Disk access light won’t go out (XP SP3)

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Hi

The disk access light on my HP nx6125 laptop is staying on all the time, doesn’t even flicker. I can’t figure out why that would happen. I’ve run antivirus, 2 malware cleaners and CCleaner in case it was something nasty that was using the disk. Listening to the drive by sticking my ear next to the drive I can’t hear any abnormal pattern of disk access clicking. The drive continues to spin even though power management should switch it off (screen still blanks out after the appropriate time).

Two things occur to me. Firstly that there is a file being held open for some reason, or the computer thinks there is. Is there any software that would let me check on this? I’ve tried Windows own checkdisk. Secondly, something has disabled the power management options.

I’m at a loss as what to do next. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Regards

David

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1.) Is the responsiveness of the PC different?
2.) Is your disk space changing rapidly?
3.) Have you installed any new software recently?
4.) Have updated any software recently?
5.) Do you use a desktop search program?
6.) Have you re-booted?
7.) Does the disk access start immediately on a re-boot?

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks for the replies, guys. I’ve been away from the computer for a couple of days so sorry for the delay in responding.

Joe, the disk access light comes on immediately. I guess I didn’t notice it since I upgraded the HD at the beginning of last week. I was concerned that I’d lost power management and felt that that was the cause, along with a couple of virus attacks that I’d cleaned out. I’ve tested the HD by booting into a Linux CD – the light still comes on, so it must be a hardware problem.

I’m not convinced that there isn’t another problem being masked but for now I’ll follow up with Western Digital’s support dept.

David

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Just a follow up in case anyone has the same or a similar problem. WD support were useless and I eventually found this on an HP forum (google ‘nx6125 hd light’):

“On some systems, the drive activity LED may stay on constantly with the newest 2.5-inch drives. This is because the motherboard LED circuitry does not properly detect the correct signal voltage used by the drive.

“Mobile drives are moving to using 3.3 volts on the interface lines (from 5 volts on previous models) to reduce power consumption. Systems should be able to detect the lower voltage according to the ATA specification.

“If the system is unable to properly detect the correct voltage of the mobile drive, it will cause the drive activity light to stay on constantly. This is not a problem caused by the drive. This will not hurt the drive or the system in any way.”

David

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Well, that is a strange one. At least your system is OK. Thanks for posting back.

Joe

--Joe

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David

A file being ‘held open’ shouldn’t imply that much, or even any, disk access is happening.

Once you’ve worked out the parameters of the built-in command OPENFILES (via OPENFILES /? – and no, I’d never come across that command before, either!), you could check for (yes!) open files, if you feel it’s relevant. Another, perhaps more accessible, utility is Mark Russinovich’s HANDLE.

But I’d go with Joe’s list of questions…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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