Hard drive LED stays lit. Why?

[LewB]

I submitted this on 9/14/2006 and got no response.
===========================
So here goes again:

Can anyone suggest why my hard drive LED remains contanstantly red when
there is nothing running except XP Pro (Service Pack 2 with all Security
patches) itself? I have indexing disabled on all drives. Task Manager shows
zero or no CPU usage, but the LED stays red. And when I recently
re-installed XP, the LED behaved properly for a short while.

Spyware scans show OK, as well as complete virus scans (McAffee v10.0) of
all drives.

I'm somewhat experienced, but this has had me puzzled for a very long time.
Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

- Lew

 

[DL]

Test with the hd manu testing utility

 

[R. McCarty]

You need to use a SysInternals tool "FileMon" to verify that no
disk activity is occurring. As to the LED, the connector is polarized
(+/-) so proper orientation is important. Most drives themselves
have an LED output so you can bypass the MB connector and go
directly to the drive itself. (For testing). Verify the MB staking pins
for HD LED and make sure you've got the connector on the right
pins.

 

[tcebob]

What did Task Manager have to say about Page File Usage? You may be constantly swapping in
and out of the Page file. I expect you have at least 512 meg of ram; how much swap file
space do you have? Couple tips I heard on the street: keep the page file limited to fairly
small -- about ram x 4, or so. It takes time to index and shuffle all that space. Also,
set min and max to the same number so the system doesn't have to reassign file space on
the hard disk.

There is an activity logging program called . . . sheesh, I forget . . . that lets you
watch as things happen. Somebody here will name it.

rs


LewB wrote:
: I submitted this on 9/14/2006 and got no response.
: ===========================
: So here goes again:
:
: Can anyone suggest why my hard drive LED remains contanstantly red when
: there is nothing running except XP Pro (Service Pack 2 with all Security
: patches) itself? I have indexing disabled on all drives. Task Manager shows
: zero or no CPU usage, but the LED stays red. And when I recently
: re-installed XP, the LED behaved properly for a short while.
:
: Spyware scans show OK, as well as complete virus scans (McAffee v10.0) of
: all drives.
:
: I'm somewhat experienced, but this has had me puzzled for a very long time.
: Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.
:
: - Lew

 

[Rock]

What did Task Manager have to say about Page File Usage? You may be
constantly swapping in
and out of the Page file. I expect you have at least 512 meg of ram; how
much swap file
space do you have? Couple tips I heard on the street: keep the page file
limited to fairly
small -- about ram x 4, or so. It takes time to index and shuffle all that
space. Also,
set min and max to the same number so the system doesn't have to reassign
file space on
the hard disk.

There is an activity logging program called . . . sheesh, I forget . . .
that lets you
watch as things happen. Somebody here will name it.

rs

<snip>

What you heard on the street about setting the page file is wrong. In he
first place Ram x 4 is not small. In the second place no one setting is
best for everyone. One choice is to let XP mange it. Another is to monitor
page file usage and set it accordingly. It is also a fallacy to set the min
and max to the same size in XP.

You would benefit by reading the article on Virtual Memory and setting the
page file by the late Alex Nichol, MVP.
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

[tcebob]

: http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Good reference. Goes to show, never pick up stuff on the street. I made some adjustments
based on the info.

Further thoughts for LewB: I've seen recommendations to turn off indexing. Personally, I
have it on, but I have a separate search program that does its own indexing, and will
likely turn it off. Indexing might cause the drive light to be on for a while.

rs

 

[Jonny]

If the LED cable for illuminating the LED for HD activity is backwards, it
simply won't illuminate. There's 2 wires on this cable. SCSI, pseudo-scsi,
and SATA controller cards have LED illumination connectors. Not the hard
drives themselves. Same for generic ide onboard motherboards and ide hard
drives. I have seen some scsi hard drives with onboard led indicators.

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) rely on positive vs. (ground) polarity
difference. Matters not their purpose of the LED. Reverse polarity will
never allow such to operate. These are a form of a diode. They only work
in one polarity difference, not the reverse polarity difference. Pseudonym
of "diode" is "one-way".

 

[Jonny]

I submitted this on 9/14/2006 and got no response.
===========================
So here goes again:

Can anyone suggest why my hard drive LED remains contanstantly red when
there is nothing running except XP Pro (Service Pack 2 with all Security
patches) itself? I have indexing disabled on all drives. Task Manager
shows
zero or no CPU usage, but the LED stays red. And when I recently
re-installed XP, the LED behaved properly for a short while.

Spyware scans show OK, as well as complete virus scans (McAffee v10.0) of
all drives.

I'm somewhat experienced, but this has had me puzzled for a very long
time.
Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

- Lew

Clue. The activity LED is an indicator of access ide bus activity
attempting communication with any ide device. It does not have to be a hard
drive that contains the partition that you boot from or windows exists on.
It does not have to be an ide device that actually exists, rather perceived
as may exist by Windows or the bios. And, as a consequence continually poll
the ide bus to ascertain what that device is. Windows, including the
windows swapfile, is not the center of the hardware universe.

 

[LewB]

Thank you to DL, R. McCarty, Jonny, tcebob and Rock for your info and
advice. and Rock, I'll be reading the Alex Nichol article with great
attention, and will post what I find out that led to a solution back to the
group. Thanks again. - Lew