Question Clockwork like screeching drive. Noise jumps to each different drive when unplugged to isolate the prob !!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

stonehedge99

Honorable
Jun 3, 2016
33
0
10,530
Hi..

My PC is giving me a finicky problem for the last 1 month. I started hearing screeching HDD noises, screech whirrrr... screech whirrr... screech whirr. Like a timer clock it keeps on doing it from the moment the system is powered on. Now here's where it gets tricky. I removed the HDD i thought was causing the trouble. The sound came yet again. Removed the other hdd and still the noise. Put HDD 1 back in and pulled the other one now that one gives the noise !!! there are 3 HDDs.

Whats happening is when one is removed the PC becomes silent, tested for days. Then suddenly the sound starts in the next drive. In other words all drives are silent and all make the noise randomly depending on which drive is plugged in. The 4th & 5th 2 drives are SSD and ofcourse have no moving parts. Is it that my 450w power supply is unable to handle 3 mechanical drives when together ? mostly when any 1 drive is removed the screeching hdd reading noise stops.

Sometimes when the 3rd disk is plugged in.... the 2nd one starts making the noise and even disappears from the system explorer (drive drop out / vanish).

Any help would be much appreciated.

PS: This is in Win 10 64 bit.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Ralston18

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Oct 11, 2014
34,801
3,305
146,290
Update your post to include full system hardware specs.

PSU: make, model, wattage (450 watts noted), age, condition? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Disk drives: make, model, capacity, how full, configuration?

Look in Reliability History and Even Viewer? Any drive related error codes, warnings, or informational events?

Or any other error codes, warnings, or informational events that you can associate with the described problems?

Is all important data backed up at least 2 x to different locations. And proven to be recoverable and readable?

PSU is indeed a likely suspect but no matter what the end problem turns out to be, you must be prepared for data loss.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stonehedge99

Honorable
Jun 3, 2016
33
0
10,530
Hello Ralston....

System specs are as follows...
*Processor -Intel Core i3 -6100 (6th Gen) (Skylake Dual Core) @ 3.7 Ghz. 3 MB Cache. Socket LGA-1151. Inbuilt Intel HD530 graphics, 4K supported (3 Monitor Support). RAM Type DDR4-1866/2133. Power 51w TDP. Max 64GB RAM (dual channel).
*Motherboard -Gigabyte, GA-B250M-DS3H, LGA-1151, Motherboard, 3 Monitor Support, 4x DDR4 RAM Slots, HDMI+DVI-D+VGA Ports, Supports Intel 6th & 7th Gen Processors.
*RAM -2nos Kingston HyperX FURY Ram, Black, 8GB, DDR4, 2400mhz, CL15 (Model -HX424C15FB28).
*Graphics Card -Nil. Using processor IGPU Intel HD530.
*OS Drive -Kingston 120GB SSD (SUV400S37120G).
*Projects Drive -Crucial MX500 1TB Sata3 SSD -Brand new installed on 31-Oct-2021.
*Media Drive -Seagate 2TB (ST2000DM001), SATA3, 7200rpm.
*Render Drive -Seagate 500GB (ST500DM002), SATA3, 7200rpm.
*Backup Drive -Seagate 4TB (ST4000DM004), SATA3, 256MB Cache, 5400rpm -Brand new installed on 28-Jun-2021.
*CMOS Batt replaced on 28-Jun-2021.

Yes my data is all backed up daily by Macrium. Mainly using this system for occasional 1080p video editing and it performs flawlessly. Right now i pulled out the renders drive and its silent and editing so smoothly. Put the drive back in and system freezes, drives drop out, even different drives start acting up, vanishing. Even other drives disappear when this drive is plugged in... and there are system slow down during boot. Without it...lightening fast. But the irony is when i remove my back drive and put this in... same excellent smooth performance. Then when the backdrive is added back as the 3rd drive...problems ensue. Im suspecting theres a problem with the plugs. When i yank the plugs straight and press them with my hand the 3rd disk also is accepted. The Corsair Carbide 100R cabinet has a crap design and the plate when closed presses the hdd plugs so hard and bends them...so much for a great design company. Last week actually i go the screeching to stop just by wiggling the plugs and then worked with the system open for 1 week not a single issue. I closed the cabinet... plugs pressed and bent again by the side panel...problem instantly started back.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ralston18

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Oct 11, 2014
34,801
3,305
146,290
First thought being the pressed plugs are causing a short of some sort within the drive(s) or connecting cables.

Or maybe failed or damaged power or data cable. Try methodically swapping in and out known working power and data cables as applicable.

Take a very close look at how the drives are physically installed: drives in bays, and bays in case. Something may be off just enough to cause the plate to press the hdd plugs.

Are you able to take a couple of photographs and post here via imgur (www.imgur.com)?

Someone may spot a problem and/or add other suggestions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stonehedge99

Honorable
Jun 3, 2016
33
0
10,530
Ralston18 said:
First thought being the pressed plugs are causing a short of some sort within the drive(s) or connecting cables.

Or maybe failed or damaged power or data cable. Try methodically swapping in and out known working power and data cables as applicable.

Take a very close look at how the drives are physically installed: drives in bays, and bays in case. Something may be off just enough to cause the plate to press the hdd plugs.

Are you able to take a couple of photographs and post here via imgur (www.imgur.com)?

Someone may spot a problem and/or add other suggestions.
Click to expand...

Hi Ralston...

I am adding images showing how congested the plug space is from the side panel. Pardon the dust...Ive been keeping the cabinet open for a month due to this problem and live in an extremely dusty city.





Maybe the only way out is adding 90deg L type angle SATA plugs for the disks... But i think theres no such type of plug for the SATA power plugs too right ?
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ralston18

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Oct 11, 2014
34,801
3,305
146,290
I am not familiar with that PSU.

However, with respect to @SkyNetRising's post, if the PSU is only delivering 200W then a new PSU is well warranted as soon as possible.

As for new connectors, there are 90 degree, "Right angle" SATA plugs available.

For example (not a recommendation or endorsement for that company or product):

https://www.pccables.com/Sata-Power-Cable-6-Inch-Assembled-Connector-90-Degree-Right-Angle.html

You can easily google for other choices.

Replace the PSU first - changing connectors thereafter may become moot unless there is some true physical problem with space inside the case.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stonehedge99

Honorable
Jun 3, 2016
33
0
10,530
Ralston18 said:
I am not familiar with that PSU.

However, with respect to @SkyNetRising's post, if the PSU is only delivering 200W then a new PSU is well warranted as soon as possible.

As for new connectors, there are 90 degree, "Right angle" SATA plugs available.

For example (not a recommendation or endorsement for that company or product):

https://www.pccables.com/Sata-Power-Cable-6-Inch-Assembled-Connector-90-Degree-Right-Angle.html

You can easily google for other choices.

Replace the PSU first - changing connectors thereafter may become moot unless there is some true physical problem with space inside the case.
Click to expand...

Hello Ralston, i am ordering the cables right now on amazon. Bec either way the cables seem cramped and under pressure from the side panel once the cabinet is closed. Then if the problem persists ill buy a new PSU immediately.

What power rating should i get if in the future i plan to change my processor to an AMD Ryzen 7 3700x (65w processor ?) and a 1080TI Nvidia graphics card.. .rest all retaining the same drives which i have now, should Corsair VS600 do ? or Gigabyte GP-P650B 650w do ? or Cooler Master MWE 650 Bronze V2 ??

Thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
bignastyid

bignastyid

Titan
Moderator
Jun 19, 2011
33,484
1,615
159,590
stonehedge99 said:
Oh its just 200w is it... Can i know how you found that... bec all i see is 450w on the top, hence i must've assumed it would be at least 300w in performance when i bought it a while ago.
Click to expand...
Modern systems mainly use the 12v rail so a good psu will be rated based on it's 12v rail not it's overall output(only very old or low quality units use this deceptive measurement).

A good 450w psu should be able to deliver ~37a on the 12v rail. Your PSU has an 16a 12v rail( 192w) so closer to a 200w unit than a 450w unit.

Also Zebronics is well known for garbage quality parts(especially their power supplies).
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stonehedge99

Honorable
Jun 3, 2016
33
0
10,530
Hi Guys,

Took me sometime to order the cables thru amazon and then get them. Owning to heavy rains in my location it all got delayed. Ive now switched out all the cables. Each and every drive got its new SATA 90 deg right down angle typed connector for data. For power also i put new downward angled connectors.

I switched out all cables to new SATA data cables with downward angled locking connectors. I also simultaneously changed all the power connectors to downward angled ones, but these cables are Y splitter type and they take power from one SATA power plug which originates from the PSU and splits it into 2 with downward angled locking plugs. After this everything seemed to run fast, even boot time improved because i think when one disk is unreadable etc the system stalls at boot till it recognizes that drive and then enters the login screen. However after this cable replacement, NO more screeching. So im guessing its power or cable based problems causing the intermittent screech. Maybe it was unable to power up the heads and that caused a stuck in attempts loop thing.

1 Day after these changes i found that my 2TB disk vanished from the OS, but it would show in disk management (as unallocated, luckily everything is backed up), on reboots it would also cause my renders 500gb drive to vanish, so i replaced the 2TB with another 2 TB disk which i had lying around free and was known to be good, plugged it in, and since then no problems for 2 days. I guess some error with the former 2TB or maybe its slightly more power hungry ? The moment the 2TB was removed everything worked fine for days (that's why i took time to test each trial for a 2 day period before responding here). Plug the 2TB in and either it vanishes or my 500gb renders (sometimes even the 4TB backup drive) drive vanishes :). All drives are internal. Now after replacing the 2TB as a last try,,, everything seems to be smooth, fast boots, no screeching noises so far and no disk hang ups and disappearances. Still observing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom