XP-64 Raptor constant writing/head movement

Computer Hardware
#1

Hello everyone, I tried to search on the forum on this but I couldn’t find anything,so pls direct me to a relevant thread if I missed it.

I have a system with XP-64 SP2, Core i7 920, ASUS P6T Deluxe V2, a Raptor 74MB (I think the rest is not important to this subject).

Since I build the system and installed all the drivers, I noticed that the Raptor does not have a single “silent” moment. What I mean by that is not indexing services etc. Explanation follows…

I’ve had systems for 10 yrs and used XP on various systems for the past 7 yrs. I never had a drive that would make tiny read/write sounds non-stop, without an obvious background app or a service requiring it to do so.

The drive makes this pattern of sound: single head move (long move, as if from one side to another), then a burst. Also some times it will do the single head move a few times consecutively and then stop. That can continue forever, sometimes it stops but others it continues.

Drive fault is excluded (or maybe not…) because I checked it with all tools, diagnostics and surface scans, no errors, no issues. Also it hasn’t shown any problems up to now. Virus/trojan is excluded as I’ve thoroughly checked all that too, the system is a fresh install and was off the net when it started.

I have stopped ALL services that could possibly cause that sound. AV, indexing, terminal services, you name it and I also read numerous threads on the web for similar problems. I turned off almost everything. A note, by turning off AV and some other bg stuff the frequency was reduced a little, but never stopped.

Then checked with FileMon and DiskMon and still could see the container “svchost” services performing entries (I presume OS background stuff). The point is that all these services work 24/7, that’s fine they are probably meant to. But on other systems I never heard the drive make such loud write sounds on a non-stop basis. Even a string of bytes can be written quietly, without being noticed and you can just see the HD LED flash.

I can say for sure that when on safe mode it doesn’t happen…
But I still don’t understand why it has to occur on this particular system.
Perhaps someone can enlighten me a little if it’s more common.

thx

#2

While there are legitimate system processes that are listed as svchost, a lot of malware try to hide by using the same name. Might be that you have soem malware that the tools you’re currently using is unable to detect?
Have you checked the system log? If something happens that causes log entries, the writing of the log to the disk could be the cause of the HDD activity

#3

Aramchek,

thanks for your input.

To be honest I have not checked the system super-thoroughly for malware. I do agree malware will sometimes use system file names, but I’m pretty sure these are all system Svchost services.

I use Avast AV, perhaps not the best AV out there but it does the job for me. I’ve used some other proprietary malware detecting apps to detect any background stuff and it seemed fine.

Now something else, something I noticed today, when I had a more careful look. I ran FileMon and DiskMon, but…while FileMon would list processes that performed the write, it seems that there are 8 bit length writes on the drive during those single write sounds, that do not correspond to any processes on FileMon!

I don’t know if that’s normal. I’m really out of ideas here. Does FileMon list eveything? I’ve seen some quite detailed feedback, so I assume that even malware would be listed there.

It will be a lot of hustle, but I’m thinking to either test it on a different system or simply, as soon as the critical work I’m running these days is over, I can send it back and get a new one.

#4

I tried to change the title of the thread, because I realised my wording is not correct. It’s worrying me that there is not much input from others.

Perhaps the Mods can help me change the title and use the one in this reply?

thanks

#5

[QUOTE=lotk;2414512]I tried to change the title of the thread, because I realised my wording is not correct. It’s worrying me that there is not much input from others.

[B]Perhaps the Mods can help me change the title and use the one in this reply?[/B]

thanks[/QUOTE]
Thread title changed.:wink:

#6

alan1476 thanks for changing the thread titles!

One last piece of info I would like to add for anyone out there who can help,

While working within an app, it all looks fine. As soon as I minimize it and try to access shortcuts or anything really from the desktop, my computer etc, the system freezes for a short time of about 5-7 secs, the drive then makes a burst and then it all comes back. With 6GB of RAM I doubt it has to do with the pagefile. Note that the mouse is available during that time and if I hit ALT+CTRL+DEL I can get the Taskman up, but everything looks idle and nothing is occupying any CPU or the drive itself.

It might be relevant, it might not. I’m not sure but I haven’t had this before either.

thanks