More questions about notebook noise.

I am curious about the sounds from a notebook. Mine makes a short double clicking every minute or so, and it seems independent of what I am doing. What is this sound?

 

It could be a variety of things - hard drive, fan(s), foreign object(s), etc.

 

That sounds like a hard drive issue. How long have you had the notebook?

 

The clicking probably is the hard disk. Its normally nothing to worry about, as most hard disks will do this, but some are quieter than others. It is caused when the arms have to move back and forth to collect data from the platter. It can appear to be random, because it depends on where the data is on the platter.

I wouldn't worry about it, unless the sounds get louder and louder, or unless they repeat over and over again. In that case, it may be that the hard disk is suffering a problem, and it may be beneficial to back up any data, just incase the hard disk does develop a fault.

 

I have had the computer for two days. It occurs every 30 to 60 seconds or so. It is preceeded by a slight change in the hard drive noise which lasts for maybe 5 seconds.

The computer is working well otherwise. The funny part is that it does it even if I am not working on anything and with just the screen saver on. Would platter arm noise occur regularly if no task is underway?

 

If your computer is doing it often, try defragmenting.

 

Defragment a brand new computer? I must confess to being a novice user but something seems alien about needing to defrag a computer two days old. I would have thought this new hard drive state would be as good as it ever could be. Can anyone confirm this as being a possible solution?

 

Zero's given you the most useful info thus far, gmm.

Just because you aren't doing anything doesn't mean the OS is likewise resting. It can be paging files or any number of things that would exercise the hard drive.

I'm not convinced that the sound you're hearing is actually your hard drive, although it could be...there's no telling really without someone who's familiar with h/w actually listening to what's going on, since something that sounds loud to you may not to someone less sensitized or more familiar with machines in general.

Some hard drives are just louder than others, the thing to watch for is uncharacteristic changes in the sounds a drive makes, but you need a history with the machine for that. I used to have 330mb scsi drives (years and years and years ago) that you had to talk over, they were so loud. I bought them used (they came out of a mini) and used them for years - they never failed, they just became obsolete due to their capacity.

Because you are now, no doubt, concerned that you've got a potentially failing machine on your hands, consider sending it through a battery of tests to assure yourself that everything is okay. Back up your machine first though. The most strenuous hard drive tests will overwrite the information currently residing on your drive, so you'll need to restore the data once you're done. Besides, maybe your hard drive *is* failing.

If you have the HP system recovery cd, there's a series of diagnostics you can run under the "advanced settings" option before actually initiating the system recovery process. There's also, often, hard drive tests you can run through the bios (by going into Setup, when the machine is booting from a hard reset - F11 on HPs I think). You can also download diagnostics off the internet, like http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Do backup your system if there's anything you want to keep, however.

 

To be candid, I am not worried that the hard drive is failing as it works fine otherwise. It sounds like the hard disk arms parking after scanning the disk. It is so regular (every minute or so) and loud, it is becoming a great distraction and quite objectionable, much like chinese torture. I ran a hard disk self test as per HP recommendations and it came back pass. I will next try turning off some software such as the little news updates in the gadgets that might be causing this clockworklike noise. I will also try other power settings. Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

It should not be so annoying that it is like water torture. If you bought it at a retail outlet, you may want to exchange it.

 

Unfortunately it is for most of my computing time. I bought this laptop specifically for acoustics research, so extraneous intermittant noise is unbearable. I can see where it would not be bothersome for many other things one could use a computer for. I googled the problem and found it is a well known phenomenon. Here is a typical example from another computer site:

"The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Try turning off power management for the drive; that should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off."

I am convinced this is exactly my problem, and I fear it will be the same in another unit if I were to just exchange computers.

I would like to learn how to stop the hard drive from parking the heads. I have rooted around but I have yet to locate anything specific like hard drive power management.

 

I have partially solved the problem. It turns out that if I disconnect from the internet (Linksys wireless router) the problem stops, entirely. I stopped counting at the ten minute mark. As soon as I reconnect, it starts parking heads every 30 to 60 seconds.

I will next isolate the issue by hard connection to the internet to see if it is the wireless unit or internet connection in general.

This is good news to me. It means that worst case scenerio I am only going to be disturbed on the net and not during acoustic work.

 

Hard drive clicks relentlessly whenever connected to the internet by wireless or wired. It makes no difference if I am at a website or not browsing at all (computer idling). Turning off Norton Internet Security had no effect. It is baffling to me that such an issue could be related to being connected, but then again, it is all baffling to me.

Does anyone else notice this?

 

I do not hear what you are writing about. I have the almost ubiquitous high-pitch whine, or whatever folks want to call it, but it is not as loud as the lights over the dining room table when dimmed some. It is possible that yours is too loud and it is also possible that you're more sensitive to the sound than most persons are. Would the noise at a retailer be too loud to go and listen to computers just to make sure that what you hear is in others, also? Then you would know whether it's worth exchanging or not.

Bill

 

"Would the noise at a retailer be too loud to go and listen to computers just to make sure that what you hear is in others, also?"

It is worth looking into.

I am waiting for a callback from HP as well.

 

Looking at some other notebooks and comparing the noise a good idea, however, some notebooks will have different drive models and manufacturers installed in them. It more difficult, but you may be able to find a hard drive made by the same manufacturer as the one you have now, and that will be a much better comparison.

 

I'm gonna buy another lap this coming week but limited to Future Shop. I have to choose from Toshiba, Acer, HP, and possibly Sony. I think I will pass on the HP even though it looks nice. Too many people complaining about some noise issues, especially the whining sound they hear.

Anyone buy a HP recently that they don't have problems with?

 

I recently received a dv9000t. I don't hear any unusual noises.

 

Do you hear a clicking from the hard drive every minute or so when on the internet?

 

From what I can gather, the high pitched whine is attributed to the Core 2 Duo processor. I've read users of various computers post about it. If I put my ear to the keyboard, I hear it, but otherwise, I hardly ever notice it. It is more noticeable when running off the battery instead of being plugged in to an outlet.

I've had mine for almost a month and am quite pleased. If I were buying today, I would get the same computer.

Bill

 

Well, the problem is whether or not that HP is planning or will be planning to fix this problem for current models (or future models), I mean, I just got mine little over a week, tried everything mentioned in the forums, but still the whining noise is quite noticeable in quiet environment.
I really, really like this notebook, just hate the damn noise, I don't think exchanging for a new one will do any good, perhaps I should just give up and get my money back? and wait for newer model in the future.

 

Well I dropped into a Future Shop today and looked at the 14 and 15 in.
I leaned close to each HP lap and couldn't hear any high pitched whine that people are referring to. Maybe I should just skip this brand. But I don't like the Toshiba or Acer either.

 

The problem is at the Core 2 Duo processor, did you check if those laptops were using Core 2 Duo series?

 

I received bad news. HP had me run two hard disk tests at start up and both came back pass, yet later while rooting around in different windows, I discovered other self-diagnostic tests. I ran these and the results were not pretty.

Even though I have had the computer for mere days, and have installed little more than an external mouse (on a 120GB HD), it said I had only 12% hard disk space left.

Worse still, of the seven or eight tests run (CPU, memory, etc.) the hard disk came back "failed". Further, it said something to the effect of complete fail a certainty in the future. More warnings of a "dirty" something or other as well. I am no computer man, but when I see the words "disk failure" and "dirty" on the same diagnostic page, it is time to pack it up and send it back. This unit was brand new and very factory sealed.

I am a novice really, but one with common sense. In hindsight I cannot see anything I could have done to precipitate this problem, as I am as gentle as can be with such devices.

I will try another unit. If it has problems I will then look elsewhere, but hopefully it is just an anomaly. There is much to like about this computer, but it has to work, and work well.

Note: This unit had no high frequency noise as reported by some others. This noise was clicking of arms in the hard disk.

 

nice find with the diags.

and yes you are correct "failed" and "complete failure is a certainty" are generally considered bad things...

Nice to read you found a solution! It happens sometimes on new systems. from reading this whole tread and your comments what was happening was not the heads were parking but rather one or more of them could not park. A control arm could be broken or any number of other things...nice that it happened immediately for you not in 6 months when you had everything in your life on the system.

 

Well the 15" I look at is core 2 duo and the 14" is core duo amd.
Should I just buy the 14" then?

 

I would get the 14.1 only if I needed more portability, though the 15.4 is small enough for me to carry around, as I do daily.

I recommend going with the C2D model. It will be a better choice to "future proof" you over the next few years, IMO.

Bill

 

I was at Business Depot today. The 15" HP definitely has a high pitch whining coming from the lap. Even the store was so noisy I can hear it. Ithink this would drive me bananas. The 14" amd core duo was quiet but almost the same price as the 15" faster core 2 duo. That I found strange.

 

can anyone confirm that if the high pitched whining noise only comes out from HP laptop with C2D T5600(1.83GHz)/T5200(1.60GHz) processors? How about C2D T7200 (2.0Ghz)? if not, then I might want to exchange mine to the 2.0Ghz one. Please.... my 21-day-return/exchange ends next week, I've got to make a decision....

 

I have the T5600, and if what I hear (which I don't hear anything right now) is bothering folks, people are much more sensitive than I. Every once and a while I'll hear a slight high pitched sound, sort of like the lights in the dining room when dimmed a bit, but it doesn't bother me at all.

Bill

 

I have the T7200 and I can tell you that it's whiny as a b****.

 

Ha ha.... thanks SBR... oh well, I guess I will just have to keep mine... Man, I really Really REALLY LOVE this notebook! aaahhh. I really Really REALLY HATE the stupid whining sound....

 

A high pitched whine comes out of my Celeron M Compaq laptop. I'm not sure what it is, and it's kind of annoying, but it doesn't bother me too much. For that matter, my HP PDA also makes a noise like that too. Hmm..

 

Hi everyone,

I own an HP dv8000t and have worked on another dv8000t and dv9000t.

The dv8000t I own is perfectly silent. It produces absolutely no electronic oscillation (high pitch nose).
But the other two machines(dv8000t and dv9000t) have high pitch noise. In fact, the dv9000t has it's fan always "ON"

I tried disabling C4 option in F16 BIOS (HP dv9000t). It kind of reduces the noise, but then the fan stays ON and the system gets hotter!!!!!

So, can we say that it's a global C2D or C1D phenomenon ? I don't think so.

I think it's a quality control problem- the use of sub-standard electronic components. These companies should do some investigation into what really the problem is. A hight pitch noise from the HP flagship dv9000t or Dell E1705 or XPS M1710 is not acceptable. A fully configured dv9000t (T7200, 2GB, 2X200 GB 7200RPM) could cost over $2000. We expect to get the best quality assurance from these products.

These companies should take these issues seriously and try to rectify the problem.

Are other brands such as Sony Vaio, Toshiba, IBM affeced ?

Geo

 

I've read posts from folks with several makes using the C2D. That's why I think its a processor issue. Maybe I'm just used to electronic machines making some kind of hum or whatever and just am not bothered by it.

Bill

 

My HP came with a Western Digital hard drive.... if that's what you have then they are set to park the heads after so many seconds of inactivity. That's probably what you are hearing. The problem is if it's the system drive that when idle windows will access it intermittently and cause the heads to unpark/park/unpark/park/unpark/park, etc, etc, etc.... I agree that it is mildly annoying. Hitachi drives have the same feature however you can program their power settings using utilities provided by hitachi. I have a DV9000 and bought a 7200rpm Hitachi drive which I put in as my main system drive and moved the Western Digital to my secondary. Now I only ever hear that noise if I'm accessing my storage on the second (Western Digital) drive. I'll hear the heads repark after I access whatever data I'm going for.

Edit: I somehow missed all the replies after page 1 and that you seem to have it figured out. The noise I hear from mine is fairly quiet and what I consider normal (I've had other hard drives that have done it in the past). I'm glad you figured out why yours was annoyingly loud however.