Hard drive activity LED

[hen]

Hi,

The activity LED for my hard disk drive stays on all the time. I just noticed this in the last couple of days.

Actually, I discovered the problem while searching this fantastic site for the answer to a floppy question, which right now is the least of my concerns. For the most part, the systems seems to be functioning properly.

In looking at the device manager, I see that a PCI serial bus (whatever that is) is not installed correctly. That could be new or as old as the CPU (4-5 yrs)for all I know. I have not made any recent changes, have never opened the case, and have not kicked the unit in a long time.

WIN95. I'll probably run a SCANDISK to see what happens.

Is this serious, and where should I go next?

Thanks, hen

[bassman]

Hello Hen and welcome,
Try hitting "Ctrl,Alt,Del" at the same time only once and see what all is running in the background.
There are a couple of different ideas on this but, the only thing you really need running is "Explorer" and whatever programs you are actualy using. Some people have a few or numerous things running depending on what they do with their machine.
Try the "scandisk" then run "defrag" and see what happens. This may or maynot be serious at the moment but be sure to back up all important documents first thing!


------------------
If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
.
.
This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[hen]

Thanks bassman!

Scandisk, with no bad clusters, and defrag completed.
Rebooting with 'ctrl, alt, del' may suggest a crowded arena. In addition to the Mindspring internet desktop and explorer, it looks like the AOL instant messenger, might be dragging things down. My AIM program/file consists of 523 files in two folders. I quit using the IM long ago because it appeared to be hanging the system on a regular basis.

In addition there were six other itemsm mostly archived MS application exe. files ie. Findfast and Systray.

I'm guessing the large AIM files may be part of my light problem, or maybe not. Not sure why all that other stuff is there either, but I'll wait for further consultation before I act. At this point, I'm not sure how to delete the junk anyway.

Thanks again for your help,
hen

[mjc]

Disable FindFast...it has been known to cause randome access to drives, extra usage of a hard dirve and hast of of other inconveiences....if AIM is not being used then use Add/Remove {rograms (Control Panel) and uninstall it, because yes, it taking up space and using resources that can be better used elsewhere...and here (http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Window_memory.htm) is a fairly complete list of what starts at startup and what should probably be disabled....

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[chelo]

Check to see if the hard drive led from the case to the motherboard is installed correctly.

------------------
Microsoft (M)ore (E)rrors
Microsoft (X)tra (P)roblems

[hen]

Thanks everyone for your help, but the light is still on.

I checked the list for what needs to be running and got rid of AIM, Findfast, and OSA, an office wrapper app. I'll keep the desktop, explorer, and systray. Looks liked I'd best keep Rnaapp as I can't get by 'program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down' without it. That's a dialup app. Remaining are a load web check and an access ramp app. which I will test later. BTW, the led was correctly connected to motherboard at some point, so there's nothing to suggest that that has been altered.

This has been educational and a good start, but I will also have to look for another cause.

hen

[ziba-june]

One reason for the Hard Drive working constantly is shortage of RAM and the Memory Manager is using your HardDrive for the Virtual memory. Check the status of your Virtual Memory under the System properties in Control Panel to see if it is managed by Windows.

In most cases like this if you add memory, your computer would not use your HardDrive as RAM and it would also extend the life of your HardDrive.

[bassman]

HMMM, thats interesting. I like it.
Could it be this machine has dropped some of its RAM (maybe in a slot that would not cause lockups or no boot) and therefore continues to run but mostly off the swap?
HEN, while in system properties, click the performance tab and see if it still reports the correct amount of RAM.

------------------
If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
.
.
This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[hen]

The virtual memory is managed by windows (recommended). If I change that to manual control, it gives a quite threatening warning about what might happen. With 1333MB free showing in the manual control windows, I'm guessing there's no shortage of RAM. Efficient use may be questionable.

As for performance, I'm showing 32MB RAM, which is correct, 76% of which is free with 32 bit file and 32 bit virtual memory.

Perhaps I should add that I don't hear anything that sounds like the drive is as active as the light suggests. I assume the rattling noise when I boot up is the hard drive, but it isn't constant.

Thanks for all your suggestions, hen

[Whyzman]

M, how doest one disable FindFast? I noticed on the office computer after reading your response that it's running on the Win95. What do it do and how do you undo?

May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[ziba-june]

If you don't hear any sound coming out of the HardDrive, I should ask if the HD LED stays ON all the time or if it is constantly on/off. If it stays ON, with same brightness, then there is something wrong with the LED and you should not even think about fixing it.

Check to see if you can set the Hard Drive to sleep in the Power Management in your Display Properties/Screen Saver. After the HD is goest to sleep(depend on timing you use) see if the HD LED stays ON. If it stays on then there is something wrong with the LED, let it be and forget about it.

[hen]

z-j, let us get this right. Are you saying that when the screen saver is up, doing's its thing, saving the screen, that the HD LED should be OFF? Would this not also be true when the system is in standby mode?

Yes, the LED is always ON. Constantly on/off would be constantly blinking, which, I think, would indicate more than what it is telling me now, especially if your theory is correct.

Sounds good to me, but I wonder if the community would concur. Thanks to all for your thoughtful input. Maybe a good kick with my size 12 would make the ON light blink. hen

[vantim]

Sounds like your hardware is jumbled in your system devices. Try this.
Make sure you have the win95 setup files copied to the hard drive. Open regedit, navigate to HKLM/Enum. Delete the enum key and reboot. The enum key is your hardware configuration. Windows will find new hardware and reload all your drivers.

Also make sure you have all the most current drivers for your system available. Especially your modem so you can get on the web after you load the drivers. The reason I said to copy your installation files to the hard drive is you will not be able to access your cd-rom until windows loads a driver for it.

good luck I hope this helps.

------------------
Tim Jones MCSE

[hen]

Vantim,
After looking at the Registry files and pondering both your suggestion and the potential consequences, I have few questions.

What is the relationship between enum and the LED?
Why HKLM? Why not HKCC or config mgr in HKDD?
How do these things get "jumbled" in the first place and how does that relate to the LED, and more importantly, hard drive activity?

If there's no activity, then . . .

Thanks, hen