WD Raptor 74GB Makes beeping noises when turned on

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adrenalin

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Apr 13, 2004
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So today I goto LAN at my friend's house.

As soon as I turn on my Shuttle, the Shuttle makes beeping noises.

I opened up the Shuttle and listened to where the beeping is coming from the hard-drive itself.

It was working like 40 minutes ago, but now I don't know what the hell is going on.

This is like an expensive hard-drive, and I had a lot of information on it.

What is the problem? Is it dead, or is it just an issue with the computer itself?

Specs are as follow

Shuttle XPC SN25P
AMD Opteron 175
OCZ EL Platinum 2GB (1GBx2) DDR400 Ram
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10K RPM HDD
Samsung 16X DL DVD+/-RW
BFG GeForce 7900GT OC

Thanks.
 
Ok, maybe it isn't clear. Does the machine boot up or just sit there beeping? One possibility is that a power connector or data line is loose, so the hard drive sits and waits for a signal. One way to test it is to slave it onto another computer and see if it powers up. If it does, then the drive is probably good. You might be able to retrieve data and back it up at the same time. There might also be a problem from the power supply or the motherboard.

As it appears that you were moving the computer to someone's house, I'd first check for loose cables. Yes, hard drives fail, but this doesn't sound typical of that.
 
Ok, maybe it isn't clear. Does the machine boot up or just sit there beeping? One possibility is that a power connector or data line is loose, so the hard drive sits and waits for a signal. One way to test it is to slave it onto another computer and see if it powers up. If it does, then the drive is probably good. You might be able to retrieve data and back it up at the same time. There might also be a problem from the power supply or the motherboard.

As it appears that you were moving the computer to someone's house, I'd first check for loose cables. Yes, hard drives fail, but this doesn't sound typical of that.
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The machine turns on, I see the XPC screen, but then all I hear is the raptor beeping.

I've re-plugged every cable, and tried another SATA slot on the SN25P. My friend beside told me to try to slave it, but I was trying to find a way to pull out the SATA cable.

There wasn't a problem with the PSU or mobo beacuse I plugged a friend's IDE and it worked.

I'm going to try to slave it to his IDE and see if it works.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm kind of pissed because I just fried my D-Link wireless router, and I'm afraid I fried the raptor.

My other Shuttle was fried cause the kid in this room touch something, so that was RMA'ed and I was sent a brand new one.

So far knock on wood, but it's beacuse I moved something, this is the problem. Because 2 hours ago it was amazing, no problems. 40 minutes later and I'm sitting with 5 people trying to get support from technical forums or other
 
I doubt it is your hard drive due to the raptors not being designed to beep(?). the XPC is pretty tiny, so it might be coming from a tiny speaker on the mobo. check for a loose memory module or a loose power connector to your vid card/mobo as these will cause audible beeps.
 
A quick idea and then I got to leave. Got to get up in the morning and take a long drive.

This really doesn't sound like the hard drive. As AlaskaFox wrote, hard drives don't normally beep and is more like a loose wire or something that's causing a beep heard on some timy speaker near the hard drive. Yes, a bad motherboard will cause a beep and you might get into your Post screen and then things stop. If you have a manual listing the beep codes, you might be able to track it down quicker.

Since you already tried someone else's IDE hard drive and it worked (as I understand it), that does incriminate the raptor pretty bad. Only thing that might sound like a beep from the hard drive that I can think of is a bearing that froze up and is squeaking more than beeping. Can't say for sure. But if you fried the d-link, there's always a possibilty that the raptor went with it.

Still, try to slave it into someone else's computer and see what happens. Wish you luck on this.
 
Yeah. But I checked the sound levels from the hard drive and the computer. I think that it was coming for the hard drive 100% because it was loud when I put it against my ear.

The D-link router fried on its own, because I plugged a laptop power supply into the router beacuse I forgot the bring the power supply for the router.

It sparked, but then worked. But it died like 20 minutes later.

So the hard-drive, I have no clue what happened with it.

I'm going to insert my 300GB IDE into the shuttle, and slave the raptor to the 300gb.

If nothing happens then what can I do to recover my data or do something.

I had some pretty important shit on that HD, and i was supposed to back-up tommorrow...

So if anyone else has any more suggestions or ideas, please do let me know. Because I'm really pissed about this, and I paid a lot for this rig. I'm just happy my WHOLE shuttle didn't die.

It's just the raptor. I read some posts in this section and I see people have some issues like heat issues, and power issues for they're hard-drive.

So I am having second thoughts about this hard-drive and I might sell it off or stop using this hard-drive because if it has issues like this when i move the computer, I really can't afford to this this hard-drive more times.
 
The Hard drive is bad is my first guess, I have a drive that is doing the same thing. It is the only drive in my case that will not do anything and I have 9 hard drives in my case. If you can try another drive on the same channel and the other drive works then I would contact Western Digital and put in an rma for it. As for recovering any of your data, if your drive is doing what mine is doing then the system will not even recognize the drive for you to even attempt to pull data off of it. You can try downloading the tools off of western digitals web site and try those if your system is even recognizing that the drive is attached.
When you go into bios does it show up on your drive listing for attached hard drives?
 
The Hard drive is bad is my first guess, I have a drive that is doing the same thing. It is the only drive in my case that will not do anything and I have 9 hard drives in my case. If you can try another drive on the same channel and the other drive works then I would contact Western Digital and put in an rma for it. As for recovering any of your data, if your drive is doing what mine is doing then the system will not even recognize the drive for you to even attempt to pull data off of it. You can try downloading the tools off of western digitals web site and try those if your system is even recognizing that the drive is attached.
When you go into bios does it show up on your drive listing for attached hard drives?
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Hey, this is adrenalin's friend, the guy with the problem, I was just using his account to find some info last night.

So anyways, it's beeping, but if it died, would there be no power, anything?

I'm going to try and slave this to the Shuttle, and an older rig.

Is there any good ways to recover some data off of this HD? I'm going to try now with the other PC.
 
Ok, so I slaved it to another rig. As soon as I hit the power button, the PC boots, but yet again the raptor is beeping.

Here is a video of what I'm talking about:

http://media.putfile.com/Raptor-Boot-up-Beep

So what can I do? Am I fucked like crazy or what? I had A LOT of important stuff on this HD. What can I do to recover it?

One guy said to put it into a freezer zip-lock bag, and shove it in the freezer overnite, then put it in, what does that do?
 
One guy said to put it into a freezer zip-lock bag, and shove it in the freezer overnite, then put it in, what does that do?
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Cools the electronics in the drive down and sometimes that gives the possibility of saving data from a drive. Depending on what is the reason for the problem with your drive it might work but there's no guarantee.
 
Well I just ran out to buy some bigger zip lock bags. All stores were closed for Canada Day, so I ended up paying like $6 for a box of them.

I put it in, got all the air/moisture out, and shoved it in. I'll try it in an hour, hopefully it'll work :)

Thanks for all the support guys 😀
 
If you have no luck with the freezer thing (it works due to differing thermal expansion of the platters and heads and can free things up) the other thing I've heard of that works is dropping the drive from a couple of feet up onto a desk, the mchanical shock can free the heads if they're stuck ONLY DO THIS AS A LAST RESORT. The drive can be RMA'd for a replacement, if his data is really important there are people who can recover it even in the event of a mechanical failure but typically this costs around $1000 so he'd really have to want the data for it to be worthwhile.
 
have you tried putting it in another comp entirely. like others have said i didn't know a hard drive had a speaker built in so if it is mechanical i can't see the data being recovered. i'm hoping for your sake it can be.
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Yeah I have. It just starts beeping after I press ON, then I wait like 30 seconds, it stops for 2 seconds then continues.

If you have no luck with the freezer thing (it works due to differing thermal expansion of the platters and heads and can free things up) the other thing I've heard of that works is dropping the drive from a couple of feet up onto a desk, the mchanical shock can free the heads if they're stuck ONLY DO THIS AS A LAST RESORT. The drive can be RMA'd for a replacement, if his data is really important there are people who can recover it even in the event of a mechanical failure but typically this costs around $1000 so he'd really have to want the data for it to be worthwhile.
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I put it in the freezer for like 1 hr, but I put it back in for more. I'll hopefully leave it in 'till tommorow. I tried to drop it a bit on the Shuttle rails, but didn't do it too hard. I'm not too sure it's a beep, it may be something internal going back an forth damaging it.

I'll see tommorow, if it doesn't work, I'll try to drop it a bit, and then if that doesn't work, I guess I'll send it out for an RMA.

Does anyone know how long WD RMA's are? But I just don't understand why this happened when I moved my PC. Like, all I did was picked it up, put it downstairs, got my other stuff, went outside, put it in the car, drove, put in on the ground, got it put it on the carpet, and a no go.

Also, I really don't want to pay $1000, but it's still important. Do you know if Western Digital can do anything to help me, and would it help If I give them a call now asking what might be wrong (Or call them when they re-open)?

Thanks for the help guys, I hope I can fix this, or I'm realllly screwed.
 
The beeping is coming form you MB. There is proably a little speaker on the Shuttle MB under the drive. Re-check your ram, you may have unseated it during the move. Get a hold of WD utility cd or UBCD and read the SMART data from the drive. There is also several virus that can kill MS on boot.

Look in you manual that came with the MB, it should have a beep code error report.
 
Hey, you can try HDD regenerator 1.5
http://www.dposoft.net/

They are really good at fixing physical bad sector hard drive, the software can be bought for $45, so its about $50 Canadian Dollar. I tried it, and it worked for me. Pop the CD in the drive, then the software gonna fix every single bad sector it find on the hard drive without damaging your data, take about 2-3 hrs max to run a Raptor 74gb.

But be advised, go download the trial version first, try it out, if the first sector of the drive can be fixed, then the rest of the drive will be fixed.

Cuz I think those data recovery services use the same kind of software to recover your data. Good luck.
 
Guys. I said, I put this HD onto another rig, same sound.

If you would watch the video, you would see that when I put it directly against the hard-drive you can hear it.

It's not a beep code, there is probably something wrong with the heads or plates.

I can't run DLG because nothing will boot. I just press on, and I get the XPC screen, then the boot screen.

The HD does not function, and will not show up in BIOS.

I'm going tommorow to see If a computer repair store can swap the platters from the HD so I can recover some files, or get professional data recovery.

You guys are telling me thing which I can't possibly do, because I can't boot Windows because of the HD, neither can I slave it, because it just beeps, and the same thing happens on two different machines.

I've checked the RAM 100 times. I'm swapped RAM with different rigs. I put the HD from the other rig into the Shuttle, boom, it loads and works fine.

I don't have a problem with the data on the HD, but just the hardware itself. Something is wrong with either the heads, or scratched platter, I have no clue, it's something internal, but not software related.

reaper: Professional data recovery, means that they take apart your HD, and try to get the information from it, no matter how bad it's damaged, if it's blown up, burned, dropped, broken, etc.

They don't use software unless it's software related, but they literally take it apart and swap pieces until It works and they can sucsessfully transfer my data to another source, and then they're done.
 
Just a suggestion, you dont need to get all cranky. If you think professional recovery service is the best idea, then go for it. Just that if something so important like that to you, why put it in a 74 GB raptor? People in the forum trying to help you with everything they know. Of course, professional recovery service is the best resource, but its expensive. Cuz you ask for a recovery service thats cheap, then I gave you an alternative that you can diy.
It seems to me you know better than most of us, then why bother asking when you try everything normal people possibly know then get cranky about it?
 
I'm sorry, I'm not cranky, it's just a habit.

So basically, the raptor makes a fucked up noise, some guy told me to freeze and, and don't touch it, or use it.

It won't boot XP, it won't do shit, so there is no way that I could run an app, unless somehow someone knew how to do that, but I think that can't be done.

I'm not looking for expensive professional recovery service, but just, something cheap that will recover my data lost on the raptor.

I just have a 74GB raptor in my shuttle, It was fast, and good.

reaper: Have you listened to the URL I gave? You think by freezeing the drive, it could possibly help?

Thanks.
 
Hey hybrid, this is what I found from a site, a guy has a Seagate and have the same beeping problem. Here is what he received from Seagate customer service. The problem may spawn from not receiving enough power, if trying freezing the drive didnt help.

The beeping does indicate that there is not enough power running the system. Have you tried connecting this drive as the only drive in the system? Does the beeping continue?

Best Regards,

Stefan M.
Seagate Technical Support

========== Customer's original message ==========

Hi Jimmy P
Thanks for the quick response. The psu is 300W. The SATA cable was then moved back to port it was initially connected to, and ran without problems for about 25 min. Temp is fine. Doesn't feel any warmer than my other Seagate 7200.7 drives.

-----Original Message-----
From: DiscSupport( at )seagate.com [mailto😀iscSupport( at )seagate.com]
Subject: Re: |ST3160827S|Windows XP||Hard drive beeps continuo
Importance: High

Check to see if the drive is possibly overheating causing the continuous beeping sounds. Feel the drive to see if it is getting too hot.

If not then the drive may or may not have adequate power. What is the wattage of your current power supply?

Regards,

Jimmy P.
Seagate Technical Support




It could be that during your transport your SATA power connector is damaged, try the Molex power connector (the white 4-pin that normally use for IDE drive), but dont put both SATA power connector and the legacy connector, it can kill your drive. I think the caution notice is in the front label. Hope it helps, good luck.
 
Also, because you said the IDE drive that your friend has is working in your computer, then it would be the SATA power connector got damaged.
 
Also, because you said the IDE drive that your friend has is working in your computer, then it would be the SATA power connector got damaged.
 
That's not beeping, it's a grinding noise, I'd say the spindle is out of wack or the heads aren't releasing properly.

Freezer does nothing for the electronics on hd's, it tightens the tolerances on the heads servo and actuators, perfect if they get out of alignment, but won't help here.

Best bet short of going for professional service (which voids warranty BTW), get the system in a really clean room, make sure there is no wind blowing around, take the top of the drive off and see if the platters spin, if not, give them a nudge (only touch the side!). If they spin but the heads don't start flickering, give them a gentle nudge towards the center of the drive, at the servo, not at the tips.

Of course if it's under warranty that will void it as well.

I have recovered numerous drives by doing this, as long as the room is clean and the drive isn't REALLY messed up, it works.
 
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