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Topic: Two questions |
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 8:00 am |
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I've got a Dell 8300 with McAfee virus scan. It is connected to a hub that feeds 3 other computers as well. I run XP home for the OS.
I've noticed the disc access light blinks on at about 1 second intervals. It's been doing that for some time. That doesn't seem natural. The computer works fine. Any thoughts?
Secondly, I have an external hard drive connected to my old computer. I'd like to connect it to the new one. The Dell is formated in NTFS while the external drive is FAT. My guess is the two should still work together, or would it be better to format the external to NTFS as well.
Thanks.
Ken |
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Bill Crook
From:
Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 10:59 am
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Ken;
Regarding the blinking hard drive access LED, check to see if you are allowing the Windows Indexing Service to run. If so, and if you don't specifically want it to eat up resources, turn it off for all drives.
To turn off the Indexing service open My Computer, find you primary hard drive and right-click on it's icon. Select Properties. On the General tag at the bottom you will see two checkboxes, one of which is titled "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." If it is checked, uncheck it. Follow the same procedure for any other hard drives, or partitions, that are listed in My Computer.
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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices
[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 11 April 2006 at 11:59 AM.] |
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 11:52 am
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Wiz: I did as you suggested and turned off the fast indexing, but the light still blinks. As long as it's not hurting the computer, I can live with it.
Bill: You have confirmed what I thought. I'm debating now whether to use the old external or buy a new one which is about 1/3 the size and a little bigger capacity.
Thanks all.
Ken |
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John Daugherty
From:
Rolla, Missouri, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 12:53 pm
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| Wiz, the only option I see with Win XP is called "write caching". |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 1:34 pm
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I assume you have a Firewall (if not get one ASAP). If you don't have a Firewall there may be spyware or worse yet someone has installed some other program that is using your PC as a server.
Run a complete virus scan (with an up to date antivirus data file) and also a completed spyware scan with an up to date spyware program. |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2006 8:05 pm
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John said: quote:
Wiz, the only option I see with Win XP is called "write caching".
John;
Did you OPEN My Computer (by double-clicking on the icon), then RIGHT-CLICK on your C Drive icon, then select PROPERTIES? When I do that and look at the bottom of the GENERAL tab I see two checkboxes. The first turns on Compressing the drive to save space (useless most of the time), while the second is for turning on or off the Indexing Service. I see nothing at all about write caching.
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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices
[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 11 April 2006 at 09:07 PM.] |
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John Daugherty
From:
Rolla, Missouri, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 5:26 am
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Wiz, There are no options listed under the "general tab" in my system. It just shows general info such as "local disk" "Fat32" "used space" and "free space". I am running Win XP Pro sp/2. I found "write caching" under "hardware/drive C/properties/policies" .
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www.home.earthlink.net/~johnd37
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 6:00 am
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John;
I'm stumped on this one. It might be because you are formatted as FAT32 that these options do not appear at the bottom of the general tab, of Local Drive C's properties. I use the NTFS Format on my XP Pro setup, and have all manner of advanced security options available for file and folder permissions. Maybe Indexing Service is tied to NTFS.
The Indexing Service is tied to NTFS formatting.
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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices
[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 12 April 2006 at 07:06 AM.] [This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 12 April 2006 at 07:07 AM.] |
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 7:31 am
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I've done everything explained here. I ran McAffee virus checker and found no virus. I ran noadaware and it found one surfing file that it called severe danger which I deleted. I turned off the fast access function and the write caching. Nothing seems to stop the blinking disc light. As I mentioned, thats no problem to me if the computer is not affected.
The 1/8 stero mike input no longer works but I've been able to input audio through guitar port, but I would like to have the other input working. I'll be going to a computer repair shop to see if they can take that input out to a breadboard with 1/4" jacks that are not so flimsy. I can have them take a look at the blinking access light as well.
Just another fun day in the computing world.
Ken |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 9:19 am
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Ken;
Think about doubling your system RAM, while the computer is in the shop. Hard disk access may be related to your system not having enough RAM to hold all running processes in memory, hence some functions may be swapped out to your hard drive, to the pagefile space, then read back into memory when needed. Doubling your RAM may stop this swapping out activity, if that's what it is.
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Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 12:28 pm
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I have 512 MB of memory in my computer. It should be enough. At the computer store the guy said not to worry about the blinking light. He also told me about a breakout box which is connected by fireware to the computer. Fortunately my son put a firewire connection in it a while back.
So it looks like the computer stays at home and I ignore the broken 1/8 input and go with firewire. Hopefully that's the end of the story.
Thanks for all the input.
Ken |
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