Here we go again...

[saladbarkid]

I have a computer that has a HD, Zip, CDRW, and DVD. The HD light blinks like crazy. If I unhook the CDRW and DVD, the computer works fine. If either one is hooked up, the light blinks every second.

Now, if I hook up these 'CDROMS' and disable autoplay in regedit, the blinking stops.

I just can't use autoplay, now.:(

How would I be able to use both of my 'CDROMS' and use autoplay?

Or am I just cursed?:eek:

My OS is XP Pro, by the way, but this curse will happen on any version of Windows! 98, 98SE, 2000, it doesn't matter.:(

Please won't somebody think of the children?! Sorry, I watch too much Simpsons.:D

[Nick CPU]

Cursed. sorry :(

[saladbarkid]

D'oh!

There has to be a resolution for this...right?!

[gibsinep]

This is a long shot( I think) but how big is your powersupply and what brand is it. it is possible that you dont have enough power to run all theses pieces of hardware at once and have all thre features running.

[saladbarkid]

I don't know what brand it is, but I do know that it is a 320w PSU. It came with the case.

[gibsinep]

Well open up the case and tell us what it says. The amount of volts and it will have the brand on there also.

[saladbarkid]

It says I have a Turbolink switching power supply.

Model: CWT-350ATX-12V (350W MAX)

Would it be a good idea to buy a new PSU?

If so, then...

What brand name is best?

Is 300w good enough?

Dual fans?

Where to buy?

Why?

If not, then...

Why?

[gibsinep]

Well it could be somthing to try. Mabey if you have access to another PS then try that before spending money on one if that isnt it.

300-350watts is good. Good brands include Antec, sparkle, and enlight.

Stray away from deer, they have been know to blow up. :eek:

[saladbarkid]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=list&catalog=58&DEPA=1

Is Heroichi Electronic corp. a good brand name? Have you even heard of it? It's on the page above 4th from the bottom.

If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me which PSU is the best choice for my configuration, please?

1.3Ghz Athlon
512 PC2100 DDR
Sis 7S5A mobo
Geforce 3
SBLive! 5.1
56k modem
BTC 12x DVD
TDK veloCD 161040 CDRW
Iomega Zip 100
1.44 floppy
Maxtor 60gb HD

Thanks!

[gibsinep]

Just so you know this may be it but it is worth a shot.

I have used Heroichi before, actually it is in my main computer. Runs fine no problems. The on I am running is the ENHANCE ENP-0735 P4 350 WATT ATX POWER SUPPLY - OEM

On a

1.4 t-bird
640 mb ram
geforce 3
AK75-ec
24x burner
1 20gb hd
1 40gb hd
1 52x cd-rom

I would reccomend the same one I am using

ENHANCE ENP-0735 P4 350 WATT ATX POWER SUPPLY - OEM $33.00

[saladbarkid]

Is the fan in it really that loud?

[gibsinep]

It is kinda loud. Noise never bothers me so I am really not the guy to ask, I mean I have 5 fans in there and sleep with it on in the same room.

[saladbarkid]

So, do you think that my PSU is the problem? That I should switch it for the Enhance one that you pointed out? Do you think that getting a new PSU will solve my curse of the blinking light?

[gibsinep]

It may work and it may not work. This is why it would really help if you had access to a friends, family members, or another computer to swop powersuppy and see if the other one works.

[Kurylo]

My older HDD flashed every second too... Matbe my new one does it so... Dunno.

[gibsinep]

Mabey Kurylo is right. I though of somthing else. Try downloading the newest drives for your cd-rom drive and see if autoplay worsk properly then.

[Kurylo]

What models of your drives do you have?
And how are they connected to your PC?

[saladbarkid]

There's the BTC 12x DVD and the TDK VeloCD 1610410 CDRW. They are both internal.

I don't know if the drivers are the problem, though. I have 2 other computers with the same curse. They were both built by myself as well. I bought all the parts at the same time (all new) and built the computers - all with XP, but I know for a fact that my curse happens on all Windows OS's.

The wierdest thing is that when I reformat my HD and want to install a fresh copy of Windows, after I insert my Windows cd into the CDROM, and let Windows load into SETUP (not the booting process because there is currently no OS on the system) and it says "Welcome to Windows setup" on the top of the blue screen, I notice that my HD is flashing at this point! There is NOTHING on the HD; NO OS; NO files; NO nothing. Yet the HD light is flashing as if it were trying to find something that isn't there and I am not touching a thing. What the he** is the d*mn problem with my computer(s)??!!

Why would this happen in Windows SETUP when there is NOTHING AT ALL on the HD??

[Kurylo]

I could assume that it is a SMART internal diagnostic running, but I checked and saw that it is actually disabled on my PC.
It seems that it is an iuuse for any configuration.
Maybe it should be so?
Anyways, the HDD LED flash don't mean that our HDD is accessed.

[Kurylo]

BTW, I plugged the CD-ROM and CD-RW off, and the every-second-light disappeared.

[saladbarkid]

That's what I did. I unplugged both of the CDROMS and the flashing stopped. Plug 'em back in and it starts back up. I kinda like having a CDRW and DVD in my system. Any way I could stop it?

[jayzad]

Stop Windows from Wildly Accessing your Hard Disk
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/category07

Many users have complained about Windows seizing up for up to a minute because of random, pointless disk activity. This is due to the way that windows is set to handle disk caching and virtual memory. Although windows instructs you to "let Windows handle disk cache settings" for best results, this obviously does not yield the best results.
Note that this is a complex issue, and is discussed in much greater detail in the Annoyances books.
Here's how to eliminate the random disk activity and improve system performance:

Part One: Virtual Memory
 Right click on My Computer, and select Properties.
 Click the Performance tab, and then click Virtual Memory
 Choose Let me specify my own virtual memory settings.
 If you want to choose a different drive for your swapfile, run Disk Defragmenter first.
 Specify the same value for the Minimum size and the Maximum size, so windows won't spend so much time resizing the file. A good size is roughly 2 1/2 times the amount of installed RAM (i.e. create a 40MB swapfile if you have 16MB of RAM).
 Press OK, and then OK again, and confirm that you want to restart your computer.

Part Two: Defragmenting the Swapfile
 Once you've set the swapfile size to be constant (see Part One), you won't have to worry about a fragmented (broken up) swapfile again.
 However, you'll need to defragment it at least once for it to remain that way in the future.
 If you have Norton Utilities, you'll be able to optimize the swapfile with Speedisk.
 Otherwise, if you want to take the time, you can defragment it manually:
 If you have more than one partition or hard disk in your system, defragment all drives first. Then, move the swapfile (using the configuration procedure in Part One above) to another drive, defragment the first one, and then move it back.
 Although it's also possible to disable the swapfile entirely while you defragment the drive (and then re-enable it so it will be recreated whole), it isn't advisable because windows may not start without a Swapfile.

Part Three: Virtual Cache (only if you have 16 megabytes of RAM or more)
 Open SYSTEM.INI for editing.
 Add the following two lines to the [vcache] section (add the section if it's not there):
MinFileCache=4096
MaxFileCache=4096
 These values, in kilobytes, regulate the size of the VCache, so you can stop it from filling up all available RAM and paging all loaded apps to disk. If you have more than 16 MB of RAM, then set the above values (both of them) to about 25% of the amount of installed RAM.

Part Four: RAM
 You may've thought we overlooked the obvious - add more RAM! The more memory you have, the less frequently windows will use your hard disk, and the better your system performance will be.
 Since windows isn't very efficient or compact (by any stretch of the imagination), you'll need to feed it as much memory as you can afford. 16 megabytes is the absolute minimum, but 32 is better. If you have the money, 64 or even 128 megabytes will litterally make windows fly.

[saladbarkid]

Thanks for the thought, jayzad, but I actually have that exact address bookmarked and what it says did not help a bit. Thanks anyway.:)