I think my HD's got a problem...

MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
edited April 2004 in Hardware
I have a 120 gig Diamond Maxtor hd or somethin' like that. ATA133, 7200rpm and 8mb cache. Well, sometimes during sessions on my computer, I will hear a click, then a few smaller, quieter clicks from the hd. This is especially odd since I never hear anything from it. Anyway, when it does that, my computer locks. No saving it really, first thing that goes is Explorer.exe and I can't start a new one. It won't shut down. All I can do is reset the computer. This doesn't happen only under load, just random I think. Sometimes just minutes after I boot, sometimes hours. Once It did WHILE booting. Is my hd dying?? Is there anything I can do about it??

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Go get Maxtor's diagnostic tool from their website and run that.. It will definitely tell you if there's something wrong or not.

    BACK UP THAT DRIVE RIGHT NOW. It's about to die, I suspect.
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited April 2004
    "Click of death."

    Follow Primes suggestion concerning backups. IIRC Ultimate.Boot.Cd contains maxtor diagnostic tools as well as other nifty utilities.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Talk to Maxtor's tech support after you go to their site, get the DIAGs, make boot floppy from them, test drive in a fast mode wihich will lose you zero data. ATM, I give a 75% chance drive is bad, 25% chance zero packing will help for a short to medium while. The LOUD click could be bad PM settings in BIOS causing drive to sleep, park, and latch parked without XP being aware of it happening, the LOUD followed by quiet clicks is a symnptom set that bothers me a LOT. DRIVE should NOT click audibly.

    BACK up what you gotta have, ASAP, PLEASE!

    John D.
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    Oh man... This sucks. All I have to back stuff up on is cd-r's and I don't have money for a new HD. Hope this thing lasts long enough for me to get some money. And would the name of this diagnostic utility be "powermax" by any chance? That's all I can find, and I'm not sure if it's the right thing, no floppy around to write to.

    And if I really do need a new HD, can you make some suggestions?
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    ginipig wrote:
    "Click of death."

    Follow Primes suggestion concerning backups. IIRC Ultimate.Boot.Cd contains maxtor diagnostic tools as well as other nifty utilities.
    Where can I find that?
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited April 2004
    TheGr81 wrote:
    Where can I find that?

    http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    The utility is called MaxBlast, if I remember correctly.

    You may not need to buy a new drive - drives are usually covered by at least a 1 year warranty, and sometimes 3 years. Just go to their website and enter your serial number and they will tell you if it qualifies or not.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    If your drive is going bad, and is still covered by warranty, Maxtor will treat you well. I had a Maxtor die just a few months ago. Maxtor's RMA service was superb.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    Also, assuming the drive is bad and under warranty they will immediately ship you a replacement drive with second-day delivery. Start the RMA tonight and you'll probably have it by the weekend. You'll have to give them a credit card, but they won't bill it as long as you send the old drive back within 30 days.

    If you're lucky, the old drive will hang in there long enough to ghost an image over to the new drive and you can just keep on truckin'. And if you're really lucky they'll treat you like they did my dad; they replaced his 160GB drive with a 200GB model. :bigggrin:
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    ....HD's not that old, but no warranty. Got it off of pricewatch.com. :doh: It came to me in a plain box with protective wrapping, that's all. No other papers but the invoice. I'm pretty screwed, aren't I? :sad2: :bawling:
    :screwed: <---me

    So, what exactly will my computer do if the HD really does die on me? Fail to recognize it in post? Tell me there's no OS??
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    TheGr81 wrote:
    ....HD's not that old, but no warranty. Got it off of pricewatch.com. :doh: It came to me in a plain box with protective wrapping, that's all. No other papers but the invoice. I'm pretty screwed, aren't I? :sad2: :bawling:
    :screwed: <---me
    Not necessarily. The warranty goes by the model and serial number. Did you check with Maxtor? They don't care about boxes, paperwork, receipts, etc. If the drive is still covered they don't care where you got it. Did you run the diagnostic check? :nudge:;)

    So, what exactly will my computer do if the HD really does die on me? Fail to recognize it in post? Tell me there's no OS??
    Yup. Could be any or all of those. :-/
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    You serious?? Model and serial numbers. I can probably find those on the HD itself then??? I'll check later. Hopefully the older computers around this house and my cd-r's have enough space to back up my stuff. And no I still haven't run diagnostics. No floppy to write to, for now. I'll prolly have one by 1 or 2 today.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    TheGr81 wrote:
    You serious??...
    People here at Short-Media will tell you - I never joke. :cool:

    ...prof dodges lightning bolt...

    Yes, the numbers you need should both be on the label on the drive. :wave:
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    Sooner than I thought. Got a floppy, ran the quick test. Passed. Nothin' went wrong. Should I run the advanced test or burn-in test instead, because according to the info on the floppy, I need a certain code that program will give me if something is wrong to return it by an online rma request.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    You don't necessarily need the code... But yeah, I'd run the advanced test.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    Run the advanced test, unless it says it will wipe your drive. :eek2:

    To check your drive's warrantee status, you will enter your model number and serial number in at their site and they will tell you if it's still under warrantee. Be aware that if the drive was originally sold to an OEM like Dell or HP, there's a good probability that they won't warrant the drive. I have a Maxtor drive that is like that myself and they won't warrantee the drive. :mean:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Excessive heat can also cause hard drive stalls and strange behavior; but I have no experience of heat causing the infamous clicking sound.

    How is the airflow around your drive? Prolonged usage of the drive, such as defragmenting 40GB that really needs it, can really heat up the drive.
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    I wanted to post here earlier, but for some reason it didn't work. Now I have to type all that again... Here we go.

    I pulled out my hd to look for my serial number, but it doesn't seem to have one. And where most HD's would say Maxtor in big bold letters, mine says Diamond. I look at every side of my hd, no serial number. The diagnostic utility from maxtor's website didn't really do much. It passed the quick test, and got stuck in the advanced test, even after an hour of running it. I e-mailed tech support ealier today about all that, but I doubt they'll have anything useful to say, exept make sure you have a maxotr hard drive like i'm an idiot. But after looking at all the exaples of labels at maxtor's website, none of them match mine. Most of my label is blank exept for Diamond right across the top, and examples for jumper settings off to the side. A friend of mine said he had a similar problem with his hd once, and thought he could fix it. His solution involved changing in BIOS the setting during post for primary master from "Auto" to "User type" or something like that.

    Leonardo wrote:
    Excessive heat can also cause hard drive stalls and strange behavior; but I have no experience of heat causing the infamous clicking sound.

    How is the airflow around your drive? Prolonged usage of the drive, such as defragmenting 40GB that really needs it, can really heat up the drive.
    Well the airflow around my hard drive, (or any of my drives for that matter) is nil. Airflow around my entire case isn't all that great. (One rear fan, one side fan, and two fans on my power box. And the fan on top of my stock heatsink of course.)And I did notice when I took out my hard drive it was rather warm, at least warmer than I think it should be. I've got a space for a fan in the front of my case, right in front of a drive bay. I think I'll stick this spare 80mm fan there and put my HD behind it and see what happens. I've been trying to put less stress on this HD now I'm experiencing these problems, and strangely enough, it hasn't happened all day today. :respect:

    Sorry for so much crap, if I could explain in fewer words I would. :aol:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    Can you send a pic of the label? Sounds like it may have been remanufactured or maybe grey market. :range:
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    I wish I could, but I don't have any cameras handy.
Sign In or Register to comment.