LinuxQuestions.org - annoying sound in 100GB TOSHIBA MK1031GAS HDD

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annoying sound in 100GB TOSHIBA MK1031GAS HDD

I have this really annoying sound coming from the hdd. hard to describe... kinda buzzing, high frequency low volume... like buzzing or something. gives me headache after an hour or so. I saw a post that recommended muting all sound options, but that didn't work.

This happens all the time in zenwalk (based on slackware). in ubuntu, happens from time to time. in windows, never happens.

Weirdly, sound stops when, for example, I scroll up and down in firefox. maybe hard cpu usage stops the sound? but ????

This is the hard disk: 100GB TOSHIBA MK1031GAS HDD
Laptop: hp pavilion zv5120us
Video Card: Ati radeon Mobility 9100

Any help truly appreciated, or I will need plenty of painkillers...

Outputs:

Code:

# cat /proc/ide/hda/cache

0



# cat /proc/ide/hda/capacity

195371568



# cat /proc/ide/hda/driver

ide-disk version 1.18



# cat /proc/ide/hda/geometry

physical    16383/16/63

logical      16383/255/63



]# cat /proc/ide/hda/settings

name                    value          min            max            mode

----                    -----          ---            ---            ----

acoustic                0              0              254            rw

address                1              0              2              rw

bios_cyl                16383          0              65535          rw

bios_head              255            0              255            rw

bios_sect              63              0              63              rw

bswap                  0              0              1              r

current_speed          69              0              70              rw

failures                0              0              65535          rw

init_speed              69              0              70              rw

io_32bit                0              0              3              rw

keepsettings            0              0              1              rw

lun                    0              0              7              rw

max_failures            1              0              65535          rw

multcount              16              0              16              rw

nice1                  1              0              1              rw

nowerr                  0              0              1              rw

number                  0              0              3              rw

pio_mode                write-only      0              255            w

unmaskirq              0              0              1              rw

using_dma              1              0              1              rw

wcache                  1              0              1              rw



]# lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

ppp_deflate            2560  0

bsd_comp                3584  0

xt_limit                1024  8

ipt_LOG                4096  8

ipt_MASQUERADE          1152  0

ipt_TOS                1024  0

ipt_REJECT              2432  1

ip_conntrack_irc        2800  0

ppp_async              4992  1

crc_ccitt              1152  1 ppp_async

thermal                6920  0

processor              11584  1 thermal

radeon                86176  1

drm                    40852  2 radeon

snd_seq_oss            18688  0

snd_seq_midi_event      3072  1 snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                28112  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_seq_device          3596  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq

snd_pcm_oss            31264  0

snd_mixer_oss          10240  3 snd_pcm_oss

xt_tcpudp              1792  14

iptable_mangle          1024  0

ip_conntrack_ftp        3440  0

xt_state                768  6

iptable_nat            3588  0

ip_nat                  8108  2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat

ip_conntrack          25388  6 ipt_MASQUERADE,ip_conntrack_irc,ip_conntrack_ftp,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat

iptable_filter          1024  1

ip_tables              7384  3 iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter

x_tables                4996  9 xt_limit,ipt_LOG,ipt_MASQUERADE,ipt_TOS,ipt_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables

nls_iso8859_1          3072  1

vfat                    6656  1

fat                    29724  1 vfat

fan                    1796  0

button                  2960  0

battery                5380  0

ac                      1924  0

pcmcia                17684  0

8139cp                10624  0

ehci_hcd              18696  0

yenta_socket          14092  2

rsrc_nonstatic          5376  1 yenta_socket

pcmcia_core            19728  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic

8139too                13056  0

mii                    2688  2 8139cp,8139too

joydev                  5312  0

evdev                  4864  0

tsdev                  3392  0

snd_atiixp_modem        5896  5

snd_atiixp              7820  2

snd_ac97_codec        60448  2 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp

snd_ac97_bus            1024  1 snd_ac97_codec

snd_pcm                46344  6 snd_pcm_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec

snd_timer              12164  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

snd                    26340  18 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer

soundcore              3552  3 snd

snd_page_alloc          4616  3 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_pcm

ati_agp                3596  1

agpgart                15664  2 drm,ati_agp

ohci_hcd              12420  0



# hdparm /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 multcount    = 16 (on)

 IO_support  =  0 (default 16-bit)

 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)

 using_dma    =  1 (on)

 keepsettings =  0 (off)

 readonly    =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry    = 16383/255/63, sectors = 195371568, start = 0

Is it really the hard disk you hear? Or is it the cpu being picked up by the speakers?

If it is the hard disk. Try running the SMART utilities to make sure you don't have a real problem.

thanks for the reply

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

Is it really the hard disk you hear? Or is it the cpu being picked up by the speakers?

I'm pretty sure. The sound comes from where the hdd is located in the laptop. the cpu and the fans are on the other corner and the speakers (in front of the laptop) don't make any sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

If it is the hard disk. Try running the SMART utilities to make sure you don't have a real problem.

smart? I'll look into that -seems to be in the ubuntu repos-. thanks for the suggestion.

smart says everything is ok -selftest and error- (thank god for gentoo documentatiosn). where to go next? can this be related to acpi, even though the sound isn't coming from cpu not fan? and, again, weirdly, this sound is mostly absent in ubuntu, but always there in zenwalk... :confused:

smartctl -A /dev/hda gives these, are they relevant/important?

Code:

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG    VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate    0x000b  100  100  050    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005  100  100  050    Pre-fail  Offline      -      0

  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027  100  100  001    Pre-fail  Always      -      1181

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      407

  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct  0x0033  100  100  050    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

  7 Seek_Error_Rate        0x000b  100  100  050    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

  8 Seek_Time_Performance  0x0005  100  100  050    Pre-fail  Offline      -      0

  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  096  096  000    Old_age  Always      -      1742

 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0033  108  100  030    Pre-fail  Always      -      0

 12 Power_Cycle_Count      0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      401

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      8

193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      17544

194 Temperature_Celsius    0x0022  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      35 (Lifetime Min/Max 15/48)

196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

198 Offline_Uncorrectable  0x0030  100  100  000    Old_age  Offline      -      0

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

220 Disk_Shift              0x0002  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      120

222 Loaded_Hours            0x0032  097  097  000    Old_age  Always      -      1411

223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

224 Load_Friction          0x0022  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      0

226 Load-in_Time            0x0026  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      313

240 Head_Flying_Hours      0x0001  100  100  001    Pre-fail  Offline      -      0

smartctl -l selftest /dev/hda gave this

Code:

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error

# 1  Short offline      Completed without error      00%      1742        -

# 2  Short offline      Completed without error      00%        0        -

Well at least your hard drive is safe.

Zenwalk, looks kinda like Slax.

I'm still sticking with my cpu theory as that's the only high frequency oscillation I've ever heard from a PC. Sometimes when the right screen saver is on or some other process is driving the cpu hard.

Also I think your acpi theory is sensible. Maybe the acpi is doing weird things to the cooling fans.

All I can think of to try next to to compare the process tables between the various linux.

Also, is one of the differences in sound on whether you're running from the hard drive or running from the CDROM. When running off the CDROM are you using a swap file on the hard disk?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

Well at least your hard drive is safe.

good to know, believe me :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

Zenwalk, looks kinda like Slax.

it's pretty much Slackware + kernel 2.6 + a few tools and scripts to ease configurations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

I'm still sticking with my cpu theory as that's the only high frequency oscillation I've ever heard from a PC. Sometimes when the right screen saver is on or some other process is driving the cpu hard.

should I do anything about that (in a laptop, it's hard to change cables etc) or is it okay (except the headache)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

Also I think your acpi theory is sensible. Maybe the acpi is doing weird things to the cooling fans.

I'll try that when I boot to Zenwalk again (and learn how to append parameters in lilo.conf)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

All I can think of to try next to to compare the process tables between the various linux.

they were pretty much the same (I was comparing them to see if zenwalk launches less program, but it doesn't). where should I look (or, what should I look for)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerre Cope

Also, is one of the differences in sound on whether you're running from the hard drive or running from the CDROM. When running off the CDROM are you using a swap file on the hard disk?

if by running from cdrom you mean a livecd, zenwalk is installed to my harddrive. if you mean if I insert a CD, no swap is used. if you meant livecd, no livecds I tried so far used swap (1 GB RAM seems to be enough for now).

Sorry. I incorrectly assumed Zenwalk was a Live CD. I'm out of gas. I'm not up on taking apart laptops. If it were a desktop, I'd open it up and listen and look for hot chips or other components.