[MatCon5]

Hello all I have some issues I need a little help with.

 

It started when my OSs WD drive started failing, BSODs on boot and randomly in windows. I started by updating drivers/bios etc. Still nothing so I ran some tests on it and they failed so I bought a Seagate 1TB drive, I think it was around this time I started hearing random idle "clicks" or something coming from my case (it sits on my desk really close to me) I read that seagate drives can have this "chirp" issue so I went ahead and bought a SSD drive, changed my BIOS settings and went on my way. Now, the clicking is still there, unless my SSD is the only drive plugged in. I have another 1TB WD drive as storage and with it plugged in I hear random clicks. I have never noticed these before at all! So if I have my SSD + Seagate and WD drive plugged in I get random clicks. With my SSD and just WD drive I also get clicks! No noise with just my SSD. Also, all my drives show up in system tray as removable, that normal? Now, do you think something is off in my bios settings? did something get reset when I updated BIOS? is this normal? I haven't a clue, the random noise really gets to me in this quiet room, I can't seem to figure this out at all, so please.. anyone experience this? I have a new WD blue drive on the way, I might try using that as a boot drive and going back to all mechanical drives to see if it goes away.

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited by MatCon5, 28 November 2014 - 06:45 PM.

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Hello MatCon5,

 

It is possible that the noise is not coming from the HDDs but something else such as a cooling fan, this includes the one inside the PSU which when a HDD is also connected is put under more load resulting in the fan spinning faster, atm this is only speculatory and some further information is needed.

 

It is unlikely (but not impossible) that any change to the BIOS has caused this but can I ask if you are connecting the drives to the same SATA port each time and if so does using an alternative SATA port make any difference.

 

Can you post the brand and model name or number for the following, the MB, CPU, add on video card if one is used, PSU and the case, can you also tell us how many optical drives there are. 

 

Failing HDD sounds

[phillpower2]

Hello MatCon5,

 

It is possible that the noise is not coming from the HDDs but something else such as a cooling fan, this includes the one inside the PSU which when a HDD is also connected is put under more load resulting in the fan spinning faster, atm this is only speculatory and some further information is needed.

 

It is unlikely (but not impossible) that any change to the BIOS has caused this but can I ask if you are connecting the drives to the same SATA port each time and if so does using an alternative SATA port make any difference.

 

Can you post the brand and model name or number for the following, the MB, CPU, add on video card if one is used, PSU and the case, can you also tell us how many optical drives there are. 

 

Failing HDD sounds

[MatCon5]

I've been listening and it doesn't seem like any fans making the noise, with just the ssd plugged in it's silent. I can pretty consistently reproduce the noise when I select the drive with HDTune.

I haven't tried moving around the cables to different SATA ports yet, but will try that sometime today.

 

Mainboard is ASRock P67 Extreme4

CPU is an i5 2500k

nVidia GTX 660Ti for GPU

PSU is Corsair TX750

all inside an Antec 400 case.

Optical drive is DRW-24B1ST

OS is on SSD samsung 840 Evo 250GB,

Storage drive is Western Digital WD100EARS-003BB1 green drive.

 

I'm almost certain the WD drive is making the noise, like a short seeking sound or chirp pretty randomly (Never noticed it until the other day at least) it's about 70% full. HDTune quick scan showed no errors. I read just last night that this drive has something called Intellipark and an 8s idle timer for parking the heads, some power saving feature that a lot of people complain about and try and fix with something called wdidle3.. Not sure if that's the issue, since I don't recall hearing this noise prior to having my other WD drive fail which lead to BIOS update. And installing an SSD, which needs IDE mode changed to AHCI mode. I even heard the same noise from the Seagate drive as well ST1000DM003 (which sadly I read has the same head parking "feature") fearing something is failing I've ordered a WD Blue drive just in case, but worry the noise will remain since it seems like I hear it with either HDD installed along with the SSD. Most frustrating..

 

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you so much!

Edited by MatCon5, 29 November 2014 - 12:42 PM.

[phillpower2]

The chances of the Seagate and WD both making the same noise are very unlikely but I would not over commit and say impossible.

 

Do you have a link to your MB as I am only finding ASRock > P67 Extreme6 or ASRock > Z68 Extreme7 Gen3

[MatCon5]

Sorry I miss typed it's Extreme4. http://www.asrock.co...l/P67 Extreme4/

 

BIOS reads P67 Extreme4 P3.10

 

I can also hear the noise if I click my computer and click to access the drive after sometime of not doing anything with the PC, I hear the same noise. As well as hear it randomly (even as short as 10 or seconds apart) when the PC is completely idle sitting on the desktop. Been most frustrating trying to figure out what's causing it, I felt the same way, strange both drives did it, the seagate one is brandnew from a Staples store, the WD100EARS is 2 or so more years old.

Edited by MatCon5, 29 November 2014 - 12:43 PM.

[phillpower2]

I was rather hoping that the MB had integrated graphics so that you could remove the add on video card for testing purposes.

 

Depending how far you wish to go with this but tracking down odd noises can be a pain and what I would suggest is to temporarily disconnect the case fans and the optical drive and see if the noise is still present, if not start by reconnecting the optical drive then test, then one fan at a time and test, if the noise is still there it should be easier to determine exactly where it is coming from.

[MatCon5]

One loud fan unhooked, as it boots I hear the noise, followed by a few steady clicks or clunks. Starting to worry the drive is failing, I hooked up the seagate one, and sitting idle it also makes a randow seek sound or chirp. But doesn't sound anything like the WD as the PC boots. Again, read that seagates and wd green drives can do this.. I'm really stumped. I have windows temp and firefox's cache pointed to the WD and not the SSD, maybe that's causing it? I'm just trying to find out if its normal or not, if so I'll move my tower so I can't hear it so clearly since the tower is sitting about a foot from my left ear. Going mad waiting for drives and troubleshooting this haha. I'm tempted to try wdidle3 on it and see if it stops. Not sure where else to go with this, worried something is either off/wrong with my MB or something.. So far, still messing with it, waiting for a new drive to arrive next week and see how that acts.

Edited by MatCon5, 29 November 2014 - 02:02 PM.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, I have heard myself that WD drives can be a tad noisy when working, and now you mention that Windows Temp is still using that drive, that may be where the noise is coming from. The read/write arm, being normally in the docking position, you may be hearing the slight tick as Windows tells it to do something, so the read arm ticks as it moves away from dock to do it, then perhaps another slight tick as it returns to the docking point.

Just a thought is all, however I have a Seagate drive that I use as external backup via an external docking station, and that also does make some very faint noises. By faint, I mean you have to put your ear right next to it to actually hear anything.

 

Nev.

[phillpower2]

If it is the HDD clicking and clunking then I would be concerned, what Nev has explained I can understand would make a tick but not a clunk, be sure to back everything up while waiting for the new drive.

[MatCon5]

So far I haven't heard the drive make anymore weird random clicks/chirps or seeking sounds when idle. The drive heads must have parked and windows accessing it for temp files, or firefox storing cache files must have been bringing the heads out of park, and hearing it again shortly after must be them going back into park. I broke down and used the Ultimate Boot CD, which has wdidle3 already on it. Here are the steps I took, to see if it would help.

 

Burned the UBCD, unplugged my SSD, left only my optical drive and WD10EARS drive hooked up. Changed my bios back to IDE Mode, saved changes and rebooted, booted the CD and navigated to HDD tools and selected wdidle3. Once it was running I typed "wdidle3.exe /r" to report its setting and it showed 8 seconds. I then typed "wdidle3.exe /d" to disabled the time all together. I powered off my PC and unplugged my WD drive and left it sit for a minute or two (read that this is important, to power cycle it or you can get some nasty performance issues) Put everything back together and changed my bios settings back to AHCI and rebooted.

 

Leaving the PC sit idle I no longer hear the noise. I think, can't be sure with other stuff running in this room, I may hear it rarely and faintly, which is probably windows/firefox writing stuff to the temp/cache folder etc. But so far so good I'd say. I'll monitor it and post back if anything changes. I read that the head parking can greatly increase your Load Cycle Count, and have been checking it with HDTune and CrystalDiskInfo. Just over the past 2 days the LCC went from 61931 to 62215, not sure if that's a lot or not but figured I'd share it.

 

Thanks for all the help and info in helping me solve this. I'll reply again if anything changes for the worst.

 

Cheers!

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update MatCon5 - fingers crossed for you