Page 1 of Hard Disk Drive Problem

I have just installed (5 days ago) a new IBM Deskstar GXP120 HDD.

Everything was fine until Monday night, I left my PC on overnight because I was downloading some music from the Internet.

The following morning, the computer was making what sounded like a high pitched whistling sound continuously while running, and has been ever since.

When I restarted the PC, the sound appears to come from the new HDD when it starts up.

Does anyone have any ideas why this may have happened, or whether the drive is safe to use?

It seems to be working fine reading and writing, and I have not lost any data (yet!).

Cheers in advance for any responses.

MJ

Sounds like your drive is a bit dodgy. I`d backup all data you want, take it out and exchenge it as its only five days.

Sean

Yup def send it back - Also read some of the forum reports ( on google or somthing ) on the IBM HDs -

Clue :- known as DeathStars - due to there ability to destory data !!!

Youve been warned

If the company will let u - order a Western Digital SE drive instead best performance IDE drives around ( 8mb Buffer ! ) Just tell them you dont trust that brand anymore due to the errors. However a stropy company may not give you a refund due to the fact when they test it, it will still work ( then theyll charge you for testing ! )

Hope that helps

G

This item was edited on Friday, 28th June 2002, 11:35

IBM don`t suck but they`ve got a lot of bad press for some reason, my 40gig IBM drive has been whirring away nicely for ages now no probs. It`s funny that everyone slags off IBM since they invented all the current hdd technology and now a leading in developing holodrives or whatever that will store terabytes of data.

maybe his computer needs cooling? Also I think that any HDD over 60gig is inherently going to be somewhat unstable.

<OB>

"Also I think that any HDD over 60gig is inherently going to be somewhat unstable."


Er, what makes 60 gig such a magic number that drives bigger than it are inherently unstable? Perhaps you should tell it to Western Digital, Seagate or Maxtor - their 80+ gig drives perform well and are very reliable.

I have no beef with IBM as a company - they`ve been responsible for a lot of innovation, and their hard drives *in the past* were excellent, solid products. But there`s nothing to excuse the stinkers they`ve been turning out recently.

Mike

that`s just from my experience, i stay around the 40gig mark and never have any problems.

<OB>

OBZilla said....

"It`s funny that everyone slags off IBM since they invented all the current hdd technology and now a leading in developing holodrives "

Urm there Deathstars are appropriatly named and as for leading the way - sorry mate they sold there HD business to Hitachi about a month ago so they certainly arent leading it ! Even if they hadnt sold it WD are the first to market with a 200GB 7200rpm drive...

Just my 2p worth

Good grief - it`s amazing how much bias, rumour and old wives tales find themselves into these threads so quickly...

IBM DID have a reliability problem with a number of their drives. They experienced a high number of failures with 75GXP and 60GXP series. NOT 120GXP, which has proved to be just as reliable as drives from any other manufacturers. Also, when these drives fail, they tend to click - I`ve never heard of one squealing. This DOES NOT, however, rule out a problem with this particular drive - some drives just do fail.

No-one has suggested any basic diagnostics prior to just packaging the thing up and sending it away - he only says "appears" to come from the HDD. Most squealing comes from case fans - it could be the bearing has gone on one.

Geordie - get yourself inside your computer and disconnect the HDD. Then start the machine again - if the noise has gone then at least you KNOW where it`s coming from. Then try removing the drive and have it operating outside the case. Also make sure all the cables are securely inserted. If, after doing all this, the drive still makes a nasty noise, THEN contact whoever sold it to you and ask for an RMA number to return it to them.

And Obzilla:

------------
I think that any HDD over 60gig is inherently going to be somewhat unstable.
------------

Sorry mate, but that`s just plain wrong.

DanB

Oh yeah, and I moved the thread because it certainly wasn`t to do with Consoles ;-)

DanB
Moderator
DVD Reviewer

"Geordie - get yourself inside your computer and disconnect the HDD. Then start the machine again - if the noise has gone then at least you KNOW where it`s coming from. Then try removing the drive and have it operating outside the case. Also make sure all the cables are securely inserted. If, after doing all this, the drive still makes a nasty noise, THEN contact whoever sold it to you and ask for an RMA number to return it to them."....

Thanks for the advice Dan.

I have opened up the machine, disconnected, and reconnected the new HDD, and when disconnected the noise dissappears. When I reconnect and use the drive, the same high pitched `whistle` re-appears and is continuous while the machine is running.

I have contaced Ebuyer where I bought it, and they have said the drive should not make any high pitch noises, an it sounds like an internal failure. I have applied for a replacement drive and will be sending it back.

Thanks for everyones input, and sorry it was posted in the wrong forum.
I thought the Hardware forum was only for DVD/Home cinema related hardware.

Cheers

MJ

This item was edited on Tuesday, 2nd July 2002, 11:25