Harddrive Beep

Is it normal for my HDD to make a beeping noise after normal use? All I am doing is watching YouTube (or do anything else) and it clicks then makes a loud beep.

 

No. Is anything coming up under the diagnostics (Windows or _HP)?

 

I don't think so but I'll do the test again to see.

 

I'm not aware of any HD able to beep, it is coming from your OS, and may be HD related ... Boot to a windows CD if you have one and choose the recovery console, then run a chkdsk /r, that will tell you if there are issues for sure.

 

I know HDDs that beep. But it's not because they have a beeper, it's a mechanical noise caused by a very quick and very small head movement that corrects a seek error. It sounds more like a chirp. Anyway, the noise is mechanical and BAD. It indicates that the drive is about to fail.

If you mute the sound and the beep goes away it was coming from the OS indeed, but a clicking sound isn't good news either. Replace the hard drive before it takes away your data.

 

The beep comes at random times but I muted it and waited and it still clicked once. The battery is failing too because I calibrated it and Windows and Linux said I should replace it soon. I'm not sure if it's the battery or harddrive beeping but you're right it sounds like it's coming from the harddrive and it's kind of like a chirp but sometimes it sounds like a electronic beep - like a "beep" but it's like 1.2 seconds and right before that I hear a click like it's coming from the HDD overhead.

This computer is relatively new and I've been taking good care of it. I wonder if it's related to any HP manufacturing problem? It's been happening for a couple months now. I've got a SAMSUNG HM250JI 250GB 5400 RPM.

The DVD drive also clicks when I put a CD in but I have to keep opening and closing it until it works but for now I'm trying to see what this harddrive beep is about. I'd replace it but I'm not sure if I should yet.

 

It's not HP's fault, it's Samsung's, but in any case, HP will replace it. Send it in and tell them that your HDD is faulty, also it would be a good idea to ask them to give you a new DVD drive while you're at it. The DVD drive can be calibrated at home, but why bother when you have a warranty.

As for the battery, it's heat that kills it. Keeping it in the laptop at all times damages the battery quickly. When you don't need it, remove it.

 

I aslo recommend if you keep your lappy tehered to its cord to remove the batt, or at least to run it from the batt for a while to cycle it.

 

Thanks for the tips and I'll remove my battery from now on when I don't need it. I think my warranty has expired though, I bought the laptop in January, 2008.

 

Well go buy a new HDD then. If you like, i can walk you through calibrating the optical drive. But please tell me you do have a multimeter - if you don't, it's worth spending $10 on one.

 

I don't have a multimeter at the moment but I can ask my friends if they have one or just go buy one. I'm not sure if my optical drive really needs calibrating but it may as well. Can you tell me the steps?

 

Well, you said you have to insert a CD more than once for it to be recognized. That asks for some calibration.

First, eject the tray and remove the optical drive from the computer. Unscrew the metal cover at the bottom of the tray, and look at the drive's laser unit. It will have two small potentiometers on the bottom, or on a side. One of them is for the CD laser, the other one is for the DVD.

Set your meter to the 2k ohm range and place the probes on the solder points of the pots. They have 3 legs, between two of them you should measure zero resistance as they are wired together. You are interested in the reading between the cursor pin (it's at the middle, or take it straight from the cursor itself as it's metal) and the one that does not read zero.

The DVD laser will typically be set around 1.8kOhm, the CD is 1k or lower. Anyway, rule of thumb, the DVD laser will always be set to a higher resistance.

Decrease resistance of the CD pot to 700-400 Ohms, test several times and see what works best. I generally consider an optical drive laser to have enough power when i can hear it - there's a distinct buzzing sound it makes. If the lens starts making clicking noises and it does not want to read the disc, you probably set it too low.

There is no risk of damaging the CD laser if you set the resistance too low, but if you do this for the DVD it will break, so make sure you adjust the right one. If you need to adjust the DVD pot as well, the safe limit is 900 ohm in my experience. I've fried enough drives to know what i am talking about.

Note that factory values will vary from drive to drive. For example the Pioneer in my DV9700 is maxed out from the factory: 323 ohm CD, 900 ohm DVD, and with these settings it does not want to write rewritable DVDs. Such a drive cannot be adjusted, any lower and it will fry.

 

Slimtype DVD A DS8A1H WH66 is my optical drive. It didn't happen when I first got the laptop so it might just need calibration. When I create CD's at low or high speeds on Nero or whatever I get a error "Power Calibration Error" sometimes. I'll try to get my hands on a multimeter and try your guide soon. Thanks.

 

Yup, power calibration error means the laser isn't getting the right amount of power. That drive should calibrate nicely, by the naming i think it's a Lite-On, which are very good drives.

The only self-calibrating optical drives i know were made by Teac. I'm lucky enough to have one in my computer, and i must say, it can read ANYTHING. I didn't believe the self-calibration thing, so i was amazed when i opened it up to reveal that there really are no adjustment pots. Unfortunately it's just a CD/DVD reader, it doesn't write either of them, but my Lite-On burner does a nice job at that.

 

Sorry I haven't been able to get my hands on a multimeter but I'll try to when I get the chance. What are your recommendations on the Ohms for a Lite-On? I tried to open my optical drive recently but one screw won't come out so I would have to try to get to that later.

 

It depends from drive to drive. Follow my guidelines above, and use Nero DiscSpeed to test (not the newer version called Opti Drive Control, since he made it shareware from freeware, it sucks).

Make sure to use good quality data discs for testing. When testing for reading, pressed discs are best. And make sure they are full. Aim for the lowest access times, also, the read transfer rate graph should be "clean". Check the examples on www.cdspeed2000.com for cues on what you should be seeing. For writing use a 16x DVD+R even if your drive only writes at 8x. DiscSpeed tests writing in simulation mode when you select "Write Transfer Rate" test, so you can run the test multiple times on the same disc. The drive should start recording without delays or hiccups - if the head moves multiple times before starting to record, try correcting that. Also there are chances that the drive will do the simulation but fail on actual physical data, so expect to waste a couple discs (or burn some backups if you're at it anyway ).

Btw, i haven't mentioned it before - Move the DVD laser pot in very small amounts. It's very sensitive, and a change of a few tens of ohms can affect the drive's behaviour, so tweak, measure, test, and do it all over again. It's best to do this in the weekend.

 

Thanks for the tips and I'll be sure to do it when I get a chance sometimes later. My DVD drive is now busted. I tried to reformat my computer and it failed because the DVD drive is now dead. It still runs on the power but won't even spin just "3 led lights" at boot and that's it. The sound from it sounds like it's trying to spin but fails. I guess I have to find a new one as soon as possible so I can finish reformatting my computer.

 

I've had that happen a few years ago on an Acer, i had just finished installing XP then the drive died, leaving me with no drivers... If you had a meter you could have tweaked it enough for it to be able to reinstall Windows.

If you're getting a new one anyway don't bother with this one. When drives fail to recognize anything, they are usually gone for good.

 

It still recognizes stuff sometimes. I just have to keep opening and closing the drive. When my CD spins it sounds like it's hitting the drive but not a lot to scratch but it seems the "spinner" got lowered somehow when I put the CD in.