Excessive H/D access while idling?

"surface9" wrote in message

> My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
> blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
> with no apps running.
> I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
> (SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
> my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
> for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
> light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
> any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
> would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.


There are a number of system maintenance tasks which XP will perform while
your computer is idle. One of them is creating System Restore points, a
feature that doesn't exist on your Win2K installation.

If you do a Google search for Windows XP System Idle Task Scheduler service,
you'll find more info on the subject. Here are a couple of articles to get
you started.

Windows XP does not enter standby after the exact period that is configured
in the Power Options profile
[URL="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899975"]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899975[/URL]

Hard Disks Do Not Turn Off After Your Computer Has Been Idle
[URL="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313300"]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313300[/URL]

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling? 

I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
once per second even after a "Clean Install"
of XP, with no other applications installed.

Even tried killing one process after another
until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
Tried killing other processes until Windows
crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
issue, at least on my test PC.
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling? 

"JS" wrote in message
> I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
> once per second even after a "Clean Install"
> of XP, with no other applications installed.
>
> Even tried killing one process after another
> until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
> Tried killing other processes until Windows
> crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
> am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
> issue, at least on my test PC.
>
> --
Process Monitor can show all system and disk activity
in real time.


[URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx"]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx[/URL]


> JS
> [URL="http://www.pagestart.com"]http://www.pagestart.com[/URL]
>
>
> "surface9" wrote in message

>> My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
>> blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
>> with no apps running.
>> I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
>> (SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
>> my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
>> for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
>> light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
>> any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
>> would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling? 

I've tried both Process Monitor and Process Explorer.
I know that Norton's NIS 2009 will cause activity about
once a second, but on a "Clean Install", then only added
Process Monitor and Process Explorer in an attempt to
isolate the cause did not reveal anything.

So every once in a while I take another crack at it.
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling? 

"JS" wrote in message
> I've tried both Process Monitor and Process Explorer.
> I know that Norton's NIS 2009 will cause activity about
> once a second, but on a "Clean Install", then only added
> Process Monitor and Process Explorer in an attempt to
> isolate the cause did not reveal anything.
>
> So every once in a while I take another crack at it.
>
> --
> JS

The once per second blips are a mystery. I've had them in
Win95, Win98, Win2k, and still have them in XpPro and
64 bit Vista Ultimate. I have NIS 2009, and compared to
NIS 2008, Symantec has really reduced the overhead. I
get a single NIS registry query about once every 2-3
seconds. With NIS 2008, the were numerous batches
of dozens of queries. With the system idle there are
almost no NIS 2009 disk accesses, maybe 10 single
accesses per minute at the most. I've noticed that MS
Intellipoint has a lot of disk accesses. Logitech Setpoint
was even worse when it was installed.



> [URL="http://www.pagestart.com"]http://www.pagestart.com[/URL]
>
>
> "Ian D" wrote in message

>>
>> "JS" wrote in message
>>> I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
>>> once per second even after a "Clean Install"
>>> of XP, with no other applications installed.
>>>
>>> Even tried killing one process after another
>>> until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
>>> Tried killing other processes until Windows
>>> crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
>>> am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
>>> issue, at least on my test PC.
>>>
>>> --
>> Process Monitor can show all system and disk activity
>> in real time.
>>
>>
>> [URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx"]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx[/URL]
>>
>>
>>> JS
>>> [URL="http://www.pagestart.com"]http://www.pagestart.com[/URL]
>>>
>>>
>>> "surface9" wrote in message
>>
>>>> My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
>>>> blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
>>>> with no apps running.
>>>> I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
>>>> (SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
>>>> my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
>>>> for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
>>>> light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
>>>> any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
>>>> would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling? 

I had a similar problem. It turned our to be caused by my Sony DVD player.
The player requires the hard drive scan to see if a disc is present in the
DVD drive. When I disable the DVD drive from Device Manager the flashing
hard-drive light stops flashing. Of course I have to enable if I want to use
it, so I live with the flashing light.

"Ian D" wrote in message

>
> "JS" wrote in message
>> I've tried both Process Monitor and Process Explorer.
>> I know that Norton's NIS 2009 will cause activity about
>> once a second, but on a "Clean Install", then only added
>> Process Monitor and Process Explorer in an attempt to
>> isolate the cause did not reveal anything.
>>
>> So every once in a while I take another crack at it.
>>
>> --
>> JS
>
> The once per second blips are a mystery. I've had them in
> Win95, Win98, Win2k, and still have them in XpPro and
> 64 bit Vista Ultimate. I have NIS 2009, and compared to
> NIS 2008, Symantec has really reduced the overhead. I
> get a single NIS registry query about once every 2-3
> seconds. With NIS 2008, the were numerous batches
> of dozens of queries. With the system idle there are
> almost no NIS 2009 disk accesses, maybe 10 single
> accesses per minute at the most. I've noticed that MS
> Intellipoint has a lot of disk accesses. Logitech Setpoint
> was even worse when it was installed.
>
>
>
>> [URL="http://www.pagestart.com"]http://www.pagestart.com[/URL]
>>
>>
>> "Ian D" wrote in message
>
>>>
>>> "JS" wrote in message
>>>> I've have noticed this "Heartbeat:" at about
>>>> once per second even after a "Clean Install"
>>>> of XP, with no other applications installed.
>>>>
>>>> Even tried killing one process after another
>>>> until Windows crashed (this is a test PC).
>>>> Tried killing other processes until Windows
>>>> crashed again. Never did find the cause, and
>>>> am beginning to suspect it's a hardware or driver
>>>> issue, at least on my test PC.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>> Process Monitor can show all system and disk activity
>>> in real time.
>>>
>>>
>>> [URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx"]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx[/URL]
>>>
>>>
>>>> JS
>>>> [URL="http://www.pagestart.com"]http://www.pagestart.com[/URL]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "surface9" wrote in message
>>>
>>>>> My XP pro (sp2) system (AMD 5600+) causes the h/d access light to
>>>>> blink repeatedly at about 70-80 hz while idling - right after startup
>>>>> with no apps running.
>>>>> I have the ability to boot up to a different h/d using win2000 pro
>>>>> (SP4) and this does not happen, so, I wonder if maybe i need to tweek
>>>>> my XP system so as to avoid unnecessary h/d access? I can watch it
>>>>> for minutes on end, and, it just keeps on blinking the h/d access
>>>>> light and no apps are running at all - this system is not connected to
>>>>> any network nor the internet, so, I am really stumped as to why XP
>>>>> would keep accessing the h/d during extended idle periods. Help.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Excessive H/D access while idling?