hard drive reving up periodically

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Whenever I'm on this pc you can hear the hard drive rev up at random times
and Im not sure if this is normal. I have run adaware se, spybot, yahoo
antispy, avast antivirus and everything is clean. I just want to know if this
action is normal and/or is there a way I can make it stop? This pc is a Sony
Vaio PCV-W30 running Windows XP SP 2. I also have a ton of extra space on
both internal hd's, not sure if that's relevant or not.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

InTheZoneAC wrote:
> Whenever I'm on this pc you can hear the hard drive rev up at random times
> and Im not sure if this is normal. I have run adaware se, spybot, yahoo
> antispy, avast antivirus and everything is clean. I just want to know if this
> action is normal and/or is there a way I can make it stop? This pc is a Sony
> Vaio PCV-W30 running Windows XP SP 2. I also have a ton of extra space on
> both internal hd's, not sure if that's relevant or not.

Hi InTheZoneAC,

By "revving up," what do you mean? Is it creating a huge amount of
noise? If so, there is a chance that there could be some sort of
hardware program, but I doubt this is related to spyware.

If it is acting normally, like it is writing data, it is probably just
some program working in the background - even if they do not alert you
to this fact, programs are oftentimes constantly doing things, modifying
files, searching for updates, and more. Hard drive access when you
are seemingly doing nothing is a normal part of the computer experience.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Johnstone-Anderson
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
Security Manifest: http://www.msmvps.com/trafton/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

It isn't the harddrive, they only run one speed. It could be a fan, or
the optical drive. Those items can change speed as conditions warrant,
nothing to worry about.

InTheZoneAC wrote:

> Whenever I'm on this pc you can hear the hard drive rev up at random times
> and Im not sure if this is normal. I have run adaware se, spybot, yahoo
> antispy, avast antivirus and everything is clean. I just want to know if this
> action is normal and/or is there a way I can make it stop? This pc is a Sony
> Vaio PCV-W30 running Windows XP SP 2. I also have a ton of extra space on
> both internal hd's, not sure if that's relevant or not.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 17:31:03 -0700, "InTheZoneAC"
<InTheZoneAC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Whenever I'm on this pc you can hear the hard drive rev up at random times
>and Im not sure if this is normal. I have run adaware se, spybot, yahoo
>antispy, avast antivirus and everything is clean. I just want to know if this
>action is normal and/or is there a way I can make it stop? This pc is a Sony
>Vaio PCV-W30 running Windows XP SP 2. I also have a ton of extra space on
>both internal hd's, not sure if that's relevant or not.

I usually run a lot of drives in my systems. The number 1 cause for
that sound, in my experience, has been bad power connectors. A
slight bit of oxidation on connectors can allow vibration to power
your drives off and back on. You often won't hear them power down,
but the power-up is a more distinct sound. Sometimes you can catch an
error in Event Viewer, but surprisingly, it often does not appear.

Molexes were never known for high reliability, but if you use
Y-splitters to power up more drives, this will compound the problem.

Try jiggling the power connectors going into the drives. Best done
right when your system is powering up, before drives are being
accessed. If you hear the drive spin up/down, then don't overdo it...
it's not good for the drive. You can try to gently tighten the female
side of the molex pins. Also a very light spray of Deoxit D5 may
break up the oxidation.

Also, do you have enough power in your supply to power everything?
If it's on the edge, that can do it as well.

It could also be a bad fan. Be especially sure that cables are out of
the way of your CPU fan.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Does the fan change speed based on CPU useage? If the CPU jumps to 100% useage
for more than say 2 seconds, will the fan speed up? If the CPU stays at 100%
usage for say a minute, will the fan just stay at a faster speed...or will the
fan just keep going faster and faster until you wonder if Scotty should be
throwing the phaser down the chute? I'm having some problem with noise like
that, and it seems to be very CPU dependent.