Noisy hard disk since installing win2000pro

Computer now sounds like an old specturm - any activity and this continual clicking and occasional squealing noise can be heard - I've reverted back to win 95 and fine - no noise

so far when running win 2000 - I've defragmented, virus checked, and used some disk monitoring software - nada on all accounts

anyone? -

thanks people

 

As you were running win95 I am going to assume your hardware could be a bit older, if so there could be a number of reasons for your problem,did you update your bios? Also go to device manager (my computer, properties, hardware, device manager) look for your hard drive controller (it will have something like IDE etc...) click on the plus and you will get details about primary and secondary IDE contr.... right click and open properties you will now have to open the advanced settings tab, look for DMA enabled, if so click on the arrow and change back to PIO, do so for both controllers. If this doesnt work post back with your system details and bios details we should be able to help further. Did you check your system for compatibility with 2000 pro?

 

thanks for advice - did the changes but no luck - not upgraded bios as it looks like a hassle to do? i.e.ordering disks etc..

here's my set-up..not sure if this is enough info or not


Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
pentium III 800 mHZ
256Mb memory
10.2 gb hd


thanks again

 

thinking I should remove my two main applications - soundblaster audio card and wintv? although both along with everything else are functioning ok - perhaps I should just buy ear plugs and be thankful

 

If you plan to keep the PC at all current in terms of OS, you will need to bite the bullet and flash the BIOS at some point. Otherwise you will see more and more problems down the road.

If your Hd is chattering and clanging, that purely ain't a good thing. Sorta like a washing machine trying to spin with the load off-balance - it will work (sorta) for a while but will tear itself to pieces if it goes on long enough.

 

Try the easy things first. No DMA problem. You mention that you reverted back to 95 .Do you have a dual boot partition or are you doing a clean install with stand alone operating systems. The reason I ask is If you installed 2k over 95 than i suspect your problem lies there. Format your hard drive and do a clean install of 2k see if this fixes it .The bios version is early 2000 but I have the same version working on several client computers running 2k without any problem. You could always give in and upgrade your hard drive,if you do, upgrade your bios, find a helpful local computer shop and they will show you how.You will need the win98 boot disk to format.

 

jenae - clean install, did a bios test and seems to fail the "acpi" test? - not got time to go checking what this means so maybe yourself or someone else can enlighten

thanks for all the advice

 

From Here I got

and lots more information you might want to read.

Sounds like a BIOSish issue to me.

 

Well I suppose it's now up to you.It appears that your bios is not happy with your current configuration (ie 2k). The explanation of what ACPI means will be useful for you, however you will still need to update your bios. Award are now part of Phoenix and you can get what you need from them. Go to this site and run the Bios agent this will tell you what to upgrade to. If you find the whole process too difficult you may have to go to a professional for help,however my advice is to give it a go. Remember to backup all essential data just in case. Let us know how you got on. the site:-
http://www.unicore.com/biosagent/

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q197055&SD=MSKB& Just before you go through the process of upgrading your bios there is one more thing for you to look at. See if this helps -your bios version I know works ok with 2k.

 

Newt/jenae - had a quick check of the acpi - currently set as disabled so will reinstall and enable and see what happens - failing that I'll go for the upgrade and get back to the board sometime soon (after exams!)

thanks for the support - great board

 

1. Are you sure it is your hard drive, not your diskette ( "A ") drive?
2. If W95 and W2k are in 2 different partitions, try backing up the W2k partition and reformatting it, then restoring it. If you need info on back-up/restore, go to radified.com, this site explains backing up with ghost, which can be had for $12.50 delivered at Pricewatch in Norton Systemworks Pro 2002.