"chirp" every 5-10 seconds

[Lady Margaret Thatcher]

My system is starting to make this "chirping" sound every 5-10
seconds. I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm assuming that one of my
four drives is the source of this noise.

Aside from bearing noise, what are other possible sources of this
noise? These drives are all SCSI U160 or 320. More importantly, how
urgent is it that I identify and replace the noisy drive?

Thanks.

 

[CJT]

My system is starting to make this "chirping" sound every 5-10
seconds. I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm assuming that one of my
four drives is the source of this noise.

Aside from bearing noise, what are other possible sources of this
noise? These drives are all SCSI U160 or 320. More importantly, how
urgent is it that I identify and replace the noisy drive?

Thanks.

Are you sure it's the drives? My first guess would be a fan, and
my second guess would be system (e.g. temp) monitoring software.

 

[Rod Speed]

Lady Margaret Thatcher Was_at_10_Downing_Street@bad_for_the_UK.org wrote

My system is starting to make this "chirping" sound every 5-10 seconds.

That's where the budgie ended up.

I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm assuming that
one of my four drives is the source of this noise.

Yeah, can be the drive.

Aside from bearing noise,

You dont usually get that with bearings.

what are other possible sources of this noise?

It can be the drive recalibrating.

These drives are all SCSI U160 or 320. More importantly,
how urgent is it that I identify and replace the noisy drive?

Unplug the power cable from each drive
in turn and see which on stops that noise.

It would be interesting to see what happens if you pause
the boot by hitting the Pause key at boot time too.

 

[Arno Wagner]

My system is starting to make this "chirping" sound every 5-10
seconds. I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm assuming that one of my
four drives is the source of this noise.

Aside from bearing noise, what are other possible sources of this
noise? These drives are all SCSI U160 or 320. More importantly, how
urgent is it that I identify and replace the noisy drive?

This is denifnitely not bearing noise. It may be a recalibration,
if it is the disks. In this case you may have insufficient cooling
or a disk may be failing.

I would say the urgency depends on how current you last
back-up is. In doubt, it is very urgent.

Arno

 

[Mike Redrobe]

My system is starting to make this "chirping" sound every 5-10
seconds. I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm assuming that one of my
four drives is the source of this noise.

Could be a recalibration noise - ibm/hitachi are known to have a
characteristic chirping sound every 5-10 minutes.

If its every 5-10 *seconds*, then maybe the drive is too hot,
or about to expire ...

Aside from bearing noise, what are other possible sources of this
noise? These drives are all SCSI U160 or 320. More importantly, how
urgent is it that I identify and replace the noisy drive?

Maybe its just a noisy seek noise, but I`d be surprised...

 

[Lady Margaret Thatcher]

Lady Margaret Thatcher Was_at_10_Downing_Street@bad_for_the_UK.org wrote

You dont usually get that with bearings.


It can be the drive recalibrating.

Oh, but why would a drive suddenly start doing re-cals much more
frequently than before? ?

Unplug the power cable from each drive
in turn and see which on stops that noise.

I did that, and for a while the noise stopped. Then (with the
"offending drive" unpowered,) I started hearing that same chirping
noise again. So either I'm having terrible luck with my drives, or
maybe I didn't identify the right drive the first time, or maybe it's
not the drive.

I'd rather replace a fan than a drive!

It would be interesting to see what happens if you pause
the boot by hitting the Pause key at boot time too.

Some of my drives have delayed spin-up, yet I heard that chirp as soon
as i turned on my system. more and more, I'm thinking that the drives
aren't the problem.

Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

Oh, but why would a drive suddenly start doing
re-cals much more frequently than before? ?

Because its getting much to hot now, say due to a fan failure,
or the drive is dying, or the power supply is sagging, etc etc etc.

I did that, and for a while the noise stopped. Then (with the
"offending drive" unpowered,) I started hearing that same chirping
noise again. So either I'm having terrible luck with my drives, or
maybe I didn't identify the right drive the first time, or maybe it's
not the drive.

I'd rather replace a fan than a drive!

Sure, and the obvious test is to unplug all the drives and
see if the chirp ever shows up with them all unplugged.

Its rather unlikely to be a fan tho with a regular chirp every 5-10 secs.

Some of my drives have delayed spin-up, yet I heard
that chirp as soon as i turned on my system. more and
more, I'm thinking that the drives aren't the problem.

Yeah, sounds likely. But its rare for a fan to sound like that.

It can be something in the speakers instead of a drive
or fan, but you wont get that if the system hasnt
booted and is paused during the POST phase.

Have you looked for a canary trapped inside the case ?