HP 3D driveguard parks HDD head uselessly/ repeatedly

Lumia925

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Oct 16, 2014
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Please read my whole post carefully if you can, i really need some help/ suggestion.


Computer model: HP Envy K204TX

Issue: The computer has BeatsAudio with internal sub-woofer. It also has a motion sensor which parks HDD head to protect the disk if there is an abrupt motion/fall/movement of the notebook. When motion sensor parks the head, the HDD activity indicator turns solid RED.

The problem is, when I play music, the vibrations of the internal speakers/sub-woofer triggers useless head park/unpark cycles. The LED turns RED, and at times if the computer is doing something which requires a steady flow of HDD data (playing very high-def video), it momentarily freezes.
Looks like the motion sensor is oversensitive, or the speakers are causing too much vibration.

In any case, this doesn't look like normal behavior to me.
HP online tech support sent me an on-site tech to take a look at the issue.
The tech tried to convince me this is normal.

How can this be normal? I have another HP notebook (not same model) and this other notebook too has a motion sensor, but playing audio never triggers it, only traveling in a bumpy road on the back seat of a car does.

What could be causing this?
I have already updated the BIOS, and all the drivers.

The computer is about 1 month old, and has 3 years on-site warranty with accidental damage protection.

The on-site tech is a very friendly person. But he too seemed confused. He has probably never encountered this issue before.

He agreed to get me a replacement woofer assembly at last, but also told me this would take some time (and he doesn't know how much time it might take). But i have serious doubts replacing the woofer would solve the problem. The sound is perfectly okay, the woofer seems to be working fine- there's no audio distortion while playing music even at the loudest level, but when playing any audio (even in-game audio) the HDD head keeps parking and unparking repeatedly. If I connect external speakers/ headphones, the park cycle stops. If I mute audio, the head doesn't park either..

Do you think replacing the internal woofer would resolve this problem? Or is this a serious motherboard problem (the tech said the motion sensor is in the motherboard)?

I am lost. This is a pretty expensive notebook ($1500+), and is only 1 month old. Please suggest.
 

mbarnes86

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Sep 16, 2010
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19,110
Hi

No idea about how to fix technical problem

Did you buy this laptop from HP or a PC dealer?
You sale of goods rights are against the seller not manufacturer (HP)

Did this laptop come with Win 8.1 or Win 10?
have you upgraded from 8.1 to 10 after delivery?
(possible win 10 driver problem?)

Contact seller and tell them the product has a fault or design flaw which HP is unable to fix and you want it fixed quickly (7 days) or replaced with a new working product or a refund.

regards
Mike Barnes