HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes

awfulwaffle · 12-17-2008, 07:41 PM

Hey everyone, like the title says I'm having a bit of a weird problem with my HDD. I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right section, as the problem also manifests itself with USB storage devices and the DVD-RAM drive in the computer. The computer is a Compaq F750US laptop with a 2 gig RAM upgrade (2.5 total) downgraded to WinXP, also dual booting Ubuntu Hardy Heron from a 10GB partition via GRUB.

Now, I first noticed this problem when my DVD drive stopped auto running cd's in Windows. Sometimes, it won't recognize blank cd's in the drive when I'm trying to burn something, and it won't recognize blank DVD's. I ignored this, thinking it was just a drive firmware error.

Then, I decided to give Linux a try, so I installed a persistent live boot version of Ubuntu on my flash drive. The problem I noticed when booting the OS was that halfway through the load the blinking light on the drive would just go out, and the boot progress bar on the screen would stop moving. The weird thing is, though, when I pressed and held a key on the keyboard, the light started blinking again, and the boot resumed and finished normally. I decided that this might be a problem because I had made the linux swap area on the drive fairly small, so I tried installing Ubuntu onto a partition on my hard drive.

Here comes the interesting part, and where it starts to come together. When the live disc was loading Ubuntu in order to install, the same thing happened as with the flash drive. The light on the DVD drive stopped blinking, and the progress bar froze. When I hit and held a key on the keyboard, the progress resumed and I managed to install Ubuntu.

Once I had Ubuntu fully installed and configured, I rebooted back into Windows for a minute. When I rebooted and tried to load Ubuntu, same exact thing happened as with the flash drive and DVD drive. The hard drive light on the front of the computer stopped blinking, and the progress bar stopped. Again, when I held a key, the drive spun up again and resumed the load. I rebooted again, and the same thing happened. I then tried to boot Ubuntu in recovery mode, and the same thing happened. It was running all the scripts while loading, and then just stopped. The drive light went out as well. When I held a key, it finished the load again.

I figured, well, if it loads in the end, what does it matter. Then, I decided to try out Wine with a few games that I had installed in Windows. I ran the .exe in Wine like you're supposed to, and the games loaded alright. But then, when I tried to actually get in the game, the drive light stopped blinking again and the load stopped. The drive responded to the keyboard again, but only in short bursts. Eventually Ubuntu crashed out and I had to reboot. I checked the load-unload cycles on the drive, and they're at less than half of the limit (250000/600000) of this particular drive model.

At this point, I have absolutely no idea how to proceed. Hopefully someone on here is a little more knowledgeable than I am and can help me figure out what's wrong, and how to fix it.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Alex

**raptor_pa** · 12-17-2008, 09:25 PM

Could be a couple of issues, since it seems to be across multiple devices, I doubt it is the HD. It could still be the spindle motor, or motor control IC on the PCB of the drive, but the first thing I think I would check is the power supply of the PC.

awfulwaffle · 12-18-2008, 12:00 AM

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. I'm fairly sure it's not a drive circuit board or spindle motor issue, as it works just fine in windows. As for the power supply, same thing. The weird thing is that it seems to happen on every storage device on the computer when in Ubuntu or loading Ubuntu. I would have thought it was a PCI bus problem, if it wasn't for the USB drive recreating the problem as well.

**raptor_pa** · 12-18-2008, 05:11 AM

Could still be a bus issue, USB interfaces to the PCI bus. Your first post said you had first observed the problem in Windows with your optical drive - are you still having that issue also? The board/spindle motor would be a bad device pulling down current on the power supply under load.

awfulwaffle · 12-18-2008, 06:24 PM

Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I'm definitely still having an issue with the optical drive in Windows, but the hard drive runs fine. Wouldn't the problem manifest itself when running either OS if it was a spindle motor or board problem? (I'm basing this entirely on conjecture, sorry if I'm wrong) Any way I can test to see if it is either of those issues without actually picking up a new drive and running it?

12-17-2008, 07:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
awfulwaffle Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 9 OS: XP SP3	HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes Hey everyone, like the title says I'm having a bit of a weird problem with my HDD. I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right section, as the problem also manifests itself with USB storage devices and the DVD-RAM drive in the computer. The computer is a Compaq F750US laptop with a 2 gig RAM upgrade (2.5 total) downgraded to WinXP, also dual booting Ubuntu Hardy Heron from a 10GB partition via GRUB. Now, I first noticed this problem when my DVD drive stopped auto running cd's in Windows. Sometimes, it won't recognize blank cd's in the drive when I'm trying to burn something, and it won't recognize blank DVD's. I ignored this, thinking it was just a drive firmware error. Then, I decided to give Linux a try, so I installed a persistent live boot version of Ubuntu on my flash drive. The problem I noticed when booting the OS was that halfway through the load the blinking light on the drive would just go out, and the boot progress bar on the screen would stop moving. The weird thing is, though, when I pressed and held a key on the keyboard, the light started blinking again, and the boot resumed and finished normally. I decided that this might be a problem because I had made the linux swap area on the drive fairly small, so I tried installing Ubuntu onto a partition on my hard drive. Here comes the interesting part, and where it starts to come together. When the live disc was loading Ubuntu in order to install, the same thing happened as with the flash drive. The light on the DVD drive stopped blinking, and the progress bar froze. When I hit and held a key on the keyboard, the progress resumed and I managed to install Ubuntu. Once I had Ubuntu fully installed and configured, I rebooted back into Windows for a minute. When I rebooted and tried to load Ubuntu, same exact thing happened as with the flash drive and DVD drive. The hard drive light on the front of the computer stopped blinking, and the progress bar stopped. Again, when I held a key, the drive spun up again and resumed the load. I rebooted again, and the same thing happened. I then tried to boot Ubuntu in recovery mode, and the same thing happened. It was running all the scripts while loading, and then just stopped. The drive light went out as well. When I held a key, it finished the load again. I figured, well, if it loads in the end, what does it matter. Then, I decided to try out Wine with a few games that I had installed in Windows. I ran the .exe in Wine like you're supposed to, and the games loaded alright. But then, when I tried to actually get in the game, the drive light stopped blinking again and the load stopped. The drive responded to the keyboard again, but only in short bursts. Eventually Ubuntu crashed out and I had to reboot. I checked the load-unload cycles on the drive, and they're at less than half of the limit (250000/600000) of this particular drive model. At this point, I have absolutely no idea how to proceed. Hopefully someone on here is a little more knowledgeable than I am and can help me figure out what's wrong, and how to fix it. Thanks a lot in advance, Alex

12-17-2008, 09:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,539 OS: XP	Re: HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes Could be a couple of issues, since it seems to be across multiple devices, I doubt it is the HD. It could still be the spindle motor, or motor control IC on the PCB of the drive, but the first thing I think I would check is the power supply of the PC. __________________

12-18-2008, 12:00 AM	#3 (permalink)
awfulwaffle Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 9 OS: XP SP3	Re: HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. I'm fairly sure it's not a drive circuit board or spindle motor issue, as it works just fine in windows. As for the power supply, same thing. The weird thing is that it seems to happen on every storage device on the computer when in Ubuntu or loading Ubuntu. I would have thought it was a PCI bus problem, if it wasn't for the USB drive recreating the problem as well.

12-18-2008, 05:11 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,539 OS: XP	Re: HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes Could still be a bus issue, USB interfaces to the PCI bus. Your first post said you had first observed the problem in Windows with your optical drive - are you still having that issue also? The board/spindle motor would be a bad device pulling down current on the power supply under load. __________________

12-18-2008, 06:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
awfulwaffle Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 9 OS: XP SP3	Re: HDD spins down randomly in the middle of processes Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I'm definitely still having an issue with the optical drive in Windows, but the hard drive runs fine. Wouldn't the problem manifest itself when running either OS if it was a spindle motor or board problem? (I'm basing this entirely on conjecture, sorry if I'm wrong) Any way I can test to see if it is either of those issues without actually picking up a new drive and running it? Last edited by awfulwaffle; 12-18-2008 at 06:26 PM.