Toshiba 80GB notebook HDD problem

[gshapiro]

Got a strange one here. At least to me.

My Toshiba 80GB HDD in a Dell Latitude C640 will only work when I have
the Keyboard part of the notebook at an angle of 45 degrees or better.

When the notebook lies flat I can not access the drive and I hear a
noise coming from the drive that I do not hear when at the angle I
mentioned above.

Moving the keyboard between flat and angled will stop and restart disk
activity. It's actually amusing in a weird way to see this.

I had the motherboard replaced thinking that was the problem but it
didn't fix the problem.

The drive is still under warranty so I can get it replaced. I am just
interested in what could be causing this. What is going on inside the
drive that would make it not function when it's in the position it
should be in most of the time, flat.

Inquiring minds want to know

Thanks.

btw... Could my problem be something else? I do not have another drive
to test with it. Wish I did. It would make things easier.

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Got a strange one here. At least to me.

My Toshiba 80GB HDD in a Dell Latitude C640 will only work when I have
the Keyboard part of the notebook at an angle of 45 degrees or better.

When the notebook lies flat I can not access the drive
and I hear a noise coming from the drive that I do not
hear when at the angle I mentioned above.

Moving the keyboard between flat and angled will stop and restart
disk activity. It's actually amusing in a weird way to see this.

I had the motherboard replaced thinking that
was the problem but it didn't fix the problem.

The drive is still under warranty so I can get it replaced.
I am just interested in what could be causing this. What
is going on inside the drive that would make it not function
when it's in the position it should be in most of the time, flat.

You'd basically have to decide if its the drive itself that's
angle sensitive or something in the rest of the notebook.

The simplest way to do that is to use an adapter so you can
run the drive on a desktop ribbon cable and then try that with
the drive loose, see what difference the angle makes.

Inquiring minds want to know

btw... Could my problem be something else?

Yes, it could be a problem elsewhere in the notebook
thats see a poor connection to the drive when its flat etc.

I do not have another drive to test with it.
Wish I did. It would make things easier.

Yeah, thats the main downside with notebooks, diagnosis is less easy.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Got a strange one here. At least to me.

My Toshiba 80GB HDD in a Dell Latitude C640 will only work when I have
the Keyboard part of the notebook at an angle of 45 degrees or better.

When the notebook lies flat I can not access the drive and I hear a
noise coming from the drive that I do not hear when at the angle I
mentioned above.

Moving the keyboard between flat and angled will stop and restart disk
activity. It's actually amusing in a weird way to see this.

I had the motherboard replaced thinking that was the problem but it
didn't fix the problem.

The drive is still under warranty so I can get it replaced. I am just
interested in what could be causing this. What is going on inside the
drive that would make it not function when it's in the position it
should be in most of the time, flat.

Inquiring minds want to know

btw... Could my problem be something else? I do not have another drive
to test with it. Wish I did. It would make things easier.

Sounds very much like a contact problem, i.e. a bad connector or
a broken wire. The HDD itself should not care about its orientation
at all. Also the moving between positions effect you describe is
very characteristic for contact problems.

The other thing about contact problems is that they require
experience and time to find. One issue is that many are Heisenbugs:
When you look at them they change or vanish.

Since this could be very stressful for the drive, I advise immediate
backup if anything worthwhile is on the drive.

Arno

 

[gshapiro]

Thanks for the all the information guys. Since I had Dell replace the
motherboard I doubt if the connectors on the MB are at fault.

I contacted Dell and they agreed to send me a new drive. It's not the
same type that is causing me the problems. I replaced that one a while
back with the larger Toshiba 80GB drive. I bought that on my own.
They are sending me the drive that came with the notebook, a lowly 30GB
one.

I'll see what the Dell drive does. If it has the same symptoms than I
guess it's the notebook.

I've had two other drives 'fail' on me in the past on this machine.
Dell replaced them eveytime. They worked for a while. If I knew about
the 'angle' thing then I would have tried to see if they would come
alive. If these failures were of the same variety then it looks like
the notebook is at fault.

I'll get the new drive on 9/12/05. I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again for your replies.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Sounds very much like a contact problem, i.e. a bad connector or
a broken wire.

The working/not working symptom does, but not in the way in how
that symptom manifests itself.
Gravity appears to be a factor in that. That is downright weird.

The HDD itself should not care about its orientation at all.

Also the moving between positions effect you describe is
very characteristic for contact problems.

Nope, but distorting the case while doing that might well give that effect.
That should be simple to check though.

The other thing about contact problems is that they require
experience and time to find. One issue is that many are Heisenbugs:
When you look at them they change or vanish.

In which case it usually is the initial diagnosis being wrong.
Otherwise one would just call it an intermittend problem.
Or that 'look at it' (physical inspection) just cured the problem by itself
already, simply by unscrewing the stuff and then putting it together again.

 

[Rod Speed]

The working/not working symptom does, but not in the way in how
that symptom manifests itself.

Gravity appears to be a factor in that. That is downright weird.

Not that weird with something with the weight of a hard drive.

Nope, but distorting the case while doing that might well give that
effect. That should be simple to check though.

In which case it usually is the initial diagnosis being wrong.

Unlikely with that particular symptom.

 

[helpdisc]

Toshiba hdd\s have only one problem anf that is ballbearing verrryyyy
bad but it can be fixed.
HelpDisc