Annoying clicking sound from my notebook hdd (Samsung HM160HC)

[ukcoz]

Hi, I have IBM Thinkpad T43p with changed harddisk (Samsung HM160HC). The problem is, that the new hard drive (ca. 6 months old) makes annoyin clicking sound in a period of ca. 10 sec (when the hard drive is not so hard used) and rapidly when i use it (to load an internet page or a move or while playing a game). Then it clicks as i said rapidly for about 5 seconds and while clicking, the computer is freezing. Then it stops, the computer "unfreezes" again, and the harddisk continues with the periodical clicking. Earlier, the same happened but in a bigger period of time and with the time it gets worse and worse.

What can i do? Is the hard going to crash?

P.S. I just want to mention, that i have some knowledge about harware&software and i'm sure that the sound comes from the hard disk. I ask for help because i ran out of ideas what the problem should be and how it can be solved. I made check of the disk with cmd and some other programs several times and there are no bad sectors or other problems at all.

Thanks in advance

 

[r_manic]

Whoops, if you have any important data on that hard disk, I suggest you back up it now. When it comes to HDs, clicking sounds usually means drive failure! As your hard disk should be still covered by warranty, I suggest you return the drive for a replacement.

 

[Ubrales]

Hi, I have IBM Thinkpad T43p with changed harddisk (Samsung HM160HC). The problem is, that the new hard drive (ca. 6 months old) makes annoyin clicking sound in a period of ca. 10 sec -----------------------]


ukcoz, a clicking sound usually indicates an impending hard disk failure. Consider it an early warning signal.

Get yourself a "disk cloning" setup (<$40), clone your present hard disk, and swap the cloned hard disk with your present 'clicking' disk, and you should be fine. My understanding from the instructions is that once you clone a disk, the original disk can only be used for data storage after re-formatting (am not positive on this).

I had the same issue on my laptop after several years of use, and cloned the HDD and at the same time increased the capacity of the HDD - replaced the old 40 GB disk with a 250 GB disk.

Subsequently, I used the same cloning hardware and replaced my desktop 80 GB "C" drive with a 320 GB HDD. Worked fine.

Since you have some prior knowledge of hardware and software, you should not experience any issues. The cloning is quite straight forward, and the instructions are well written.

Good Luck

Ubrales

 

[ukcoz]

Thanks a lot for all the advices. I thought also that it could be a mechanical or other hardware failure. It was strange that this happened rarely at the very beginning and then oftener and oftener. And that the disk checks didn't show any failures at all. It's just hard for me to believe that new hdd can do stuff like this.

 

[Ubrales]

Thanks a lot for all the advices. I thought also that it could be a mechanical or other hardware failure. It was strange that this happened rarely at the very beginning and then oftener and oftener. And that the disk checks didn't show any failures at all. It's just hard for me to believe that new hdd can do stuff like this.

In a sense, you are correct. Hard disks do run well for a long time; years. Disk checks may tell you that everything is fine and dandy - try "Smart disk" - it will tell you the health of all your disk drives. Even so, it's always a good idea to take preemptive measures. There is something known as "infant mortality" when it comes to electro-mechanical devices, or anything for that matter.

Just a thought.

Ubrales

 

[velislav]

hey people

at first i even didnt know how to call the problem that you and also me were experiencing . i started with google with words like "noises,scratches-like sound from HDD". on the many forums i found finally the right (most used term) - clicking and probably most suitable. at first it was very anoying when u dont know how to call your problem...

I've been through many forums,posts and opinions ....
And your posts are the final ones that makes me think my HDD is going to f**k itself up sooner or later. so probably ill say buy buy to my HDD

my laptop started to freeze up many months ago but rarely . The first cases were dragging the music for a moment ,when i was listening to it. I thought "probably the mp3 file isnt in good condition" .But latter when i was leaving the laptop to play the music for the night (im leaving it to play some kind of music) and on the next day either it didnt play a *** and jammed ( i had to bush the power button to make it come alive again) or it was dragging the music or sound like your speakers are damaged (but i checked with diferent headphones) .... same result.
when it was quiet in the room i could hear it ....click..(several seconds).... click ...click........(several seconds) ....click..click..... roughly a pattern like that. or it could be another patern. Very gentle click ,smooth alike .

the last paragraph is for the people who are hearing such noices and can see here our descriptions and compare ....

damn forums are helpful....

so thanks for the posts people

 

[Ubrales]

......... when it was quiet in the room i could hear it ....click..(several seconds).... click ...click........(several seconds) ....click..click..... roughly a pattern like that. or it could be another patern. Very gentle click ,smooth alike .

The good news is that these sounds are from your hard disk and not in your head! The bad news is that the "clicking" noise is a typical early warning of an impending hard disk failure. I had a similar intermittent clicking sound from my laptop hard disk. I cloned the hard disk and replaced it with a larger capacity hard disk. Works fine now. This is what I used for my laptop work: http/www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?id=1023&type=reg

After doing this, I was so pleased with the ease and procedures, that I did the same hard disk upgrade on my desktop computer by cloning by using this product: http/www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=39

The instructions on both products are quite clear, and simple to perform.

In any case, a clicking sound from the hard disk is bad news; sign of an impending total failure. Change the defective disk.

Good luck!

Ubrales

 

[velislav]

ya , good its not my head, because if it was , there is no way of changing that kind of HDD

yesterday i opened HD Tunes (hardrive utility) ,in the health sector i saw that there are 4 bad sectors and it
says that they have been replaced. That means the "arm" instead of going over these bad sectors again ,it will go over the sectors (from the spare sector pool) that have been used for the replacement ? Correct ?


and thanks for the reply

 

[velislav]

so cloning is actually copying the information from the defected HDD to the new one ?

 

[Ubrales]

so cloning is actually copying the information from the defected HDD to the new one ?

Yes - cloning will 'create' an exact copy (clone) of your existing disk that is about to fail. Please remember that cloning must be done as soon as possible, BEFORE the hard disk dies. Also, you can pick a new, larger capacity hard disk to clone to.

On my laptop, I went from a 40GB disk to a new 250GB disk - and on my old desktop, I went from 80GB t0 500GB. Even though the old disk is still 'usable' as an external storage disk, I would not recommend doing that because of the condition of the disk.

This cloning process works very well, and the directions for cloning are quite clear. Good luck Velislav!


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[velislav]

hey ,


several days ago ,because i was already pissed off of the OS how it was behaving, i deicded to change to another one - 2 actually. I first installed Mac osX not on C:\ drive ,but on another partition - E:\.
Had some software problems - couldnt find the right kext for the sound and wirelless stuff. But otherwise -- no problems, no dragging ,nothing. Than i switched to Ubuntu , again on E:\ . yet again no problems.


Then i decided what if C:\ is the part of the hardrive which is fucked up ? And reinstalled Windows 7 on E:\

and guess what - now it works Perfectly ,like i never had this problem before. The music is ok ,the sound for already 1 day and a half, previously impossible. the Wireless is ok ,not disconnected . Even i put again my extra 2 GB Ram ( removed it because first a read some guy had that problem and he updated the BIOS and removed one of the ram plate or whatever u call it and he says that after that he had no issues ) anyway ....

although it works ok, still im considering soon the get another HD - new one .

just wanted to share some temporary solutions with guys with that problem ,mentioned several posts above.

 

[Ubrales]

Good info velislav - when you do get around to changing the hard disk (and cloning), please make sure that you purchase the same type of disk; SATA or PATA (EIDE). You can always consider a higher capacity hard disk when you do this.

 

[velislav]

hi Ubrales



i think what is really the cause for my problems. And i guess its not the HDD....

Yeasterday i bought a new HDD 500GB ( previously i had 320GB) ,well after the night, on the next morning it was all the same . but this time instead of ignoring the wireless card .... i started looking at it as main cause. Why ?

Well all the times when my pc jammed the wireless bars ( on bottom right side of the desktop) instead of white, they always turned grey and with a red cross in front of them. But i ignored that , didnt know.Even when i switched to Ubuntu , the wireless card jammed, dissapeared again. Same problem - diferent OSs. Then i thought of the working temperature of the WiFI card - 55-60 Celcius Max.!(gigabyte GN WS50G-RH) All the times i touched it,it was as hot as hell, probably hotter :lol: . So what i did today - closed the lid (put the pc to sleep),woke it up ,the bars were back, no jamming ,perfect sound and so on.... Although the good result, in 15-20 minutes -same thing. So i removed the WiFi card - clean as virgin girl .


i Was always wondering why my card was wraped in some kind of plastic paper on which were many logos,names and stupid messages posted on . I think everybody would say that a piece of electronic shouldn't ever be wraped or covered. I removed the cover and guess what . on one site there was a very low paralepiped box, on top of it 15 holes !!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine - 15 holes ,supposingly to cool off itself , and they covered them so that the manufacturers could show their logos and meaningless messages.

I put it back in slot ,this time barely naked :lol: and it's sooo much cooler than before. so far ,no problems .so the next day i'll post the results .

peace out

 

[Ubrales]

Good work velislav! I totally agree with you regarding the vent holes - vents should never be covered with anything. LMAO, I like your analogy of the 'virgin girl' Keep it up! Glad to note that you may not need to replace your HDD at all, but when the time comes, you know what to do and how to do it.

 

[velislav]

Well, here i am .... again

so the problem ,what i believe, is the unsuitable driver, Windows 7 installs it on. Focusing on the wireless card.It installs GNWs50 something driver , like the same name on the plastic tape i removed from the card.

i didnt tell you that when i removed and the metal covering , i exposed the chipset itself of the card. What i saw ? Well on the chipset says "Atheros ar2425" which is the same as ar5007eg. So what comes up .

The W7 installs some kind of a driver ,while having tottaly diferent manufacturer of the chipset . I was like " what the F**k ?!"

every time i download something and the lan or the wireless card is on, there comes the problem. i Checked the latency - when its all - Lan and Wlan cards are disabled . The latency was ok under 600 uSec.When its all on - 20 000 - 30 000 uSeconds.

I figured out that probably even the driver for the lan wasnt the one it should be . I got pIssed of . And i opened my laptop , every single piece of this machine was ripped off - motherboard, fan, keyboard, speakers, everything that was hold on a bolt,literally was unscrewed. I got the chance to clean my fan metal radiator grid.
Guess what - the sound card was realtek, w7 installed nvidia sound driver, lan card - realtek 8169, w7 installed some kind of totally diferent driver, the wireless -atheros , Gigabyte driver installed instead. . And i saw all the numbers and letters for each chipset, which eventually helped me finding the right drivers,and managed to overinstalled. The problem remained with the WiFI card. It just wont let me install the atheros driver

1.tryed to uninstall. no effect, when i install atheros driver ,in the end says "successfully bla bla" and a pop-up ballon shows me the name of gn-ws50n driver installed.
2.Tryed without uninstallation , like i did with the sound and lan card - no effect.

3. i went in the registries where i can stop W7 to autoinstall. Tryed on 2 more places where i ticked , No Auto install ,Let me choose the drivers. And again it autoinstalls. OMGGGGGGGGGG

Anyway i've noticed if i dont use too much utorrent and if im downloading just one or two torrents ,and nothing more - no other upload,no download ,the system keeps on going for longer , actuually the record was like 2 days ( i had to restart , installing some softwares)

So im begining to think that this feature (autoinstalling ) of W7 is very f****ed Up