Something is turning on and off constantly in my laptop- hard drive?

[GucciBoy]

I have it plugged in, or on batteries. All my power settings are set so nothing goes into standby after some time, but the monitor. I even tried disabling that, though it wouldnt matter. But I notice for the last week since I reformatted the H.D. that something seems to always be going into standby or powering off, about 1 or 2 mins without use of the laptop. Then when I use it again, it powers back on. The sound when powering off/down is a light click and when going back on its like a whirling sound. What is it? I called toshiba, and they just said reformat - but they always say that. I hope i dont have to do another reformat again, im sure its just a setting.

[hash]

Sleep mode? Or did you already try that...?
The whirring noise is most likely the fan.

Try blowing out the dust... worked for me (on a similar problem).

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by hash
Sleep mode? Or did you already try that...?
The whirring noise is most likely the fan.

Try blowing out the dust... worked for me (on a similar problem).

i dont think its the fan, it seems the noise is coming from the right side (where the HD happens to be located).

btw - what would the fan have to do with it? im sure its not overheating. how do you go about it without having to open it up? thanks

[Ben]

sounds like a fan to me bud. Does your computer have selectable processor power? Basically to conserve battery life.

[hash]

IF it is a heating issue, just use some canned air and blow into the air vents. Its worth a shot. If it doesn't improve, then atleast you know it isnt a dust issue.

Sorry but thats all the ideas I got. !

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by hash
IF it is a heating issue, just use some canned air and blow into the air vents. Its worth a shot. If it doesn't improve, then atleast you know it isnt a dust issue.

Sorry but thats all the ideas I got. !

but i heard that just pushes the dust in to the centre and makes it worse.

its odd cuz the sound comes from the right of the laptop, but the fan is on the left. ill give it a shot anyways :)

[Davetronz]

Sounds like a fan or hard drive...
I am very hesitant to suggest motherboard (electrical short) but I am not eliminating that idea.

I would say hard drive or fan for 95%...

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by Davetronz
Sounds like a fan or hard drive...
I am very hesitant to suggest motherboard (electrical short) but I am not eliminating that idea.

I would say hard drive or fan for 95%...

is this normal you think?

ill try blowing the fan dust out, if it doesnt work, its the HD most likely.

As odd as this sounds, I think its TPS (toshiba power saver) software/utility. its known to be very buggy and i had to reinstall it completely. just too bad i cant recall if the problem started occuring right after i reinstalled it.

[Khyron]

Originally posted by GucciBoy


but i heard that just pushes the dust in to the centre and makes it worse.

its odd cuz the sound comes from the right of the laptop, but the fan is on the left. ill give it a shot anyways :)

The dust covers the whole surface and acts as an insulator. Clean it up.

Also if the laptop is old, it may just be running hotter and so the fan speeds up. You cannot turn this off (or the component would fry). A few of my old toshibas ran so hot it was uncomfortable to keep them on your lap.

You can prove it by working in a very cold room, putting it in front of a giant fan - even setting it in a deep freeze on a bag of peas or something while you work on it. If the noise stops you know what the problem is.

Khyron

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by Khyron

You can prove it by working in a very cold room, putting it in front of a giant fan - even setting it in a deep freeze on a bag of peas or something while you work on it. If the noise stops you know what the problem is.

Khyron

it runs in my basement which is pretty cold already.

[PSJanis]

It's probably the HDD doing some powersaving. no big deal if it is...it's just when the laptop is idle right?

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by PSJanis
It's probably the HDD doing some powersaving. no big deal if it is...it's just when the laptop is idle right?

idle as in just not used for bit? yes

ya all the noises seem to be coming fromthe H.D. its just odd, its never made any noises up till the recent reformat. if it has, definitely not as often.

[PSJanis]

yeah...just some power saving stuff. what it sounds like is that the HDD is gettin a lil worn out so you might wanna keep a backup of everything u need, just in case ;)

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by PSJanis
yeah...just some power saving stuff. what it sounds like is that the HDD is gettin a lil worn out so you might wanna keep a backup of everything u need, just in case ;)

worn out in 11 months? no way :(

[GucciBoy]

woohoo fixed it.:thumbsup: i knew it, it was the TPS. Thanks for all the tips everyone.

[GucciBoy]

ok i guess tps didnt fix it :(

[GTS Jeff]

Check in the BIOS for any power saving settings.

[GucciBoy]

I know forsure not heat issue, I ran it in very cold rooms (even with fans blowing right on it.

Now the H.D. has been turning off every 20-30seconds from leaving the comp. in idle, then oddly it starts back up whenever, even if i dont touch it. Has to be mobo or H.D.

What amazes me is Toshiba kept saying its normal. Ya a H.D. powering down every 30secs is normal and on and off out of nowhere. :thumbsup: Even if I dont get any errors right now, my HD will be gone in no time with the constant on, off, on, off. I opened the H.D. door up and saw the cable may not be fully attached, as one side was out a tiny bit - maybe that could be it. But I dont want to take it apart to try, so...

Anyways, taking it in tommorow to get it checked out, cant wait to see what it is...finally. Will know tommorow! The good thing is, I dont have to ship it away or any down time without it.:)