P150HM suddenly started making Ticking noise

My 8150/p150hm started making a ticking noise which I'm pretty sure wasnt there before, or at least wasnt as loud.

it sounds like a clock ticking, and it seems to happen whenever the HDD indicator (the top right LED. thats the HDD right?) lights up. it keeps ticking slowly even when idle

what could be causing this?

 

it's probably your HD failing....ticking/clicking noises are a good sign of that...if you still can, you should back up everything you dont wanna lose off of it asap!...because as it keeps running, it'll probably come to a point when it'll simply fail, and you might not be be able to backup/access it then....unless you pay someone lots of money for it...and even then it's not guaranteed...

 

ok. that doesnt sound good especially since this baby is only a week old.. at least i dont have much data to back up
anything i can actually do other than "hoping it wont fail" ?

 

Performing a full Zero Write to the drive and stress testing it.

Running the manufacturer's diags too (seagate seatools / wd data lifeguard / etc.)

 

You can just try running the built in check disk tool in Windows (My Computer > C Drive > right click > Properties > tools > error checking). A ticking noise is a bad sign though, as it could be a head crash or bad motor in the HDD.

 

i ran seatools and all the tests check out as fine

i also found this thread while searching for answers
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/247745-ticking-noise-hdd.html
which judging from his symptoms, seem to be the same problem as mine.

apparently some process keeps writing to the harddrive even while its idle?
the program they used to pinpoint the process is outdated and not available for download. so i downloaded diskmon instead, which does the job of logging hdd activity, but doesnt show which programs are causing it :S

 

what make is it, seagate or western digital?

there was a problem a couple of years ago with the arm continuously parking while in idle but as far as i can remember there was nop fix found for it.

download HD Tune and run the test tool on that (cant link to it as at work and its blocked).

 

alright! where exactly is the ticking sound coming from? if its at idle and from the back, its more than likely coming from the exhaust fans located in the rear ends. I had the similar issue with my previous laptop qosmio x505, got it replaced under warranty. Find the source of the sound 1st, if its the drive, back the @#$% up

 

Check the fan, my last laptop had a ticking noise, turned out it was the fan on its way out. Or the HDD.

 

There is nothing wrong with your HDD.

I had an Acer 5742G and in idle mode it made that "clicking" noise, indicating the HDD parked its head when not in use. This can be separate from the spin-down function of the HDD. Its called APM control. There is also the AAM control (advanced acoustic management).

Download CrystalDiskInfo and from there disable the APM feature. The clicking will stop. But when you do a fresh power-on, you need to disable it again, since this setting is not saved. When you disable it and restart, it will remain disabled until you make a shut-down and next time you startup windows, you need to disable it again.

That way I fixed the clicking sound of the HDD on my previous laptop.

Please dont run stress tests - they can ruin your HDD. If the error-check doesent show anything wrong, then the HDD is just fine. Dont worry! Use CrystalDiskInfo to disable the APM control (you can disable the AAM control too) and you're all set.

Different brands of HDDs behave differently. I have a Samsung 320GB in my Clevo P150HM and it doesent use APM control by default.


So this is it, I hope I helped! Take care, man! And enjoy your laptop

 

Thanks for the reply, I actually found a similar program called quietHDD right before reading your post, which seems to offer same functions in disabling APM and AAM, and its worked great for me. no more ticking!

still, reassuring to hear from someone else that this was indeed the problem.

for the record, my drive was a Seagate, and for anyone else who runs into the same problem heres a link to quiethdd
quietHDD

 

Thank you for posting your solution! +1 rep. And I'm saving that program for future use.

Edit: And now you've got a little green box. Sweet!

 

Hey! I want +rep too! ;(

 

I'm such a softie. You get rep too. You had a good solution as well

 

Yay green box!

 

Thanks J.P!