I mentioned a month or more ago that my son's Dell XPS 8940 has the hard drive going wild whenever he leaves it for a couple of minutes. It's non-stop hard drive activity - very noisy. If I go over and touch the keyboard or mouse, it stops, so Task Manager can't tell me what it's doing. Security programs haven't found anything harmful on the drive. I have an XPS 8930, and that never behaves like that. Obviously, the computer feels a need to do something, but what? And why? This can't be good for the health of the drive.
Possibly an antivirus program checking the files on the drive while the computer is idle? I know Norton will run stuff when the computer is "idle".
I think maybe they may make the AV process hidden in the task manager so if someone gets into the computer they cannot find it and stop it? Not sure.
TriX
Loc: Raleigh, NC
Open task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and look under the performance tab. It should be immediately apparent what process is using the HD.
Are you sure that the noise is the hard drive and not one of the fans?
TriX wrote:
Open task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and look under the performance tab. It should be immediately apparent what process is using the HD.
If only I could. It's like a little kid who's doing something bad, and as soon as you look at him, he stops. As soon as I touch the keyboard or mouse, the HD action stops.
Longshadow wrote:
Possibly an antivirus program checking the files on the drive while the computer is idle? I know Norton will run stuff when the computer is "idle".
I think maybe they may make the AV process hidden in the task manager so if someone gets into the computer they cannot find it and stop it? Not sure.
He has the same Avira that I have - no action on my HDD.
jerryc41 wrote:
If only I could. It's like a little kid who's doing something bad, and as soon as you look at him, he stops. As soon as I touch the keyboard or mouse, the HD action stops.
Start the task manager and look the other way?
Longshadow wrote:
Start the task manager and look the other way?
I tried sneaking up in backwards while talking to my dog. Didn't work. This is one smart computer!
It's a free-standing camera, and I made sure it was turned off - and disconnected.
TriX
Loc: Raleigh, NC
jerryc41 wrote:
If only I could. It's like a little kid who's doing something bad, and as soon as you look at him, he stops. As soon as I touch the keyboard or mouse, the HD action stops.
What If you disable the screen saver and just leave performance monitor running for awhile without touching anything?
I also have an 8930 which worked fine for a few months and one day I left it for a couple of hours and came back to find the dreaded BSOD!!! I could not get it to do anything and finally killed everything and reinstalled Windows. It would not recognize 2 external drives I have attached.
Since it was still under warranty, I called Dell and was connected to a tech in New Delhi who fiddled around for a couple of hours and was unsuccessful with a repair. He also killed and reinstalled everything to no avail. He was going to contact someone else. I've been getting emails from Dell saying they would like me to "upgrade" my warranty for a few extra bucks and then they would repair it!
The upshot is that it still won't recognize the 2 drives. My PC sometimes acts like your son's with hard drive activity. It still limps along and displays some quirks. No viruses found. I am very disappointed with Dell about their warranty response.
I hope your son has better luck.
TriX
Loc: Raleigh, NC
E12-R1 wrote:
I also have an 8930 which worked fine for a few months and one day I left it for a couple of hours and came back to find the dreaded BSOD!!! I could not get it to do anything and finally killed everything and reinstalled Windows. It would not recognize 2 external drives I have attached.
Since it was still under warranty, I called Dell and was connected to a tech in New Delhi who fiddled around for a couple of hours and was unsuccessful with a repair. He also killed and reinstalled everything to no avail. He was going to contact someone else. I've been getting emails from Dell saying they would like me to "upgrade" my warranty for a few extra bucks and then they would repair it!
The upshot is that it still won't recognize the 2 drives. My PC sometimes acts like your son's with hard drive activity. It still limps along and displays some quirks. No viruses found. I am very disappointed with Dell about their warranty response.
I hope your son has better luck.
I also have an 8930 which worked fine for a few mo... (
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Is the machine still under warranty? Did you opt for the on-site support? Is it working OK except for not recognizing the external drives, and if so, are the externals USB connected? If so, maybe we can work through getting them recognized.
Make sure monitor is in no sleep mode, start task manager to the screen you want and since it automatically refreshes when you walk back don’t touch anything and you should see what your trying to find.
juan_uy wrote:
Are you sure that the noise is the hard drive and not one of the fans?
Good idea here. Fans on my laptop started doing this, then they got quiet again, due to dying. Computer still operated if not pushed. Lucky for me no permanent damage. Couple of months from noisy to death.
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