Messerschmitt

Thanks Typo? WPA2 with AES cipher is current best practice. The last thing you want tis anything to do with those three letters: WEP. Yes typo. I have WPA2 Pre-Shared. My WRT54GL does not have an AES option for wireless security.

Thanks for the input. Fortunately, nobody has access to my physical machines. But I do live in a complex, so neighbors were on my mind. So bottom line, since my wireless is WEP2 and the pass for that is pretty strong with lots of mixed characters, plugging in ethernet cable or continue using the wireless shouldn't make much of a difference yes?

Yea, my wireless is WPA2 encryption. But was just wondering if user and pass transmission from Win 7 to target via network is encrypted, or if it's plain. Or if it's done via wireless, it uses the WPA2 encryption? I have the WPA2 encryption in my router settings for wireless.

Hey, really would like to know. I just bought a NAS, and I would like to know if I log-in through Network, would the username and pass my NAS requires for the specific username, be encrypted? I'm basically using Wireless to connect to my router, hence why I wouldn't want someone with packet sniffer get my NAS user and pass. Thanks

Hello guys, I have the same problems as it's described in this thread. The only solution I have understood from that thread, is to install the applications directly from the CD, which I did. However, as in that thread, the applications won't start. It will open up in Task Manager, but will close immediately after without any warnings or errors. Are there any solutions please? Thanks.

Hey, good news. Disabled the idle timer (which was at 4s!!) and from what I can notice, everything is all smooth, no more parking. So glad I found the wdidle3 file Cheers for all the help. Until next time.

haha, for sure Now, I only need to find a way to boot to DOS so I can use it. Any ideas? I kept looking into it, like freeDOS, or DOS 6.22, but I remember having problems with them when I flashed my ATI GPU. I can't really find a DOS .iso that supports NTFS. (to read the idle3) If you could let me know how to do that. Cheers!

Wait, on the link you give on WD site, it says "This utility is designed to upgrade the firmware of the following hard drives: WD1000FYPS-01ZKB0, WD7500AYPS-01ZKB0, WD7501AYPS-01ZKB0." But I have WD1600BEVT-75A23T0 However, the guy on notebook review said he had a WD1200BEVE. Also the file inside the zip has a .txt showing different parameters. Yet on the WD site it says it's a plain firmware update? I don't want to brink my HDD :/

Thanks. So which option would be better in your opinion? I mean considering if both will solve the main issue, the clicking, what about the other aspects (which I don't really know what they are , maybe detecting a fall?) Which option would you pick, and why? Cheers

Hi, Just wanted to update this. I got my Toshiba HDD replaced with a Western Digital Scorpio Blue. That un-winding clank made me get a replacement. Now no more un-winding or any weired clicks, just what I think, it's the parking click for the Western Digital, which sounds something like the file attached here. Now I am going to try the quietHDD again on this HDD, see how that will change. But how about this suggestion? http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell/168425-clicking-noise-issue-resolved-37.html#post6476125. Boot in MS-DOS and use the WD idle tool? Is that a better alternative to quietHDD? Does it do the same thing? Thanks WD clicking.wav

Really appreciate all your replies Will let you know in a few/several days how everything is going once I will have time to do some proper testing after I finish tomorrow with my last final at school.

Thank you for all your help and support. I will continue monitoring it with NHC and quietHDD since as you said, they are 2 programs that can continue keeping the APM after boot/suspend, etc. I might try with only 1 installed at a time. There COULD be a possibility that the faint clicks I heard were normal HDD clicks? For the parking click, how often it's suppose to happen? Every few minutes, or once every hr or so while doing word processing type of stuff (coding in notepad, etc)? As for the temperature, even tho this laptop is only a few weeks old, I don't think Dell could do anything to elevate the high temperature of the HDD if I send it for warranty, unless there are other drives that run cooler. I attached some pics, and the first picture is the spot that I noticed is the most hot, vs other spots on the back which are not nearly as hot. After opening it, sure enough, that's where the HDD is sitting. It's all packed tight in there, and I don't think there's any room on the other side since that's where the trackpad is. I did noticed the trackpad and surrounding is getting the warmest when I use the laptop. Would it be correct to assume that any other HDD brands like WD would also get hot in that tight space? Unfortunately this is my first laptop, and I don't have any other 2.5" HDD's to test. And by how all tight everything is in there, I think I would be a bit afraid to try take out the HDD.

The mk1665gsx is exactly what I have too. Does your do the clicking sound in your laptop? And could you tell me what it's operating temperature, and your rooms temeprature? Also, to understand, the APM (192,254) settings would only kick in when running the application at every start? In my case, with NHC, NHC should be running? It's not something that would affect the firmware of the HDD, but merely a software change? Maybe you know if there actually would be a firmware update for the toshiba HDD to stop the clicking? I googled a bit but nothing came up. I will uninstall NHC to get a better idea. hdparm is a program I'm presuming? I'm trying to run hdparm.exe in cmd and it says it's not a recognized internal command. Looked it up on google but couldn't find an "official" site to download it.

Before installing NHC, I had faint clicks every minute or so, and the big loud one with the winding once or twice in a few hours period. Once I installed NHC, and change the APM o 254 or 192, the faint clicks stopped. They stopped even if NHC is or is not running. And from what I could notice in the short time, the big loud click happens when NHC is not running (the one in the sample). I would also like to mention that I am a bit concerned about the HDD temp too. I noticed it reach 49°C. And it's winter now, in my room it's only 21-22°C. I don't want to think what the HDD temp will be in the summer when my room will be 27+°C. Atm, I'm running NHC, and trying to figure out for sure if the clicks stop when NHC stays running, vs not running. I'm running Win XP Pro. Not sure what Powercfg.exe is. I tried running it in Run, but will just quickly open the cmd and close it. And I'm pretty sure it's not the same sound. Besides, the obvious difference in sound, the faint clicks were happening every minute or so when the HDD was idle. From what I could notice, this loud click happens also when HDD is idle? (but it happened even when HDD was idle for like 1-2 minutes only), so I don't think the HDD was turning off, etc. Thing is, I'm not entirely sure which clicks are parking and which is something else. The faint clicks, or this big loud one. I never had a laptop before to compare HDD sounds, except my desktop, and that thing doesn't do any sound other when the HDD is being used with the HDD LED working hard.

Hi, I have managed to record the sound it does. I really don't think it's the DVD-RW. Also when it happens, I don't have anything in the DVD-RW. I still think it's a parking noise. Before I also had some clicks, but a LOT more fainter than this, and a lot more frequent (~1 minute). The faint clicks stopped when I installed Notebook hardware control, and set the HDD to 192 APM. However, from what time I had to test, it looks like the loud click will not happen when NHC is actually running? I have another file which is bassically this one but it's sound is boosted via GoldWave, but apparently I cannot attach both files since they are over 500k. Let me know if you wish me to upload that one instead. Edit: Ok, I have uploaded the other file too in 2shared. Link: http://www.2shared.com/audio/kG48LMoP/clicking2.html clicking.rar

Thanks for the instructions. Atm, I'm having another sound issue, something that winds up for like half/1 second then clicks, quite loudly (compared to the faint clicks every minute or so when the HDD is parking). It only happens like once an hour, so not sure what it is. I'm thinking it could be coming from the DVD-rw, but not sure, it's really hard to identify the source.

Thank you all for the replies. So from all those programs maybe others, which one is the most lightweight program that can provide me with the ability to just change the HDD APM to 192 to prevent the clicking? if I don't need to have it set to start with windows (msconfig, startup) even better. Notebook hardware controler I've seen it it does not require be started during windows boot, but it does not appear as being a light weight application (so many other options, including voltage control). Cheers!

I installed something called Notebook Hardware Control. Under advanced power management it had: Enable spin down (1) Without spindown (128) Max. performance (254) And Custom (192) Default was without spindown. I set it to max performance and the clicks went away. I tried then and chose custom and left the apm to 192. Seems like the clicks don't happen at this value either... So what exactly are these APM? Internal HDD codes that tell it how to function? And why do HDD's click when parking? And most importantly, why does it keep parking every 1 minute or so? Once parked, shouldn't it stay there until I use the HDD again? Do desktop HDD park also and because of all the case fans, you can't hear it? Thanks. My lack of knowledge about HDD's is quite great P.S. Since my laptop is still in warranty, should I ask for a HDD replacement? From what I've read from other people, there are HDD's who don't make click noises in laptops?

So apparently my laptop keeps giving a "click" sound every minute or so, and I have a feeling the HDD is parking? My laptop has a Toshiba 160Gb. Any way I can stop the clicking noise? Thank you

I tried to install the quick set but it says "unsupported system" setup cannot continue.

Very nice find. I always thought if you installed windows on ATA, then you have to keep it on ATA unless you install it on SATA. I mean I remember on my desktop that, after windows, I could've switched to AHCI from ATA, it would work, but I think it would still use ATA. I wouldn't get the sata "loading" screen (see paragraph below) Only when I installed it under AHCI with drivers in windows using nlite it actually worked. And I mean the only way I would've known is that after the post boot, you get that "loading" screen saying SATA only supports HDD and DVD's, and you get the dots appearing as loading, then it shows you the drives/DVD that are connected via SATA.

Those links are for inspiron 1520 tho... couldn't it create compability issues? I mean the Quickset drivers say there can be a standby/hybernate problem with the network, and that's for their 1520. Btw. I managed to get my USB drives. If I recall what i did is I went into BIOS, de-selected then re-selected USB support. after that 6 of my 8 USB were OK (Only the 2 USB2 had the yellow !). Then even tho when selecting install software automatically it couldnt find anything, once I selected to install it manually, chose driver to install, then just select the Host Controller with show compatible hardware checked, it just installed it from who knows where, and it worked. Btw, if you have the Vostro 1014, does your HDD parks itself quite loudly? Any way to fix the clicking?

Hi, em, what do you mean by modifying the source?

Thanks for the reply. Actually I just managed to install my Audio. Basically I had to go into the folder it extracted and specifically enter the 32bit and run the setup from there. Maybe the auto-run was running the 64bit. Now, an added question. How come when I'm using the Fn + Volume or Brighness or Wireless, there is no on-screen indicator? All the laptops I've seen they had it, so am I missing a driver? Maybe it's the Base System Device? Still have all my USB's as yellow ! and the Base System Device as unknown. Doing a update via Device Manager with internet connection does not find anything.

Hi guys, I need some help with my new Dell Vostro 1014. it came with Ubuntu so I wiped the HDD clean, formated, and installed Win XP. However, after installing all the drivers from Dell's website for the Vostro 1014, I still have some hardware in device manager An unknown device Base System Device Unknown Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus Unknown Modem Device on High definition audio Bus (don't really care about the 56k modem) And all the USB under USB controllers with yellow ! (8 of them). Also, the sound driver from dell Conexant Audio gives me a Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the media device for this driver. The order I installed the dell drivers and which are is: Dell Utility, DSS_UTIL_WIN_R259999.exe and Dell_System-Software, but no clue what these does. Intel - Driver (Chipset) Audio Conexant which does not work Video Intel - Driver Network Realtek - Driver Network QMI - Driver (chose this since the specs says it comes with b/g/n, and the QMI was the only b/g/n, the Wireless 1397 are only b/g so didn't installed those from Dell - Application) Thank you, and hoping someone with knowledge, or the Vostro can help me out. Cheers!