Clicking harddisk sound FE11S sequel

[Carelino]

Now just like a lot of Vaio FE11S users I had the clicking sound where my hardisk is. People who suggest it is the hardisk working, please save me the trouble of telling 100 times it is not the harddisk working sound. I had enough laptops to know the difference.

DOWNLOAD CLICKING SOUND

Now what I would like to know is if there has been anyone who send his/her laptop to Sony back to let them check it out. If yes, I ofcourse would really like to know what sony told you or what you did eventually. It seems to me nobody knows the solution. I did call sony and told them everything about the problem. They said it was something wich is new to them. I gave them the club-vaio link where people posted about the same problem. This coming week I am going to send my laptop to sony, this clicking sound disturbs me a lot.

I know that there are previous threads about this Old thread about clicking sound link , but I wanted to post a sequal where people could post their experience and opinion. Please don't suggest me to open up my harddisk or laptop, and once again it is NOT the harddisk working sound.

What happens: "The hard disk makes irregularly a clicking sound which is pretty loud two. Most certainly is not a working sound. It sounds like something is hitting the plastic of the laptop or something else. When I shut down my laptop and restart the sound is gone for a while." I personally think it has something to do with the reading arm. The clicking sound appears always when the laptop is not working. It's like when the harddisk is not working it cant get into the resting position, and keep on trying. I hope sony is going to spend serious time on this problem, especially it seems to be a common problem.

Important suggestions and remarks of others:

hard drive is made by fujitsu & they have a diagnostic software tool on the fujitsu web site & when i ran it, the program said no hard drive found on laptop, i spoke to fujitsu & they said i should wait for later version of software to come out, which i will do! anyone who goes to fujitsu web site, the version i tryed is 6.40

This is the response I have received from Fujitsu regarding the issue: We connected this drive MHV2160BT to our analyser and installed Windows XP Pro, we did not hear any obvious clicking noise unless you place your ear next to the drive so it is very quiet even though this does go into sleep mode at around every 4-10 seconds (idle). I would investigate if you can further into the specifications and configurations fitting of your Sony Laptop.

[nnchokshi]

I have the same problem of HDD clicking sound from my VGN-CR42S/L (2 weeks old). Hard drive is Fujitsu MHY2200BH 200GB 5400 rpm.

Complained to Sony last week. They were good in their quick response. Collected the laptop last week, returned back y'day. The repair report says they found some bad sectors on the HDD, so they have replaced it with a new one, of the same model though! Funny enough and as I expected, the problem still remains, in fact the clicking has become worse now than before!!!

Not sure whether there is anything else I can ask them to do now. Are there any BIOS updates available for this model of HDD?

Thanks

NNC

[fernanda_lokinha]

Hi , i do no if is normal but some thing like that happen with me, i just got a new sony vaio vgn-cs11s and happen some click sounds when the fun start work!!! or like when we use the hard drive!!!
I going to get to the shop tomorrow for check, i thing is not normal sound like that, everey thing is work but the sound what it does is make nervous!!!

thak 4 post!!!

[LARRY68]

Hi another newbie here, just bought a FW21L and on day 2 it developed the annoying clinking sound. so far its happened twice in the 6 days ive owned it. Only solution i've found so far is to restart the computer.

[nio_7]

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

I just want to tell you my opinion on this clicking sound issue. I have had personal experience on that.

Referring to the "clicking sound.wav" file that was originally posted. I have heared the sound carefully and i can say that it's all about a defective hard disk. If you can hear very closely, right after that "click sound" a very very low volume metallic noise follows, which is the disk sound of slowing down in rpm. This indicates that the disk is malfunctioning and that clicking sound in my opinion should be the hard disk's head which is being knocked off the hard disk plate due to a malfunction, and then of course a rpm slowing down of the disk follows.

Remember that this is a laptop 2.5" hard disk. I have heard the same problem on a normal 3.5" desktop pc and i can tell you that it's exactly the same only much louder. If you have ever heard it on a normal 3.5" disk, you would know what this is all about, i can tell you that!

The thing is that i haven't ever heard it in a new hard disk (but this doesn't changes much, it still is a malfunction which is possible to exist even in a new disk), only in very old and "tired" ones. And when it happens to an old disk which is normal, it's the first symptom that we receive and we must know and be prepared for the hard disk to break down in a few days (or months later) and finally it indeed happens.

So to everyone who is experiencing this issue, to my mind, you really need a NEW hard disk because you are more likely to have a defective one (defective by factory) that it may soon break down. So the clicking sound comes from the hard disk itself and indicates a hard disk malfunction.

[CruC]

I have FW31ZJ have Fujitsu HDD , clicking sound appear sometimes .. I am living in Turkey.. please help me

[tazz24mania]

Hi,

So its not just me who is getting this issue.
I have an FW48E-H, which is only 2 months old. numerous issues from the wifi not working correctly to the restore opartiton not there.
Now i have the=is hard drive clicking issue and it wont boot up. Just clicks then stops then powers back up and clicks again then spins down.
I phoned sony this morning and without asking me to do any kind of hardware diagnostics they are sending someone to pick up my laptop tomorrow. Looks like this could be a common issue if they are going to replace the HDD with out troubleshooting.

[GPSG]

I have FW31ZJ have Fujitsu HDD , clicking sound appear sometimes .. I am living in Turkey.. please help me

I have exactly the same notebook, same clicking sound appears constantly every week. Mine does also a bios beep after this clicking sound.
I e-mailed Sony, waiting for their response. The notebook is just 1 year old.

[vassiljok]

I had my FE for more than 3 years and a half and the click goes on and off whenever it wants...had all updates on......I have recently restored my laptop and guess, it did not change a thing....

[pachapm36]

I hope this is not true, but there is another point about "tick-ticka" dead disk or dying disk or hard working disk. It may be the heads inside the hard disk seeking tracks. The heads hit an index stop and count tracks from the mechanical buffer, note: not a software buffer

Use a hard disk checking program. I see you have tried this? what is the state of the "SMART" status?

It may be the hard disk is busy. I heard my laptop (old VGN-A517S) ticking from the hard drive. My solutions are listed below.

1)     Use CHKDSK full scan (requires reboot as it will run before Windows fully boots up). Check all partitions you can.

2)     Use a defraging program supplied with Windows. This will sort out the file structure for optimum seek and read times. Also the heads in a disk drive are less busy in a structure or sored out file system. The heads have a reduced need to keep moving.

3)     Increase the memory to the most your device will take. This will be dictated by the operating system bit size, for example 32 or 64 byte Windows. What amount of memory will the motherboard actually address at its top limit. Note this will increase the speed of the operating system up to a sensible point. This will enable Windows to store information in RAM not simulated RAM on the hard drive. Note there will always some simulated memory at all times anyway. RAM is faster than mechanical disk drives, it may not be faster than solid state hard drives. So in essence, Windows uses the extra RAM and not the hard dive so much. Windows will however always use the hard drive to simulate extra RAM. This only reduces the need for the "Swap-File" or "Page-File".

4)      let Windows set the size of the Swap file.

5)     I know this may be silly but you don't have FOB? FOB being Foreign Object Blocking in fans or air cooling chutes.

6)     As computers (most not all) have cooling fans and other moving parts, does a motorised part have bearing failure. Hard disks whine or rumble but not usually click in this repect.