio 17 (see sig) How do i know what brand HDD is being shipped with it. Should I be looking for a replacement immediately? I wouldn't mind since I am required to have and external HDD for school to hand in at the end of next semester. I could just take it out and slap a case on it and throw a western digital HDD in the laptop.

 

Since it's a 500gb drive, I can assure you it WILL be a Seagate Momentus. As soon as you get it, I would call Dell and ask that they exchange it for a Western Digital drive. You'll have to go into the BIOS and switch the setting from ACHI to IDE when using WD's drives. This doesn't mean it's a IDE hard drive. That's just how it's set up in the BIOS. It's still a SATA drive.