harddisk keeps rattling continuously

botsmuts · 04-15-2003, 05:29 PM

Hi,

I'm new to linux and I just installed mandrake on a pentium 166 with 128mb ram for the second time.

The problem I'm having is that my harddisk won't stop.
Once I start something it starts and does'n stop, even after logging out and in again.
Sometimes it happens just after login in and all I see is a bleu screen and the watch cursor.
I've waited foor 10-15 minutes - nothing...

What can I do ?

thanks ia.

AltF4 · 04-15-2003, 06:05 PM

probably you are low on memory and using swap space
--------------------------------
/home/altf4 > free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 61844 57640 4204 0 7320 16888
-/+ buffers/cache: 33432 28412
Swap: 216868 1184 215684
--------------------------------
check the "Swap" line ...

botsmuts · 04-16-2003, 02:42 AM

Hi,

this is what I did:
-start up
-chose linux secure
-logged in
-ok hd starts rattling again...
-got a blue screen with a watch icon
-CTRL+ALT+F2
-typed : ...@localhost home]$ free
And this is what i Get :

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 126008 10908 17100 0 37524 43360
-/+ buffers/cache: 28024 97984
Swap: 338648 0 338648

So free memory is 17100 and used swap space is 0 ? Does this mean I'm not low on memory and not using swap space ?

What to do next ?

thanks.

AltF4 · 04-16-2003, 04:56 AM

memory looks ok

next you might want to do a "ps ax" to see what processes are running to find the offender

whansard · 04-16-2003, 06:39 AM

it might just be some cron jobs working like
locatedb --update or something

mcleodnine · 04-16-2003, 06:53 AM

could be you are logging an event in one of the /var/log files. keep an eye on the files in that dir and look to see if any of them always show the curent date and time. Much like my annoying Trident that logs to XFree86.0.log every time I move the mouse.