Disk active led stays on steady

Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk Fujitsu 10Gig is about to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the machine is doing nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks

--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake

I wouldn't worry about the LED if the drive is working
properly. It's probably just the way the new drive
interacts with the motherboard.

Perhaps updating the IDE busmaster drivers from the
motherboard's site will fix the problem.

When you had a 10GB drive in it was probably a slow
5400RPM drive and the new one is probably a 7200RPM drive,
which produces much more heat.

It's a good idea to install a fast HDD without any other
drives around it.

Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/


-----Original Message-----
Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk
Fujitsu 10Gig is about to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar
IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the
machine is doing nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much
heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear
the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks

--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake
.

"Eric" wrote

I wouldn't worry about the LED if the drive is working
properly. It's probably just the way the new drive
interacts with the motherboard.

Perhaps updating the IDE busmaster drivers from the
motherboard's site will fix the problem.

When you had a 10GB drive in it was probably a slow
5400RPM drive and the new one is probably a 7200RPM drive,
which produces much more heat.

It's a good idea to install a fast HDD without any other
drives around it.

Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

It's also a good idea to attach two fans to each hard drive.

Alias


-----Original Message-----
Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk
Fujitsu 10Gig is about to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar
IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the
machine is doing nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much
heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear
the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks

--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake
.

"Jake" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk Fujitsu 10Gig is about
to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the machine is doing
nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks

Well,

Is your disk actually accessing itself?

If not it may be a simple thing such as you've connected the HDD LED
connection back to front or something on your motherboard.

Good luck

Hi Alias,

It's also a good idea to attach two fans to each hard drive.

Alias

Dell Inspiron 7500 is a notebook...

--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake

Hi Eric,

Thanks for responding
Appreciate your input

I wouldn't worry about the LED if the drive is working
properly. It's probably just the way the new drive
interacts with the motherboard.


Nah... Its handy when you "see" how much disk access is done

Second.. I'm afraid this syptom could indeed indicate the hardware is stressed,
maybe leading to distruction sooner or later.
I am waiting to install all applications I had since it might be useless if i cant use this new drive properly.

Third the new disk has teh same physical size, grabs in withe the same small connector,
so I think the "busy signal comes out on an identical pin, and the behaviour should be the same!
And, the bios detected the new disk ok, all installed quite well.. just that damn led

Perhaps updating the IDE busmaster drivers from the
motherboard's site will fix the problem.


Device manager:
Disk drives : Generic IDE disk type 40 : this one you mean?

Hard disk controllers : Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus master IDE controller
Looked at intels website: support discontinued... grrr
Primary IDE controller dual fifo Microsoft
Secondary IDE controller dual fifo Microsoft


When you had a 10GB drive in it was probably a slow
5400RPM drive and the new one is probably a 7200RPM drive,
which produces much more heat.

New one is 4800 rpm and physically not heating much
I think the heat comes from other components



It's a good idea to install a fast HDD without any other
drives around it.

Dell Inspiron 7500 is a notebook
Not many options for locations


Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/


-----Original Message-----
Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk
Fujitsu 10Gig is about to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar
IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the
machine is doing nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much
heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear
the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks


Any more ideas?
I need this notebook for outhouse interventions
So at the moment I'm stuck
Thanks again
--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake

Hi sTuFf,

Well,

Is your disk actually accessing itself?

If not it may be a simple thing such as you've connected the HDD LED
connection back to front or something on your motherboard.

Good luck

I dont think it accesses, it shouldnt be in idle.
Connections.. see my reply to Eric
Thanks for input
--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake

Hi

Hi all,

Urgent question

Running a Dell Inspiron 7500 and the original disk Fujitsu 10Gig is about to die
Trying to replace with a 30Gig Hitachi Travelstar IC25N030A
Formatted, did clean install Win98SE
Boots to windows, boots to DOS
The disk led stays on steady, even in DOS when the machine is doing nothing
The fan runs sporadically, indicating there is too much heat developping

When I put back old disk, the led just shows when I hear the disk access


Anyone give me a hand? please
Thanks

After loger search, someone advsed me to upgrade bios
I did but it didnt help
At least now I am able to hookup a disk bigger than 30 Gig
So tried another disk
Toshiba 60 Gig
Made an image overlay of original almost dead disk to that 60 Gig
Seems to be some problem with that 30Gig disk type or at least with that specimen I got
Problem solved, I have my blinking led back
and a big hdd.
Thanks to all who helped

--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake

In article , says...

If not it may be a simple thing such as you've connected the HDD LED
connection back to front or something on your motherboard.

LED = Light Emitting Diode... IIRC the power goes only one way
so swapping positive for negative on a diode means no light.

It is, however possible to connect a diode to a jumper... or
short a diode connector... and either error may produce a
conundrum.

Hi phorbin,

If not it may be a simple thing such as you've connected the HDD LED
connection back to front or something on your motherboard.

LED = Light Emitting Diode... IIRC the power goes only one way
so swapping positive for negative on a diode means no light.

It is, however possible to connect a diode to a jumper... or
short a diode connector... and either error may produce a
conundrum.

Thanks for your reply,
I have some knowledge of electronics, and you are right,
however it has nothing to do with the disk problem I have encountered.

I had changed an almost dead disk in my Dell, with a Toshiba brand bigger disk.
The Dell is an Inspiron 7500, a notebook, so theres no wires or connectors that can be swapped.

The trouble was the led was steady on, indicating constant disk activity
It turned out I just was lucky enough to have a bad specimen of the new disk,
It was solved by replacing it with another new one.

Due to all this I was out for a while on these newsgroups
Glad to be back

Thanks again
--
Replies in the same thread please
Windows 98 links to solutions
http://jake98.no-ip.info
Best Regards
Jake