Windows 7: HP Laptop even laggier after reformat

I recently did a reformat on my 1.5 yr laptop (windows 7 home premium 64 bit)
because it was acting a bit laggy and the videos I recorded using hypercam (a screen recorder) turned out very jumpy even though the images I was recording were not jumpy.
I was also getting error messages sometimes when I boot up that said "there is no drive/disk to boot from. insert disk and press any key"
I usually just pressed the power down button and restarted in the hopes that it would go to desktop which it sometimes did. (I noticed that these error messages came most often when I had an external hd plugged in)

so i used my recovery disks and did a system restore. but if anything the lag got worse. the error message at bootup still happens sometimes. it takes a lot longer to startup. and actions that used to be instantaneous like deleting small images now sometimes 3 seconds. when I type, the letters appear several seconds afterwards

do i have to install some video drivers or something? the windows update says it installed the Intel Corporation display Intel(r) HD graphics. I assumed those were the video drivers and that the rest of the drivers were installed when I used the recovery disks (but honestly I dont know. I don't know anything about computers)



are there are tests I could run to see if theres a hardware problem? I dont know which programs to scan computers for problems are real and which ones are actually spyware.
I ran an AVG scan but nothing showed up.
the weird thing is that there are moments when the laptop is fine. as in the typing is instanteous. other times its like the computer cant keep up with my typing speed (which has never been a problem)
my screen recording stuff with hypercam was fine for a day after reformatting and then the jumpiness of the recorded video came back after a day.

please help and sorry for the long post

edit: it might just be my mind playing tricks on me but my laptop seems even laggier after windows update installed service pack 1 (or it might have been one of the seven other updates they made me install) dunno

Sounds like a failing HDD. Check S.M.A.R.T. info (opensource tool, din't test : CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World)
and needless to say, keep backups.

Also Its possible that your external HDD is marked as "bootable" but in fact isn't. You could move boot from USB lower then boot from HDD in your bios to fix this. (Though this is no reason why windows itself would run slower)

I tried to start up my laptop this morning and the exact words of the error message were "no bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key"

also if I replace my harddrive, I assume I'll have to reinstall my OS right?
will my system recovery disks that I made when I first bought my laptop work? or do I have to buy a new copy of windows 7?

It does sound as though your hard drive may be about to fail and if you replace your hard drive you will need to reinstall Windows.

Your system recovery discs should work, but if you prefer installing Windows minus the computer manufacturer's bloatware, you can do so, as this tutorial explains.

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

You won't need to buy another copy of Windows because your OEM product key on the COA sticker is your licence to use Windows.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
COA: Certificate of Authenticity

so what I would do is take the harddrive out, put the new one in and after pressing the power button, press f11.
it should be pretty easy from there right?

i read online some ppl have problems with the recovery discs and new harddrives...if I buy a new harddrive with the same settings/size I should be fine right? would I have to buy a hp brand drive or could be any brand with the same settings?

also I would like to make sure that its actually my harddrive thats the problem...I keep reading about S.M.A.R.T but I'm not sure how to go about using these S.M.A.R.T. programs or interpreting the results.

Before you go any further, check this article for advice on checking your hard drive.

Testing a computer hard drive for failures.

You also want to contact HP and see what they say. Who knows, they may even replace the drive for you.

Seavixen beat me to it ;] I was going to suggest that.

Test your HD with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan, followed by Disk Check run from the Windows 7 installer or Repair CD.

These disks and their use to repair Windows 7 are available and detailed in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.

In the future make sure to Clean Up Factory Bloatware to get better performance or Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 for best performance of all.

I ran a chdsk on my computer...after my computer restarted (after the scan) just told me my drive is NTFS and that the volume is clean. I'm not sure what that means...but it doesnt seem to say much about the state of my harddrive. and then it went to desktop. still very laggy

i've also notice that when my laptop starts up. the sequence is usually HP logo, multicolored flying windows logo then desktop. recently its been 3 minute hp logo, a black out, hp logo for a minute and then flying windows logo for a long time. dont know if thats relevant or points to how my harddrive is dying.

Go ahead and test your HD and RAM to get that out of the way.