Excessive H/D access while idling?

[surface9]

My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
with no apps running.
I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
(SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
with no apps running.
I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
(SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.

Indexing is often a possibility.


HTH
-pk

 

[Nepatsfan]

My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
with no apps running.
I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
(SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.

There are a number of system maintenance tasks which XP will perform while
your computer is idle. One of them is creating System Restore points, a
feature that doesn't exist on your Win2K installation.

If you do a Google search for Windows XP System Idle Task Scheduler service,
you'll find more info on the subject. Here are a couple of articles to get
you started.

Windows XP does not enter standby after the exact period that is configured
in the Power Options profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899975

Hard Disks Do Not Turn Off After Your Computer Has Been Idle
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313300

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[JS]

I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
once per second even after a "Clean Install"
of XP, with no other applications installed.

Even tried killing one process after another
until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
Tried killing other processes until Windows
crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
issue, at least on my test PC.

 

[Ian D]

I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
once per second even after a "Clean Install"
of XP, with no other applications installed.

Even tried killing one process after another
until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
Tried killing other processes until Windows
crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
issue, at least on my test PC.

--

Process Monitor can show all system and disk activity
in real time.


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

 

[JS]

I've tried both Process Monitor and Process Explorer.
I know that Norton's NIS 2009 will cause activity about
once a second, but on a "Clean Install", then only added
Process Monitor and Process Explorer in an attempt to
isolate the cause did not reveal anything.

So every once in a while I take another crack at it.

 

[Ian D]

I've tried both Process Monitor and Process Explorer.
I know that Norton's NIS 2009 will cause activity about
once a second, but on a "Clean Install", then only added
Process Monitor and Process Explorer in an attempt to
isolate the cause did not reveal anything.

So every once in a while I take another crack at it.

The once per second blips are a mystery. I've had them in
Win95, Win98, Win2k, and still have them in XpPro and
64 bit Vista Ultimate. I have NIS 2009, and compared to
NIS 2008, Symantec has really reduced the overhead. I
get a single NIS registry query about once every 2-3
seconds. With NIS 2008, the were numerous batches
of dozens of queries. With the system idle there are
almost no NIS 2009 disk accesses, maybe 10 single
accesses per minute at the most. I've noticed that MS
Intellipoint has a lot of disk accesses. Logitech Setpoint
was even worse when it was installed.

 

[Larry Manoni]

I had a similar problem. It turned our to be caused by my Sony DVD player.
The player requires the hard drive scan to see if a disc is present in the
DVD drive. When I disable the DVD drive from Device Manager the flashing
hard-drive light stops flashing. Of course I have to enable if I want to use
it, so I live with the flashing light.

 

[JS]

Good ideal, think I'll try it.

 

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling

Surely not. TVs and films only need to run at 25-30 fps to appear like
constant motion, so I do not think you'd be able to see something blinking
70-80 times per second - and how could you count a rate like that anyway?
What rate did you really mean?

 

[surface9]

Surely not.  TVs and films only need to run at 25-30 fps to appear like
constant motion, so I do not think you'd be able to see something blinking
70-80 times per second - and how could you count a rate like that anyway?
What rate did you really mean?

--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.

Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply
to (e-mail address removed) replacing "nnn" by "284".  

Pardon me, Jeremy, I really meant 70 - 80 per minute - I was sleepy
when i made the post.

However, following Larry's suggestion, I disabled my DVD in settings/
system/hardware/device manager/DVD ROM and the rapid blinking did stop
- but, it still would blink every 20 or 30 seconds for about 10 or 20
blinks, then pause for another 20 or 30 seconds. That tells me that
the DVD rom (I have the LG Blu Ray reader/writer) is causing that red
light to blink 70 - 80 times per second, but, even with it disabled,
something else in XP forces h/d access every 20 or 30 seconds in a 10
or 20 blink flurry. It just seems superfluous to be thrashing so much
when the system is completely idle. I worry about overworking that h/
d read arm or something - maybe it is not a problem and I should just
put black tape over that darn red light?

 

[Robert Wolfe]

when the system is completely idle. I worry about overworking that h/
d read arm or something - maybe it is not a problem and I should just
put black tape over that darn red light?

Keep in mind that in some instances, Windows XP may be just doing a
filesystem indexing or updating restore points when the computer is
idle. Personally, if your system has no virii or other malware and is
essentially clean, I would not worry about it. In which case, just put
a piece of black tape over the light if it really bothers you that much.

 

[JS]

Indexing service has been turned off, so it's not
the cause.

A Restore Point is static and does not get updated once
it has be created.

New restore points may be created but usually only once
each day unless you are installing/uninstalling software.