ThinkWiki - User contributions [en]

How to configure the TrackPoint

2012-08-30T11:37:55Z

Rezonatix3:

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |Below are several ways of configuring the kernel psmouse driver for controlling extended TrackPoint features.
|}
On a '''Modern''' distribution (like Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE) you will want to use xinput or one of the graphical front ends. For distributions that are lagging a bit (e.g. Debian Lenny and PCLOS '09) you may still want to use the old xorg config method.

=Configuration using xinput=
If you want to modify changes on the fly, you can do so with {{cmd|xinput|}} (part of the optional xorg-x11-apps rpm on Fedora).
Note that these changes are not saved when the xserver is restarted. However, you can add the lines e.g. in your {{cmd|.xsessionrc|}} (depends on your distribution) so they are executed every time X starts.

To query the available options
xinput list-props "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"

More information can be found in the man-pages for evdev
man evdev

To enable vertical scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

To enable horizontal scrolling in addition to vertical scrolling

xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To enable middle button emulation (using left- and right-click simultaneously)
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Timeout" 8 50

==Example: openSUSE 11.2 and ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint ==

xinput list
will show two "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint." with two different ids. Use the id with Axis 0 and Axis 1 items.

Suppose the id was 12. The following will enable the trackpoint scrolling:

xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

The following will enable the horizontal scrolling
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To disable middle button click paste functionality, remap the middle button to something else:
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

To do these automatically without worrying about id number, generate a bash script file:
#!/bin/sh
xinput list | sed -ne 's/^[^ ][^V].*id=$[0-9]*$.*/\1/p' | while read id
do
case `xinput list-props $id` in
*"Middle Button Emulation"*)
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 0
;;
esac
done

# disable middle button
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

and save it with any name such as trackPointScrolling.sh, and make it executable:
chmod +x trackPointScrolling.sh

Next time you run it with $ ./trackPointScrolling.sh, it will enable the trackpoint scrolling and disable middle button paste.
{{Todo|some other examples}}

= Graphical Frontends =
If you are using GNOME, you might want to use [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointing Device Settings] or [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/configure-trackpoint.html configure-trackpoint] as a graphical frontends.
=== GPointing Device Settings ===
It is available for Fedora 12, Ubuntu 9.10 and Debian Squeeze in the standard package repositories
{{NOTE|Unfortunately it seems no longer maintained, and does not work properly with GNOME3 [[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=710053 bug]]}}

[[image:Screenshot-GPointing Device Settings-TrackPoint.png]]

=== configure-trackpoint ===
To install it in Ubuntu run ...
sudo apt-get install sysfsutils
...and then download and install the deb [http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpctl/ here]. Note that saved settings are not restored after reboot in Lucid Lynx. See methods below to make settings permanent.

= Configuration using DevKit =
Most recent distributions like Ubuntu 9.10 switch from HAL (being deprecated) to DevKit. Hence, the HAL configurations explained underneath, fail to work.

The easiest way to configure your touchpad and trackpoint with DevKit is by using the [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointingDeviceSettings] panel that fully supports the hardware. You can easily download the panel by installing {{cmd| gpointing-device-settings|}}. On Ubuntu open a terminal and execute the command {{cmduser| sudo apt-get install gpointing-device-settings}}

Launch the UI through the {{cmduser| gpointing-device-settings}} command, but you can also add a menu entry to your System / Preferences menu for easier access to the UI panel.

= Configuration using udev and HAL =
Modern distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use udev and HAL to configure the input devices. You should no longer make changes to xorg.conf as by default Xorg (through the evdev driver) will let the kernel now handle input devices.

But before you get started on this you should make sure you have all the updates applied from your distro vendor as both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 require some additional fixes that you will need.

=== Scrolling ===

By default the middle mouse button is just that, a middle mouse button, which in Linux is used for the Paste operation.

You may configure it to act in the same way as in Windows, such that you can use it for vertical scrolling: keep the button pressed and move the TrackPoint up and down to scroll. (In GPointing Device Settings, this is known as "Use wheel emulation".)

'''Note:''' This setting is not compatible with using Alt + Middle Mouse Button to resize windows. If you want to resize windows with the trackpad, disable wheel emulation. On Ubuntu 11.10, this setting resides in <tt>/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/11-evdev-trackpoint.conf</tt> (see below), although some touchpads use <tt>/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf</tt>.

==== xorg.conf.d ====

Some distributions now support the new Xorg hotplug configuration method via xorg.conf.d directories (in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) instead of hal. In contrast to the udev method below, it should be around for some time, so it might be the best way to “statically” configure scrolling.

Create the file {{path|/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint|USB Trackpoint pointing device|Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
</pre>

Save and restart Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the correct path is {{path|/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}
{{NOTE|For Arch Linux or Fedora, the correct path is {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}

{{NOTE|If the above does not work for you, you may need to add a different MatchProduct string. Use <pre>find /dev/input/event* -exec udevadm info --attribute-walk --name={} \; | grep -e product -e name | sort -u</pre> to get a list of possibilities.}}

{{NOTE|If the above directory doesn't exist by default in your distribution, it probably doesn't support this method. In this case, please refer to the udev or xinput method below.}}

==== udev ====

Now that Xorg doesn't use the configuration from hal (in Debian unstable starting january 2010), the only way to “statically” configure scrolling in trackpoint is udev. (for other people, xinput method, works fine). This method will be gone (_again_) in not too long so it might be a better idea to use xinput way. YMMV.

Create the file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/99_trackpoint.rules}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"
KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{ID_PATH}!="platform-i8042-serio-1", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheel}="1"
ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheelButton}="2"
ENV{x11_options.XAxisMapping}="6 7"
ENV{x11_options.Emulate3Buttons}="0"

LABEL="xorg_trackpoint_end"
</pre>

Save and restart udev then Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|The ID_PATH used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the ID_PATH appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==== Hal (soon to be deprecated) ====

To accomplish this create the file {{path|/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.YAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelTimeout" type="string">200</merge>
</match>
</pre>

If you also want to have horizontal scrolling, simply add the following XAxisMapping option to the above
<pre>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XAxisMapping" type="string">6 7</merge>
</pre>
After this reboot, or restart the hal service and Xorg. You can validate the settings with {{cmd|lshal|}}.

In some models (eg: X301 and X200 since Jan 10 2010 on debian sid) you may have to use "PS/2 Generic Mouse" instead of "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint". Have a look to your input devices typing <code>lshal|grep input.product</code>.

Alternatively it is also possible to use the "old" Xorg configuration by adding the following lines to the {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

<pre>
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"
EndSection
</pre>

Using this entry HAL will not be used for the input devices.

====Reactivate Scrolling after suspend/resume====
Scrolling may be disabled after a resume from suspend.

You can manually reactivate the trackpoint by reloading the {{path|psmouse}} module as root:
:{{cmdroot|rmmod psmouse && modprobe psmouse}}

You can automatically force the pm-utils to reload this module.
Create a file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/01reload_mouse}} as root with the following content:
<pre>
# reload psmouse to reactivate trackpoint scrolling
SUSPEND_MODULES="${SUSPEND_MODULES:+$SUSPEND_MODULES }psmouse"
</pre>

===Configuring other options (e.g. Press to select, Sensitivity and Speed)===

Create a file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/10-trackpoint.rules}} and add a line to suit your needs

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", ATTRS{press_to_select}="1", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

Testing udev with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} should apply the new changes. All of the settings listed [[How to configure the TrackPoint#Sysfs_Options_Reference|below]] can be specified here as part of a comma separated list.
The customized values should be loaded automatically when booting. However, due to a [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=549379 kernel bug] (affecting Lucid Lynx), the attributes may not yet exist when the udev rule fires. As a work around, add a WAIT_FOR condition on the attribute

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

On my system (Lucid Lynx), the above line did not work. I changed it to:
<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTR{sensitivity}="255"
</pre>
and tested with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

To avoid the wait you can also listen for the Trackpoint input device to appear and then run a script to set the parameters

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTR{name}=="*TrackPoint*", RUN+="/etc/conf.d/trackpoint"
</pre>

An example {{path|/etc/conf.d/trackpoint}} would be

<pre>#! /bin/bash

## Trackpoint settings

# When run from a udev rule, DEVPATH should be set
if [ ! -z $DEVPATH ] ; then
TPDEV=/sys/$( echo "$DEVPATH" | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*//' )
else
# Otherwise just look in /sys/
TPDEV=$(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*\/name$//')
fi

# http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_configure_the_TrackPoint
# http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf
#------------------------------------------------------------
if [ -d "$TPDEV" ]; then
echo "Configuring Trackpoint"
echo -n 255 > $TPDEV/sensitivity # Integer 128 Sensitivity
echo -n 110 > $TPDEV/speed # Integer 97 Cursor speed
echo -n 4 > $TPDEV/inertia # Integer 6 Negative intertia
else
echo "Couldn't find trackpoint device $TPDEV"
fi
</pre>

=Configuration using sysfs=
Another way to modify changes on the fly, is echoing values directly into special files in sysfs.

{{NOTE|
The examples shown below are valid for ThinkPads with both TrackPoint and Touchpad, in which case the sysfs path is {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

If however you have a ThinkPad without Touchpad, or with the Touchpad disabled in the BIOS, the sysfs path needs to be changed to {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} instead (notice the missing serio2 at the end).}}

If you want to set the sysfs parameters at boot, you can use the [http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/Sysfsutils.html sysfsutils] and put the preferred value in /etc/sysfs.conf.

===Press to Select===
Press to Select allows you to tap the control stick which will simulate a left click. You can enable this feature by typing the following in to a terminal (you may need to be root):

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

Press to Select should now be enabled. You can disable it in a similar manner:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

You can use this script to automate the operation

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "1" ]; then
echo "Turning on tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
if [ "$1" = "0" ]; then
echo "Turning off tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
echo -n "Tap status: "
cat /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

In Ubuntu 8.10 to make Press to Select a permanent change:

echo -n 1 | tee /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

As root, append the above command above "exit 0" in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

===Sensitivity & Speed===
Adjusting the speed and sensitivity of the TrackPoint requires echoing a value between 0 and 255 into the appropriate file. For example, for a speed of 120 and a sensitivity of 250, type the following into a terminal:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 120 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed}}
:{{cmdroot|echo -n 250 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity}}

Feel free to experiment with your settings until you find a combination that is comfortable.

When you satisfy your setting, add the two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local in order to avoid restoring the default setting every time the system reboots. In Ubuntu 9.10, add the lines to /etc/rc.local to avoid this.

===Vertical Scrolling===
No sysfs entry exists for vertical scrolling in kernels after 2.6.11.

The feature was removed as it was not a hardware feature, but rather emulating a scroll action in software and as such did not belong in the kernel.
Instead the scroll feature of the Xserver should be used, which can be activated with HAL or xinput as described above.

=Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)=
==Using the "evdev" driver (preferred, especially for recent Xorg versions)==
Extract from /etc/X11/xorg.conf on an X31:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse"
Option "GrabDevice" "False"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true" #Enable wheel emulation for the Trackpoint
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2" #Use the middle button for the emulation
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7" #Map trackpoint X axis to X axis of emulated wheel
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5" #Map trackpoint Y axis to Y axis of emulated wheel
EndSection

{{NOTE|The device path used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the device path appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==Using the "mouse" driver (deprecated, only for old Xorg versions)==
{{NOTE|This only applies to old distributions with Xorg versions that did not yet use evdev. For modern distributions use one of the other methods}}
The scroll setting has been removed from the trackpoint driver in kernel versions 2.6.11 and above. Scroll emulation should now be handled in the X server.

A nice side effect of that is, that middle button scrolling applies to any mouse and not just the TrackPoint interface, which can be a quite handy feature for desktop computers or people who prefer to use an external mouse, especially when scrolling through long lists or needing to use horizontal scrolling with a mouse which has only a vertical scroll wheel.

The necessary functionality, known as "EmulateWheelTimeout" allowing to use button 2 for a middle click, wasn't implemented in Xorg prior to 6.9/7.0. However, there was a patch included in most distributions packages of Xorg, which was announced [http://www.mail-archive.com/devel@xfree86.org/msg03333.html here]. You can find an updated version of the package in the experimental branch of {{Debian}} or try to build the mouse driver yourself with the information in the announcement. This has successfully been tried with FC3's 6.8.2 packages.

Once this functionality is in the X.org, add these lines to your TrackPoint configuration section in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

It may also be necessary to add these lines:

Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"

which specify which buttons are mapped to motion in the vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) directions, respectively, in wheel emulation mode (see http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4.html).

{{HINT| Use the program "xev" to see, what mouse button identifiers are sent by your mouse/touchpad/trackpoint. You might want to try: "xev | grep button"}}
{{HINT| If it does not work see if evdev is installed and remove it. On gentoo do the following: 
eix xf86-input-evdev 
emerge -C xf86-input-evdev 
and then remove the evdev flag in make.conf INPUT_DEVICES}}

So, a complete mouse section, that implements this nicely and works very well on my R51, even with a simultaneously connected USB mouse, looks like that (tried out today, 20th of September, 2006 on Dapper):

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Emulate3TimeOut" "50"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeOut" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

The mappings for Y and Z are the same, since the "Z-Axis" refers to actual hardware scrolling wheels which usually scroll the screen along the Y-Axis. If there is no hardware scrolling wheel present, horizontal and vertical scrolling using the TrackPoint work fine without the Z-Axis line.

Now restart X and hold down button 2 and move the mouse to scroll, or just press and release button 2 for a middle click.

To make this work with the synaptics driver for the touchpad, you can add
Option "GuestMouseOff" "1"
to the synaptics device section. This will make the synaptics driver ignore the Trackpoint, so it will be handled by the mouse driver. This allowed me to disable the touchpad while making the TrackPoint work like it should.

{{NOTE| With the above mouse section in my xorg.conf all this works like a charm:
*I can press the wheel on my external USB mouse and move the mouse up and down for scrolling
*or I can just use the wheel on the external mouse for scrolling
*or pressing the MMB button of the trackpoint and use the trackpoint for scrolling.
*Even horizontal scrolling works automagically in Konqueror, for Firefox/Opera see below.

Simultaneously I can use
*a press on the external mouse's wheel
*or the MMB of the trackpoint

for pasting the buffer. Lovely! :) }}

{{HINT| If you don't use the middle-mouse-button for pasting and sometimes pasting things by mistake while scrolling (witch is really odd) simply set the "EmulateWheelTimeOut" to "1" as a (bloody) workaround. Middle click will only possible with pressing left and right button simultaneously!}}

=Application specific tweaks=
===Configure Opera for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling===
To fix horizontal scrolling in Opera, you need to edit the configfile <tt>standard_mouse.ini</tt> in e.g. /usr/share/opera/ui/ (Debian) or /opt/opera/share/opera/ini/ (Gentoo) and comment out the following lines
<pre>
Button6 = Back
Button7 = Forward
</pre>
so they look like that
<pre>
;Button6 = Back
;Button7 = Forward
</pre>
Remember, Button6 and Button7 do not so coincidental correspond with our X configuration we know from above:
<pre>
Option "YAxisMapping" "6 7"
</pre>
After this change you will be able to scroll vertically and horizontally with your middle button.

===Firefox 3 tweaks===
These settings make Firefox on Linux behave more like the Windows version. They were tested on an out of the box Fedora 10 system on a Thinkpad T61. Go into about:config, and set the following:

middlemouse.paste = false
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
general.autoScroll = true

=Sysfs Options Reference=
{{NOTE|These options are current as of kernel version 2.6.29, 3 May 2009}}
{|
|-
! Name
! Type
! Default
! Notes
|-
| sensitivity
| Integer
| 128
| Sensitivity
|-
| speed
| Integer
| 97
| Cursor speed
|-
| inertia
| Integer
| 6
| Described as "negative inertia." It acts more like friction. High values cause the cursor to snap backward when the Trackpoint is released
|-
| reach
| Integer
| 10
| Backup for Z-axis press
|-
| draghys
| Integer
| 255
| Drag hysteresis (how hard it is to drag with Z-axis pressed)
|-
| mindrag
| Integer
| 20
| Minimum amount of force needed to trigger dragging
|-
| thresh
| Integer
| 8
| Minimum value for a Z-axis press
|-
| upthresh
| Integer
| 255
| Used to generate a 'click' on Z-axis
|-
| ztime
| Integer
| 38
| How sharp of a press
|-
| jenks
| Integer
| 135
| Minimum curvature for double click
|-
| press_to_select
| Boolean
| 0
| Press to select
|-
| skipback
| Boolean
| 0
| Supress movement after drag release
|-
| ext_dev
| Boolean
| 0
| Disable external device
|}
Table info taken from [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=drivers/input/mouse/trackpoint.h;hb=HEAD here]. The given link will always point to the current version of the driver. If the notes seem sparse, that's because the code is sparse. On the other hand, the [http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf Trackpoint Engineering Specification Version 4.0]  contains more documentation information than anyone ever desired.

=Determining TrackPoint Path ID=
Both the [[#udev|udev]] and [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration methods require knowledge of the Path ID of the TrackPoint. In the [[#udev|udev]] configuration method, the Path ID is used to match the ID_PATH environmental variable, in the [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration method it is the prefix for the device file name inside the {{path|/dev/input/by-id}} directory. The path ID can vary between ThinkPad models, distributions (with varying kernel patches), and between kernel versions. One way to find the path ID for the TrackPoint is to use udev's path_id utility on the sysfs device path for the TrackPoint. This device path can be found using the {{path|name}} file which describes the TrackPoint. The process can be automated using the following shell command:
/lib/udev/path_id $(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/sys$.*$\/name/\1/')

NVidia Quadro FX 570M

2012-03-05T15:57:09Z

Rezonatix3: /* Linux driver (open source) */

__NOTOC__
{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top" |
<div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;">

This is a nVidia video adapter based on the GeForce Go 8600M/8600GT.

{{NOTE|This [<nowiki>http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48287</nowiki> forum thread] seems to indicate that the 128 MB version in the 14.1" T61p's only has half the memory bandwidth [http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html advertised] by nVidia for the 570M.}}

== Features ==

* Chipset: nVidia G84M
* PCI ID: 0x040c
* PCI-E
* 128 or 256MB video memory

</div>
|style="vertical-align:top" |
|}

== Windows driver ==

nVidia supports notebook GPUs through the Verde Notebook Driver Program. The [http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/notebook-winxp-266.58-whql-driver-uk.html Verde Notebook Release 266.58], a driver pack dated 2011.01.18, recognizes the 570M as a nVidia adapter and installs updated drivers.

Lenovo provides an older, certified driver dated 19 Feb 2009 (6.14.11.7874). It can be downloaded from [http://support.lenovo.com/ Lenovo's website]. However, the driver seems to have problems with some resolutions, as reported by the <tt>dxdiag.exe</tt> diagnostic utility.

== Linux driver (proprietary) ==

For the latest proprietary drivers, go to the [http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html nVidia UNIX Drivers page].

== Linux driver (open source) ==

== ThinkPads this chip may be found in ==

* {{T61p}}

[[Category:Components]]

NVidia Quadro FX 570M

2012-03-05T15:56:56Z

Rezonatix3: /* Linux driver (open source) */

__NOTOC__
{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top" |
<div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;">

This is a nVidia video adapter based on the GeForce Go 8600M/8600GT.

{{NOTE|This [<nowiki>http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48287</nowiki> forum thread] seems to indicate that the 128 MB version in the 14.1" T61p's only has half the memory bandwidth [http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html advertised] by nVidia for the 570M.}}

== Features ==

* Chipset: nVidia G84M
* PCI ID: 0x040c
* PCI-E
* 128 or 256MB video memory

</div>
|style="vertical-align:top" |
|}

== Windows driver ==

nVidia supports notebook GPUs through the Verde Notebook Driver Program. The [http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/notebook-winxp-266.58-whql-driver-uk.html Verde Notebook Release 266.58], a driver pack dated 2011.01.18, recognizes the 570M as a nVidia adapter and installs updated drivers.

Lenovo provides an older, certified driver dated 19 Feb 2009 (6.14.11.7874). It can be downloaded from [http://support.lenovo.com/ Lenovo's website]. However, the driver seems to have problems with some resolutions, as reported by the <tt>dxdiag.exe</tt> diagnostic utility.

== Linux driver (proprietary) ==

For the latest proprietary drivers, go to the [http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html nVidia UNIX Drivers page].

== Linux driver (open source) ==

''???''

== ThinkPads this chip may be found in ==

* {{T61p}}

[[Category:Components]]

NVidia Quadro FX 570M

2012-03-05T15:56:14Z

Rezonatix3:

__NOTOC__
{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top" |
<div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;">

This is a nVidia video adapter based on the GeForce Go 8600M/8600GT.

{{NOTE|This [<nowiki>http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48287</nowiki> forum thread] seems to indicate that the 128 MB version in the 14.1" T61p's only has half the memory bandwidth [http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html advertised] by nVidia for the 570M.}}

== Features ==

* Chipset: nVidia G84M
* PCI ID: 0x040c
* PCI-E
* 128 or 256MB video memory

</div>
|style="vertical-align:top" |
|}

== Windows driver ==

nVidia supports notebook GPUs through the Verde Notebook Driver Program. The [http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/notebook-winxp-266.58-whql-driver-uk.html Verde Notebook Release 266.58], a driver pack dated 2011.01.18, recognizes the 570M as a nVidia adapter and installs updated drivers.

Lenovo provides an older, certified driver dated 19 Feb 2009 (6.14.11.7874). It can be downloaded from [http://support.lenovo.com/ Lenovo's website]. However, the driver seems to have problems with some resolutions, as reported by the <tt>dxdiag.exe</tt> diagnostic utility.

== Linux driver (proprietary) ==

For the latest proprietary drivers, go to the [http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html nVidia UNIX Drivers page].

== Linux driver (open source) ==

???

== ThinkPads this chip may be found in ==

* {{T61p}}

[[Category:Components]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2012-03-05T15:28:45Z

Rezonatix3: /* Start-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> (part of the <tt>hdparm</tt> package) sets the APM level to 128 when on battery and 254 otherwise (these defaults are part of the <tt>hdparm_options()</tt> function in <tt>/lib/hdparm/hdparm-functions</tt>). This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom setting <tt>apm_battery</tt>:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Alternatively, you can override the <tt>95hdparm-apm</tt> script by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|touch /etc/pm/power.d/95hdparm-apm}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2012-03-05T15:28:34Z

Rezonatix3: /* Start-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> (part of the <tt>hdparm</tt> package) sets the APM level to 128 when on battery and 254 otherwise (these defaults are part of the <tt>hdparm_options()</tt> function in <tt>/lib/hdparm/hdparm-functions</tt>). This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom setting <tt>apm_battery</tt>:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Alternatively, you can override the <tt>95hdparm-apm</tt> script by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|touch /etc/pm/power.d/95hdparm-apm}}.

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2012-03-05T15:28:01Z

Rezonatix3: /* Start-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> (part of the <tt>hdparm</tt> package) sets the APM level to 128 when on battery and 254 otherwise (these defaults are part of the <tt>hdparm_options()</tt> function in <tt>/lib/hdparm/hdparm-functions</tt>). This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom setting <tt>apm_battery</tt>:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Alternatively, you can override the <tt>95hdparm-apm</tt> script by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d</tt>, i.e., {{cmdroot|touch /etc/pm/power.d/95hdparm-apm}}.

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2012-03-05T15:26:59Z

Rezonatix3: /* Start-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> (part of the <tt>hdparm</tt> package) sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. (<tt>95hdparm-apm</tt> calls the <tt>hdparm_options()</tt> function from <tt>/lib/hdparm/hdparm-functions</tt>, which by default sets the APM level to 128 and 254 for battery and AC, respectively.) This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom setting <tt>apm_battery</tt>:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Alternatively, you can override the <tt>95hdparm-apm</tt> script by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d</tt>, i.e., {{cmdroot|touch /etc/pm/power.d/95hdparm-apm}}.

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

How to configure the TrackPoint

2011-11-09T16:40:46Z

Rezonatix3: /* Scrolling */

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |Below are several ways of configuring the kernel psmouse driver for controlling extended TrackPoint features.
|}
On a '''Modern''' distribution (like Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE) you will want to use xinput or one of the graphical front ends. For distributions that are lagging a bit (e.g. Debian Lenny and PCLOS '09) you may still want to use the old xorg config method.

=Configuration using xinput=
If you want to modify changes on the fly, you can do so with {{cmd|xinput|}} (part of the optional xorg-x11-apps rpm on Fedora).
Note that these changes are not saved when the xserver is restarted. However, you can add the lines e.g. in your {{cmd|.xsessionrc|}} (depends on your distribution) so they are executed every time X starts.

To query the available options
xinput list-props "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"

More information can be found in the man-pages for evdev
man evdev

To enable vertical scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

To enable horizontal scrolling in addition to vertical scrolling

xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To enable middle button emulation (using left- and right-click simultaneously)
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Timeout" 8 50

==Example: openSUSE 11.2 and ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint ==

xinput list
will show two "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint." with two different ids. Use the id with Axis 0 and Axis 1 items.

Suppose the id was 12. The following will enable the trackpoint scrolling:

xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

The following will enable the horizontal scrolling
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To disable middle button click paste functionality, remap the middle button to something else:
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

To do these automatically without worrying about id number, generate a bash script file:
#!/bin/sh
xinput list | sed -ne 's/^[^ ][^V].*id=$[0-9]*$.*/\1/p' | while read id
do
case `xinput list-props $id` in
*"Middle Button Emulation"*)
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 0
;;
esac
done

# disable middle button
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

and save it with any name such as trackPointScrolling.sh, and make it executable:
chmod +x trackPointScrolling.sh

Next time you run it with $ ./trackPointScrolling.sh, it will enable the trackpoint scrolling and disable middle button paste.
{{Todo|some other examples}}

= Graphical Frontends =
If you are using GNOME, you might want to use [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointing Device Settings] or [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/configure-trackpoint.html configure-trackpoint] as a graphical frontends.
=== GPointing Device Settings ===
It is available for Fedora 12, Ubuntu 9.10 and Debian Squeeze in the standard package repositories
{{NOTE|Unfortunately it seems no longer maintained, and does not work properly with GNOME3 [[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=710053 bug]]}}

[[image:Screenshot-GPointing Device Settings-TrackPoint.png]]

=== configure-trackpoint ===
To install it in Ubuntu run ...
sudo apt-get install sysfsutils
...and then download and install the deb [http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpctl/ here]. Note that saved settings are not restored after reboot in Lucid Lynx. See methods below to make settings permanent.

= Configuration using DevKit =
Most recent distributions like Ubuntu 9.10 switch from HAL (being deprecated) to DevKit. Hence, the HAL configurations explained underneath, fail to work.

The easiest way to configure your touchpad and trackpoint with DevKit is by using the [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointingDeviceSettings] panel that fully supports the hardware. You can easily download the panel by installing {{cmd| gpointing-device-settings|}}. On Ubuntu open a terminal and execute the command {{cmduser| sudo apt-get install gpointing-device-settings}}

Launch the UI through the {{cmduser| gpointing-device-settings}} command, but you can also add a menu entry to your System / Preferences menu for easier access to the UI panel.

= Configuration using udev and HAL =
Modern distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use udev and HAL to configure the input devices. You should no longer make changes to xorg.conf as by default Xorg (through the evdev driver) will let the kernel now handle input devices.

But before you get started on this you should make sure you have all the updates applied from your distro vendor as both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 require some additional fixes that you will need.

=== Scrolling ===

By default the middle mouse button is just that, a middle mouse button, which in Linux is used for the Paste operation.

You may configure it to act in the same way as in Windows, such that you can use it for vertical scrolling: keep the button pressed and move the TrackPoint up and down to scroll. (In GPointing Device Settings, this is known as "Use wheel emulation".)

'''Note:''' This setting is not compatible with using Alt + Middle Mouse Button to resize windows. If you want to resize windows with the trackpad, disable wheel emulation. On Ubuntu 11.10, this setting resides in <tt>/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/11-evdev-trackpoint.conf</tt> (see below).

==== xorg.conf.d ====

Some distributions now support the new Xorg hotplug configuration method via xorg.conf.d directories (in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) instead of hal. In contrast to the udev method below, it should be around for some time, so it might be the best way to “statically” configure scrolling.

Create the file {{path|/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint|USB Trackpoint pointing device|Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
</pre>

Save and restart Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the correct path is {{path|/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}
{{NOTE|For Arch Linux or Fedora, the correct path is {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}

{{NOTE|If the above does not work for you, you may need to add a different MatchProduct string. Use <pre>find /dev/input/event* -exec udevadm info --attribute-walk --name={} \; | grep -e product -e name | sort -u</pre> to get a list of possibilities.}}

{{NOTE|If the above directory doesn't exist by default in your distribution, it probably doesn't support this method. In this case, please refer to the udev or xinput method below.}}

==== udev ====

Now that Xorg doesn't use the configuration from hal (in Debian unstable starting january 2010), the only way to “statically” configure scrolling in trackpoint is udev. (for other people, xinput method, works fine). This method will be gone (_again_) in not too long so it might be a better idea to use xinput way. YMMV.

Create the file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/99_trackpoint.rules}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"
KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{ID_PATH}!="platform-i8042-serio-1", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheel}="1"
ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheelButton}="2"
ENV{x11_options.XAxisMapping}="6 7"
ENV{x11_options.Emulate3Buttons}="0"

LABEL="xorg_trackpoint_end"
</pre>

Save and restart udev then Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|The ID_PATH used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the ID_PATH appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==== Hal (soon to be deprecated) ====

To accomplish this create the file {{path|/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.YAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelTimeout" type="string">200</merge>
</match>
</pre>

If you also want to have horizontal scrolling, simply add the following XAxisMapping option to the above
<pre>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XAxisMapping" type="string">6 7</merge>
</pre>
After this reboot, or restart the hal service and Xorg. You can validate the settings with {{cmd|lshal|}}.

In some models (eg: X301 and X200 since Jan 10 2010 on debian sid) you may have to use "PS/2 Generic Mouse" instead of "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint". Have a look to your input devices typing <code>lshal|grep input.product</code>.

Alternatively it is also possible to use the "old" Xorg configuration by adding the following lines to the {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

<pre>
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"
EndSection
</pre>

Using this entry HAL will not be used for the input devices.

====Reactivate Scrolling after suspend/resume====
Scrolling may be disabled after a resume from suspend.

You can manually reactivate the trackpoint by reloading the {{path|psmouse}} module as root:
:{{cmdroot|rmmod psmouse && modprobe psmouse}}

You can automatically force the pm-utils to reload this module.
Create a file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/01reload_mouse}} as root with the following content:
<pre>
# reload psmouse to reactivate trackpoint scrolling
SUSPEND_MODULES="${SUSPEND_MODULES:+$SUSPEND_MODULES }psmouse"
</pre>

===Configuring other options (e.g. Press to select, Sensitivity and Speed)===

Create a file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/10-trackpoint.rules}} and add a line to suit your needs

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", ATTRS{press_to_select}="1", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

Testing udev with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} should apply the new changes. All of the settings listed [[How to configure the TrackPoint#Sysfs_Options_Reference|below]] can be specified here as part of a comma separated list.
The customized values should be loaded automatically when booting. However, due to a [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=549379 kernel bug] (affecting Lucid Lynx), the attributes may not yet exist when the udev rule fires. As a work around, add a WAIT_FOR condition on the attribute

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

On my system (Lucid Lynx), the above line did not work. I changed it to:
<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTR{sensitivity}="255"
</pre>
and tested with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

To avoid the wait you can also listen for the Trackpoint input device to appear and then run a script to set the parameters

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTR{name}=="*TrackPoint*", RUN+="/etc/conf.d/trackpoint"
</pre>

An example {{path|/etc/conf.d/trackpoint}} would be

<pre>#! /bin/bash

## Trackpoint settings

# When run from a udev rule, DEVPATH should be set
if [ ! -z $DEVPATH ] ; then
TPDEV=/sys/$( echo "$DEVPATH" | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*//' )
else
# Otherwise just look in /sys/
TPDEV=$(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*\/name$//')
fi

# http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_configure_the_TrackPoint
# http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf
#------------------------------------------------------------
if [ -d "$TPDEV" ]; then
echo "Configuring Trackpoint"
echo -n 255 > $TPDEV/sensitivity # Integer 128 Sensitivity
echo -n 110 > $TPDEV/speed # Integer 97 Cursor speed
echo -n 4 > $TPDEV/inertia # Integer 6 Negative intertia
else
echo "Couldn't find trackpoint device $TPDEV"
fi
</pre>

=Configuration using sysfs=
Another way to modify changes on the fly, is echoing values directly into special files in sysfs.

{{NOTE|
The examples shown below are valid for ThinkPads with both TrackPoint and Touchpad, in which case the sysfs path is {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

If however you have a ThinkPad without Touchpad, or with the Touchpad disabled in the BIOS, the sysfs path needs to be changed to {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} instead (notice the missing serio2 at the end).}}

If you want to set the sysfs parameters at boot, you can use the [http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/Sysfsutils.html sysfsutils] and put the preferred value in /etc/sysfs.conf.

===Press to Select===
Press to Select allows you to tap the control stick which will simulate a left click. You can enable this feature by typing the following in to a terminal (you may need to be root):

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

Press to Select should now be enabled. You can disable it in a similar manner:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

You can use this script to automate the operation

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "1" ]; then
echo "Turning on tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
if [ "$1" = "0" ]; then
echo "Turning off tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
echo -n "Tap status: "
cat /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

In Ubuntu 8.10 to make Press to Select a permanent change:

echo -n 1 | tee /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

As root, append the above command above "exit 0" in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

===Sensitivity & Speed===
Adjusting the speed and sensitivity of the TrackPoint requires echoing a value between 0 and 255 into the appropriate file. For example, for a speed of 120 and a sensitivity of 250, type the following into a terminal:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 120 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed}}
:{{cmdroot|echo -n 250 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity}}

Feel free to experiment with your settings until you find a combination that is comfortable.

When you satisfy your setting, add the two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local in order to avoid restoring the default setting every time the system reboots. In Ubuntu 9.10, add the lines to /etc/rc.local to avoid this.

===Vertical Scrolling===
No sysfs entry exists for vertical scrolling in kernels after 2.6.11.

The feature was removed as it was not a hardware feature, but rather emulating a scroll action in software and as such did not belong in the kernel.
Instead the scroll feature of the Xserver should be used, which can be activated with HAL or xinput as described above.

=Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)=
==Using the "evdev" driver (preferred, especially for recent Xorg versions)==
Extract from /etc/X11/xorg.conf on an X31:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse"
Option "GrabDevice" "False"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true" #Enable wheel emulation for the Trackpoint
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2" #Use the middle button for the emulation
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7" #Map trackpoint X axis to X axis of emulated wheel
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5" #Map trackpoint Y axis to Y axis of emulated wheel
EndSection

{{NOTE|The device path used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the device path appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==Using the "mouse" driver (deprecated, only for old Xorg versions)==
{{NOTE|This only applies to old distributions with Xorg versions that did not yet use evdev. For modern distributions use one of the other methods}}
The scroll setting has been removed from the trackpoint driver in kernel versions 2.6.11 and above. Scroll emulation should now be handled in the X server.

A nice side effect of that is, that middle button scrolling applies to any mouse and not just the TrackPoint interface, which can be a quite handy feature for desktop computers or people who prefer to use an external mouse, especially when scrolling through long lists or needing to use horizontal scrolling with a mouse which has only a vertical scroll wheel.

The necessary functionality, known as "EmulateWheelTimeout" allowing to use button 2 for a middle click, wasn't implemented in Xorg prior to 6.9/7.0. However, there was a patch included in most distributions packages of Xorg, which was announced [http://www.mail-archive.com/devel@xfree86.org/msg03333.html here]. You can find an updated version of the package in the experimental branch of {{Debian}} or try to build the mouse driver yourself with the information in the announcement. This has successfully been tried with FC3's 6.8.2 packages.

Once this functionality is in the X.org, add these lines to your TrackPoint configuration section in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

It may also be necessary to add these lines:

Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"

which specify which buttons are mapped to motion in the vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) directions, respectively, in wheel emulation mode (see http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4.html).

{{HINT| Use the program "xev" to see, what mouse button identifiers are sent by your mouse/touchpad/trackpoint. You might want to try: "xev | grep button"}}
{{HINT| If it does not work see if evdev is installed and remove it. On gentoo do the following: 
eix xf86-input-evdev 
emerge -C xf86-input-evdev 
and then remove the evdev flag in make.conf INPUT_DEVICES}}

So, a complete mouse section, that implements this nicely and works very well on my R51, even with a simultaneously connected USB mouse, looks like that (tried out today, 20th of September, 2006 on Dapper):

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Emulate3TimeOut" "50"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeOut" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

The mappings for Y and Z are the same, since the "Z-Axis" refers to actual hardware scrolling wheels which usually scroll the screen along the Y-Axis. If there is no hardware scrolling wheel present, horizontal and vertical scrolling using the TrackPoint work fine without the Z-Axis line.

Now restart X and hold down button 2 and move the mouse to scroll, or just press and release button 2 for a middle click.

To make this work with the synaptics driver for the touchpad, you can add
Option "GuestMouseOff" "1"
to the synaptics device section. This will make the synaptics driver ignore the Trackpoint, so it will be handled by the mouse driver. This allowed me to disable the touchpad while making the TrackPoint work like it should.

{{NOTE| With the above mouse section in my xorg.conf all this works like a charm:
*I can press the wheel on my external USB mouse and move the mouse up and down for scrolling
*or I can just use the wheel on the external mouse for scrolling
*or pressing the MMB button of the trackpoint and use the trackpoint for scrolling.
*Even horizontal scrolling works automagically in Konqueror, for Firefox/Opera see below.

Simultaneously I can use
*a press on the external mouse's wheel
*or the MMB of the trackpoint

for pasting the buffer. Lovely! :) }}

{{HINT| If you don't use the middle-mouse-button for pasting and sometimes pasting things by mistake while scrolling (witch is really odd) simply set the "EmulateWheelTimeOut" to "1" as a (bloody) workaround. Middle click will only possible with pressing left and right button simultaneously!}}

=Application specific tweaks=
===Configure Opera for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling===
To fix horizontal scrolling in Opera, you need to edit the configfile <tt>standard_mouse.ini</tt> in e.g. /usr/share/opera/ui/ (Debian) or /opt/opera/share/opera/ini/ (Gentoo) and comment out the following lines
<pre>
Button6 = Back
Button7 = Forward
</pre>
so they look like that
<pre>
;Button6 = Back
;Button7 = Forward
</pre>
Remember, Button6 and Button7 do not so coincidental correspond with our X configuration we know from above:
<pre>
Option "YAxisMapping" "6 7"
</pre>
After this change you will be able to scroll vertically and horizontally with your middle button.

===Firefox 3 tweaks===
These settings make Firefox on Linux behave more like the Windows version. They were tested on an out of the box Fedora 10 system on a Thinkpad T61. Go into about:config, and set the following:

middlemouse.paste = false
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
general.autoScroll = true

=Sysfs Options Reference=
{{NOTE|These options are current as of kernel version 2.6.29, 3 May 2009}}
{|
|-
! Name
! Type
! Default
! Notes
|-
| sensitivity
| Integer
| 128
| Sensitivity
|-
| speed
| Integer
| 97
| Cursor speed
|-
| inertia
| Integer
| 6
| Described as "negative inertia." It acts more like friction. High values cause the cursor to snap backward when the Trackpoint is released
|-
| reach
| Integer
| 10
| Backup for Z-axis press
|-
| draghys
| Integer
| 255
| Drag hysteresis (how hard it is to drag with Z-axis pressed)
|-
| mindrag
| Integer
| 20
| Minimum amount of force needed to trigger dragging
|-
| thresh
| Integer
| 8
| Minimum value for a Z-axis press
|-
| upthresh
| Integer
| 255
| Used to generate a 'click' on Z-axis
|-
| ztime
| Integer
| 38
| How sharp of a press
|-
| jenks
| Integer
| 135
| Minimum curvature for double click
|-
| press_to_select
| Boolean
| 0
| Press to select
|-
| skipback
| Boolean
| 0
| Supress movement after drag release
|-
| ext_dev
| Boolean
| 0
| Disable external device
|}
Table info taken from [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=drivers/input/mouse/trackpoint.h;hb=HEAD here]. The given link will always point to the current version of the driver. If the notes seem sparse, that's because the code is sparse. On the other hand, the [http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf Trackpoint Engineering Specification Version 4.0]  contains more documentation information than anyone ever desired.

=Determining TrackPoint Path ID=
Both the [[#udev|udev]] and [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration methods require knowledge of the Path ID of the TrackPoint. In the [[#udev|udev]] configuration method, the Path ID is used to match the ID_PATH environmental variable, in the [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration method it is the prefix for the device file name inside the {{path|/dev/input/by-id}} directory. The path ID can vary between ThinkPad models, distributions (with varying kernel patches), and between kernel versions. One way to find the path ID for the TrackPoint is to use udev's path_id utility on the sysfs device path for the TrackPoint. This device path can be found using the {{path|name}} file which describes the TrackPoint. The process can be automated using the following shell command:
/lib/udev/path_id $(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/sys$.*$\/name/\1/')

How to configure the TrackPoint

2011-11-09T16:23:20Z

Rezonatix3: /* Scrolling */

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |Below are several ways of configuring the kernel psmouse driver for controlling extended TrackPoint features.
|}
On a '''Modern''' distribution (like Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE) you will want to use xinput or one of the graphical front ends. For distributions that are lagging a bit (e.g. Debian Lenny and PCLOS '09) you may still want to use the old xorg config method.

=Configuration using xinput=
If you want to modify changes on the fly, you can do so with {{cmd|xinput|}} (part of the optional xorg-x11-apps rpm on Fedora).
Note that these changes are not saved when the xserver is restarted. However, you can add the lines e.g. in your {{cmd|.xsessionrc|}} (depends on your distribution) so they are executed every time X starts.

To query the available options
xinput list-props "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"

More information can be found in the man-pages for evdev
man evdev

To enable vertical scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

To enable horizontal scrolling in addition to vertical scrolling

xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To enable middle button emulation (using left- and right-click simultaneously)
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Timeout" 8 50

==Example: openSUSE 11.2 and ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint ==

xinput list
will show two "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint." with two different ids. Use the id with Axis 0 and Axis 1 items.

Suppose the id was 12. The following will enable the trackpoint scrolling:

xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

The following will enable the horizontal scrolling
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To disable middle button click paste functionality, remap the middle button to something else:
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

To do these automatically without worrying about id number, generate a bash script file:
#!/bin/sh
xinput list | sed -ne 's/^[^ ][^V].*id=$[0-9]*$.*/\1/p' | while read id
do
case `xinput list-props $id` in
*"Middle Button Emulation"*)
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 0
;;
esac
done

# disable middle button
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

and save it with any name such as trackPointScrolling.sh, and make it executable:
chmod +x trackPointScrolling.sh

Next time you run it with $ ./trackPointScrolling.sh, it will enable the trackpoint scrolling and disable middle button paste.
{{Todo|some other examples}}

= Graphical Frontends =
If you are using GNOME, you might want to use [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointing Device Settings] or [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/configure-trackpoint.html configure-trackpoint] as a graphical frontends.
=== GPointing Device Settings ===
It is available for Fedora 12, Ubuntu 9.10 and Debian Squeeze in the standard package repositories
{{NOTE|Unfortunately it seems no longer maintained, and does not work properly with GNOME3 [[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=710053 bug]]}}

[[image:Screenshot-GPointing Device Settings-TrackPoint.png]]

=== configure-trackpoint ===
To install it in Ubuntu run ...
sudo apt-get install sysfsutils
...and then download and install the deb [http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpctl/ here]. Note that saved settings are not restored after reboot in Lucid Lynx. See methods below to make settings permanent.

= Configuration using DevKit =
Most recent distributions like Ubuntu 9.10 switch from HAL (being deprecated) to DevKit. Hence, the HAL configurations explained underneath, fail to work.

The easiest way to configure your touchpad and trackpoint with DevKit is by using the [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointingDeviceSettings] panel that fully supports the hardware. You can easily download the panel by installing {{cmd| gpointing-device-settings|}}. On Ubuntu open a terminal and execute the command {{cmduser| sudo apt-get install gpointing-device-settings}}

Launch the UI through the {{cmduser| gpointing-device-settings}} command, but you can also add a menu entry to your System / Preferences menu for easier access to the UI panel.

= Configuration using udev and HAL =
Modern distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use udev and HAL to configure the input devices. You should no longer make changes to xorg.conf as by default Xorg (through the evdev driver) will let the kernel now handle input devices.

But before you get started on this you should make sure you have all the updates applied from your distro vendor as both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 require some additional fixes that you will need.

=== Scrolling ===

By default the middle mouse button is just that, a middle mouse button, which in Linux is used for the Paste operation.

You may configure it to act in the same way as in Windows, such that you can use it for vertical scrolling: keep the button pressed and move the TrackPoint up and down to scroll. (In GPointing Device Settings, this is known as "Use wheel emulation".)

'''Note:''' This setting is not compatible with using Alt + Middle Mouse Button to resize windows. If you want to resize windows with the trackpad, disable wheel emulation.

==== xorg.conf.d ====

Some distributions now support the new Xorg hotplug configuration method via xorg.conf.d directories (in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) instead of hal. In contrast to the udev method below, it should be around for some time, so it might be the best way to “statically” configure scrolling.

Create the file {{path|/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint|USB Trackpoint pointing device|Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
</pre>

Save and restart Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the correct path is {{path|/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}
{{NOTE|For Arch Linux or Fedora, the correct path is {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}

{{NOTE|If the above does not work for you, you may need to add a different MatchProduct string. Use <pre>find /dev/input/event* -exec udevadm info --attribute-walk --name={} \; | grep -e product -e name | sort -u</pre> to get a list of possibilities.}}

{{NOTE|If the above directory doesn't exist by default in your distribution, it probably doesn't support this method. In this case, please refer to the udev or xinput method below.}}

==== udev ====

Now that Xorg doesn't use the configuration from hal (in Debian unstable starting january 2010), the only way to “statically” configure scrolling in trackpoint is udev. (for other people, xinput method, works fine). This method will be gone (_again_) in not too long so it might be a better idea to use xinput way. YMMV.

Create the file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/99_trackpoint.rules}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"
KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{ID_PATH}!="platform-i8042-serio-1", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheel}="1"
ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheelButton}="2"
ENV{x11_options.XAxisMapping}="6 7"
ENV{x11_options.Emulate3Buttons}="0"

LABEL="xorg_trackpoint_end"
</pre>

Save and restart udev then Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|The ID_PATH used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the ID_PATH appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==== Hal (soon to be deprecated) ====

To accomplish this create the file {{path|/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.YAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelTimeout" type="string">200</merge>
</match>
</pre>

If you also want to have horizontal scrolling, simply add the following XAxisMapping option to the above
<pre>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XAxisMapping" type="string">6 7</merge>
</pre>
After this reboot, or restart the hal service and Xorg. You can validate the settings with {{cmd|lshal|}}.

In some models (eg: X301 and X200 since Jan 10 2010 on debian sid) you may have to use "PS/2 Generic Mouse" instead of "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint". Have a look to your input devices typing <code>lshal|grep input.product</code>.

Alternatively it is also possible to use the "old" Xorg configuration by adding the following lines to the {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

<pre>
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"
EndSection
</pre>

Using this entry HAL will not be used for the input devices.

====Reactivate Scrolling after suspend/resume====
Scrolling may be disabled after a resume from suspend.

You can manually reactivate the trackpoint by reloading the {{path|psmouse}} module as root:
:{{cmdroot|rmmod psmouse && modprobe psmouse}}

You can automatically force the pm-utils to reload this module.
Create a file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/01reload_mouse}} as root with the following content:
<pre>
# reload psmouse to reactivate trackpoint scrolling
SUSPEND_MODULES="${SUSPEND_MODULES:+$SUSPEND_MODULES }psmouse"
</pre>

===Configuring other options (e.g. Press to select, Sensitivity and Speed)===

Create a file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/10-trackpoint.rules}} and add a line to suit your needs

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", ATTRS{press_to_select}="1", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

Testing udev with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} should apply the new changes. All of the settings listed [[How to configure the TrackPoint#Sysfs_Options_Reference|below]] can be specified here as part of a comma separated list.
The customized values should be loaded automatically when booting. However, due to a [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=549379 kernel bug] (affecting Lucid Lynx), the attributes may not yet exist when the udev rule fires. As a work around, add a WAIT_FOR condition on the attribute

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

On my system (Lucid Lynx), the above line did not work. I changed it to:
<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTR{sensitivity}="255"
</pre>
and tested with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

To avoid the wait you can also listen for the Trackpoint input device to appear and then run a script to set the parameters

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTR{name}=="*TrackPoint*", RUN+="/etc/conf.d/trackpoint"
</pre>

An example {{path|/etc/conf.d/trackpoint}} would be

<pre>#! /bin/bash

## Trackpoint settings

# When run from a udev rule, DEVPATH should be set
if [ ! -z $DEVPATH ] ; then
TPDEV=/sys/$( echo "$DEVPATH" | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*//' )
else
# Otherwise just look in /sys/
TPDEV=$(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*\/name$//')
fi

# http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_configure_the_TrackPoint
# http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf
#------------------------------------------------------------
if [ -d "$TPDEV" ]; then
echo "Configuring Trackpoint"
echo -n 255 > $TPDEV/sensitivity # Integer 128 Sensitivity
echo -n 110 > $TPDEV/speed # Integer 97 Cursor speed
echo -n 4 > $TPDEV/inertia # Integer 6 Negative intertia
else
echo "Couldn't find trackpoint device $TPDEV"
fi
</pre>

=Configuration using sysfs=
Another way to modify changes on the fly, is echoing values directly into special files in sysfs.

{{NOTE|
The examples shown below are valid for ThinkPads with both TrackPoint and Touchpad, in which case the sysfs path is {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

If however you have a ThinkPad without Touchpad, or with the Touchpad disabled in the BIOS, the sysfs path needs to be changed to {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} instead (notice the missing serio2 at the end).}}

If you want to set the sysfs parameters at boot, you can use the [http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/Sysfsutils.html sysfsutils] and put the preferred value in /etc/sysfs.conf.

===Press to Select===
Press to Select allows you to tap the control stick which will simulate a left click. You can enable this feature by typing the following in to a terminal (you may need to be root):

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

Press to Select should now be enabled. You can disable it in a similar manner:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

You can use this script to automate the operation

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "1" ]; then
echo "Turning on tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
if [ "$1" = "0" ]; then
echo "Turning off tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
echo -n "Tap status: "
cat /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

In Ubuntu 8.10 to make Press to Select a permanent change:

echo -n 1 | tee /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

As root, append the above command above "exit 0" in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

===Sensitivity & Speed===
Adjusting the speed and sensitivity of the TrackPoint requires echoing a value between 0 and 255 into the appropriate file. For example, for a speed of 120 and a sensitivity of 250, type the following into a terminal:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 120 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed}}
:{{cmdroot|echo -n 250 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity}}

Feel free to experiment with your settings until you find a combination that is comfortable.

When you satisfy your setting, add the two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local in order to avoid restoring the default setting every time the system reboots. In Ubuntu 9.10, add the lines to /etc/rc.local to avoid this.

===Vertical Scrolling===
No sysfs entry exists for vertical scrolling in kernels after 2.6.11.

The feature was removed as it was not a hardware feature, but rather emulating a scroll action in software and as such did not belong in the kernel.
Instead the scroll feature of the Xserver should be used, which can be activated with HAL or xinput as described above.

=Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)=
==Using the "evdev" driver (preferred, especially for recent Xorg versions)==
Extract from /etc/X11/xorg.conf on an X31:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse"
Option "GrabDevice" "False"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true" #Enable wheel emulation for the Trackpoint
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2" #Use the middle button for the emulation
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7" #Map trackpoint X axis to X axis of emulated wheel
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5" #Map trackpoint Y axis to Y axis of emulated wheel
EndSection

{{NOTE|The device path used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the device path appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==Using the "mouse" driver (deprecated, only for old Xorg versions)==
{{NOTE|This only applies to old distributions with Xorg versions that did not yet use evdev. For modern distributions use one of the other methods}}
The scroll setting has been removed from the trackpoint driver in kernel versions 2.6.11 and above. Scroll emulation should now be handled in the X server.

A nice side effect of that is, that middle button scrolling applies to any mouse and not just the TrackPoint interface, which can be a quite handy feature for desktop computers or people who prefer to use an external mouse, especially when scrolling through long lists or needing to use horizontal scrolling with a mouse which has only a vertical scroll wheel.

The necessary functionality, known as "EmulateWheelTimeout" allowing to use button 2 for a middle click, wasn't implemented in Xorg prior to 6.9/7.0. However, there was a patch included in most distributions packages of Xorg, which was announced [http://www.mail-archive.com/devel@xfree86.org/msg03333.html here]. You can find an updated version of the package in the experimental branch of {{Debian}} or try to build the mouse driver yourself with the information in the announcement. This has successfully been tried with FC3's 6.8.2 packages.

Once this functionality is in the X.org, add these lines to your TrackPoint configuration section in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

It may also be necessary to add these lines:

Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"

which specify which buttons are mapped to motion in the vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) directions, respectively, in wheel emulation mode (see http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4.html).

{{HINT| Use the program "xev" to see, what mouse button identifiers are sent by your mouse/touchpad/trackpoint. You might want to try: "xev | grep button"}}
{{HINT| If it does not work see if evdev is installed and remove it. On gentoo do the following: 
eix xf86-input-evdev 
emerge -C xf86-input-evdev 
and then remove the evdev flag in make.conf INPUT_DEVICES}}

So, a complete mouse section, that implements this nicely and works very well on my R51, even with a simultaneously connected USB mouse, looks like that (tried out today, 20th of September, 2006 on Dapper):

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Emulate3TimeOut" "50"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeOut" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

The mappings for Y and Z are the same, since the "Z-Axis" refers to actual hardware scrolling wheels which usually scroll the screen along the Y-Axis. If there is no hardware scrolling wheel present, horizontal and vertical scrolling using the TrackPoint work fine without the Z-Axis line.

Now restart X and hold down button 2 and move the mouse to scroll, or just press and release button 2 for a middle click.

To make this work with the synaptics driver for the touchpad, you can add
Option "GuestMouseOff" "1"
to the synaptics device section. This will make the synaptics driver ignore the Trackpoint, so it will be handled by the mouse driver. This allowed me to disable the touchpad while making the TrackPoint work like it should.

{{NOTE| With the above mouse section in my xorg.conf all this works like a charm:
*I can press the wheel on my external USB mouse and move the mouse up and down for scrolling
*or I can just use the wheel on the external mouse for scrolling
*or pressing the MMB button of the trackpoint and use the trackpoint for scrolling.
*Even horizontal scrolling works automagically in Konqueror, for Firefox/Opera see below.

Simultaneously I can use
*a press on the external mouse's wheel
*or the MMB of the trackpoint

for pasting the buffer. Lovely! :) }}

{{HINT| If you don't use the middle-mouse-button for pasting and sometimes pasting things by mistake while scrolling (witch is really odd) simply set the "EmulateWheelTimeOut" to "1" as a (bloody) workaround. Middle click will only possible with pressing left and right button simultaneously!}}

=Application specific tweaks=
===Configure Opera for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling===
To fix horizontal scrolling in Opera, you need to edit the configfile <tt>standard_mouse.ini</tt> in e.g. /usr/share/opera/ui/ (Debian) or /opt/opera/share/opera/ini/ (Gentoo) and comment out the following lines
<pre>
Button6 = Back
Button7 = Forward
</pre>
so they look like that
<pre>
;Button6 = Back
;Button7 = Forward
</pre>
Remember, Button6 and Button7 do not so coincidental correspond with our X configuration we know from above:
<pre>
Option "YAxisMapping" "6 7"
</pre>
After this change you will be able to scroll vertically and horizontally with your middle button.

===Firefox 3 tweaks===
These settings make Firefox on Linux behave more like the Windows version. They were tested on an out of the box Fedora 10 system on a Thinkpad T61. Go into about:config, and set the following:

middlemouse.paste = false
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
general.autoScroll = true

=Sysfs Options Reference=
{{NOTE|These options are current as of kernel version 2.6.29, 3 May 2009}}
{|
|-
! Name
! Type
! Default
! Notes
|-
| sensitivity
| Integer
| 128
| Sensitivity
|-
| speed
| Integer
| 97
| Cursor speed
|-
| inertia
| Integer
| 6
| Described as "negative inertia." It acts more like friction. High values cause the cursor to snap backward when the Trackpoint is released
|-
| reach
| Integer
| 10
| Backup for Z-axis press
|-
| draghys
| Integer
| 255
| Drag hysteresis (how hard it is to drag with Z-axis pressed)
|-
| mindrag
| Integer
| 20
| Minimum amount of force needed to trigger dragging
|-
| thresh
| Integer
| 8
| Minimum value for a Z-axis press
|-
| upthresh
| Integer
| 255
| Used to generate a 'click' on Z-axis
|-
| ztime
| Integer
| 38
| How sharp of a press
|-
| jenks
| Integer
| 135
| Minimum curvature for double click
|-
| press_to_select
| Boolean
| 0
| Press to select
|-
| skipback
| Boolean
| 0
| Supress movement after drag release
|-
| ext_dev
| Boolean
| 0
| Disable external device
|}
Table info taken from [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=drivers/input/mouse/trackpoint.h;hb=HEAD here]. The given link will always point to the current version of the driver. If the notes seem sparse, that's because the code is sparse. On the other hand, the [http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf Trackpoint Engineering Specification Version 4.0]  contains more documentation information than anyone ever desired.

=Determining TrackPoint Path ID=
Both the [[#udev|udev]] and [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration methods require knowledge of the Path ID of the TrackPoint. In the [[#udev|udev]] configuration method, the Path ID is used to match the ID_PATH environmental variable, in the [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration method it is the prefix for the device file name inside the {{path|/dev/input/by-id}} directory. The path ID can vary between ThinkPad models, distributions (with varying kernel patches), and between kernel versions. One way to find the path ID for the TrackPoint is to use udev's path_id utility on the sysfs device path for the TrackPoint. This device path can be found using the {{path|name}} file which describes the TrackPoint. The process can be automated using the following shell command:
/lib/udev/path_id $(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/sys$.*$\/name/\1/')

How to configure the TrackPoint

2011-11-09T16:22:16Z

Rezonatix3: /* Scrolling */

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |Below are several ways of configuring the kernel psmouse driver for controlling extended TrackPoint features.
|}
On a '''Modern''' distribution (like Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE) you will want to use xinput or one of the graphical front ends. For distributions that are lagging a bit (e.g. Debian Lenny and PCLOS '09) you may still want to use the old xorg config method.

=Configuration using xinput=
If you want to modify changes on the fly, you can do so with {{cmd|xinput|}} (part of the optional xorg-x11-apps rpm on Fedora).
Note that these changes are not saved when the xserver is restarted. However, you can add the lines e.g. in your {{cmd|.xsessionrc|}} (depends on your distribution) so they are executed every time X starts.

To query the available options
xinput list-props "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"

More information can be found in the man-pages for evdev
man evdev

To enable vertical scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

To enable horizontal scrolling in addition to vertical scrolling

xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To enable middle button emulation (using left- and right-click simultaneously)
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Evdev Middle Button Timeout" 8 50

==Example: openSUSE 11.2 and ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint ==

xinput list
will show two "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint." with two different ids. Use the id with Axis 0 and Axis 1 items.

Suppose the id was 12. The following will enable the trackpoint scrolling:

xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200

The following will enable the horizontal scrolling
xinput set-int-prop 12 "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5

To disable middle button click paste functionality, remap the middle button to something else:
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

To do these automatically without worrying about id number, generate a bash script file:
#!/bin/sh
xinput list | sed -ne 's/^[^ ][^V].*id=$[0-9]*$.*/\1/p' | while read id
do
case `xinput list-props $id` in
*"Middle Button Emulation"*)
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout" 8 200
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes" 8 6 7 4 5
xinput set-int-prop $id "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 8 0
;;
esac
done

# disable middle button
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2"

and save it with any name such as trackPointScrolling.sh, and make it executable:
chmod +x trackPointScrolling.sh

Next time you run it with $ ./trackPointScrolling.sh, it will enable the trackpoint scrolling and disable middle button paste.
{{Todo|some other examples}}

= Graphical Frontends =
If you are using GNOME, you might want to use [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointing Device Settings] or [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/configure-trackpoint.html configure-trackpoint] as a graphical frontends.
=== GPointing Device Settings ===
It is available for Fedora 12, Ubuntu 9.10 and Debian Squeeze in the standard package repositories
{{NOTE|Unfortunately it seems no longer maintained, and does not work properly with GNOME3 [[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=710053 bug]]}}

[[image:Screenshot-GPointing Device Settings-TrackPoint.png]]

=== configure-trackpoint ===
To install it in Ubuntu run ...
sudo apt-get install sysfsutils
...and then download and install the deb [http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpctl/ here]. Note that saved settings are not restored after reboot in Lucid Lynx. See methods below to make settings permanent.

= Configuration using DevKit =
Most recent distributions like Ubuntu 9.10 switch from HAL (being deprecated) to DevKit. Hence, the HAL configurations explained underneath, fail to work.

The easiest way to configure your touchpad and trackpoint with DevKit is by using the [http://live.gnome.org/GPointingDeviceSettings GPointingDeviceSettings] panel that fully supports the hardware. You can easily download the panel by installing {{cmd| gpointing-device-settings|}}. On Ubuntu open a terminal and execute the command {{cmduser| sudo apt-get install gpointing-device-settings}}

Launch the UI through the {{cmduser| gpointing-device-settings}} command, but you can also add a menu entry to your System / Preferences menu for easier access to the UI panel.

= Configuration using udev and HAL =
Modern distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use udev and HAL to configure the input devices. You should no longer make changes to xorg.conf as by default Xorg (through the evdev driver) will let the kernel now handle input devices.

But before you get started on this you should make sure you have all the updates applied from your distro vendor as both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 require some additional fixes that you will need.

=== Scrolling ===

By default the middle mouse button is just that, a middle mouse button, which in Linux is used for the Paste operation.

You may configure it to act in the same way as in Windows, such that you can use it for vertical scrolling (keep the button pressed and move the TrackPoint up and down to scroll). In GPointing Device Settings, this is known as "Use wheel emulation".

'''Note:''' This setting is not compatible with using Alt + Middle Mouse Button to resize windows. If you want to resize windows with the trackpad, disable wheel emulation.

==== xorg.conf.d ====

Some distributions now support the new Xorg hotplug configuration method via xorg.conf.d directories (in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) instead of hal. In contrast to the udev method below, it should be around for some time, so it might be the best way to “statically” configure scrolling.

Create the file {{path|/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint|USB Trackpoint pointing device|Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
</pre>

Save and restart Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the correct path is {{path|/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}
{{NOTE|For Arch Linux or Fedora, the correct path is {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d}}}}

{{NOTE|If the above does not work for you, you may need to add a different MatchProduct string. Use <pre>find /dev/input/event* -exec udevadm info --attribute-walk --name={} \; | grep -e product -e name | sort -u</pre> to get a list of possibilities.}}

{{NOTE|If the above directory doesn't exist by default in your distribution, it probably doesn't support this method. In this case, please refer to the udev or xinput method below.}}

==== udev ====

Now that Xorg doesn't use the configuration from hal (in Debian unstable starting january 2010), the only way to “statically” configure scrolling in trackpoint is udev. (for other people, xinput method, works fine). This method will be gone (_again_) in not too long so it might be a better idea to use xinput way. YMMV.

Create the file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/99_trackpoint.rules}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"
KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{ID_PATH}!="platform-i8042-serio-1", GOTO="xorg_trackpoint_end"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheel}="1"
ENV{x11_options.EmulateWheelButton}="2"
ENV{x11_options.XAxisMapping}="6 7"
ENV{x11_options.Emulate3Buttons}="0"

LABEL="xorg_trackpoint_end"
</pre>

Save and restart udev then Xorg (or it'll be enabled at next reboot).

{{NOTE|The ID_PATH used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the ID_PATH appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==== Hal (soon to be deprecated) ====

To accomplish this create the file {{path|/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.YAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelTimeout" type="string">200</merge>
</match>
</pre>

If you also want to have horizontal scrolling, simply add the following XAxisMapping option to the above
<pre>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XAxisMapping" type="string">6 7</merge>
</pre>
After this reboot, or restart the hal service and Xorg. You can validate the settings with {{cmd|lshal|}}.

In some models (eg: X301 and X200 since Jan 10 2010 on debian sid) you may have to use "PS/2 Generic Mouse" instead of "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint". Have a look to your input devices typing <code>lshal|grep input.product</code>.

Alternatively it is also possible to use the "old" Xorg configuration by adding the following lines to the {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

<pre>
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"
EndSection
</pre>

Using this entry HAL will not be used for the input devices.

====Reactivate Scrolling after suspend/resume====
Scrolling may be disabled after a resume from suspend.

You can manually reactivate the trackpoint by reloading the {{path|psmouse}} module as root:
:{{cmdroot|rmmod psmouse && modprobe psmouse}}

You can automatically force the pm-utils to reload this module.
Create a file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/01reload_mouse}} as root with the following content:
<pre>
# reload psmouse to reactivate trackpoint scrolling
SUSPEND_MODULES="${SUSPEND_MODULES:+$SUSPEND_MODULES }psmouse"
</pre>

===Configuring other options (e.g. Press to select, Sensitivity and Speed)===

Create a file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/10-trackpoint.rules}} and add a line to suit your needs

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", ATTRS{press_to_select}="1", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

Testing udev with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} should apply the new changes. All of the settings listed [[How to configure the TrackPoint#Sysfs_Options_Reference|below]] can be specified here as part of a comma separated list.
The customized values should be loaded automatically when booting. However, due to a [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=549379 kernel bug] (affecting Lucid Lynx), the attributes may not yet exist when the udev rule fires. As a work around, add a WAIT_FOR condition on the attribute

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTRS{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

On my system (Lucid Lynx), the above line did not work. I changed it to:
<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", WAIT_FOR="/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", ATTR{sensitivity}="255"
</pre>
and tested with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

To avoid the wait you can also listen for the Trackpoint input device to appear and then run a script to set the parameters

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTR{name}=="*TrackPoint*", RUN+="/etc/conf.d/trackpoint"
</pre>

An example {{path|/etc/conf.d/trackpoint}} would be

<pre>#! /bin/bash

## Trackpoint settings

# When run from a udev rule, DEVPATH should be set
if [ ! -z $DEVPATH ] ; then
TPDEV=/sys/$( echo "$DEVPATH" | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*//' )
else
# Otherwise just look in /sys/
TPDEV=$(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*\/name$//')
fi

# http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_configure_the_TrackPoint
# http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf
#------------------------------------------------------------
if [ -d "$TPDEV" ]; then
echo "Configuring Trackpoint"
echo -n 255 > $TPDEV/sensitivity # Integer 128 Sensitivity
echo -n 110 > $TPDEV/speed # Integer 97 Cursor speed
echo -n 4 > $TPDEV/inertia # Integer 6 Negative intertia
else
echo "Couldn't find trackpoint device $TPDEV"
fi
</pre>

=Configuration using sysfs=
Another way to modify changes on the fly, is echoing values directly into special files in sysfs.

{{NOTE|
The examples shown below are valid for ThinkPads with both TrackPoint and Touchpad, in which case the sysfs path is {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

If however you have a ThinkPad without Touchpad, or with the Touchpad disabled in the BIOS, the sysfs path needs to be changed to {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} instead (notice the missing serio2 at the end).}}

If you want to set the sysfs parameters at boot, you can use the [http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/Sysfsutils.html sysfsutils] and put the preferred value in /etc/sysfs.conf.

===Press to Select===
Press to Select allows you to tap the control stick which will simulate a left click. You can enable this feature by typing the following in to a terminal (you may need to be root):

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

Press to Select should now be enabled. You can disable it in a similar manner:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

You can use this script to automate the operation

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "1" ]; then
echo "Turning on tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
if [ "$1" = "0" ]; then
echo "Turning off tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
echo -n "Tap status: "
cat /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

In Ubuntu 8.10 to make Press to Select a permanent change:

echo -n 1 | tee /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

As root, append the above command above "exit 0" in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

===Sensitivity & Speed===
Adjusting the speed and sensitivity of the TrackPoint requires echoing a value between 0 and 255 into the appropriate file. For example, for a speed of 120 and a sensitivity of 250, type the following into a terminal:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 120 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed}}
:{{cmdroot|echo -n 250 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity}}

Feel free to experiment with your settings until you find a combination that is comfortable.

When you satisfy your setting, add the two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local in order to avoid restoring the default setting every time the system reboots. In Ubuntu 9.10, add the lines to /etc/rc.local to avoid this.

===Vertical Scrolling===
No sysfs entry exists for vertical scrolling in kernels after 2.6.11.

The feature was removed as it was not a hardware feature, but rather emulating a scroll action in software and as such did not belong in the kernel.
Instead the scroll feature of the Xserver should be used, which can be activated with HAL or xinput as described above.

=Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)=
==Using the "evdev" driver (preferred, especially for recent Xorg versions)==
Extract from /etc/X11/xorg.conf on an X31:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse"
Option "GrabDevice" "False"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true" #Enable wheel emulation for the Trackpoint
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2" #Use the middle button for the emulation
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7" #Map trackpoint X axis to X axis of emulated wheel
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5" #Map trackpoint Y axis to Y axis of emulated wheel
EndSection

{{NOTE|The device path used in the example above is a typical value. To determine the device path appropriate to the TrackPoint on a specific model see [[#Determining TrackPoint Path ID|Determining TrackPoint Path ID]]}}

==Using the "mouse" driver (deprecated, only for old Xorg versions)==
{{NOTE|This only applies to old distributions with Xorg versions that did not yet use evdev. For modern distributions use one of the other methods}}
The scroll setting has been removed from the trackpoint driver in kernel versions 2.6.11 and above. Scroll emulation should now be handled in the X server.

A nice side effect of that is, that middle button scrolling applies to any mouse and not just the TrackPoint interface, which can be a quite handy feature for desktop computers or people who prefer to use an external mouse, especially when scrolling through long lists or needing to use horizontal scrolling with a mouse which has only a vertical scroll wheel.

The necessary functionality, known as "EmulateWheelTimeout" allowing to use button 2 for a middle click, wasn't implemented in Xorg prior to 6.9/7.0. However, there was a patch included in most distributions packages of Xorg, which was announced [http://www.mail-archive.com/devel@xfree86.org/msg03333.html here]. You can find an updated version of the package in the experimental branch of {{Debian}} or try to build the mouse driver yourself with the information in the announcement. This has successfully been tried with FC3's 6.8.2 packages.

Once this functionality is in the X.org, add these lines to your TrackPoint configuration section in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

It may also be necessary to add these lines:

Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"

which specify which buttons are mapped to motion in the vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) directions, respectively, in wheel emulation mode (see http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4.html).

{{HINT| Use the program "xev" to see, what mouse button identifiers are sent by your mouse/touchpad/trackpoint. You might want to try: "xev | grep button"}}
{{HINT| If it does not work see if evdev is installed and remove it. On gentoo do the following: 
eix xf86-input-evdev 
emerge -C xf86-input-evdev 
and then remove the evdev flag in make.conf INPUT_DEVICES}}

So, a complete mouse section, that implements this nicely and works very well on my R51, even with a simultaneously connected USB mouse, looks like that (tried out today, 20th of September, 2006 on Dapper):

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Emulate3TimeOut" "50"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeOut" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

The mappings for Y and Z are the same, since the "Z-Axis" refers to actual hardware scrolling wheels which usually scroll the screen along the Y-Axis. If there is no hardware scrolling wheel present, horizontal and vertical scrolling using the TrackPoint work fine without the Z-Axis line.

Now restart X and hold down button 2 and move the mouse to scroll, or just press and release button 2 for a middle click.

To make this work with the synaptics driver for the touchpad, you can add
Option "GuestMouseOff" "1"
to the synaptics device section. This will make the synaptics driver ignore the Trackpoint, so it will be handled by the mouse driver. This allowed me to disable the touchpad while making the TrackPoint work like it should.

{{NOTE| With the above mouse section in my xorg.conf all this works like a charm:
*I can press the wheel on my external USB mouse and move the mouse up and down for scrolling
*or I can just use the wheel on the external mouse for scrolling
*or pressing the MMB button of the trackpoint and use the trackpoint for scrolling.
*Even horizontal scrolling works automagically in Konqueror, for Firefox/Opera see below.

Simultaneously I can use
*a press on the external mouse's wheel
*or the MMB of the trackpoint

for pasting the buffer. Lovely! :) }}

{{HINT| If you don't use the middle-mouse-button for pasting and sometimes pasting things by mistake while scrolling (witch is really odd) simply set the "EmulateWheelTimeOut" to "1" as a (bloody) workaround. Middle click will only possible with pressing left and right button simultaneously!}}

=Application specific tweaks=
===Configure Opera for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling===
To fix horizontal scrolling in Opera, you need to edit the configfile <tt>standard_mouse.ini</tt> in e.g. /usr/share/opera/ui/ (Debian) or /opt/opera/share/opera/ini/ (Gentoo) and comment out the following lines
<pre>
Button6 = Back
Button7 = Forward
</pre>
so they look like that
<pre>
;Button6 = Back
;Button7 = Forward
</pre>
Remember, Button6 and Button7 do not so coincidental correspond with our X configuration we know from above:
<pre>
Option "YAxisMapping" "6 7"
</pre>
After this change you will be able to scroll vertically and horizontally with your middle button.

===Firefox 3 tweaks===
These settings make Firefox on Linux behave more like the Windows version. They were tested on an out of the box Fedora 10 system on a Thinkpad T61. Go into about:config, and set the following:

middlemouse.paste = false
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
general.autoScroll = true

=Sysfs Options Reference=
{{NOTE|These options are current as of kernel version 2.6.29, 3 May 2009}}
{|
|-
! Name
! Type
! Default
! Notes
|-
| sensitivity
| Integer
| 128
| Sensitivity
|-
| speed
| Integer
| 97
| Cursor speed
|-
| inertia
| Integer
| 6
| Described as "negative inertia." It acts more like friction. High values cause the cursor to snap backward when the Trackpoint is released
|-
| reach
| Integer
| 10
| Backup for Z-axis press
|-
| draghys
| Integer
| 255
| Drag hysteresis (how hard it is to drag with Z-axis pressed)
|-
| mindrag
| Integer
| 20
| Minimum amount of force needed to trigger dragging
|-
| thresh
| Integer
| 8
| Minimum value for a Z-axis press
|-
| upthresh
| Integer
| 255
| Used to generate a 'click' on Z-axis
|-
| ztime
| Integer
| 38
| How sharp of a press
|-
| jenks
| Integer
| 135
| Minimum curvature for double click
|-
| press_to_select
| Boolean
| 0
| Press to select
|-
| skipback
| Boolean
| 0
| Supress movement after drag release
|-
| ext_dev
| Boolean
| 0
| Disable external device
|}
Table info taken from [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=drivers/input/mouse/trackpoint.h;hb=HEAD here]. The given link will always point to the current version of the driver. If the notes seem sparse, that's because the code is sparse. On the other hand, the [http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf Trackpoint Engineering Specification Version 4.0]  contains more documentation information than anyone ever desired.

=Determining TrackPoint Path ID=
Both the [[#udev|udev]] and [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration methods require knowledge of the Path ID of the TrackPoint. In the [[#udev|udev]] configuration method, the Path ID is used to match the ID_PATH environmental variable, in the [[#Configuration using the X server (xorg.conf)|xorg.conf]] configuration method it is the prefix for the device file name inside the {{path|/dev/input/by-id}} directory. The path ID can vary between ThinkPad models, distributions (with varying kernel patches), and between kernel versions. One way to find the path ID for the TrackPoint is to use udev's path_id utility on the sysfs device path for the TrackPoint. This device path can be found using the {{path|name}} file which describes the TrackPoint. The process can be automated using the following shell command:
/lib/udev/path_id $(find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/sys$.*$\/name/\1/')

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:36:26Z

Rezonatix3: /* External Sources */

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily achieved if the community maintaina a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R61
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X300
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

== External Sources ==

* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
# This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
# The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
# Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
# This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
# The user Middleton has released [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:34:03Z

Rezonatix3: /* Modifying the card's ID */

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily achieved if the community maintaina a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R61
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X300
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:33:46Z

Rezonatix3: /* Modifying the card's ID */

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily achieved if the community maintain a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R61
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X300
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:33:10Z

Rezonatix3: /* Modifying the card's ID */

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily achieved if community maintain a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R61
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X300
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:18:37Z

Rezonatix3: /* Successful BIOS modifications */

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily acheived if community maintain a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R61
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X300
| ?
| ?
|
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}}
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:14:05Z

Rezonatix3:

== Problem description ==

Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an "authorized" adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

== Affected models ==

All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added. The problem is in the BIOS.

== Solutions ==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily acheived if community maintain a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

== Successful BIOS modifications ==

{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or in WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T10:05:37Z

Rezonatix3: /* Solutions */

==Problem Description==
Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an 'authorized' adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

==Affected Models==
All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added

==Affected Operating Systems==
All - problem is in the BIOS

==Status==
* Workarounds exist for most affected models.

==Solutions==

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

=== Modifying the BIOS ===

{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Proceed with caution!}}

See the table below for links to modified BIOS images with the whitelist disabled. Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

Alternatively, you may can modify the whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].

=== Modifying the card's ID ===

A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one:

# You'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherboard.
# Future BIOS updates will not create any problems.
# No problem with newer laptops with different BIOS; the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS, which can be easily acheived if community maintain a compatibility table.

The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

=== Use the spare slot ===

Another safer method: you can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

==Successful BIOS Modifications==
{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| In WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2011-11-06T09:55:35Z

Rezonatix3: Add Middleton BIOS

==Problem Description==
Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the ThinkPad BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with an 'authorized' adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

This is because the card's sub-vendor PCI-ID (which can be seen using ''lspci -v'') are checked against a [[Wikipedia:Whitelist|whitelist]] in the BIOS. IBM/Lenovo's reasoning for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission).{{footnote|1}} or similar agencies in other countries.

==Affected Models==
All machines with integrated WiFi, or machines with WiFi added

==Affected Operating Systems==
All - problem is in the BIOS

==Status==
* Workarounds exist for most affected models.

==Solutions==
It may be possible to use the computer with the unauthorized card deactivated (but not removed). Press {{key|F1}} to enter the BIOS and deactivate the WLAN card, then attempt to boot with the card disabled. This does not make the wireless card work, but it may allow you to boot the computer normally.

{{NOTE|Any of the following solutions should suffice to make the wireless card useable. You only need to perform one of them.}}

* You may can modify the BIOS whitelist to include the PCI-ID of the card you wish to use. The complete instructions for this procedure are [http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html here].
{{WARN|It is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable, proceed with caution!}}

* Information on making this BIOS modification for newer ThinkPads can be found [http://www.endeer.cz/bios.tools/bios.html here].

* A safer and better method than modifying the BIOS is modifying the PCI-ID of the wlan card to match the authorized one(why? 1.you'll risk the wireless card instead of the motherbord 2.future BIOS updates will not create any problem 3.no problem with newer laptops with different BIOS, the only reqirement is to find an ID that is already listed in the BIOS that can be easily acheived if community maintain a compatibility table). The instructions are [http://www.dagarlas.org/stuff/computing/article0001.php here] (link down, 2011/05/14). This page is for Atheros-based cards and HP notebooks, but it applies to Thinkpads as well. It also has links on how to edit the PCI-ID on Intel Pro Wireless cards. Instruction for intel 2200/2915 cards are [http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html here] or [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ here] or [http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/thinkpad-hardware/zubeh%C3%B6r/44192-tutorial-nicht-ibm-wlan-karte-2200-2915-im-thinkpad/ here] (in German). The second one is much simpler because it provides an already patched and compiled ipw2200 driver required to do the job.
{{NOTE|On Linux-based distributions, the driver is loaded based on the PCI-ID. Keep this in mind when "faking" other models. }}

{{NOTE|Modifying your PCI-ID will require either a laptop without a BIOS lock or a PCI adapter for your desktop. Also, this procedure can render your card useless, but that's better than bricking your laptop.}}

{{NOTE| According to the information found from the links above the authors suggest a change in the network card memory (ethtool -E ethX magic 0x2200 offset 0x8 value 0x12). However, this doesn't work on my Thinkpad X40. Further modifications were needed to eliminate the 1802 error. The value of the first register inside the memory of the PCI card should be modified to read:

<code>
Offset: 0x0000
Values: 02 a5 00 80 20 42 86 80 12 27 86 80 18 00 01 03
</code>

one [http://fx.cz/sklad/intel/ source] suggest that one more value should be modified:

<code>
offset 0xa8 value 0xf9
</code>

although it might not be necessary.}}

* Another safer method: You can plug the wireless card into the spare WWAN slot (the second miniPCI express slot) with pin-20 taped over. It has been tested on a Thinkpad X61s and a non-IBM (unauthorized) Intel Wifi link 4965agn card, originally it gave a 1802 error, but using this trick it boots up and works without any apparent problem-- it essentially hides the card from the test in the bios, but the WWAN slot still gives the card access to the proper PCI bus, with no need to modify the computer or card. Pin #20 is located on the underside of the miniPCI Express board, second pin from the notch, on the side with more pins. Here is [http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/mini_pcie_pinout.shtml detailed MiniPCIe pinout]. Combinations reported to work:
** Thinkpad X61s / Intel Wifi link 4965agn
** Thinkpad X61 / Intel 3945abg (bulk)
** Thinkpad X200 / Intel 5300
** Thinkpad T60p (widescreen) / Sierra MC8781

* On the Lenovo Y530 with an Intel 4965AGN, moving the card to the second miniPCI slot was sufficient. There was no need to tape any pins. Also with an X61t (7762-94G), an Atheros 5008X scavenged from a MacBook Pro, worked flawless (ok, without hardware switch and WLAN status LED) in the WWAN slot w/out taping.

* You can use the [[Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices | no-1802 and no-01C9 Linux Live CD]] without applying the no-01C9 patch. It is very convenient to use and based on the C code below.

* You can use the DOS [http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com no-1802] utility, written by Tisheng Chen.{{footnote|2}} It will set a certain bit in the CMOS memory which disables the whitelist check, but it has been reported not to work on the latest machines, such as the T43 and X41

* You can compile and run (as root) the following C-code, which was written by Matthew Garrett. It was based on the code written by Vojtech Pavlik, which in turn was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. {{footnote|3}}

<code>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(void)
{
int fd;
unsigned char data;

fd = open("/dev/nvram", O_RDWR);
if (fd==-1) {
printf("Opening /dev/nvram failed\n");
return 1;
}
printf("Disabling WiFi whitelist check.\n");

/* BIG INFORMATIONAL WARNING */
/* The linux nvram driver doesn't give access to the first 14 bytes of
the CMOS. As a result, we seek to 0x5c rather than 0x6a. If you're
implementing this under another OS, then you'll have to go to whichever
address is appropriate for your access method */

lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
read(fd, &data, 1);
printf("CMOS address 0x5c: %02x->", data);
data |= 0x80;
printf("%02x\n", data);
lseek(fd, 0x5c, SEEK_SET);
if (write(fd, &data, 1)<0) {
printf("Unable to write to /dev/nvram - hack failed\n");
close(fd);
return 2;
}
close(fd);
printf("Done.\n");
return 0;
}

</code>
{{NOTE|On the R32, T43, X41, X60, W500 and probably others, the BIOS hacks and the "no-1802" utility don't work.}}

* On the X61s (and probably others), if you tape pin 20 from the card, it works if plugged into the second (WWAN) mini-PCIE-slot.

==Successful BIOS Modifications==
{{WARN|This table is meant to give users an idea of what models have been successfully modified and how. As stated before, it is dangerous to mess with your BIOS, you can easily make your machine unbootable. Please proceed with caution!}}

The following table contains information about ThinkPad models that have been successfully modified to run an unauthorized Mini PCI card. {{footnote|4}}

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| BIOS Version
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Method
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad 240
| 2609-21G
| 1.18
| Damn Small Linux
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2652-P3M
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.25-2-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31
| 2653-CU3
| 1.13 (1GET41WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad A31p
| 2653-R8U
| 1.10 (1NET16WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad G40
| 2388-2UU
| 1.21 (2006/2/24; 1TETA6WW)
| Windows XP Home
| no-1802 DOS 6.22 floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-6FG
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R31
| 2656-E4U
| 3.11 (12-01-2004)
| Windows XP Professional SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R32
| 2656-EG1
| 2.16 (16-06-2006)
| DOS Boot Disk
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2656-69U
| ?
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-F7G
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| ?
| Debian Etch
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2896-J3U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Fedora Core 4
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-L7U
| 1.24 (10-18-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DG1
| 1.26
| Ubuntu Linux 8.10 2.6.27-9
| Matthew Garrett code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40e
| 2684-LKG
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CDG
| 1.27 (10-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-DM2
| 1.09 (2003)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2723
| ?
| Slackware Linux 12
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-CFM
| 1.24 (10-17-2005)
| Gentoo & XP Pro
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724
| 1.30 (10-19-2005)
| FreeBSD 6.1-p1
| code by Matthew Garrett, compiled and run on bactrack
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2724-3XU
| 1.33 (06-29-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2682
| 1.01 (2003-01-24)
| Debian GNU/Linux etch (March 2007)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2722-BDG
| 1.33 (2006/6/29)
| Lunar Linux (2007/03/04)
| Matthew Garret's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1829-7RG
| 3.21 (02-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| no-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50
| 1830-6FG
| 3.05a (14-05-2004)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R50p
| 1832-2AG
| 3.19 (13-10-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-10-686)
| Vojtech Pavlik code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R51
| 2887-W2C
| 1.27 (03-03-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from USB key to apply)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad R52
| 1849-BMU
|1.27 (09-20-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility (boot from external USB floppy)
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T23
| 2647-4MU
| 1.18 (08-06-2004)
| Windows XP Pro/SP2
| no-1802 utility (W98se-bootfloppy)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-68G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T30
| 2366-ES1
| 2.10
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-97G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.09 (08-08-2005)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-N6G
| 2.10 (26-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86U
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86G
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" Intel BG2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-86M
| 2.05 (12-06-2003)
| Mepis 7
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-DU9
| 2.10 (27-06-2006)
| Suse Linux 10.1
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2367-RU1
| 2.01 (06-08-2002)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T30
| 2366-81M
| 2.10 (1IET71WW)
| Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2.6.24-1-686)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PM1
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-4BG
| 3.21
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-7CU
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-75U
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Fedora 6 w Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-82U
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP/ SUSE 10.1
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.05a (2004-05-14)
| Arch Linux
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-8CG
| 3.15 (2005-03-29)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/[http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Communication/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Communication&ProductID=985&ProductName=GN-WI01GS Gigabyte GN-WI01GS]
| No-1802 LiveCD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-PU7
| 3.21 (09-12-2006)
| Windows XP Professional
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2373-42G
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Windows 2000 Pro
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CG
| 3.20 (11-05-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS w/Intel Pro Lan2200
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.03 (07 Apr 2004)
| Windows XP
| no-1802 utility (applied via FreeDos bootable USB stick)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-DG1
| 3.21 (06-02-2006)
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Broadcom 4306
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
| 2374-8CU
| 3.16 (2006-02-21)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40
|
| 2.13 (2004-01-08)
| Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
| no-1802 W98 boot floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G1G
| 3.19 (10-13-2005)
| Debian GNU/Linux (sid)
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T40p
| 2373-G5G
| 3.21 (2006-06-02)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 / Gentoo 2007.0
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-1FG
| 3.21 (2007-06-18)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-5G1
| 2004
| Fedora Core 6 w/Intel 5ABG a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-9HU
| n/a
| Ubuntu 6.10 w/Atheros 5212 a/b/g
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|ThinkPad T41
| 2373-2FG
| n/a
| Windows XP Pro SR2 w/ Intel 2200BG
| no-1802 utility
! style="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2373-GEG
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| Gentoo / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41p
| 2374-GGU
| 3.21 (1RETDPWW) 6/2/2006
| Slackware / XP pro SP2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T41
| 2373-K32
| BIOS Build ID: 1RETDOWW(3.20)
| CentOS 5.0 w/Atheros 5212 (CM9)
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-6UU
| Not noted
| Fedora 7 w/Atheros 5212
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-4TG
| 3.13 (1RETDHWW) (29-10-2004)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-Y8N
| 1RETDRWW (3.23)
| openSUSE 11.1 / Intel 2915abg
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42p
| 2373-HTU
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-K2G
| 3.17 (07-27-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-M1U
| 3.13 1RETDHWW (10/29/2004)
| Fedora 7 w/ Intel PRO 2200BG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-LM1
| 3.23 (1RETDRWW) (06-18-2007)
| Debian Lenny (2.6.21-2-686) w/ Intel PRO 2915ABG
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2378-EXU
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T42
| 2373-F3G
| 3.18 (09-15-2005)
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| No-1802 W98 Boot Floppy
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T43
| 1871-F1G
| 1.19 (70ET59WW) (2005-09-20)
| n/a
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T60
| 6371-CTO
| 1.04 (7IET23WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X22
| 2662-95G
| 1.32 (2003-06-10)
| Debian GNU/Linux testing, kernel 2.6.18-3-686
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X24
| 2662-MPG
| 1.26 (2002-05-22)
| Debian GNU/Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| AR5212
| ?
| Debian Linux 2.6.18-5
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-41j
| 1.08 (08-09-2005)
| Gentoo Kernel 2.6.15
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2672-4XU
| 1.09
| Win XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X30
| 2673-EU2
| 1.09
| Windows XP Pro SP2
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.22-rc7
| no-1802 utility
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PG9
| 2.04 (2003-11-10)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.21-2
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2673-C27
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Ubuntu 5.10 (kernel 2.6.12-9-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-1UG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| FreeBSD 6-STABLE
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 3.02 (22-09-2005)
| Debian Etch (Testing), Kernel 2.6.17-2-686
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CXU
| 2.04
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-PBU
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-I5A
| 3.02
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C8G
| 3.02
| Debian (kernel 2.6.16.20-386)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-CEG
| 2.11 (02/13/2004)
| Debian (kernel 2.6.18-4-686, gcc 4.1.2)
| Matthew Garrett code {{footnote|3}}
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2884-BRU
| 1.03 (1QET34WW) 2003-04-08
| Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ Intel 2915ABG
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-C2G
| ?
| Win XP Pro, w/ Gigabyte GN-WI03N-RN
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X31
| 2672-BAU
| 3.02 (1QET97WW)
| Windows Vista w/ Broadcom 43XG, Ubuntu 7.10
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X32
| 2672-58G
| 3.02
| Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-CTO
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9
| modify PCI-CARD EEPROM
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 1.42 (2004/09/16; 1UET92WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X40
| 2371-8EU
| 2.08 (2006/12/25; 1UETD3WW)
| Windows XP Professional SP3, Ubuntu 8.04
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 1866-6SU
| ?
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 DOS boot CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2525-A2U
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X41
| 2528-ELU
| 2.06 (2006/03/14; 74ET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro / OSX 10.4.8 / Ubuntu Edgy
| no-1802 Linux Live CD
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X60s
| 1702-3JU
| ?
| Debian Testing
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (bricked)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X61t
| 7762-94G
| ?
| Windows 7 Ent
| In WWAN slot (no taping)
! style ="color:green;"| YES (no LED/HW-switch)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200
| ?
| 1.43
| Ubuntu Karmic7
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| NO (tape pin 20 instead)
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| Thinkpad X200
| 7454-2QU
| 3.05
| Windows 7 32-bit
| Tape over pin 20
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X200s
| ?
| 3.14 (2010-07-07)
| Ubuntu
| tape over 20-pin, place card into 2nd(!) slot (WWAN). Without taping there will be no error but it won't work. (Led doesn't work after all)
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201i (X201)
| 3249-CTO
| 1.16 (2010-06-07; 6QET46WW)
| Debian Squeeze
| tape-over 20-pin
! style ="color:red;"| No; BIOS hacks not attempted
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad R40
| 2681-LUU
| 1.27 (2006-06-29; 1OET61WW)
| Windows XP Pro
| jmp1802.cmd
! style ="color:green;"| Yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad W500
| 4061-A97
| 1.16 (2008-09-24; 6FET46WW)
| Ubuntu 8.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Matthew Garrett's code
! style ="color:red;"| No
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.22 (2010-09-09; 6QET52WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| Zender's BIOS tools
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3249-CTO
| 1.32 (6QET62WW)
| Ubuntu 10.10
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?s=e297b8f49bacb66d235829696df53c6a&p=366208&viewfull=1#post366208 This modified BIOS]
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X301
| 2777-CTO
| 3.10 (2010-03-16; 6EET50WW)
| Ubuntu 10.04
| tape over 20-pin; place card into WWAN slot
! style ="color:red;"| no
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|-style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad T61p
| ?
| 2.27-1.08 (20 Apr 2010)
| Linux Mint 9
| [http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Middleton BIOS] {{footnote|5}} or [http://art.ified.ca/?page_id=218 manual patching] (requires installing Windows XP temporarily)
! style ="color:green;"| yes
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
| ThinkPad X201
| 3680-VV8
| 1.34 (6QET64WW)
| Arch (updated 05.05.2011)
| [http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/5866-LENOVO--Bioses-especially-Thinkpad.?p=402987&viewfull=1#post402987 This modified BIOS] (updated using preinstalled Windows 7)
! style ="color:green;"| yes, 2*5 Beep on Startup (see [[http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/20223-Remove-whitelist-check-add-ID-s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests.?p=352910&viewfull=1#post352910]])
|}

==Problem with WiFi LED==
After getting an unauthorized card to work, you may notice that the WiFi LED found on the ThinkPad is not working. This doesn't happen with all unauthorized cards. The general cause for this is the fact that the MiniPCI standard leaves the implementation of the LED signals available on the MiniPCI connector to the card vendors. Therefore some newer WiFi cards use one of the signals originally meant for LEDs to implement the "radio kill" switch input. As a result, the LED doesn't get proper signals and fails.

====Details====
The WiFi LED found in ThinkPads is connected to following pins on the MiniPCI connector.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
!style="background:#efefef;"|Pin
!style="background:#efefef;"|Signal
!style="background:#efefef;"|Description
|-style="background: white;"
|11
|LED1_GRNP
|WiFi active LED +
|-style="background: white;"
|13
|LED1_GRNN
|WiFi active LED - (older cards) / RF Silent input (newer cards)
|}
Note: The descriptions are specific to this article.

If your LED is not working, the problem could be the pin 13. Newer cards may no longer provide the necessary negative signal there to drive the LED. Before you apply any fixes, be sure to check the voltage between pin 11 and ground (can be found for example on the MiniPCI latch arms) - it should give you about 3.3V while the WiFi is active and 0V otherwise. The voltage between pin 13 and ground should measure about 2.5V. The notebook has to be running while you perform the tests so be extremely careful. All the mentioned pins are on the upper side so it's quite easy to get to them with a multimeter. If all the voltages match, your LED is fixable.

Reference: 
[http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/specs/mpci10.pdf MiniPCI Specification] (PDF, 724KB) 
[http://www.interfacebus.com/MiniPCI_Pinout_124Pin.html MiniPCI Pinout]

====Solution====
The solution is to connect the ground (GND) to the pin 13. However, since the new ''RF Silent input'' signal is active low, grounding the card side will tell it to turn itself off. Therefore, we have to separate pin 13 of the card from the system board and connect ground to the system board side only.

There are many ways to accomplish this. One which doesn't require any soldering is to mask pin 13 on the card with a cellophane tape and use about 3cm of thin wire to connect pin 13 of the connector to the ground. Place one end of the wire on the masked pad and insert the card into the slot. Check if the wire is centered on the pad and try pulling it (but not too hard) to see if it holds. If it comes out easily, pull the card out and repeat. If you successfully attach it, you have to connect the other end to the ground. The best place is the left MiniPCI latch arm. Bend it outside and insert the wire into the small gap between the two pieces of metal the arm is made from. Finally, make sure that the wire doesn't touch anything else and doesn't stand out too much, it must not touch the touchpad electronics when you put the palmrest back on. If in doubt, cover the wire with some insulator.

{{WARN|Do this fix ONLY if you know exactly what you are doing and at your own risk! If you're not sure about any part, don't even try it or you may damage your WiFi card and/or brick your laptop. You have been warned.}}

{{NOTE|If your card is not listed in the table below, your WiFi LED may not work for some other reason. Therefore, make sure you understood the problem described here and made all the measurements carefully. This way you will know if this apply to your card and if it can be fixed this way. Otherwise, if you're skilled enough, please try to find out why your LED doesn't work and contribute to this article.}}

====Successful WiFi LED fixes====
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" width="100%" style="border:1px; background:grey;"
! style="background:#efefef;"| Model
! style="background:#efefef;"| Type
! style="background:#efefef;"| WiFi card
! style="background:#efefef;"| Operating System
! style="background:#efefef;"| Success
! style="background:#efefef;"| Comments
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|T41
|2374-312
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,
Spares No: 373830-001
|Windows XP SP2,
Ubuntu 7.10
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|The WiFi card seems to be a HP one (tip: google for spares no.). Not sure thou - received it with an already changed PCI-ID.
|- style="background: white; color:black;"
|X31
|2672-PG9
|Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, Broadcom BCM4306
|Debian Sid
|style ="color:green;font-weight:bold;"|Yes
|Both cards are non-IBM ones, BIOS was patched. ipw2200 needed the {{bootparm|led|1}} option to be enabled while loading the module.
|}

==External Sources==
* Additional Information about "Unauthorised" MiniPCI adapters can be found on [http://web.archive.org/web/20080803233214/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/wireless.html Matthew Garrett's website].

* Thinkpad Mini PCI Wireless [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221633/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html compatibility matrix].

* Bootable "no-1802" [http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/unauthorized-wireless-cards/ CD and floppy image]

{{footnotes|
#This is explained in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/3/162 message to the LKML] and subsequently [http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/6/9/50 clarified].
#The no-1802 tool was announced and explained in a [http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2004-June/018253.html message to the Linux-Thinkpad ML].
#Vojtech Pavlik's C-code was originally posted in a [http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/6/13/69 message to the LKML]. It was based on the assembly used in the no-1802 program. Matthew Garrett [http://web.archive.org/web/20080608221623/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/hacks.html rewrote] the code to provide more error checking.
#This information has been added by users. Please feel free to add systems if you have had personal success or failure.
#[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443 Patched BIOS] for R61/T61/X61/X300 has been released by Middleton on the NotebookReview forums. The BIOS disables the MiniPCI whitelist, as well as unlocking full SATA-II speed.
}}

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-21T10:57:56Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom setting <tt>apm_battery</tt>:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T17:26:42Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is usually caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected (indicating head unloading):

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:33:21Z

Rezonatix3: /* Tracking down the cause of the clicks */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including ''power management'' and ''shock detection'' (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help to see if the '''Load Cycle Count''' is affected:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:31:35Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive '''parking its head'''. There are multiple causes for that, including ''power management'' and ''shock detection'' (see below for fixes). However, it may also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:29:11Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to ''die'' (the dreaded "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death click of death]"); check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>/var/log/syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and remember to backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:27:30Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to ''die''; check <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> (or <tt>syslog</tt>) for suspicious errors, and do backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:26:11Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to DIE.
Check /var/log/messages for suspicious errors and backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related. Western Digital drives (like the Scorpio series) are also known to exhibit pronounced clicks.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:20:35Z

Rezonatix3: /* Laptop mode */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to DIE.
Check /var/log/messages for suspicious errors and backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Note that by default, <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> will frequently spin down the hard drive to save power.

Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-20T16:19:11Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to DIE.
Check /var/log/messages for suspicious errors and backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> sets the APM level to 128 when on battery. This may be overridden in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt> with the custom <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting:

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

==== Laptop mode ====

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and have it handle the hard drive's settings. Edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, set <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensure that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-19T10:01:15Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to DIE.
Check /var/log/messages for suspicious errors and backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the APM level when on battery is governed by the setting <tt>apm_battery</tt> (default 128):

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On Ubuntu 10.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> controls hard drive settings. It may be overridden by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d/</tt>. However, this should not be necessary when using the <tt>apm_battery</tt> setting in <tt>hdparm.conf</tt>.

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2011-10-19T09:35:09Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The click sound is caused by the drive parking its head. There are multiple causes for that, including power management and shock detection (see below). It can also mean that your drive is about to DIE.
Check /var/log/messages for suspicious errors and backup!

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

On Ubuntu 11.04, the APM level when on battery is governed by the setting <tt>apm_battery</tt> (default 128):

/dev/sda {
apm = 255
apm_battery = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On Ubuntu 10.04, the script <tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm</tt> controls hard drive settings. It may be overridden by creating an empty file with the same name in <tt>/etc/pm/power.d/</tt>.

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Solutions for OS/2 (eComStation) ===

Using the latest [http://svn.netlabs.org/xata Danis506 driver], it is possible to set the APM level of the drive with the /APM:x switch. For the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB EIDE, for example, /APM:254 seems to quiet it down. Like hdparm, lower values may be possible for this and other models.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-09-14T20:10:20Z

Rezonatix3:

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

The problem seems to be solved on Ubuntu 10.04.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T11:46:02Z

Rezonatix3: /* Wake-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create an executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T11:45:33Z

Rezonatix3: /* Start-up settings */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, edit <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/hdparm.conf}}

Add the following lines:

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create a executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T11:44:29Z

Rezonatix3: Separate sections for start-up and wake-up settings

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. This is done in two steps: changing the default settings when the system boots, and changing the settings when the system resumes after the lid is closed and re-opened.

==== Start-up settings ====

On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

Then reboot the system, and the clicking noise should be gone.

==== Wake-up settings ====

The clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix this, create a executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T11:00:05Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

See also below. On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/Arch Linux is '''starting up''', so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T10:35:41Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/Arch Linux is '''starting up''', so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 255 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-14T10:35:11Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/Arch Linux is '''starting up''', so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50_hdparm-pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 254 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50_hdparm-pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-13T23:57:51Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/Arch Linux is starting up, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50-hdparm_pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 254 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod +x</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-13T23:56:46Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem Arch Linux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/Arch Linux is starting up, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50-hdparm_pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 254 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-13T23:56:18Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchLinux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/ArchLinus is starting up, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50-hdparm_pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|vi /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 254 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-13T23:55:53Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchLinux], edit <tt>/etc/rc.local</tt> instead and add:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The above will only affect the hard drive's settings when Debian/ArchLinus is starting up, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>50-hdparm_pm</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>:

: {{cmdroot|/etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

With the following content:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$1" ] && ([ "$1" = "resume" ] || [ "$1" = "thaw" ]); then
hdparm -B 254 /dev/your-hard-drive > /dev/null
fi

To make it executable, run:

: {{cmdroot|chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-hdparm_pm}}

If this does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, try the script below instead:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
sleep 2
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Yet another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-13T23:41:10Z

Rezonatix3: /* External links */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

However, this will only affect start-up settings, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>.

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop#Hard_drive_spin_down_problem ArchWiki: Hard drive spin down problem]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-11T16:55:59Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

However, this will only affect start-up settings, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened. To fix the latter, create a executable file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>.

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu] 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place. Make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Another solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-11T11:41:09Z

Rezonatix3: laptop-mode-tools solution at the top.

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, the preferred solution is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt> and ensuring that <tt>hdparm</tt> sets <tt>-B 255</tt>.

Another solution is to add the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

However, this will only affect start-up settings, so the clicking may resume when the lid is closed and re-opened.

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu], one can make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>. Remember to make the files executable (<tt>chmod 777</tt>).

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T15:34:58Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least aggressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, this is achieved by adding the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu], one can make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>.

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Another alternative is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T15:34:16Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solutions (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, this is achieved by adding the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu], one can make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>.

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Another alternative is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T15:33:32Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solution (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solutions (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. (The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads: 200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads.)

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, this is achieved by adding the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu], one can make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt>.

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt>, with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

Another alternative is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt>.

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T12:11:36Z

Rezonatix3: Add Debian solution

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solution (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads (200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads).

To make these changes permanent, you have to ensure that the <tt>-B</tt> commands are reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, after hotswapping, and ''every time the ThinkPad BIOS might try to override them''. On Debian, this can be achieved by adding the following lines to <tt>/etc/hdparm.conf</tt> (as root):

# Change sda to hda if it's a PATA drive
/dev/sda {
apm = 255
}

Then, to refresh the settings, run

: {{cmdroot|update-rc.d hdparm defaults}}

On [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 Ubuntu], make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt> (as root).

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt> with the following content (as root):

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Another alternative is to install the <tt>laptop-mode-tools</tt> package and edit <tt>/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf</tt>, setting <tt>CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1</tt>.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T10:29:33Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solution (Windows) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solution (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads (200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads).

These commands have immediate effect, and need to be reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, and after hotswapping. '''You have to reissue the <tt>-B</tt> commands every time the ThinkPad BIOS might have tried to override them.''' Ubuntu bug [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 #59695] explains to make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following (change <tt>sda</tt> to <tt>hda</tt> if it's a PATA drive):

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt> (as root).

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt> with the following content (as root):

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach also works under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

[[Category:T40]]
[[Category:T41]]
[[Category:T42]]
[[Category:T43]]
[[Category:T61]]
[[Category:T61p]]
[[Category:X41]]
[[Category:G41]]

Problem with hard drive clicking

2010-08-09T10:28:44Z

Rezonatix3: /* Possible solution (Linux) */

Many users have reported a '''problem with hard drive clicking''', sometimes described as a repeating '''tick tick tick''' type of ticking sound, or a '''faint beep''' at random intervals.

The [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]] series, which shipped with many T series Thinkpads, is reported to suffer from this problem in particular. The clicks occur rapidly, and are quiet but noticeable. While in use in a quiet environment, the clicks can be relatively loud and annoying. The clicks seem to happen when the drive is idle and the power has been on for a significant period of time. The clicking is also reported on other vendors' laptop hard drives, and is therefore almost certainly hard drive related rather than laptop chassis related.

The clicking sound appears to occur only when the drive is idle. Forcing the drive to be busy silences the ticking. Launching programs that access the hard drive, such as searching or defragmenting the drive, helps for a time. Cycling the power on the hard drive, such as through a full power-off reboot of the system, stops the ticking for the moment. <tt>hdparm</tt> can be used to reset the drive without rebooting, or to set the power management settings.

Others recommend using Hitachi's drive feature tool to increase the acoustic management level.

=== Possible cause and speculation ===

Laptop drives (especially Hitachi [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K80]], [[Hitachi Travelstar 5K100]] and SAMSUNG MP0804H) can '''unload heads''' very often, producing a noticeable click. Some ThinkPad BIOSes can be very eager to program the HD Advanced Power Management feature (<tt>hdparm -B</tt>), even when told to always keep the HD in "Maximum Performance mode", and will do so every time AC state changes and when coming out of suspend (be it S3 or S4). Unless you reset the HD's APM mode, it will unload its heads eventually, thus producing the clicks.

Another possible cause is the drive firmware running a low level '''surface media check''' periodically during idle time.

It is not known whether the problem is a sign of impending drive failure. The root cause of the problem is not yet known. It is quite likely to be a normal mode of drive operation. The problem is very prevalent.

Do not confuse this with regular activity. Many daemons poll (config) files every few seconds. Despite files being cached, POSIX compliant filesystems like ext2 or ext3 must update (= write) the last access time. More details and a workaround in [[How to reduce power consumption#Hard_Drives]].

=== Tracking down the cause of the clicks ===

Using "'''<tt>smartctl -A</tt>'''" (part of the the <tt>[http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki smartmontools]</tt> package), it is possible to check if any of the drive's attributes related to platter spin-up/down or head unload are increasing when a click is heard. That can help pinpointing the cause of the clicks.

A shell script like this may help:

<pre>#!/bin/bash
lastval=0
while :
do
newval=`smartctl -A /dev/sda | awk '$2=="Load_Cycle_Count" {print $10}'`
if [[ $newval != $lastval ]] # i.e., anything has changed (here: load cycle count only)
then
date
echo $newval
fi
lastval=$newval
sleep 30 # or some other interval
done
</pre>

=== Possible solution (Linux) ===

The clicking noise apparently occurs when the drive is parking its heads (and ramping them off the drive surface in the process) after a timeout after the last disk access. Temporary relief has been found by using '''<tt>hdparm</tt>''' to turn off power management for the drive:

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

That should stop the drive from parking the heads except when turning off. You can also try

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

which doesn't turn power management off, but is the least agressive setting: it will still unload heads, but far less often. The drives ''are'' prepared to withstand a great number of head unloads (200,000 unloads are typical, and Hitachi drives tolerate about 600,000 unloads).

These commands have immediate effect, and need to be reissued at every boot, after resuming from disk or RAM, and after hotswapping. '''You have to reissue the <tt>-B</tt> commands every time the ThinkPad BIOS might have tried to override them.''' Ubuntu bug [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 #59695] explains to make an executable file named "<tt>99-hdd-spin-fix.sh</tt>" (the important thing is it's starting with "<tt>99</tt>"), containing the following (change <tt>sda</tt> to <tt>hda</tt> if it's a PATA drive):

#!/bin/sh
# Use a less aggressive hard disk power management to get rid of
# clicking noise when the drive is parking its heads
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

Then, copy this file to <tt>/etc/acpi/suspend.d/</tt>, <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/</tt> and <tt>/etc/acpi/start.d/</tt> (as root).

If this does not work, try to create a file named <tt>00DISK</tt> in <tt>/etc/pm/sleep.d</tt> with the following content (as root):

#!/bin/sh
. "${PM_FUNCTIONS}"
case "$1" in
thaw|resume)
hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $NA

If the above does not help, but manually setting <tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt> does, it helps to add "<tt>sleep 2</tt>" one line above <tt>hdparm</tt>. In Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Mint 6) on a T42, there seems to be something else setting a lower value in battery mode, which might be coming from the BIOS because it clicks during boot and stops with this in place.

Otherwise, try to reset the drive with <tt>-w</tt>, but note that this may cause data loss, according to <tt>hdparm</tt>'s man page. When used in the following way to stop the clicking, I have not seen any data loss. YMMV.

# hdparm /dev/sda
# sync
# sleep 5
# sync
# hdparm -w /dev/sda

=== Possible solution (Windows) ===

On a X41T, do BIOS, firmware and IBM updates. Then simply disable the ShockProtection of the hard drive. On a native X41T Windows installation, it solved the problem; one will hear a click only every hour. It seems that the problem is related to an aggressive setting that will try to park the head often to protect the drive, so the problem is not related with power management settings. Perhaps a similar approach works also under Linux. – WBonX (Hitachi drive)

=== Specific models ===

==== Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) ====

On a Thinkpad X41 with a has a 60 GB Hitachi C4K60 (HTC426060G9AT00) hard disk that had the clicking problem (even in Windows), the <tt>hdparm</tt> solution above did not work. The problem was indeed caused by the hard disk unloading the heads when idle, and the <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> SMART statistic could be seen increasing when the clicks occurred.

<tt>hdparm -B</tt> settings did not seem to help, and a check of the hard drive's specs (available in [http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_C4K60 hitachigst.com]) verified that setting the APM mode off (<tt>hdparm -B 255</tt>) would set it actually to the lowest APM mode (the same as <tt>hdparm -B 254</tt>). In this drive, even the lowest APM mode unloads the heads very aggressively, causing the clicking sounds. Another problem is that the drive is rated only for 600,000 unload/load cycles, which means that the drive will break in at most a couple of years.

{{NOTE|This observation is only about the specific model (Hitachi C4K60), and is not true for more recent Hitachi drives, which do disable APM with <tt>-B 255</tt>.}}

==== Samsung MP0804H 80GB ====

On this drive, the clicking noise can be immediately stopped just by enabling ''automatic offline tests'' using

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -o on /dev/hda}}

Even more strange is that SMART wasn't enabled by default, although the drive supports it.

The drive had already performed 15,539 load cycles (out of 600,000) within only one week.

Note that enabling SMART (<tt>-s</tt> on) without enabling offline tests – which is what I did immediately after observing the clicks – did not solve the problem, but made it quite clear that the drive was badly in need of some care.

==== Seagate Momentus 7200.1 and 7200.3 ====

Reported in X61t and X61 (I have a ST9320421AS).

On these drives, each click does indeed correspond to an increase in SMART attribute 193, "<tt>193 Load_Cycle_Count</tt>", as you can see by doing a

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

before and after a click.

It seems like the problem is that the default powersaving mode for the drive is one which causes clicking. In fact, executing

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda}}

which is supposed to turn off power management, actually leaves power management ''on'', and is equivalent to

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda}}

as can be seen by comparing the results of

# hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
# hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced

This may or may not be related to something else strange; the drive reports that the advanced power management level is 0x8000 more than what you set it to, presumably leading <tt>hdparm</tt> to report that it is always set to "unknown setting" (since the number should be between 1 and 255). FYI, the results of the above sequence of commands are:

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8001)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x80 (128)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254)
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x80fe)
* Advanced Power Management feature set

{{cmdroot|hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda; hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced}}

/dev/sda:
setting Advanced Power Management level to disabled
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x8080)
Advanced Power Management feature set

The workaround seems to be to execute

: {{cmdroot|hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda}}

So it seems like the drive is interpreting "<tt>hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda</tt>", which I'm guessing is the default (and which is supposed to be ''not'' powersaving mode) as a request to go into powersaving mode, which causes it to spin down a lot and to and click. And I'm guessing that "<tt>hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda</tt>" actually takes it out of powersaving mode.

Somewhat annoying, because

: {{cmdroot|smartctl -A /dev/sda}}

shows that I have already accumulated a <tt>Load_Cycle_Count</tt> 106680 after owning the laptop for just a few weeks! I'm not sure that I understand this stuff, but if this corresponds to "Load/Unload Cycles" in http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus7200.pdf, then that's more than 1/6 of the drive's lifetime!

I can confirm that after having my drive for about 5 days now, the 193 cycle count is already at 3000, and it's steadily increasing. That is really annoying. Unfortunately, changing the powersave mode on my drive (ST9320421AS) only breaks my hibernate capability (the laptop resumes immediately), but it won't stop the clicking; instead it will increase it.

===== Firmware upgrade =====

While no firmware update was found direct from IBM/Lenovo, Dell support offers a firmware update for a nearly-identical Seagate drive model. In at least in two cases (model T500, 7200.3; model Z61m 7200.3), the firmware update eliminated the clicking issue. Details available from this <s>[http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2677&view=by_date_ascending&page=2 Seagate Thread]</s> [http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Momentus-XT-Momentus-and/CLICKING-NOISE-ISSUE-on-Momentus-7200-3-ST9320421AS-320GB/m-p/12498#M78 Seagate Thread] (version that works, maybe they have restructured their forum) or [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking here] (for ST9160411ASG).

==== [http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS/MK2035GSSSpecifications Toshiba MK2035GSS] ====

The issue happens with "laptop mode" disabled. BIOS is an "AMIBIOS 8.00.14", and the chipset is "Mobile Intel GM965 Express".

I can solve the problem with the <tt>hdparm</tt> workaround. The lowest value that makes the trick for me is:

: {{cmdroot|sudo hdparm -B 192 /dev/sda}}

=== Firmware upgrades ===

There are two HD firmware upgrades on Lenovo's support website. One is specific to X41's, and will upgrade Hitachi's to Release A0L0 (document [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67238 MIGR-67238], 2007/01/24). The upgrade comes in three forms: diskette, Windows executable and ISO CD-ROM image. IBM's latest posted firmware, A5DA, does not appear to solve the problem.

A newer upgrade set ([http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62282 MIGR-62282], 2007/05/02) updates HD firmwares of several brands, including Hitachi. The patch upgrades firmware for HTC4260xxG9AT00 to A0L2 (according to program output, from 00P3A0B5 to 00P3A0L2). The upgrade comes in a large (20 MB) ISO format, or as several diskettes. There is seemingly no Windows executable; upgrading a diskless machine can therefore be problematic (it involves making a DOS-based USB bootable drive).

The upgrade caused one X41 Tablet HTC426060G9AT00 drive to stop clicking.

=== Another possible solution ===

IBM, when notified about this occurrence, may replace the drive with a Fujitsu 5k 80GB hard drive, as to them the sound is indicative of a potential hard drive failure.

=== Data recovery service ===

In many cases, a software solution would not solve a problem with a clicking hard drive caused by a defective head disk assembly (HDA) or a firmware issue. Consider using an expert data recovery service such as [http://www.WeRecoverData.com WeRecoverData.com].

== External links ==

* Ubuntu reported bugs: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 59695], [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/104535 104535]
* [http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Downloads] – the drive feature tool may help with this problem
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7462 Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=46058 Thread on notebookforums.com]
* [http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=143203 Thread on silentpcreview.com]
* [http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15769 Another Thread on thinkpads.com]
* [http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28538&whichpage=1 Thread on tabletpcbuzz.com]
* [http://thinkpad-forum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2255 German Thread on thinkpad-forum.de (Containing an interesting remark about a possible problem with the Cache)]
* [http://www.werecoverdata.com WeRecoverData.com]

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