Clicking harddisk sound FE11S sequel

[Carelino]

Now just like a lot of Vaio FE11S users I had the clicking sound where my hardisk is. People who suggest it is the hardisk working, please save me the trouble of telling 100 times it is not the harddisk working sound. I had enough laptops to know the difference.

DOWNLOAD CLICKING SOUND

Now what I would like to know is if there has been anyone who send his/her laptop to Sony back to let them check it out. If yes, I ofcourse would really like to know what sony told you or what you did eventually. It seems to me nobody knows the solution. I did call sony and told them everything about the problem. They said it was something wich is new to them. I gave them the club-vaio link where people posted about the same problem. This coming week I am going to send my laptop to sony, this clicking sound disturbs me a lot.

I know that there are previous threads about this Old thread about clicking sound link , but I wanted to post a sequal where people could post their experience and opinion. Please don't suggest me to open up my harddisk or laptop, and once again it is NOT the harddisk working sound.

What happens: "The hard disk makes irregularly a clicking sound which is pretty loud two. Most certainly is not a working sound. It sounds like something is hitting the plastic of the laptop or something else. When I shut down my laptop and restart the sound is gone for a while." I personally think it has something to do with the reading arm. The clicking sound appears always when the laptop is not working. It's like when the harddisk is not working it cant get into the resting position, and keep on trying. I hope sony is going to spend serious time on this problem, especially it seems to be a common problem.

Important suggestions and remarks of others:

hard drive is made by fujitsu & they have a diagnostic software tool on the fujitsu web site & when i ran it, the program said no hard drive found on laptop, i spoke to fujitsu & they said i should wait for later version of software to come out, which i will do! anyone who goes to fujitsu web site, the version i tryed is 6.40

This is the response I have received from Fujitsu regarding the issue: We connected this drive MHV2160BT to our analyser and installed Windows XP Pro, we did not hear any obvious clicking noise unless you place your ear next to the drive so it is very quiet even though this does go into sleep mode at around every 4-10 seconds (idle). I would investigate if you can further into the specifications and configurations fitting of your Sony Laptop.

[Dekart]

You get it direct from Sony or  I could post it for those who want it but it does say that it is for the MHV2160BT Fujitsu drive which is the one that is put in the FE21M - I am not sure if it is the same in other Vaio's.

Let me know if you want to give it a try.


Ed

I have the MHV2160BT. So i would try the update. Post it please.

[edwoodjnr]

For FE21M only, you can get it here:

http://gavin.benson.users.btopenworld.com/Downloads/fe21m.zip

Please note, it is a Sony file intended for the fe21m 160gb HDD and you will need to use it at your own risk, I WILL NOT be responsible for any problems you may encounter by using this zip file

[mercury666]

I have the MHV2160BT. So i would try the update. Post it please.

I don't have the heart to run the update, although I have this harddrive in my FE21M and the (quite rare) clicking occurs from time to time.

Please, if some other people have ran this update successfully, could you post about it here? After some more successful firmware updates I'll run this by myself.

Thank you!

[raskolnikov]

For FE21M only, you can get it here:

http://gavin.benson.users.btopenworld.com/Downloads/fe21m.zip

Please note, it is a Sony file intended for the fe21m 160gb HDD and you will need to use it at your own risk, I WILL NOT be responsible for any problems you may encounter by using this zip file

I have tried it. It all seems that it should upgrade the disk firmware to 0014, but when I went back to and tiped hdparm -I /dev/sda I got:

nexus:/home/raskolnikov# hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number:       FUJITSU MHV2160BT                       
Serial Number:      NU06T65284F8
Firmware Revision:  00000013

as I used to get before running the upgrade from the vaio's Windows MCE.

edwoodjnr, maybe the upgrader is not working and that is why you still hear the noise. Maybe you could inform Sony about this and tell us about their response.

Lots of thanks.

[edwoodjnr]

I checked a German site and they reported that it is actually a bootable CD that has the two hidden DOS files on. (there were no instructions with the CD).

I have updated the ZIP file with these on, just download it again and run it from a bootable CD and it should update the firmware to version 0014.

I will let you know if it resolves the issue.


Ed

[edwoodjnr]

Well I am on firmware version 14 and so far I don't think it has made any difference. I will talk to Sony today.

Ed

[ariskk]

Come on Sony do something... Im really really dissapointed by Sony and their way of solving this kind of problems... (I guess I'm saying nothing new but I'm really annoyed) Got a VGN-FE21M on September in the UK from a Sony Center and I'm pretty sure they already knew about this problem...

[gshayer]

hi guys

i recently got a fes1z and each time i am using my external sony bluetooth mouse the laptop is making a sound, not sure how to label the sound but its not right. it should not be doing this.....

[edwoodjnr]

I spoke to Sony and found that the update CD that they are sending out only applies to problems with Japanese VAIO's!!!! There is no fix for Western HDD's.

Although I applied the update, I haven't had any problems with the fix (apart from the clicking) and am on version 14 of the HDD BIOS.

I also spoke to a supervisor and was informed that it was 'within specification' so as far as I can tell there is no further action comming from Sony on this.

So you have 3 options:

1 - replace the 160GB HDD at your own cost with one from another
manufacturer (approx £110)
2 - get used to the annoying sound
3 - sell your VAIO at a loss

Anyone have any better ideas?

Ed

[kee-lo_]

I spoke to Sony and found that the update CD that they are sending out only applies to problems with Japanese VAIO's!!!! There is no fix for Western HDD's.

It really is a sham!