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General discussion

too much disk access

Jul 28, 2005 11:13PM PDT

Dell Dimension XPS T450, win2k sp4
There seems to be too much disk activity when there shouldn't be any... as determined by sound, and led on front of case.
I have run several types of spyware, defrag'd, plenty of free space, watched TASK MANAGER for processes. IDLE has 98, 99% with a few others switching in and out, but which don't seem to correlate with the noise. I was going to go the the BIOS to see if I can determine if the disk has SMART technology, thinking that maybe it is going bad, (I am just guessing), but I can't get to the BIOS. I have watched the screen like a hawk during boot for a message on how to get to the BIOS but none appears.
So, how can I get to the BIOS (it is Phoenix 4.0, release 6.0) AND any ideas on what might cause unexpected disk accesses?

thanks
bill

Discussion is locked

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The indexing service.
Jul 28, 2005 11:25PM PDT

You didn't tell:

a. If you stopping indexing.
b. If you checked Dell.com's web site about what key they use for the BIOS.

Bob

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that might have been it
Jul 28, 2005 11:57PM PDT

I went to computer management and coundn't even open the indexing section,... TASK MANAGER showed that computer management was not responding after I clicked it. I went to SEARCH and turned it off, and now computer management responds ok, ... so maybe that was the problem....
Are there known issues with indexing, or is mine broken? Does an upgrade to XP make it better?

Regarding the BIOS, Dell is where I started to look, but I couldn't find a decent place to ask the question and when I entered the service tag, dell wanted me to ge out my wallet.

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No wallet required.
Jul 29, 2005 12:04AM PDT

I can't remember the Dell bios key so I usually hit google.com or dell.com. Sorry, but some fault me for showing where I find my answer rather than the answer.

-> About the indexing service. It's been a topic of debate and I don't debate it. If the indexing bothers you, then kill it. I toss it since I have yet to find Microsoft's SEARCH tools to exceed the usefulness of a wet paper bag. Sorry, but this is one area MS didn't spend enough time it seems.

--> In my opinion, XP's indexing and search is actually worse. I have both systems and still revert to a command line to find a mislaid file in less than 1/2 to 1/10 the time it takes Windows Search to find it.

Bob

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(NT) (NT) ok, thanks all for the help
Jul 29, 2005 12:14AM PDT