topic title: hdd clicks on laptop
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#1
Hello. I did not notice this problem on my old laptop - only my new laptop. Every minute (?) or so I hear a click from my hdd. I searched the mepislovers forum and did a command - something like

hdparm -B 255 /mnt/sda

It didn't seem to do anything. I have the laptop plugged in full-time so there shouldn't be a power issue here. Maybe it's a hal thing or a settings thing. There are some laptop options in the system, but I'm not sure if I should go for it. Thanks.

john
Last edited by OU812 on 11 Feb 2008, 02:16, edited 1 time in total.
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#2
There's probably someone with more technical knowledge than me -- but i would try another live distro and see if it clicks... and if it's new - HANG ON TO YOUR RECEIPT! __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#3
antix is installed on that drive - the only distro installed. It's not clicking and making noises like it is dying - more like it is being accessed by some app or process. I will try and study this a bit more to see if there is a pattern.

john
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#4
I seem to get the same, but it is not consistent.
No idea what is causing it.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#5
I had an early lysistrata release on my old laptop. I decided to try fluxbox mint and so I installed it. I noticed that it clicks also. I searched their tools and found some sort of tool that might help. I'll post back when I get some more info. Also, I think there may be some sort of gnome power manager that I might want to install if I think it will help (on the antix box - I saw some sort of post about it at the mint site). Again, I'll do more research and post back when I have time (busy week - parent back to school night at our school this week).

john
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#6
I installed gnome-power-manager from the repo. After launching, I think it may have helped a little bit. But I am unsure. Also, after reading a little on the gnome-power-manager home page and a link or two, I am fairly certain that what I am hearing is the drive's attempts at power management (I read that modern hdd's have their own power management?). Just some thougths...

john
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#7
I looked at the hdparm wiki


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdparm"
linktext was:"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdparm"
====================================


hdparm looks like it's for experts only. So I started thinking: maybe it's an aspci problem? Is aspci turned on or off by default? How do I turn the service on/off? Thanks.

john
Posts: 47
n2j3
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
#8

Code: Select all


hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Some harddrives respond to -B 254, try it.