The Notorious P-6831FX *click/tic* HD

It's come to my attention after looking through the forums since my initial thread that it's fairly common that people can hear this click/tic noise coming out of their hard drive at random times.

I exchanged my last FX laptop for a new one at Best Buy's without issue... however, after using the computer for a couple days, the same tic has returned.

I'm not sure what to make of it as the chances of getting 2 defective hard drives with the exact same issue is slim to none unless of course... Western Digital themselves are to blame for the defective HDs.

I was hoping if anyone knows anything more about these Western Digital HDs as of this point I believe I'm definitely not the only one having this problem and it seems to be actually fairly common.

Please post here if you've bought a FX laptop with a similar problem or if you own a FX laptop that doesn't have this problem at all.

I'm fairly certain most people that own this kind of laptop can hear the distinct click as many of us are previous laptop owners and the sound of a clicking hard drive usually means it's going to die.

I've ran the WD diagnostic tool every day since I've heard the click as well as a windows chkdisk every day. Not a single problem.

If anyone has the WD HD known as : WDC WD2500BEVS in their FX laptop, please post here with any sort of strange or odd noises you've heard.

 

the clicking you hear is actually normal and is heard in many other hds, not just wd. they even released an update to fix it.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1410&p_created=1138291119

scroll down and click on the link that talks about intermittent clicking

 

I thought the same thing at first but its been fine


EDIT: also, how can I get these files on cd since I dont have a floppy? and im sure he dont either.

 

you can just put it on cd and set your boot order to cd drive as first. or you may be able to do it by usb.

 

That is so horribly obnoxious. I just wasted that really friendly Geek Squad's guys time and my time by driving 30 minutes to exchange the product.

I was looking for something like this confirmation from WD though, thank you.

 

I've gone through 4 HDs and all of them make the clicking sound.

 

I have never heard any ticking or clicking in mine

 

I have clicking sounds in mine and my local BB is out of stock on this baby... I am mad pissed...

By the way, the "solution" has been claimed to be useless.

On a side note, I took a look at my HDD slots and found out that my second HDD SATA slot is covered with some sort of aluminum foil... What's the deal with that?

 

This problem seems a bit too common to merit calling a defect as these modeled HDs have been out for over half a year now. I think it's something we're just gonna have to deal with.

 

Yes, it's sadly no solution at all.
I of course still have the "tick", but it doesn't seem to effect performance and I've had no indications of a failing drive yet. (usually if there's something wrong, not everything will run so smooth.) I've also done an absolute ton of large file transfers on and off the drive and I can't complain.

For now, I'll just call it a minor annoyance, but even then, it's hardly noticeable with game sound, music, other room noise, etc..

If it really bothers you, perhaps try to exchange it or call Gateway.
I'm pretty sure its not defective, it's probably just a "feature" of the drive.

 

For the record, Gateway will replace your harddrive because of the *tic*, not that that necessarily means it's a problem, they'll also replace overly loud ac adapters. for the HDD they put a hold on your credit card until you send the old one back, and they pay all the shipping.

 

Does anyone have a non-ticking HDD and can tell us it's fully functional? Because as it stands, I think the ticking HDD is the norm and non-ticking is defective...

 

I have had my P-6831FX Since Jan 16th and have never heard the HD . Device Manager showes I have a " WDC WD2500BEVS-22UST0 "

 

I was about to shout "Me, me!" But then last night I heard the ticking. There is a good chance it has been there for a while, and I just never noticed it. The Drive I ripped from my old Compaq (RIP) and put into a portable drive enclosure ticks LOUDLY and often, and always has. As of now, it's about 6 years old, and I use it regularly for temporary archiving and lugging around movies and disk images to friends houses. The reason I point this out is that despite all the noise my 6 year old drive makes, I've never had a single problem with it's performance, so the ticking that the drive in my 6381 occasionally makes doesn't bother me.

 

Everyone of you guys with TICKing problem should record the sound with mic and post it here.

Do my FX's HD tick? Yes but its normal. Does it make ticking like its going to die? No, I had about 2-3 HD die on me in last 15 years so I know when they are about to die. Why does HD access every 5-10min? Because your file indexing is turned on. Turn this off. When does your HD goes to sleep? Mine goes to sleep every 1 hour. When it does, it makes "tick .. weeee... dead" When it comes back alive it goes "tick ... weeee..." very faintly. This WD 250gb 2.5" makes similar sound as my WD 500gb 3.5".

 

...and if anyone wants a little assurance, you can occasionally check for SMART errors and run the windows error-checking utility over night.

 

Agreed. Even the older drive I mentioned above isn't making the hard drive death gurgle most of us are familiar with. I don't have indexing on, but I do have my notebook set to sleep after an hour, and that is when I hear it. Perhaps some of the people worrying about the ticking are on their first notebook? You would surely hear it easier from your lap and with a small fan than you would from a tower with a large power supply and fan running constanly.

 

ok. Mine tics pretty often, and I have indexing off, and my lappy never goes to sleep, only gets turned off. I'm waiting on a new HDD from gateway, which I'm gonna swap, with this one. I'll tell ya if the new one tics, or if it starts to tic.

 

I don't have indexing on. But when idling, XP/Vista auto defrags anyways.

 

don't know why but running Notebook Hardware Control seems to fix the ticking. plus you get a taskbar readout of your temperature, and it's a free program

EDIT: I don't think it actually fixes it, maybe lessen it, but it's not a fix.

 

I put the new Gateway HDD in, and it tics a lot less, but still occasionally. Probably not evidence of imminent drive failure.