# HDD Drive Beeping



## SmartScott

I have a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 60G ATA/133 HDD and when I install it, its beeps. Im not talking about a musical beep, just one after another for about 20 seconds, then stops and doesnt recognize bios, coming directly from the HD, I have isolated it to just the hardrive and disconnected all other devices recieving power. I am hoping to get this fixed sometime soon, Trying to put Solaris 10 on it. Can someone help me out? Could my hardrive be a gonner?


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## Triple6

If its coming from the drive then the drive is likely faulty, and its not likely spinning up either right? Installing it in another computer should verify that.


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## raybro

I suggest you run a diagnostic on your HDD from a floppy. Maxtor was bought by Seagate and after some searching I found This site where you can download Sea Tools to do the job. Good luck.

Raybro


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## SmartScott

Triple6 said:


> If its coming from the drive then the drive is likely faulty, and its not likely spinning up either right? Installing it in another computer should verify that.


You got it man, doesnt even spin up, and Ill try yours too Ray, Thanks alot


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## Triple6

I think you'll find you need to warranty it or toss it.


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## SmartScott

tossed


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## DoubleHelix

Hard drives don't beep.


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## SmartScott

haha, if you dont believe me, your wrong..I know its coming straight from this HD, you may think they dont beep, its not the system spker


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## JDonner

DoubleHelix said:


> Hard drives don't beep.


Maybe he *thinks* he installed a hard drive...


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## RT

I agree, hard drives don't "beep" in the normal sense...
but could it be that there is a mechanical condition that might cause a sound similar to a "beep"? 
Moving parts scrubbing against one another, platters and heads, that sort of thing?


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## JDonner

RT said:


> I agree, hard drives don't "beep" in the normal sense...
> but could it be that there is a mechanical condition that might cause a sound similar to a "beep"? Moving parts scrubbing against one another, platters and heads, that sort of thing?


If work long enough in the IT like me, you'll discover that people have strange ways of explaining sounds.


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## RT

No doubt that's true JD, sound is a subjective experience (how can _I know_ what _you _ hear?  )

Anyway, I guess it's a moot point now as SmartScott has tossed the offending hardware.


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## Triple6

Maxtor drives can make a 'chirping' sound when they cannot spin up.


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## SmartScott

Triple6 said:


> Maxtor drives can make a 'chirping' sound when they cannot spin up.


What he has explained is exactly what its doing, its making a sound guys, im telling ya. I dont want to be mean about it. But im SURE its the HD making the beeping sounds. If you give me your address Ill send you the HD once i dig it outta garbage lol


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## Technetium

I recently bought a 2.5" USB 2.0 hard drive enclosure, to resurrect my girlfriend's laptop's hard drive (she spilled tea on it years ago). Opened up the poor IBM Thinkpad 380D, and pulled the drive. Installed the drive in the enclosure, and plugged her in. Immediately, the light on the enclosure box went from green to red, and then started beeping. It sounded like...

Beep! Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! (1,3,3, I think)

It sounded like it should have been my Gameboy or something. I heard this sound when I tried to get the laptop running off of the power supply, but thought it was the the mainboard beeping it's piezo buzzer at me. Low and behold, it was the drive.

I am still looking for error codes for this drive. It is a Seagate Marathon 1350 MB drive. If anyone out there knows any codes that resemble the above, please let me know. Thanks. 

---edit---

Just in case you are curious, there is NO evidence of liquid on this drive, as it is clean as the day IBM installed it. The spill happened on the left side of the keyboard, over the PCMCIA slots. However, I do realise this may have killed the hard drive's PCB. She says that she ran it for about a week after she left it unplugged to air dry. Then one day, the screen kicked off, and total system shutdown.


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## Technetium

Nevermind, it doesn't make the beeping sound anymore!

I read on another forum somewhere that sometimes a good whack to a hard drive can free up any frozen parts. The post said that since the hard drive is already frozen, aside from sending it to someone to restore the data, you've got nothing to lose. When *Triple6* said that Maxtor drives chirp when they cannot spin up, I put 2 and 2 together and figured that this is most likely it's problem.

I lightly smacked the hard drive against the wooden arm rest on my couch. (I didn't want to use a hammer!) Hooked it back up to the enclosure, plugged it in, and it started spinning! I didn't think that hitting something would actually fix it! I transferred all data off of it, after a virus sweep, and then reformatted it. No errors, no problems. I even had Norton Disk Doctor check it over, and it is 100%. 

Now my girlfriend is happy! Not only does she have her data back, but now she has a removable 1.3 GB hard drive for backup purposes.

I hope that anyone else that runs into the same problem will find this information useful.


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## Eric-Tech

Sorry but some hard drives DO beep!

I have in my hands a Compaq laptop hard drive, model (Seagate) ST960812A, that when I plug it in to a usb adapter to plug in to my Windows XP box, it beeps consistently. It's not a chirp, it's a bona fide beep! I will say though, that it has failed drive testing in my laptop, and has been replaced. At the moment I have it hooked up and it is now making the chirping noises, but earlier it was definitely making a beep sound.


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## kbsg

HDDs do beep... Even I was astonished when my external 50GB laptop hdd started beeping within the casing! Unable to believe my ears, I removed the casing fixed only the IDE to USB part and then started the system and indeed the sound was coming from the HDD! Just below the motor a white sticker with bar-codes are there. Sound was coming from below that sticker!


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## corban

haha. i love it when people say things like "hard drives don't beep." To avoid looking like a jerk when you're proved wrong, what you should say is that _in your experience _hard drives don't beep. Seagate Barracuda drives have audible error codes. There's probably others out there that have them too. They beep exactly like a MB beeps. Except it's coming from the hard drive. It's not mechanical noises.


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## IT darius

I agree. I'm having this issue with my 500GB external Seagate USB HDD.. it is not being recognized by any computer or usb port at all BIOS/Device Mngr/nothing. The only clue I have that something is terribly wrong is a faint beep about 20 sec apart right after I plug it in then it does that for about 2 mins. After it stops beeping the disk stops spinning and so far it is not looking good. But yea some of them beep.


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## corban

hmm, i should clarify that i've since found out that according to seagate any beeping coming from their hard drive is a mechanical noise. it's not like there's a little speaker in there or anything. still, doesn't change the fact that the hard drive is beeping. Darius your problem is exactly like mine. except mine is an internal drive.


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## IT darius

Corban hopefully we don't have the same problem..

Its official HD failure. Talk to Seagate level 1 & 2 support they advised that since I tried multiple computers, usb ports, usb cords and BIOS doesnt read the HD and hearing a mechanical noise that is a hardware failure. I brought it to the geek squad kids and had them listen to the sound and check it out.. same verdict. Home Depot offered an exchange I said no way I bought that one less than a month ago so they just gave me my money back. Of course Seagate wouldnt pay for any data recover which runs $500-$2000 (shame on you Seagate!) they guy said there is a one in a million chance for a defective hard drive to fail within a month but from what Im reading I find that hard to believe. I will be ordering an internal from WD or Maxtor and chalk it up to a learning experience  always back up your data!


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## samainfirenight

Mine is a DiamondMax Plus 9 80G ATA/133, and the sound is 3,3,3,..screech. It repeats the sequence three times before the POST ends, and the system stops trying to boot. I was able to get a new drive and transfer the data before it completely crashed, but I would like to know what the sequence means.


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## Triple6

most times it means nothing, its just faulty and the mechanics of the drive are malfunctioning.


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## kbsg

I can say for sure that my external beeped or Clicked! That's how Seagate terms it! The drive "clicks" when it's under powered!

*There you go - See here*:up: 
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=External_Drive_Troubleshooter_-_Windows_Error_Messages_-_Common_External_Drive_Errors&vgnextoid=14d24a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD#clicks

The USB Laptop HDD clicked, when I connected even 2 of the USB pins. Coz I didn't connect to the root hubs of the mobo. I had connected to PCI to USB Expansion card, which failed to give the required current to the drive. And it beeped.

Then I enabled the jumper in mobo for supplyin current to the root USB hubs and the reconnected and the HDD worked fine!

*"Beeping or clicking" it cant be given out without a pizzo buzzer or a speaker! 
So it's NOT like it's NOTHING or it's faulty mechanics or malfunctioning!*

*Now my external HDD is working fine without any probs!*


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