A Windows 98 & ME forum. Win98banter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » Win98banter forum » Windows 98 » Disk Drives
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Hard drive light flashing



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 7th 07, 02:08 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Satish Gupta
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 17
Default Hard drive light flashing

My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at all.

Thanks.
  #2  
Old July 7th 07, 06:14 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Jeff Richards
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,526
Default Hard drive light flashing

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.



  #3  
Old July 8th 07, 12:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Satish Gupta
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 17
Default Hard drive light flashing

Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives. The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.




  #4  
Old July 8th 07, 03:00 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Jeff Richards
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,526
Default Hard drive light flashing

Open Control Panel then System then Device Manager.

Expand the CDROM item and double click the CD device. Select Settings. If
Auto-insert notification is checked then the system will regularly check to
see if a new disk has been inserted into the drive. Each time it checks,
the hard drive activity light will flash.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives.
The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using
the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media
change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs
to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from
your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices,
where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive
the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else
at
all.

Thanks.






  #5  
Old July 8th 07, 01:30 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
glee
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,458
Default Hard drive light flashing

As Jeff replied, look in Device Manager CDROM category double-click the CD drive;
then select the Settings tab.

Uncheck "Auto-insert notification", click OK all the way out, and reboot.

You will not have any CD autorun with this disabled, but you should try it as a test
to see if the hard drive light flashing stops with this unchecked. Try it with each
of the hard drives set as the boot drive, adjusting the setting in each copy of
Windows when active.

Jeff states: "Each time it checks, the hard drive activity light will flash." I
have found this to sometimes but NOT ALWAYS be the case, but more common on older
hardware.

If this does not have any effect on the flashing light, you may as a next step want
to compare the startup axis on each copy of Windows to see if they are in fact
identical in what is loaded at startup.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives. The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.





  #6  
Old July 8th 07, 03:10 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Satish Gupta
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 17
Default Hard drive light flashing

Thank you, Jeff.

Auto Insert Notification was the reason. Once I unchecked the box, the
problem disappeared.

Regards,

Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.




  #7  
Old July 8th 07, 03:10 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Satish Gupta
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 17
Default Hard drive light flashing

Auto Insert Notification was the reason. Once I unchecked the box, the
problem disappeared.

Thank you for your help!
Satish

"glee" wrote:

As Jeff replied, look in Device Manager CDROM category double-click the CD drive;
then select the Settings tab.

Uncheck "Auto-insert notification", click OK all the way out, and reboot.

You will not have any CD autorun with this disabled, but you should try it as a test
to see if the hard drive light flashing stops with this unchecked. Try it with each
of the hard drives set as the boot drive, adjusting the setting in each copy of
Windows when active.

Jeff states: "Each time it checks, the hard drive activity light will flash." I
have found this to sometimes but NOT ALWAYS be the case, but more common on older
hardware.

If this does not have any effect on the flashing light, you may as a next step want
to compare the startup axis on each copy of Windows to see if they are in fact
identical in what is loaded at startup.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives. The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.





  #8  
Old July 10th 07, 10:14 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Jeff Richards
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,526
Default Hard drive light flashing

Well, I did apply the condition that Windows had to think there was a device
connected that didn't support the media change signal. That would typically
be an older device, or perhaps a device installed without its correct
drivers.

Also, now that Satish has found out what it is, I'm not sure that the best
option would, in fact, be to turn it off. It may be a bit worrying when you
don't know about it, but it's actually harmless.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"glee" wrote in message
...
snip

Jeff states: "Each time it checks, the hard drive activity light will
flash." I have found this to sometimes but NOT ALWAYS be the case, but
more common on older hardware.

If this does not have any effect on the flashing light, you may as a next
step want to compare the startup axis on each copy of Windows to see if
they are in fact identical in what is loaded at startup.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check
the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives.
The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using
the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an
IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media
change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it
needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from
your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices,
where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive
the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else
at
all.

Thanks.






  #9  
Old July 10th 07, 10:56 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
glee
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,458
Default Hard drive light flashing

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
Well, I did apply the condition that Windows had to think there was a device
connected that didn't support the media change signal. That would typically be an
older device, or perhaps a device installed without its correct drivers.


Yes, I saw your conditional response. :-) Even a cloned copy of Windows can see
the optical drive differently than the original copy in that respect due to some of
the dynamic aspects of hardware enumeration on boot, I suppose.


Also, now that Satish has found out what it is, I'm not sure that the best option
would, in fact, be to turn it off. It may be a bit worrying when you don't know
about it, but it's actually harmless.


I agree, and that's why I stated he should try it as a "test" to see if it was the
cause, rather than as a permanent solution. I would prefer to leave Auto-insert
Notification on, even if I had tweaked any Autorun setting to off. I don't know if
Satish caught the implication of my using the word "test".

Some folks just hate to see that activity LED working. ;-)


"glee" wrote in message
...
snip

Jeff states: "Each time it checks, the hard drive activity light will flash." I
have found this to sometimes but NOT ALWAYS be the case, but more common on older
hardware.

If this does not have any effect on the flashing light, you may as a next step
want to compare the startup axis on each copy of Windows to see if they are in
fact identical in what is loaded at startup.


"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Jeff.

My technical skill level is low. Could you please tell me how I check the
configuration of CD devices?

Please note that the way I created this new drive is by copying the files
from the old drive. Everything should be identical on the two drives. The
only thing that is different is that I installed Windows 98 again using the
original windows 98 CD-ROM. If configuration of CD devices is a part of
Windows install, then the two drives may have different configuration.

Regards,
Satish

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The usual reason for this blinking is that Windows thinks there is an IDE
device (such as some CD-ROM drives) that does not support the media change
signal, so it checks the IDE devices every few seconds to see if it needs to
report that the disk has been changed.

You say it doesn't happen with the other hard drive, and it seems from your
description that you are therefore running a different operating system.
See if there is a difference in the configuration of the CD devices, where
one is set to detect media changes and one is not.


"Satish Gupta" wrote in message
...
My hard drive light flashes every few seconds as if the computer is
reading/writing.

I have read responses to similar questions, but think my problem is
different. Here are the facts.

I copied contents of one of my drives to a different drive, including
reinstall of Win 98 on this second drive. When I make the new drive the
master and the old the slave, I have this problem. It does not happen
with
my old drive.

This happens even when I am not on the internet or doing anything else at
all.

Thanks.

--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
LED light box display--Only 11 mm LED slim light box in China! jenny General 0 May 23rd 07 07:27 AM
LED light box--Only 11 mm LED slim light box in China! jenny Monitors & Displays 0 May 17th 07 09:21 AM
Hard Drive activity light stays on dk_ General 14 March 17th 06 08:36 PM
flashing green light of monitor(compaq) noname General 9 December 31st 04 07:01 PM
Reinstallation on new SATA hard drive after old IDE66 hard drive c rdy423 General 1 December 6th 04 05:45 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:51 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 Win98banter.
The comments are property of their posters.