My Windows (Me) Emachine PC appears ok except if I stop working for say 1/2 minute, it will start making noises and flashing the light on the front as if it is defragging or scanning. As soon as I move the mouse it stops, just like a screensaver.

I've tried the obvious such as switching off the screensaver and the task manager. The ctrl-alt-del method does not appear to show anything untoward. I've run one or two freeby anti virus / adware tools which also did not make a difference.

It might not be related but I've also been getting automatic scandisk on reboot saying 'improper close down' after the PC has closed down ok. This seems to be less recently since doing a scandisk and defrag in safe mode.

Is this hard drive behavour normal as I'm concerned that it will ware it out over a long period?.

Any suggestions?
Regards
Baz

See if this helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=273017

Also you can run a diagnostic on your hard drive. Who is the manufacturer?

Thanks Jephree,

I already tried the Microsoft support by downloading the update. I also increased the settings in regedit to 2000 (dec) as suggested but to no avail. Basic diagnostics did not reveal anything.

My HD (not original) is a 60g ExcelStor Jupitor J360, details as follows:
7200 RPM, 2048 kbytes Cache Buffer, 8.5 msec Average Seek-Time(without command overhead,including settling), Ultra DMA 100, Load/Unload Mechanism Non Head Disk Contact Start-Stop, FDB Motor, 350G Shock resistance

The HD light & clicking sound actually continues when I move the mouse (unlike a screensaver). Only when I use a programme or press ctrl-alt-del does it stop temporarilly.

Cheers
Baz

Did you run the ExcelStor diagnostic?

I can only find it on German sites but the documentation is in English.

After download you need to unzip and then load onto a boot disk (floppy).

There is a text file which lists the DOS commands.

ExcelStor: ESTest Version 3.70

http://www.mce.de/d/frame/index_d.ht.../download.html

Sorry, although I managed to obtain the diagnostics files and enter into DOS, my commands only gave error type messages.

However, good news! The Hard Drive appears to be behaving itself fo the last few weeks. I can't even guess what I did that was different.

Thanks and regards.