USB T-Stick on connected on Telecom Network causes disk driving

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grantcoll

26 posts

Geek

#34384 23-May-2009 10:40

I have a USB T-Stick which is actually a Compass 597 using Sierra Watcher.

The Laptop is an HP 2510p running Windows XP

I have noticed that when I am connected to the internet on the T-Stick, the HDD keeps driving. It is almost cyclic, about every 2 seconds, disk driving off and on. This continues to happen until a disconnect. Then all is fine.

I have tried actually installing the Sierra software on the SD card,but the HDD still does the driving.

Does anyone have any ideas what might cause this ? or how to find it.

If it is logging or some activity that I can move, I would happily move it to the SD card to reduce the noise. (In a noisy area like a Cafe, it is fine, but in a quiet environment it is quite annoying).

If there is no other solution, the best I can think is to upgrade the HDD to SSD 64G, but these laptops are 1.8" so a very expensive option.

d3Xt3r

688 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#217214 23-May-2009 13:43

You could use Process Explorer to monitor the I/O. Make a note of which process is writing to the disk at the time you hear the sound. If Process Explorer isn't verbose enough, you could use Process Monitor, although it might take some time to set up all the filters to block unwanted processes. I suggest disabling all unnecessary drivers, services and autoruns if you want to pinpoint the issue faster. (Hint: Use Autoruns for autostarts, and BlackViper's Services Guide for services.msc)

grantcoll

26 posts

Geek

#217237 23-May-2009 15:48

Thanks. I have tried Process Explorer and it shows Watcher.exe and SwiApiMux.exe which are both in the WaHelper.exe tree, as doing the writing and reading in time with the disk activity.

The WaHelper.exe is the main Sierra Wireless application. When you plug the T-Stick in, WaHelper expands the tree to open Watcher.exe and SwiApiMux.exe, but the pulsing disk driving does not start until you actually connect to the internet.

I have found that ending the tasks Watcher and SwiApiMux that the pulsing disk driving stops, but the internet connection stays up. I further found that if you close the Watcher Window, without disconnecting, the internet connection stays up and the pulsing disk driving stops. So its an ugly solution, but it is a solution.

Thanks for your help. Grant.

n00dy

482 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#217238 23-May-2009 15:48

try connecting to the internet without the tstick, ie a lan or wireless connection, see if disk access still occurs, it could be that a programis accessing the net as soon as you connect. The tstick software doesnt run any other programs other than to set up a connection. I really dont think the tstick is the issue most likely an update program that activates as soon as an active internet connection is made

grantcoll

26 posts

Geek

#217239 23-May-2009 15:50

Thanks. See my reply above.

I suspect it is the Watcher program that is counting the bytes, monitoring the connection etc. Killing Watcher but leaving the internet connection up resolves the issue.