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Windows slow / Hard drive seems to be reading 2x places at same time

1K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Rollin' Rog 
#1 ·
Hi all,
Ive had this problem before and had to amend it with factory restore and im not doing it this time.....

Anyway...
The Hard Drive seems to be reading 'all over the place' when i start windows as it is slow and once Windows has started and Bit Defender has loaded up and my network connection the Hard-Drive light flashes intermittentley for about 60 seconds after its 'Ready-to-Go' the light stays on for half a second and off for half a second repeatedly for a minute and sometimes after Ive accessed the drive (used some programs)

Another thing that gives the game away is that when it is actually starting up then XP welcome sound breaks up as though the drive is trying to access other parts of itself whilst playing back the sound.... AND the mouse pointer keeps sticking, I have tried Checking drive with SpySweeper 5, ive erased all tracks with tracks eraser pro and used Diskeeper v10 to dafregment (even though it says that its ok) and when i did it took hours (it used to take 5 mins cos drive was always 'clean') I used the FAAST defrag on it also and it took hours and made no difference....

I tried system restore in XP but the 3 points I tried they all failed and i noticed when Diskeeper 10 was defragmenting most of the stuff it was moving seemed to be system restore items in the 'System Volume Information/_restore' folder.... What I had been upto at the time of this happening was i was downloading Live Aid 85 for my girlfriend which took 2 days during which time i had been using the laptop on internet, burning films (just normal use really) and after the download finished (5Gb) this happened ive now deleted ALL large files on the laptop and it only has Apps on it then Defrag'd but still the same???

I use Bit Defender v10 Internet Security AND SpySweeper but never both at the same time, never had to, I have noticed since defrag last night and/or using Spysweeper to try and locate Malware that the Spyware module on Bit Defender has become completley disabled (greyed out) and cant be turned on (The virus/firewall is ok though)

PLEASE , PLEASE HELP,
Iam Windows savvy and its usually me thats fixing PCs but this one has got me stumped

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE
 
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#3 ·
Ive done that and it doesn't show...
just system idle...even while its intermittentley flashing, after all the TaskManager only shows you whats using CPU...the amount of total memory for each process goes over the top (more than actual memory on laptop (512mb) whilst runnin SpySweeper AND BD10)
(but thats another problem...)
Ive just ran DisKeeper 10 again and its says its heavily fragged after I done it last night for hours when it said it was OK,
this time its just the yellow exclamation mark (as it has a RED cross for severe) so its not severeley affected
I know My PC aswell as how a laptop/PC works and there is definatley some process that is running at boot that is hogging the drive itself and doesnt show on Task Manager
 
G
#4 ·
Did you run the PC Mag util or you don't feel like buying it:D ?

Windows Defender gives a detailed explanation of all process running and all processes that run at start up (like from what company the software is from and stuff like that)

also you can check the disk for errors... Right-click on your hard drive, click on properties, go to the tools tab, under error-checking, click on check now. check the two boxes and say start.

also delete all system restore points except the latest one...Right-click on your hard drive, click on properties, click on Disk Cleanup, go to the More Options, under System Restore click on Clean up

It could be (although I doubt it) that windows is trying to index your hard drive.
to disable Indexing...Right-click on your hard drive, click on properties, and then uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk.
 
#5 ·
naah, u cant error-check on NTFS whilst in windows and when i set it to go during boot it wont work, ive ran DELL diags on it and everyhting is fine so its software related

its f####ng annoting , its getting worse every start-up now and ive noticed when i opened IE7 it disabled the Anti-Spyware module of BD10 but ive defo got NO malware on PC cos ive scanned with
BD IS 10 (which is an excellent AV)
SpySweeper (speaks for itself)
Spybot (good spyware scanner)

and there are no suspicious active X or BHO's in IE7

Windows Defender is rubbish had it and it leaked loads of spyware and uses lot of resource...Spybot does the same (in Advanced mode) with listing ALL start-up plus hidden start up items, but theres nothing there..?

Im tempted to Factory Restore....Grrrr i wouldnt mind but its all the Microsoft updates afterwards (40-50) of them to download and install then all my video editing software etc...
 
#7 ·
naah, u cant error-check on NTFS whilst in windows and when i set it to go during boot it wont work, ive ran DELL diags on it and everyhting is fine so its software related
That is your problem...you need to run check disk and you probably have a bad hard drive and are looking everywhere but where you should be. If checkdisk will not run on reboot then you need to boot into recovery console and run there or simply replace the hard drive. Ps Dell diags are the first thing any pro removes from a Dell system as they are resource hogs and beyond woirthless.
 
#8 ·
..erm I did remove dell diag and all crud that runs at start-up..i meant the dell diag that you can access at boot-up that is on hidden partition...
Anyway...quicker result i have reinstalled Windows and all is fine..........again..............
thanks anyway
 
#10 ·
paulb100 said:
..erm I did remove dell diag and all crud that runs at start-up..i meant the dell diag that you can access at boot-up that is on hidden partition...
Anyway...quicker result i have reinstalled Windows and all is fine..........again..............
thanks anyway
Ok you have had the problem before...and you did not want to do restore but did. The problme will be back as you have yet to handle it unfortunately.
 
#11 ·
That sounds very much like item 6 in this list. Be advised after following the procedure to get it into Ultra DMA mode -- you may see the problem return shortly if the drive is going bad. You may need to run a drive vendor's diagnostic utility to verify its health.

PERFORMANCE QUESTIONS:

0 > when did the problem seem to be begin?
1 > is it very slow to boot up?
2 > do programs open slowly?
3 > does the same behavior occur both offline and on?
4 > does it matter how long the system has been on, and does a restart improve things?

Slow performance issues can often be due to overheating, so if the system is faster after it has been shutdown for a while and then restarted -- that would be especially suspect. To check for possible problems here, shutdown, open the case and blow out any accumulated dust. Then turn it
on and check to see that the fan is working. Sometimes it helps to physically clean the fan.

If a laptop, check to see that the vent is clear of dust and verify the fan is working. Temps and fan speed can usually be monitored with SpeedFan (except on Dell desktops), a free utility.

5 > if you do a ctrl-alt-del, do any processes show excess cpu usage, other than System Idle Process?

6 > If you open the Device Manager (run devmgmt.msc) and select the entry for IDE ATA/Atapi and select the Primary IDE > Advanced Settings, does it say the "current transfer mode" is DMA or PIO?

If it says PIO, first ensure "Use DMA if Available" is selected, then select the driver tab and uninstall the driver and reboot. Then check again.
 
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