From: daytripper on
On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:53:47 +0100, dave <dave(a)127.0.0.1> wrote:

>(Mobo P5Q DL with XP sp2)
>
>The disc led on my P5Q DL pulses at about 1 second intervals. I have a
>750Gb seagate sata drive(s) connected. I've done much googling and
>tried to fix this since I had the mobo a few months ago. I just cannot
>stop that damn LED flashing away. (I can hear the disc responding so
>it is actually activating the drive).
>
>It's not fastfind
>It's not any indexing I can see
>The BIOS is set to IDE enhanced
>Tried different drives - no difference
>Tried different sata ports - no difference
>
>
>The problem reduces if I disconnect the sata DVD drive (the pulse rate
>is the same but it is less "intense" - the LED is on for a shorter
>time)
>
>A newsgroups poster told me he has the exactly same mobo and drives
>and no problem with flashing LED
>
>Perhaps the BIOS corrupt in some way? (Is there a way I can reset the
>BIOS to the original values?)
>
>Is the mobo faulty perhaps?
>
>Am just lost for ideas on this one.
>Thanks for any help.

So...you have a problem with a blinking drive LED - but no functional issues?

Turn off Autoplay for that drive.

/daytripper
From: Barry Watzman on
The light indicates activity on ANY IDE/SATA device, not just the hard
drive (e.g. on the optical drives as well). If I was going to guess,
the "culprit" (which is harmless) is "Auto Insert Notification", the
mechanism by which the OS queries the optical drives to determine if you
have inserted a disc (so that Auto-run can "do it's thing", if you have).


dave wrote:
> (Mobo P5Q DL with XP sp2)
>
> The disc led on my P5Q DL pulses at about 1 second intervals. I have a
> 750Gb seagate sata drive(s) connected. I've done much googling and
> tried to fix this since I had the mobo a few months ago. I just cannot
> stop that damn LED flashing away. (I can hear the disc responding so
> it is actually activating the drive).
>
> It's not fastfind
> It's not any indexing I can see
> The BIOS is set to IDE enhanced
> Tried different drives - no difference
> Tried different sata ports - no difference
>
>
> The problem reduces if I disconnect the sata DVD drive (the pulse rate
> is the same but it is less "intense" - the LED is on for a shorter
> time)
>
> A newsgroups poster told me he has the exactly same mobo and drives
> and no problem with flashing LED
>
> Perhaps the BIOS corrupt in some way? (Is there a way I can reset the
> BIOS to the original values?)
>
> Is the mobo faulty perhaps?
>
> Am just lost for ideas on this one.
> Thanks for any help.
From: Rob on

"dave" <dave(a)127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:i335r5197b2h3ihlb4pb6unnfm19te7lor(a)4ax.com...
> (Mobo P5Q DL with XP sp2)
>
> The disc led on my P5Q DL pulses at about 1 second intervals. I have a
> 750Gb seagate sata drive(s) connected. I've done much googling and
> tried to fix this since I had the mobo a few months ago. I just cannot
> stop that damn LED flashing away. (I can hear the disc responding so
> it is actually activating the drive).
>
> It's not fastfind
> It's not any indexing I can see
> The BIOS is set to IDE enhanced
> Tried different drives - no difference
> Tried different sata ports - no difference
>
>
> The problem reduces if I disconnect the sata DVD drive (the pulse rate
> is the same but it is less "intense" - the LED is on for a shorter
> time)
>
> A newsgroups poster told me he has the exactly same mobo and drives
> and no problem with flashing LED
>
> Perhaps the BIOS corrupt in some way? (Is there a way I can reset the
> BIOS to the original values?)
>
> Is the mobo faulty perhaps?

Nothing wrong with your hardware.
As others have said, check 'auto-insert notification' settings in XP.
Other software, such as 3rd-party media players which have a memory-
resident part, may be checking if you have inserted media (DVDs) etc.
Try disabling all startup programs. If the pulsing stops, track the culprit
down by re-enabling startup programs one by one.
You may need to check the 'run' key in the registry if it is a media player
and disabling startup items (eg using msconfig) doesn't do it. Or uninstall
any media player(s) until it stops. I've a feeling certain versions of Nero
might install things that do this, but I could be thinking of something else
I
uninstalled long ago.
HTH
--
Rob




From: mikea on
dave <dave(a)127.0.0.1> wrote in <mbobr5ti2f4pdfljekutjdrq3kcud61ugp(a)4ax.com>:

> Have just finished trying the autorun auto play thing in XP. Done it
> "properly" afai can see. Edited the appropriate register setting to
> disable all drives from autorun and double checked in the policy
> setting. No - fix there though the led still blinks away at 1 sec
> intervals (and the disc responds - can hear it).
>
> Ok so I'll go through all the starttup progs...
>
> ps nothing shows up the in task man view - too short an interval
> maybe.

And, of course, it may be running as a "service" in such a way that it
won't show up. *sigh*

--
"The NSA is hiring computer scientists and mathematicians for ongoing
projects in communications research. If you are interested and would
like a brochure, just pick up your phone and call anybody."
-- parody of NSA recruitment blurb, late 1980s
From: Ian D on

"dave" <dave(a)127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:mbobr5ti2f4pdfljekutjdrq3kcud61ugp(a)4ax.com...
> On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:42:09 +0100, "Rob" <noone(a)nowhere.noway.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Nothing wrong with your hardware.
>>As others have said, check 'auto-insert notification' settings in XP.
>>Other software, such as 3rd-party media players which have a memory-
>>resident part, may be checking if you have inserted media (DVDs) etc.
>>Try disabling all startup programs. If the pulsing stops, track the
>>culprit
>>down by re-enabling startup programs one by one.
>>You may need to check the 'run' key in the registry if it is a media
>>player
>>and disabling startup items (eg using msconfig) doesn't do it. Or
>>uninstall
>>any media player(s) until it stops. I've a feeling certain versions of
>>Nero
>>might install things that do this, but I could be thinking of something
>>else
>>I
>>uninstalled long ago.
>>HTH
>
> Thanks all.
> Have just finished trying the autorun auto play thing in XP. Done it
> "properly" afai can see. Edited the appropriate register setting to
> disable all drives from autorun and double checked in the policy
> setting. No - fix there though the led still blinks away at 1 sec
> intervals (and the disc responds - can hear it).
>
> Ok so I'll go through all the starttup progs...
>
> ps nothing shows up the in task man view - too short an interval
> maybe.

If you really want to see what's going on in real time,
download Process Monitor from MS. It shows a lot
of data very quickly, but you can capture a time slice,
then examine it to see what's going on. The data is
very specific and detailed, so you can see the actual files,
or registry locations being accessed. The once per second
pulsing of the HD lamp is very common. On my system it
appears to coincide with explorer.exe activity.

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