# Hard drive won't stop spinning.



## Rudenut (Jun 21, 2008)

Hey guys and gals, new here so bare with me.

Today my one of my hard drives started spinning and will not stop. The LED is constantly flashing like it is working and I won't stop. This begins the moment I push my power button to power up the PC. I have disabled many of the things suggested in other posts to no avail. 

I have tried...System Restore, indexing, superfetch..and others I can't remember. None of these have worked.

I believe it is impacting my performance as well. Altho my task manager and Process Explorer are not showing anything that I can understand as being wrong.

I am running Windows Vista 32bit
AMD 9600 Phenom
4 gigs crucial ram
1 Maxtor 120 gig
1 WD 150 Gig raptor

I am awaiting my 64bit version of Vista Home. Let me know what other info I need to provide to you guys to help out. And thanks, I don't want to lose this hard drive.


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## Rudenut (Jun 21, 2008)

I made a SS of some process monitors...the thing I first noticed is my pagefiles for C and D are working and I have 4 gigs.

also..allocated pagefile is nearly 7k mb.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Welcome to TSF. :wave:

The moment you push the power button???
Try entering BIOS and watch the HDD led for a while.
If the HDD is spinning all the time when in BIOS - then, obviously, it can't be a Windows process causing the problem.
Which of the HDDs is the problem drive? Run diagnostic tools from the manufacturer.


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## TheShadowFl (Feb 12, 2008)

I would boot up the PC with a boot floppy or CD (boot into DOS) and run a disk diagnostic.

A HD will spin all the time anyway, but should not keep the HD light on.
The light is only ON when files are being accessed.
A HD will only spin down (stop spinning) if turned off by "Power Manager".

I always set mine to spin down after about 10 minutes of inactivity. That saves power, wear and tear on the HD and decreases heating from the HD.

So, bypass Windows by booting into DOS and see what the drive does then.

Shadow


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## Rudenut (Jun 21, 2008)

well, what I mean by spinning, is that it spins really fast and makes a whirring noise. I think it's my hard drive because the led flashes constantly..so fast that it looks like it just stays on.


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## Rudenut (Jun 21, 2008)

Found this template lurking the forums. Sorry I didn't use it earlier.

Power Supply – Thermaltake W0131RU ATX12V / EPS12V 850W

Motherboard – ASUS CROSSHAIR AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX (yes, it wasn't initially compatible with the Phenom but a bios update got it going.)

CPU – AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HD9600WCGDBOX 

RAM – Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel X2

Video Card(s) – BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Hard Drive(s) – Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
Maxtor SATA 120 gig...can't remember the model number.

Operating System - Vista Home Premium 32 bit SP1 (I know I need to get 64 and it's in the mail...the 10 dollar upgrade was such a neat find.


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Run Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Tools (extended test)
or *Seatools for DOS*
depending on which HDD (WD or Maxtor) is being troublesome.


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## Rudenut (Jun 21, 2008)

yeah, Ran it...the seatools doesn't work but the WD program worked for both, both drives checked fine. 

Also did chkdsk to fix and recover and there were a few item in C:. I'll be reformatting when my 64 bit disc arrives..maybe that will do it.

I guess I need to pull it out and have a look at it...my 14inch or whatever doorfan died anyway and need to replace. Thermaltake Armor cases are heavy tho....


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

Please post a screenshot of Disk management.

Disable Spybot and hibernation.


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## Nomeimporta (Aug 29, 2008)

Hi. 

I have the same problem n I thought I was infected by some virus or something but It was just that vista has a lot of things scheduled in the Task Scheduler. I found I had a defrag scheduled for every wednsday at 1pm that in case windows wouldn't complete it would beguin the next time my computer switches on ... and a lot of stuff to do automatically. I recommend just to check the Task Scheduler in Computer Management.

By the way I am trying to install Win XP 64 in my computer with vista 64 allready. When the XP install menu appears I just received an error, somepeople told me it's because XP doesn't have support for SATA HD so.. any help?.

PD:my HD light is still killing me off.


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## Smidge (Jul 19, 2008)

TheShadowFl said:


> I always set mine to spin down after about 10 minutes of inactivity. That saves power, wear and tear on the HD and decreases heating from the HD.


Actually, as I understand it most of the wear and tear on hard drives happens from them spinning up and down again, so it'd be better for the drive to keep running. Spinning down still saves power though


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