On optical bay HD caddy adapters for laptops

[ckonstantinos]

Hi MagicAndre,

 

Thank you for your guide! I have the same problem with the process "System" keeping the CPU constantly at 10-20%. Actually I have a vaio with "stamina-speed" switch. When I select "stamina" the CPU is constantly at 10%. When I select "speed" the CPU is at 20%. I followed your instructions and I think the responsible threads are ACPI and HAL. I tried to find a new BIOS but it seems that I have the latest one. I installed all the windows updates but nothing changed (I have windows 8.1). I changed my power saving setting but nothing improved. Please can you have a look at my DPC_Interrupt.etl because I don't know what else to do and this problem is eating my battery!

 

Here is my DPC_Interrupt.etl:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105145405/DPC_Interrupt.zip

 

Thank you so much

Konstantinos

[MagicAndre1981]

yeah, ACPI.sys is causing the high CPU Usage. This is hard to debug. Have you asked the Sony Support?

[ckonstantinos]

Hi MagicAndre,

 

Thank you for your reply. Finally I have found the source of the problem but I don't know how to fix it! Some time ago I replaced my broken optical drive with a second hard drive. I installed it using a HD caddy adapter. So now I reinstalled my broken optical drive and the high CPU usage disappeared!

 

Now few strange things are happening:

When I have the second HD installed (via caddy) It works but in the BIOS under "second hard drive" it says "none". So I guess it is because it is connected in the optical drive slot. Also in the device manager the second HD appears as hard drive and "working properly" and both hard drives use the generic Microsoft (2006) driver and are recognised as SCSI devices. Under disk management the second HD is listed as "Healthy, Active, Primary".

 

The strange thing is that even if I disable the second HD from the device manager or from the BIOS by disabling the optical drive the high CPU usage problem still persists. Only if I remove is and install the optical drive the CPU goes back to normal!

 

I tried to update the HD driver from the automatic update of the device manager but it couldn't find a newer driver. Do you have any suggestions to solve the problem and being able to use my second internal hard drive?

 

Thank you very much!

Konstantinos

[ckonstantinos]

Hi again,

 

Actually I discovered that even if there is no device physically installed in the optical drive slot the problem still exists! This tells me that the problem is not the second hard drive but the absence of the optical drive. So I think that the driver for the optical drive is looking for it causing high interrupts or something like this. So I reinstalled the optical drive and from the device manager I selected "disable" and then "uninstall" for the optical drive hoping that it will stop looking for it. Then I shut down the computer and reinstalled the second hard drive but the high CPU usage is still there! I think the optical drive driver is not uninstalled properly or something like this.

 

Any suggestions please? Thank you.

Konstantinos

[ckonstantinos]

I guess this is the answer for my problem. I just found it online:

 

"Normally the optical drive sends a signal to BIOS to let it know that the optical drive is closed and the computer is allowed to read the optical medium. If this signal stays “open” then the BIOS keeps sending this signal. Because the HDD Caddy does not eject the tray, it causes unnecessary CPU usage during idle because the signal cannot be closed.

To prevent this problem, the SATA or PATA converter board needs to be modified."

 

I guess there is no software or setting workaround this problem, only hardware modification

[jaclaz]

Interesting.

I guess it comes from here:

http://hddcaddy.eu/2010/01/22/which-hdd-caddy-for-my-laptop/

 

If the issue is connected to the BIOS, then no, you need either a mofdified BIOS or a hardware mod, but I doubt that the BIOS plays any role once a "protected mode" OS (and HAL and drivers) have loaded, so I would believe that a specific Filter Driver could be written to avoid this behaviour.

 

UPDATE:

The "hardware mod" however must not be that much a complex one, see:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/EiioX-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM-storage/dp/B00E7MH15Y

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3Q0BO84VRA2GC/ref=cm_cr_dp_title/280-7467464-6950938?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00E7MH15Y&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=340831031&store=computers

 

If it's a "switch" it must be a very simple "hack", as judging from the photos of similar thingies I found there is no electronics on board and the connectors seem a lot like "passive" gender changers/adapters.

 

UPDATE2:

It is seemingly a "misuse" of the SATA Pin 4 "Diagnostics" as "Device Attention" pin:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/673048-sony-s15-2012-disassembly-odd-caddy-video-tutorial-19.html

In another thread the pin is simply disconnected:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/388625-diy-adding-ssd-hdd-storage-using-optical-bay-caddy-48.html

 

It seems like the "feature" only applies to Windows 8 and later:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn614034(v=vs.85).aspx

 

SATA specs (WARNING! 9 Mb or 700 pages in size):

http://www.knowledgetek.com/graphicsNew/SerialATA_Revision_3_1_Gold-KT.pdf

 

jaclaz

Edited September 21, 2014 by jaclaz

[MagicAndre1981]

I also use a HD Caddy in my Dell Laptop to use my old 1TB HDD side by side to my SSD where Windows + all applications is stored. And I have no issue at all.

[jaclaz]

I also use a HD Caddy in my Dell Laptop to use my old 1TB HDD side by side to my SSD where Windows + all applications is stored. And I have no issue at all.

Judging from the mentioned resources is something that not all laptop makers actually implemented or did not implement in all models (otherwise it would have made NO sense whatsoever to provide the caddy with the switch), and there is the "concurrent need" of a Windows 8 or later as seemingly Windows 7 and earlier miss this feature (which is logical since the drafts I could find are late 2009/2010).

 

If you want to draw a line, it is likely that anything manufactured until 2011 or so (possibly half 2012) does not have that pin used as "Device Attention", and anything manufactured after that date and/or intended for Windows 8 uses it.

 

Of course the good DELL guys - as always - may well have made their own slightly-different-from-any-standard-or-specification-known-to-man setup .

 

jaclaz

Edited September 21, 2014 by jaclaz

[ckonstantinos]

Hi Jaclaz,

 

Thank you very much for your answer and your investigation. I guess the easiest solution is to find one of those caddies with a switch.

 

Cheers

Konstantinos

Edited September 22, 2014 by ckonstantinos

[MagicAndre1981]

 

 and there is the "concurrent need" of a Windows 8 or later as seemingly Windows 7 and earlier miss this feature (which is logical since the drafts I could find are late 2009/2010).

 

 

I also boot Windows 7 on the laptop (VHD Boot) and I also have no DPC issues there.

[jaclaz]

 

I also boot Windows 7 on the laptop (VHD Boot) and I also have no DPC issues there.

 

Sure, but, this seems to me "pretty much normal", from what I can understand from the given links the situation should be :

Windows 7 and earlier:

• the status of the diagnostic pin is ignored (by the Windows driver)

Windows 8 and later:

• the status of the diagnostic pin is interpreted (by the Windows driver) as "Device Attention"

To this you have to add that the original optical device must have this feature (which is optional) and that the laptop should also have it and that your caddy may either have a switch internally that by pure chance is set "properly" or it has it not but the pin is either disconnected or connected to a high resistance to ground.

 

Here (though of course does not really say it), it says how a given Vaio model need a "special" caddy:

http://hddcaddy.com/en/sony-vaio-hdd-caddy/165-sony-vaio-svs13-s13-hdd-caddy.html

- SATA board has been updated to prevent unncessary CPU usage during idle. This is onyl for Sony Vaio.

 

 

Similar caddies for DELL's do not sport that, but mention a shutdown issue:

http://hddcaddy.com/en/dell-hdd-caddy/322-dell-inspiron-14z-hdd-caddy.html

- updated SATA board: incl. fix for Dell shutdown problem with 2nd HDD

 

 

As someone before me said :

I love standards, there are so many of them

 

 

jaclaz

Edited September 22, 2014 by jaclaz

[ckonstantinos]

Hello Andre and Jaclaz,

 

I can confirm that the problem for the high CPU usage was the pin on the SATA connector that notifies if the tray is closed or open. I searched today online for a caddy with a switch on the SATA connector and found this that ships to Sydney:

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Internal-optical-drives-Slot-in-IDE-Combo-DW-224SL-BD-ROM/611259789.html

 

And then I realised that since last night I read about the solution I haven't checked if mine has the switch

So I uninstalled it and guess what, yes it has

 

I changed the position of the switch and now my vaio idle is back to 0% and the battery life has doubled again!

I also realised that most of the suppliers don't even know about this feature of the caddies they are selling, so anyone that has a high CPU and has installed a caddy PLEASE CHECK YOUR CADDY FOR A SWITCH!!

 

This is an image of the switch:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105145405/caddy%20switch.jpg

Edited September 22, 2014 by ckonstantinos

[jaclaz]

And then I realised that since last night I read about the solution I haven't checked if mine has the switch

So I uninstalled it and guess what, yes it has

Yep sometimes you look for something very far when you already have it at home.

 

I changed the position of the switch and now my vaio idle is back to 0% and the battery life has doubled again!

Good, another happy bunny in the basket!

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128727-cant-access-repair-my-pc-option-via-f8-startup/?p=828512

 

I also realised that most of the suppliers don't even know about this feature of the caddies they are selling, so anyone that has a high CPU and has installed a caddy PLEASE CHECK YOUR CADDY FOR A SWITCH!!

 

This is an image of the switch:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105145405/caddy%20switch.jpg

Yep, and of course the vague reference to "dual channel" makes very little sense, as well as the attribution of position A for "HP SC" and B for "DELL, IBM, and others".

Out of curiosity, is your Sony Vaio a "HP SC" or a "DELL, IBM, and others"? (i.e. is your switch now working in the A or in the B position?)

jaclaz

P.S.: Attaching your image so it hopefully does not get lost.

P.P.S.: Found another image of another caddy, where the line is drawn between Thinkpad/Dell and HP and "all others"

Edited September 22, 2014 by jaclaz

[ckonstantinos]

My Vaio SVS-15 is "HP SC" i.e. position A

[MagicAndre1981]

I use this one:
 

 
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0088WOALW/
 
I see it has this switch, which I haven't seen before. I also haven't changed a setting of the switch.