Clicking Noise issue *resolved*

[arjunned]

ya its not working for me anymore as well..ever since i upgraded to sp1.. hd parm dosen't seem to work too..
i hope nhc comes out with sp1 compatable version soon.. tried everythin other than replacing the hard drive..

[mmisterio]

I am using Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and NHC 2.0 prerelease personal edition.

Here are my issues:
1) Windows blocks the program when I boot up the computer. Is there a workaround for this?
2) When it does load, the screen brightness goes to its lowest setting. The screen shots I have seen are from the professional version and not the personal edition of NHC. How do I fix this on the personal version?

[arghilost]

for me, when my laptop first starts up this noise is almost constant. eventually, it will happen every 1 or 2 seconds, but its not that audible when there are noises in the background. so...i'm wondering if i should return my m1530 for another one. what are the chances that i'll get one without the "clicking" noise.

[Ryaske]

First off I want to clarify someones post above .. they said a "certain feature" is causing the clicking.

That feature is called "Advanced Power Management" and it is a two digit hex value within your hard drive.
-When set to 1 (0x01), the HD will park the head and actually spin down whenever its not being used in order to save energy. This is the same state the HD goes to when "turn hard drive off after X minutes" activates (that setting is in the vista advanced power control panel area). This HD state is VERYGood for your battery, VERYGood for temperature management, but BAD in terms of HD life (and Bad for speed, it will lag for a moment as it spins back up and the head takes off).
-When set to 127 (0x7F) the HD will ONLY park its head when its not being used, but continue on spinning (THIS IS THE CLICK WE HEAR AND THE DEFAULT SETTING FOR THE DRIVE, vista, dell's laptops, ... whatever)
-When set to 254 (0xFE), you are telling the HD not to use ANY APM features.. no click, no spin down, nothing. (But it will still spin down/land the head when the vista "turn hard drive off after X minutes" setting tells it to.)
-There is also a custom setting 192, but I am not sure what it does if anything .. it probably depends on your HD.
-Some HD's also let you use values other than just these 4 for various other power saving states.

MY confusion came from another feature built into most HD's called AAM or "Advanced Acoustic Management" .. which is a completely different two character hex address that tells the HD how much noise is acceptable. It sets the balance between head movements and speed. More head movements means more speed but more noise (performance setting). And the opposite (quiet). This is the same value that is changed via the HD Acoustic setting in the Dell BIOS, and this setting does NOT contribute to the click we are hearing .. so feel free to experiment between quiet and performance to see which one you like better. I have mine on performance and don't find it noisy at all (AT LEAST COMPARED TO THAT CLICK )

Finally .. why are you guys still using NHC??? I know I dont like bloatware, and running a program 24/7 (or having to start it then close it) is not something I fancy!!

If you follow the dead simple guide posted by deadsimple (ha), you won't have to use NHC or even worry about setting APM to 254 everytime .. it will be done automatically for you!

I only recommend those who THINK They are suffering from the click, to first download NHC to see if setting APM to 254 cures the problem. If so , your HD is NOT dying, it is just trying to save energy and protect your data (and was set to 127 before you messed with it). Then you can uninstall NHC and explore using hdparm.

My solution is simple ... I have downloaded the hdparm.exe app , and wrote a simple bat file with two lines
@echo off
"C:\Program Files\hdparm\bin\hdparm.exe" -B 254 hda

The first line makes the window not show anything and the second one runs the command that sets the HD back to "disable APM", preventing the clicking.
This solution leaves my computer using the default 127 head-parking annoying-click-generating APM setting to potentially save my data if I were to drop my laptop. But whenever I can't stand the clicking ... I just run the bat file via a quicklaunch shortcut and *poof* the click is gone until next reboot, hibernate, or standby. I find this the best compromise as I am sometimes mobile and do not want to risk my data going byebye when I drop the laptop and the head crashes destroying my HD.

<<< TIP: did you know that your quick launch buttons are numbered in vista?! See the first one? Press windowskey + 1 on your keyboard and it will run it. Same for the icon to its right with winkey + 2! you're welcome >>>

In newer, more expensive drives .. there is actually a G-force sensor, usually an accelerometer, that will ONLY park the head when it senses the laptop is in a freefall .. avoiding this annoying problem altogether. I think Western Digital (or dell, or vista?) is just using this 127 option as default to say that its HD's (or computers, or OS) use less energy overall.. and in most laptops you won't hear the parking noise or notice it. But the M1530 has that thin aluminum plate above the HD, and its a thin laptop in itself... making the click VERY audible to some. Also, not all drives support the feature , and not all will be set to it as default.

That will be all for me, this was getting long.. hope I helped some of you.

Now I am going to post this hdparm.exe solution on the various other forums where I have continuely BEGGED for someone, ANYONE, to relieve me of that TORTUROUS clicking sound (i'm very happy right now)

[arghilost]

wait so if i get the 200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor instead of my 200GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive it will bypass the sound problem altogether?

[Ryaske]

wait so if i get the 200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor instead of my 200GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive it will bypass the sound problem altogether?

Well, it COULD. Really the free fall sensor just makes the drive PARK right before it hits the gorund .. whereas my head-parking is primarily to save energy ... the drive doesnt know when it is going to hit so its really a 50/50 chance that the heads will be parked at the time of impact.

If that free-fall sensor drive still "parks heads when idle" when set to 127 power mode, it will still do the same thing and probably make the same noise. But that noise in the different drive may not even be annoying to you , in your laptop and environment, like it is for me in my quiet home and office.

Also .. we dont know WHAT is setting it to 127 .. whether it is the drive's default, the OS setting it upon boot, or the BIOS ... i have no idea. So getting a different drive might not even make a difference! who knows. Try it!!

But you can always just shut off APM if you get the clicking .. and your data will still be safe. For me , if i shut off APM then I'm risking a head crash!


So in either case, TRY IT!

[arghilost]

haha thanks, but only the possibility that exchanging it MIGHT fix it < the hassle of returning it and waiting for a new one. btw have there ever been other cases like this, where a driver update could possibly fix everything? im not talking specifically about the hd, but just any other problem on notebooks. or would it have to be inevitably replaced to stop the clicking noise. i know a driver update would be an unlikely miracle, but even if there's the slightest chance, im willing to wait it out.

[Ryaske]

have there ever been other cases like this, where a driver update could possibly fix everything? im not talking specifically about the hd, but just any other problem on notebooks. or would it have to be inevitably replaced to stop the clicking noise. i know a driver update would be an unlikely miracle, but even if there's the slightest chance, im willing to wait it out.

No way .. since the problem IS software it is entirely possible that a driver or other update could be issued to address it. The best chance of that happening is if the issue is within the Dell BIOS.

Less of a chance if its in Vista itself, and even less of a chance if it is just within the hard drive (they don't even make drivers for Hard drives most of the time)

Even though there is a chance and possibilitiy .. I dont thin kit is likely. The clicking is an intended feature .. well not the clicking itself but the benefits of it; longer battery life (hard drive uses less power) and better data protection.

The idea on dellideastorm.com only received a puny 210 points though .. compared to some ideas with well over 100,000 points. So .. an update will be extremely unlikely. Who cares though, just use that hdparm app and fix it if it bothers you!

[arjunned]

hey Ryaske.. a newbie here.. can you tell me how to create bat file?? also is it possible for me to run it at start up??

[Ryaske]

hey Ryaske.. a newbie here.. can you tell me how to create bat file?? also is it possible for me to run it at start up??

Surely it is very simple!
1) open notepad.
2) copy and paste the lines I typed above
3) when you save it, change the very bottom of the save window from "Text File (.txt)" to "All Files (*.*)". Then type whatever name you want , but with the extension .bat. I.e. "hd quiet.bat" without the quotes

Save it in any location you want.

Double click the file, you should see it pop up for a nanosecond and then disappear. Your click is now gone until next reboot/restart/hibernate!

If you want this scrip to start up at boot, just drag and drop the script into the Startup folder in your start menu .. that will create a shortcut that points to the original faile (which will remain where it was). You could also hold down the SHIFT key while your drag the file, which will move it entirely instead of create the shortcut. Anything in the Startup folder will run when your computer starts.

If you want it to run whenever you resume from standby or hibernate also .. you should use deadsimple's solution above.

If you want to learn more about batch files (they are very powerful) .. click this link which runs a search on google:
creating batch files

Happy to help!!