Read in the article, Examples of sounds from a failed hard drive and how to identify them. Sounds of clicking or rustling, vibration or whistling that were not there before. A working hard drive is a fairly quiet device that can only be heard by a soft click when accessing it or turning on/off the computer. But if, over time, clicking or rustling sounds are heard from the hard drive, as well as vibration or whistling that were not heard before, then the hard drive may have failed.
Western Digital
The dull sound of faulty hard drive heads.
Faulty disk heads click slowly several times, after which the disk spins slower.
Slowdown of the rotation of the hard disk platters after the failed heads produce several clicking sounds.
A hard drive with a jammed spindle cannot spin up.
Clicking sounds of a hard drive with a failed preamp chip.
A disk with unstable heads that stops after several clicks.
A laptop hard drive with a jammed spindle that tries to spin up, making a sound similar to a siren.
The computer hard drive cannot spin up due to faulty bearings.
Seagate
Rustling and clicking sounds made by a disk with inoperative heads.
The sounds that a disk with damaged heads makes during startup (plate spinning).
Clicks of faulty laptop hard drive heads.
A disk with a jammed spindle is trying to unwind.
The drilling sound of broken disk heads.
Maxtor
A computer hard drive with a non-working or broken head unit.
Clicks of inoperative heads.
The sound made by a disk with a jammed spindle.
Samsung
A fast clicking sound indicates the failure of the hard drive heads.
Same as with the previous disc.
The sound of damaged hard drive heads.
A worn-out computer disk that makes a scratching sound when accessing bad sectors.
Hitachi/IBM
A laptop hard drive with damaged heads clicks during startup and then beeps.
A worn-out computer drive that makes a scratching sound when accessing an area with bad sectors.
A disk with worn plates and head block makes wheezing and howling sounds.
The whirring of a laptop disk with a jammed spindle that is trying to unwind.
Toshiba
The sound of failed laptop hard drive bearings.
The sound of worn-out laptop hard drive bearings.
The sound of the laptop hard drive bearings seizing.
Fujitsu
Worn laptop hard drive heads.
Faulty laptop hard drive heads.
The sound of worn-out computer hard drive platters.
Quantum
Faulty head block.
What to do if your hard drive starts making strange sounds
- First of all, make sure that the hard drive is the source of the sound.
- Once you are sure that it is the hard drive that is making the sounds that are bothering you, run the hard drive diagnostic utility. You can use both those supplied by manufacturers with the device, and from third-party manufacturers. Just keep in mind that in the best case scenario, the diagnostic utility will detect and limit the use of bad sectors on the hard drive that may be causing the drive to malfunction or become unstable. If there is mechanical damage or wear on the hard drive, it cannot be corrected using software.
- If, after using the diagnostic software, nothing has changed in the operation of the disk, it is recommended to immediately create a copy of the data on such a hard disk or its image for further recovery.
How to create an image of a failed or damaged disk using Hetman Partition Recovery. - If, as a result of using diagnostic or recovery software, the sounds of the hard drive have partially or completely disappeared, then there may be bad sectors on it. In this case, it is still recommended to create a backup of all data on the hard drive and think about replacing it, since bad sectors may continue to appear on the disk and this will eventually lead to data loss or failure.
Other sounds your computer may make
The hard drive is not the only device on the computer that can produce sound. It could also be a power supply, cooler, CD/DVD drive, or other devices connected to it. SSD drives do not make any sounds because they have no moving parts. Therefore, before taking any action, it is important to correctly determine the source of the sound.
If the computer is performing some complex tasks or running a resource-intensive game, then it will be normal if the computer becomes louder - the computer cooler will spin faster to cool it. Sometimes, a dirty or broken cooler makes more noise than other devices.
Sometimes every PC user may encounter the problem of extraneous noise during hard drive operation. The hard drive is a mechanical structure containing rotating disks. Reading information from a hard drive is carried out using magnetic heads, which, when moving, create some noise. The type of extraneous sounds depends on the model of the hard drive and the case of the system unit. If the computer case is made of inexpensive materials and the inside is poorly assembled, then unpleasant sounds will be emitted throughout the system unit.
The hard drive stores all the information on the computer. Therefore, you need to take measures to save data as soon as you hear noise during the operation of the device. Because this is the first “bell” that it may soon break.
However, sometimes the simple operating condition may be accompanied by noise. Here you need to figure out why the hard drive is cracking.
- Replace the hard drive.
- Modify the acoustic level using the AAM option.
- Take measures to soundproof the case or buy a better one.
- Secure the hard drive with soundproofing pads.
- Defragment the disk.
Apparently, the second option for solving the problem raises the most questions. Let's look at what it is.
Reducing noise from a hard drive using AAM
Any HDD has the function of regulating the level of noise it creates using the built-in Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) option. Its task is to reduce the noise of the device by reducing the speed of movement of the heads. But there is one negative factor here: using this option will automatically reduce the speed of the hard drive.
Which of these two options (speed or noise) will create more inconvenience, in which favor to give your preference is up to you to decide. You may not feel a reduction in the speed of your hard drive, but the annoying noise volume will noticeably decrease. If you still decide to fix the noise problem using AAM, then you need to download the WinAAM application. It is available for download and is completely free. It has a Russian-language interface and works without mandatory installation. You can get this program by following the link: http://www.withopf.com/tools/aam/winaam-292.zip.
On the window that appears, click “Continue”. Correcting security settings is completely useless in getting rid of hard drive noise, so it is better not to touch it.
In the first line you can read that at this point in time the noise level control is not activated. Click on the “Silent/Standard (128)” option to adjust the silent AAM level. Its value can range from 0 to 255. It is noted that influential abilities are possessed exclusively by extreme levels, that is, “quiet” or “loud.” Most hard drives don't pay attention to the intermediate levels. This is most likely the reason that the WinAAM application allows you to solve the noise problem with a click on one option.
After adjusting the noise level, the application will close. Re-open it, select “Continue”, then “Check”.
A window will open showing the random movement of the read head.
At this moment, you will have the opportunity to hear the operation of the hard drive with the updated AAM option. The difference is huge. In order to compare with the previous state of the hard drive, click the “Loud (254)” parameter. This action will speed up the hard drive and return the previous noise volume.
Mechanical methods for getting rid of HDD noise
When the application fails to get rid of the noise, you need to solve the problem manually.
- First, check the quality of the hard drive fixation. The hard drive must be firmly fixed and held securely in the grooves, all bolts must be sufficiently tightened.
- Consider which parts of the HDD mechanically touch the computer case. At the joints it is necessary to install special gaskets with an insulating function. You can move the hard drive mounting basket a little so that the part does not come into contact with the computer case. Doing this can help reduce noise.
- If it is possible to change the location of the hard drive, do so. It is necessary to ensure that the vibration of the hard drive does not transfer to the case.
If this fails to reduce the noise, contact technical support.
Why is the hard drive cracking?
When operating a computer (PC), users often complain about the presence of extraneous noise or crackling noise. The noise in most cases is caused by the operation of fans (coolers), but the cracking noise is most likely caused by the hard drive. Then the question arises: why is the hard drive cracking? There may be several reasons, such as a malfunction of the hard drive itself, or poor fastening, fixing the hard drive inside the computer case, due to which extraneous vibrations are created and the hard drive begins to rattle. True, for the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the hard drive actually constantly makes a characteristic noise, and this is quite justified, since the principle of operation of the hard drive is precisely that the magnetic heads begin to rotate while reading information. This is especially true for older HDDs.
If the noise becomes annoying or was not there before, but appears after a while, then this may also be a sign that the hard drive may soon fail. Also, the fact that with the appearance of noise the computer began to work worse and slower, periodically freezes, gives various errors, or does not want to boot at all, may indicate that the hard drive may be faulty. Therefore, here you need to seriously think about checking the disk for errors.
Below we will discuss the main reasons why a hard drive is noisy.
The main reasons why a hard drive cracks
The first reason is poor fixation of the hard drive system unit in the case. There is only one way out - simply disassemble the system unit and securely fasten the hard drive. But often this is impossible to do due to the cheap case. In this case, one of the most common options among users is to hang the hard drive on pieces of twisted pair cable. Simply pull out the slide that holds the hard drive.
The second reason why the hard drive on a laptop and PC is noisy is the specific operation of a particular drive model. This is normal operating mode for it. True, if such noise is very disturbing, then you can resort to a method of reducing it by reducing the speed of rotation of the hard drive heads.
Hard drives have such a function as automatic noise management - Automatic Acoustic Management (abbreviated as AAM). Its essence lies in the fact that you can reduce the rotation speed of the magnetic heads and, thus, reduce the noise level. But in this case, the hard drive will read data slower. Therefore, here each user decides specifically for himself what is more important for him - the absence of noise or high performance.
This method is implemented by various software tools. There are many such programs on the Internet, so finding them will not be difficult. You can also simply enter the query: hard drive is cracking, what should I do, and the search engine will immediately return a lot of information and articles that mention specific names of programs through which the AAM mechanism can be implemented. The main point of all this software is that there are two numbers 128 and 254. The first is when the hard drive will work quietly, but slower, and the second is fast, but will make a lot of noise. You can try to find the optimal value for yourself experimentally.
The next most dangerous reason is a malfunction of the hard drive or evidence that it will soon need to be replaced or repaired.
What to do when the hard drive is noisy due to a malfunction?
When excessive noise from a drive is associated with its malfunction, it is necessary to check for errors. We tell you how to do this in Russian below.
Before checking, it is recommended to make a backup copy of all data. For such purposes, it is better to purchase an external hard drive that connects to a PC or laptop via USB. The check can be performed using standard tools using the operating system (OS) Windows XP/7/8/10 itself, or other software:
1. Check using standard operating system tools.
The Windows OS family provides the ability to check the hard drive for errors and automatically correct them. Simply select the desired disk using the right mouse button and select Properties in the context menu. Next, select Service and click the Check button. Be sure to check the box next to the items: “Automatically correct errors” and “Scan and repair bad sectors.” It is advisable that no processes or applications are running on the PC at this time, otherwise the system may display an error stating that it is impossible to perform the check, since this disk is currently being used by other applications and processes. If errors are detected at the end of the check, it is advisable to carry out additional diagnostics using proprietary utilities from the HDD manufacturer.
2. Checking with software from the manufacturer allows for more advanced diagnostics and has a number of additional tests. Such programs can also be found on the Internet or downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer’s website. If, as a result of such a test, problems are also found, then we can conclude that the cause of the excessive noise of the hard drive is its malfunction.
It is definitely determined that the hard drive is faulty. Options
So, as a result of the tests, it was determined that the hard drive is noisy due to the presence of errors, what to do in this situation? There are two options here:
— if the warranty period has not expired, then submit it to a service center for warranty repairs;
- if the warranty has expired, also take it to a specialized computer service, but you will have to pay money for repairs.
The worst case scenario may be when the hard drive is completely out of order and cannot be repaired. In this case, you need to raise money for a new hard drive. That is why it is useful to always have a backup copy of important data, because no one is immune from such situations.
How to distinguish when the hard drive is noisy and when the system unit is noisy? After tightly fixing the hard drive in the case, we reduce the rotation speed of the magnetic disks.270 rub. RUB
A hard drive is a magnetic storage device for our computer. Some experienced users copy important information to other media. If you hear suspicious extraneous sounds from your computer, it’s the hard drive making noise. This noise is different from all the extraneous noise of the computer, you will recognize it immediately, it resembles a crackling noise.
It is necessary to take into account that some models of hard drives are noisy, so to speak, “from birth”.
If you bought the HDD with a bang initially, and you know for sure that it is working, then you have nothing to worry about.
| Types of jobs | Price |
|---|---|
| Diagnostics | 0 rub. |
| Visit of a specialist to your home | 0 rub. |
| Noise Removal | 270 rub. |
This article will most likely be useful to those users whose screw has always worked silently, but then suddenly began to crackle. Typically, the noise gets worse in games and when working with energy-consuming applications.
Do not forget that any magnetic drive makes a little noise, since the hard drive consists of many elements that over time can become loose, damaged and fail. 
So, if your hard drive is cracking, then you need to know that this is a very alarming symptom. If you do not take immediate measures, the HDD will soon collapse.
How to check that it is the hard drive that is making noise?
The fact is that most users, when extraneous noise occurs, blame the processor or video card. Few people think that a magnetic storage device can crack a lot.
- Turn off your computer for safety reasons.
- Unscrew and remove the cover of the system unit.
- Now turn on the computer and watch its insides, listen to how the magnetic disks on the drive rotate, and you will hear the source of the crackling sound.
Why is the hard drive noisy?
There are only two reasons for this phenomenon:
- Magnetic disks rotate loudly.
- The block with heads hits the travel stop.
What can you do on your own when your hard drive is cracking?
In principle, you can look for another place in the computer case to place the HDD, the main thing is that it is reliable and well ventilated. The main purpose of this method is to prevent contact between the system unit case and the hard drive. If you were able to figure out the places of contact, you can attach insulating tape to the body in these places.
The main thing is that the drive is mounted in a suspended state as securely as possible, and you will know for sure that it will not fall.
The disadvantage of this type of mounting is that it is better not to move the system unit after this, so as not to cause mechanical damage to the disk. This option is suitable for small, cheap system units made of thin material.
If your hard drive is noisy, you can try reducing the speed of the magnetic heads. True, the speed of the propeller itself will also decrease, but the unpleasant noise will not bother you. They reduce the speed of the heads using special utilities that automatically control hard drive noise (AAM). The AAM program automatically detects the drive model, suggests the head rotation speed, and makes settings for the slow operation mode.
Download the utility from the official website, open it and use the menu to set the recommended head speed.
However, not all drive models support this program.
Using another Victoria utility, you can test the hard drive. The program marks problematic blocks in order to block their operation.
In my daily work, I like to use the browser as a player, snapping it to the left side of the screen, and VS Code leaving space on the right, since newer versions of Windows handle window snapping well. Unfortunately, even the screen space of a 27-inch monitor is catastrophically small for all “wants”, so I’m increasingly wanting to buy a second monitor.
My main browser is Vivaldi and it is good in everything, except that by default it uses absolutely disgusting, thick scrollbars straight from the past. The screen is already small, and then there are scrollbars 15 pixels thick. Fortunately, fixing this problem is as easy as pie and doesn't even require you to resort to the Google Chrome extension store.
You can install modern scrollbars directly from the browser by enabling a special flag in the experimental settings.
To do this, enter in the search bar vivaldi://flags and find through the search "Overlay Scrollbars". After that, we transfer it to the Enabled state. After restarting the browser, you will see a truly modern scrollbar that appears only when you scroll and is hidden the rest of the time.
I would also like to recommend a little-known extension for Chrome browsers from Google itself, which allows you to unpin a video from YouTube and watch it even on your desktop as in a miniplayer or as happens in MacOS with video.
June 24, 2019
I suddenly had a sufficient amount of free time in my personal life and observing the extremely sad state of industry in the Russian Federation, I decided to fulfill my old dream - to master web developer profession in order to be able to engage in freelancing. Having come into close contact with the topic of web development, I realized that it simply would not happen and the Internet has come an incredible way over these ten years (it was then that I fully tried to self-teach myself design and website layout).
Millennials have come up with new trendy names for web developers: front-end and back-end. The front-end renders a website from a layout drawn by a professional designer, adds various simple javascript scripts (so you need to know how to program) and possibly screws the layout into a CMS. The backender is responsible for the site engine and working with databases, and he also turns up his nose and considers himself a real programmer, and not like these “form slaps”. If 5 years ago you could learn how to layout in HTML5 and learn CSS in order to proudly be called a layout designer, now these are basic skills with which you cannot find a job in any web studio, because few people need layout itself. The stack of technologies required for modern website development has grown incredibly and the layout designer is now a bit of a programmer, and the programmer, if necessary, can layout the layout and make the interface himself. But in our time it was possible to “cut up” a website and layout it on tables...
Here's a short summary knowledge and tips that I learned during a month of hard homeschooling:
- is now the most popular code editor that covers 90% of the tasks of all front-end developers. Atom is not popular because of its buggy and slowness, but Sublime Text Only old web developers are sitting there, who are simply accustomed to this “notepad” over years of use.
- You can’t do without the hated Adobe Photoshop when working with layouts. This is the de facto industry standard. Yes, very cool alternatives have appeared, like paid online services Avocode, Zeppelin or Figma, but they are more designed for the rapid development of mobile interfaces, rather than website layouts. And although they declare support psd, with more or less complex layouts there will definitely be problems. Not to mention they don't read text layer options correctly and don't display/disable overlay effects. The guys who created Sketch for Mac OS squandered a huge market by not wanting to port their product to the web or to Windows. Where can I get Photoshop? Unfortunately, Adobe's pricing policy leaves few options for newbies like me. Although they provide discounts and long trial periods for students.
- Our Internet is now very vector and hypertext, so the vector graphics format SVG used everywhere. It would be a good idea to have the vector graphics editor Inkscape open on your computer in conjunction with Photoshop to open and edit such files. Well, or draw a couple of arrows, if nothing beautiful is alien to you.
- Professional training in online courses is quite expensive: from 12,000 - 20,000 rubles and above, I’m generally silent about the advanced level of knowledge (for which companies usually pay, not the programmer himself). You can say that I will download any lectures on torrents (and this is true, they are there), any books and will study myself. During the courses, you pay not for the lectures themselves (instead, you can read a bunch of articles on the topic for free), but for the mentors’ work with you, for working on mistakes and assessing your real knowledge. I am not encouraging anyone to run out and sign up for any courses, but by studying on your own, you will not gain some knowledge. Not to mention the possibility of unknowingly acquiring “wrong knowledge and practicing bad practices.”
- The human brain is able to adequately perceive new information for no more than 4 hours, then a sharp drop in efficiency begins.
- Without practices your knowledge is worthless. 80% of your training should be practice, and 20% learning theory and lectures. This is precisely the most valuable thing in online courses, which you will not download on torrents: there they will kick you in every possible way, give and check homework, and show you where to improve your knowledge.
- Be prepared for the fact that website development technologies change every 2 years: old browsers die out, new frameworks and layout methods appear. Be ready to learn new things. Eh, but I really remember those times when pages were laid out in tables and were just switching to “divas”. And now those who make layouts only as “divas” will be looked at askance - flexboxes are now in fashion.
- There are many free PSD templates on the Internet that you can download, design and make a portfolio out of. And of course, Chrome DevTools (which opens with F12) and a similar developer tool in Firefox are cool things: constantly look at the code of sites that interest you in order to understand how this or that thing is made, or where the layout designers screwed up (childish mistakes are often encountered).
Beginner developer page - It is extremely difficult for a newbie to find work on freelance exchanges. As I already said, they simply rarely order layout, and if they do, then these simple orders are intercepted by craftsmen who, of course, will do it very quickly and with high quality. There are exchanges for complete beginners like Work-Zilla, but if you read the reviews, there will be a lot of negative ones. In addition, this exchange takes 15% from a completed order, imposes a limit on withdrawal of money and requires payment of a subscription every month. It also resets your rating over time. In general, there you will literally work for food for inadequate customers who want a full-fledged website for 1000 rubles. Used to be foreign Upwork, but now it’s paid, and you can’t get there because of the Indians.
- I learned cool concepts: semantic layout, adaptive layout, flexbox, grids, pixel perfect, cross-browser compatibility. Without real knowledge of these things, they won’t even talk to you as a layout designer.
- You will be surprised, but Internet Explorer is not dead yet. The 11th version of this “wonderful” browser, which the creators from Microsoft themselves buried, is still alive and is included in the concept called “cross-browser compatibility” (and sometimes it is necessary to ensure that the layout and operation of the site is consistent in Chinese mobile browsers and Opera Mini, where it does not work half of modern web technologies). And IE 11 will definitely break your layout, because it is different from browsers based on Chromium and Gecko (Firefox).
Once you start layout, you will very soon want to install a second monitor. This is a work necessity - Soft Skills work as before (since the time of the Neanderthals). Namely: the ability to communicate with customers, advertise yourself, look for clients where your many competitors have not thought of - all this will help you find a job and receive a stable income. Well, or it will help you ask for money for food near the church using “selling texts” on cardboard (sad joke).
- All relevant and high-quality information on HTML and CSS technologies is only in English, so basic English is a necessity (to be honest, I have not yet met a developer who did not understand English from word to word - some use online dictionaries at the training stage, professionals taught with tutors). This information is often (poorly) translated and posted on the Medium blogging platform, and then stolen by all sorts of YouTubers, whom I do not recommend watching (there are not very many suitable Russian-speaking developer bloggers on front-end topics). Oh yes, never watch Gosha Dudar’s videos - this is Timur Sidelnikov from the world of programming. Freelancers love running YouTube channels because it's a great advertisement for their skills, but whether they teach the right things... that's a big question. For many things that they easily show in their videos, you will be scolded by team leads in web studios.
- In the provinces, there is very little work for web developers and the niche is occupied by long-running web studios of various calibers (I saw a studio of one person and of three people who know how to create a design on Wordpress and work with jQuery at most).
- By the way, if you learn how to “stretch a design” on Wordpress, ModX, Joomla and other popular CMS, you may not die of hunger, because the demand for such work is very high. The share of Wordpress sites in the world is constantly falling, but they are still about 40%.
- The vast majority of web developers (as well as users) work on Windows and do not have cool 4K monitors, so Retina and layout for Safari are exotic things that few people need. But the share of users who access the site from mobile devices can be more than 60%, so your site must work correctly and look good on smartphones and tablets.
- Time! Some believe that layout can be thoroughly studied in 2 months and another six months can be spent learning the basics of javascript, automation tools and a popular framework. In any case, it’s crazy to think that now you’ll quickly learn and go make money with your knowledge. The volume of material for obtaining the status of “junior web developer” is 2000 hours of lectures and practice.
- Professional programmers love mechanical keyboards, but how loud they are at night (I have cherry mx black)! Take the keyboard to cherry mx red to make it at least a little quieter. I don’t know how much you can trust all the top keyboards on the Internet, but most often the Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid is recommended as the first mechanical keyboard. True, this is not a very cool brand among keyboards and the lack of a number pad is annoying (and front-end developers need to enter numbers often), but this is a fairly old keyboard model and can be found in Russia for the price 4500 rubles. However, for 5,000 rubles you can already choose a normal keyboard with the switches you like.
The front-end path is very complex and thorny; knowledge becomes outdated and requires updating almost every year (with the release of a new version of the framework used). But personally, I like this activity and it would be cool if the knowledge I acquired was also paid for, allowing me to change my current profession to a new one. The one who walks will master the road.
June 10, 2019
There are a lot of good games announced at the ongoing E3 exhibition, but the announcement caught my attention Microsoft Flight Simulator. The dead king of civil aviation flight simulators is back to kick X-plane And Prepar3D. I would really like to see a triumphant return and there is hope for this, even after a disastrous Microsoft Flight
, which, although a beautiful game, was a completely useless game for simulation fans. It’s scary to imagine, but a full-fledged numbered simulator part of the series (MS FS X - “ten”) was released in 2006 - about 13 years ago.
There are no details about the game, but the trailer shows that it is a cool graphics engine that provides an incredible degree of detail in the simulation of the game world. However, I suspect that, by tradition, most of the world will be flat and procedurally generated, and the United States will have beautifully detailed airports and cities. I really hope that Microsoft understands that without the modding community their game has no future, and they will open an API for creating missions, maps and planes. Many people now have a business built on this, and a high-quality, well-developed airport scenario or airplane for the previous version of the simulator can cost under $100 and they are willing to buy them. If Microsoft wants to make money from this, well, organize the sale of add-ons for the game through your store, take a percentage. This will be better than releasing a “dead” game in which nothing can be changed and pushing users endless paid DLC (the way of some railway simulators).
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| Screenshot from version 10 with mods |
The simulator will be released in 2020.
June 9, 2019
With the release of the penultimate update of Windows 10 and Nvidia drivers, I was struck by a disgusting hardware problem that was simply impossible to catch and fix - the monitor briefly turned off for 2-3 seconds when working from the displayport cable. As I later became convinced, the problem was not so much in the crooked Windows drivers from the “ardent” Nvidia, but rather in the hardware problem of the 2014 video card itself, a Chinese cable from Aliespress and a modern monitor from Dell for 35,000 rubles (which is quite offensive).
When I started googling the problem, I realized that there are thousands of us suffering like this all over the Internet (google for “nvidia displayport blackscreen problem”)! On the Nvidia and Dell forums, people are trying to solve the problem with various shamanic actions, from reinstalling Windows, editing the registry, to disassembling the computer and replacing the power supply. I even updated the bios of my video card to a standard one, having found in the Internet a file with bios for the GPU, which has not been on the manufacturer’s website for a long time (maybe they are ashamed of their products?). The problem goes away for a day or two, and then the screen starts to insidiously turn off again while playing a game or when using the Chrome browser like mine. Working while constantly waiting for the monitor to turn off is extremely psychologically uncomfortable (personally, I involuntarily burst out into swearing and my eye begins to twitch from this).
I tried almost everything suggested on the Internet: I plugged the cable into another slot - it helped for a while, but the problem returned again and again! In addition, when I went into the BIOS and saw how the screen twitched and turned off, I realized that this The problem is exclusively with the video card and the Chinese displayport cable, and not the operating system at all. Thus, for myself, I radically solved this very unpleasant problem with turning off the monitor - I stopped using the displayport cable and connected a Dell monitor with 2K resolution via HDMI. Yes, the HDMI cable is also 100% Chinese and was bought for 400 rubles in the nearest store (when the displayport cable cost me more), but at least it is simpler and works without failures. I'm not a professional designer who needs a cable that supports specific color spaces, or a gamer with a 4K 144 Hz monitor, but a regular computer user who needs to prevent the monitor from turning off suddenly! And if you still need a displayport cable, then you should probably bother buying a special, expensive vesa-certified cable, but I’m afraid it won’t cost 600 rubles.
So far, I don’t know for sure who is to blame for the current problem: the video card manufacturer, the unknown manufacturer of the displayport cable (in its defense, I will say that it worked perfectly for six months without any complaints), or me, when I was cleaning the computer from dust and accidentally touched something. Or maybe no one is particularly to blame, because in 2014 Nvidia made support for displayport versions 1.3 and 1.4 for its video cards, without having an officially accepted specification, and in the end they did it a little incorrectly, and when in 2018 cables and monitors appeared that required dp cables of new versions (high-resolution monitors and screen refresh rates), they began to fix this by flashing the firmware.
Nvidia even released a special utility that tries to patch the BIOS of video cards with this problem. But again, I don’t understand why the problem did not manifest itself in any way before, but has manifested itself recently?
Remembering all the problems and troubles that video cards caused me Nvidia(three of them simply burned out, the last two gave a blue screen of death in games, scams with 4 GB of memory, which in fact are only 3.5), I’m thinking about moving to the camp AMD. Yes, “red” video cards do not always shine with performance, game developers rarely optimize their games for them, some of the cards are quite hot, but absolutely all the AMD cards I bought are still alive and work great.
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| Xiaomi Mi Band 3 |
There are a large number of videos on YouTube with comparisons between Honor Band 4 and Mi Band 3, but most reviewers come to the conclusion that Honor Band 4 is naturally better. The only advantage of the Xiaomi fitness bracelet is the price: you can buy it for 1,800 rubles with delivery from China. I bought Honor Band 4 for 2200 rubles from a store that has a warehouse in Russia, so they brought it to me in just a week by courier. Don’t even think about buying Honor Band 4 from the official Russian store Huawei: They have become completely insolent and are charging 4,500 rubles for this popular device. I think that 1000-2000 rubles is the amount that you can pay for a fitness bracelet and it won’t hit your wallet too hard.
Huawei Honor Band 4 is made perfectly, there are no complaints about the assembly. I decided to play it safe and stuck a film on the protective glass, which was sent by the Chinese seller as a kit (two small strips cost me an additional 100 rubles to the final price). I figured out how to turn on and update the device immediately and without any instructions. This is not so difficult if the device only has one button (and a touch screen, of course). I used the proprietary app to pair Huawei Health, which detected the bracelet using the turned on bluetooth and offered to update it, after which it uploaded the new firmware for 20 minutes (this was extremely necessary, because the bracelet worked so-so on the old firmware). During the connection process, the application honestly admitted that it would send data to the PRC servers.
The bracelet is controlled by scrolling through the screens and pressing the screen. To stop or interrupt the workout, you need to press the menu button on the bracelet for 3 seconds. The bracelet can constantly measure your pulse and also monitor your sleep, but I personally find it uncomfortable to sleep with it on, and there are people who don’t take it off around the clock, even in the shower, since it’s waterproof. Another problem with a bracelet (and even a watch, for a person who has given up wearing them) is that, out of habit, you constantly touch all sorts of things with it, doors, tables, etc.
Naturally, the bracelet works well with your phone and it can send you notifications (quite strong vibration), SMS, messages from programs like Twitter, weather, etc. to the bracelet. In addition, you have the opportunity to enable the bracelet to unlock the phone when they are nearby, and the bracelet has the “Where is my phone?” function, after turning on which the phone starts yelling in English in a female voice “I’m here!” Another cool feature is switching music tracks on your phone by turning your wrist with a bracelet. The bracelet itself does not have the ability to track coordinates via GPS (for this you need devices like Huawei Band 3 Pro, which are more expensive - prices start at 2800 rubles), but if you run with your phone, then the Health application can link your coordinates to a map and save tracks. Personally, I wouldn’t run with a phone, but it’s perfect for cyclists and tourists.
Both Huawei and Xiaomi have lightweight, budget versions of their fitness bracelets, which are not worth taking. In terms of price, they are 1000 rubles cheaper, but can't measure pulse. Honor has the Honor Band 4 Running Edition, which can only count steps. For me personally (an overweight person), constantly measuring my heart rate is important. And for ordinary runners, when training, it is important not to keep your heart rate high to avoid muscle pain.
Thus, prices for fitness bracelets have now fallen to an acceptable psychological level. I hope this purchase motivates someone to exercise every day.