Constant HDD activitiy after new install

[AP81]

This one has me absolutely stumped.

My HDD LED constantly flickers (approx. 1 per second) & I don't know WHY!!!!

I first noticed it a couple of days after a I built the PC.
My first guess was virus scanner, indexing or system restore.
->I disabled all of them, still no go.
->I disabled all the start-up programs, no go.
->Stopped all the system services (services.msc), still no go.
->Booted into safe mode, still doing it!!!!
->Booted off a DOS boot disk, HDD LED is normal
->Booted off a Linux boot disk, HDD LED is normal.
->I next enabled the I/O 'Read','Write' and 'Other' columns in the Task Manager and found that explorer.exe was steadily increasing almost in sync with the HDD LED. I closed down explorer, and it is still doing it.

At this point I was pretty frustrated and decided to format the drive and re-install Windows. After I logged into windows for the first time it was still doing it. This is a fresh Windows install with nothing else installed!!!!

This got me really angry, as I spent a long time perfecting my Windows setup. I am now leaning towards it being a hardware related issue.
->I unplugged all drives apart from my hard drive and it still did it.
->Swapped SATA cables and it still does it.
->I flashed my BIOS to the latest BIOS and guess what? It still does it.

Aaaaaaarrrrrghhh!!!!!

I am going to try a different hard drive tomorrow to see if that is the problem.

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows XP SP2
MB: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe (570 Chipset)
CPU: 4200 Dual Core
RAM: 2GB Albatron (2 x 1GB)
DVD: Pionner (SATA)
HDD: Samsung 500GB (SATA)
VGA: Nvidia 7800GT PCI-e
PSU: CoolerMaster Real Power Duo (650W)

Any ideas anyone?

 

[ATLMatt]

Under Virtual Memory, try disabling the page file.

Also try turning off system restore.

Are there any BIOS options like AV protection that could be doing it?

Also did you check with the mobo manufacturer to make sure there isn't something weird with their SATA drivers and large HD's?

That's all I can think of, good luck!

 

[AP81]

Disabled page file, system restore already off, No AV protection.

SATA drives and large HD's...I'll have to check on that one. 1TB drives have been out for a while I doubt that this would be an issue.