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Laptop hard drive problem?

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I've got a Dell Inspiron here from a co-worker. Thing is it's VERY finiky about booting. There's something (hardware related) in the computer that causes the machine to completely lock if it is bumped/moved during boot. I pulled the HD to just take a visual inspection, and it's very apparent something is loose inside the drive. I'm familiar with desktop HDD's but not laptop's. Now, if i take this HDD and just slowly tip it on it's side i hear something floating around in there? Also, when the computer gets to windows it seems like a fairly stable machine (P3 700mhz Dell Inspiron 8000).


Anyone have any rough ideas of what i should check, or if the HD noise is normal?


Help would be appreciated! Thanks
 
The loose thing you hear may be supposed to be there. My notebook HD also makes a sort of tinking sound if you upend it but it's actually has a label written right on it that the sound is supposed to be there.

Try downloading and running Active SMART and see if there is any useful info in the drive's smart information.
 
Originally posted by: zephyrprime
The loose thing you hear may be supposed to be there. My notebook HD also makes a sort of tinking sound if you upend it but it's actually has a label written right on it that the sound is supposed to be there.

Try downloading and running Active SMART and see if there is any useful info in the drive's smart information.
Click to expand...

He is correct. All newer IBM Travelstars (and some other brands) do that. Don't worry about that noise. I'm not sure the Travelstars are as bad as the Deskstars.
 
My 20gb travelstar died a full 2 weeks after I installed it... sad. I haven't bothered installing the replacement yet...
 
Come to think of it, IBM has a SMART program available for free that only works for their drives so you may want give that a shot.
 
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