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    Vostro 1400 Noise

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by rauhe, Nov 29, 2007.

  1. rauhe

    rauhe Newbie

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    Hi all,
    I have just received my new Vostro 1400 and I like the looks and the speed. However, there is a constant humming together with a high-pitched tone. It is not the fan (on the left side of the computer), but probably comes from the right side of the computer.
    I was wondering if this has anything to do with the hard disk? I choose the 7200 rpm version (ST9160823AS). Is the 5400 rpm version quit'er?

    Is there a way to force the HD to sleep (to check if the HD is the problem) ?

    Thanks for your help!
    John
     
    rauhe, Nov 29, 2007
    #1
  2. Sprint

    Sprint DTR Super Mod

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    well, you cant really shutdown the hdd while the computer is running, but you can try by entering the BIOS at bootup and see if it still is there. The sound ight also come from a loose part in the computer such as the screen brightness transformator
     
    Sprint, Nov 29, 2007
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  3. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    The humming is either the fan or the hard drive. That's how computers are.
     
    adinu, Nov 29, 2007
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  4. rauhe

    rauhe Newbie

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    The noise is still there when entering the bios setup. Is the HD not running at this time?
     
    rauhe, Nov 29, 2007
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  5. starcrusader3000

    starcrusader3000 Newbie

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    if you want to check to see if the noise is coming from the hdd, then take out the hdd and start the computer up and see if there is any difference.
    I had the same issue with my vostro 1400 5400rpm (ST9120822AS). So i talked a dell rep and got them to swap my hdd. The new hdd (a different brand other than seagate) i got seem to be much quieter.
     
    starcrusader3000, Dec 4, 2007
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  6. rauhe

    rauhe Newbie

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    Thank you for the test case! I will try that!!
     
    rauhe, Dec 5, 2007
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  7. deadsimple

    deadsimple Notebook Consultant

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    Well actually you can. Any small Linux LiveCD would do the trick.
     
    deadsimple, Dec 5, 2007
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  8. rauhe

    rauhe Newbie

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    Thank You! i will look into that! Do you have a special Linux distribution in mind? I'm not to familiar with the different distributions...
     
    rauhe, Dec 5, 2007
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  9. deadsimple

    deadsimple Notebook Consultant

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    Something like SystemRescueCd (163MB):

    http://www.sysresccd.org/

    Boot off the cd, drop into a terminal and call hdparm with the -Y switch on your hard-drive:

    http://linux.die.net/man/8/hdparm

    -Y parameter description:
    Force an IDE drive to immediately enter the lowest power consumption sleep mode, causing it to shut down completely. A hard or soft reset is required before the drive can be accessed again (the Linux IDE driver will automatically handle issuing a reset if/when needed)​

    Hence you should just be able to do: hdparm -Y /dev/sda
     
    deadsimple, Dec 5, 2007
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