Solid hdd light, disk 100% highest active time, very slow

These are the bios options I have:

-Set date/time
-set admin / power on password
-hdd and memory tests
- language
- button sound
- processor c6 states
-fan always on
- Boot options (enable/disable cd rom/ usb boot, change boot order)

Also, it makes absolutely no sense that any installed software would cause this issue. The original problem where this happened when the laptop was plugged in was fixed when I was able to boot into safe mode with command prompt and change the power plan through that. As soon as I gave the command to change the power plan, the problem went away (given that the laptop is plugged in). Until then it would not even boot windows, let alone install any kind of software or even connect to a wireless network for that matter. The problem starts WHILE WINDOWS IS INSTALLING which completely rules out any 3rd party software. There has to be some sort of power setting in Windows that I haven't found yet. Given that various linux distros worked perfectly for months indicates that this is not a hardware problem nor a problem with the bios. When I unplug the laptop, Windows says "hey, I'm on battery now" and changes something that causes this issue, and whatever it is it's related to the difference between the "high performance" and "balanced" power plans. If I set my laptop to the "balanced" plan, it will instantly lock up and it will take me 10 minutes to get it set back just because of how slow the laptop has become. I sincerely appreciate the help but I don't feel that a clean install or uninstalling programs will help, I've tried that.

I had the same problem in safe mode as I did during a normal boot, it's just that windows doesn't load as much stuff when it boots into safe mode, so it only took me 20 minutes to boot into safe mode vs. several hours for starting windows normally.

Also, I'm sorry I've wasted your Saturday night, but I feel like I'm on the phone with tech support, with them telling me to go through a list of procedures that I know won't solve the problem, meanwhile I'm trying to explain to them that the problem isn't what they think it is.

As for the "clean install", the disk has been formatted at least 5 times since the last time I tried installing windows (due to installing various linux distros), and I deleted all of the partitions when installing 7 and created a new one for windows. This same problem ocurred on a brand-new, fresh out of the box hard drive.

profdlp said:

pirates712 said:

...I feel like I'm on the phone with tech support, with them telling me to go through a list of procedures that I know won't solve the problem...

Paraphrased: I am unwilling to try anything anyone suggests.

...meanwhile I'm trying to explain to them that the problem isn't what they think it is...

What do you think it is? There are a lot of us who would like to know.

"There has to be some sort of power setting in Windows that I haven't found yet. Given that various linux distros worked perfectly for months indicates that this is not a hardware problem nor a problem with the bios. When I unplug the laptop, Windows says "hey, I'm on battery now" and changes something that causes this issue, and whatever it is it's related to the difference between the "high performance" and "balanced" power plans. If I set my laptop to the "balanced" plan, it will instantly lock up and it will take me 10 minutes to get it set back just because of how slow the laptop has become."

EzioAuditore said:

Have you tried that hdd and memory tests mentioned in bios?
Also boot to windows with it being plugged in, open resource monitor and unplug it. Does it show any abnormalities in the hard disk read/write?
In the power options advanced settings, select 'turn off/power down harddisk after' say 5 min. Wait 6+ minutes, is the hdd led still on?
Do you've any peripherals attached like a sd card, stuck printer trying to access some file etc?
Do a clean boot.
Also run the SMART monitor tool posted earlier (by greg, probably?) and see what it reports.
You said it works fine in high performance plan.
So put

Code:

Powercfg -setactive Scheme_GUID

in a .bat file in your startup folder to have high performance selected always.
Use powercfg /list (in a command window) to display the GUID of plans.

I've attached some snips of what happens when I go from being unplugged to being plugged in, being plugged in to being unplugged, and the dip in percent active time that occurred when I saved one of the snips with the laptop unplugged. Interestingly, anything that has already been opened will be just as fast as it usually is unless it needs to access the hard disk.

I tried setting the "turn off hdd after" to 1 minute on battery and waited 5 minutes, but the hdd light stayed on anyway

I did run the hdd smart diagnostics utility when I was checking out the bios settings. The hdd passed just fine.

No peripherals are attached.

gregrocker said:

pirates712 said:

Given that various linux distros worked perfectly for months indicates that this is not a hardware problem nor a problem with the bios.

That means to me it's likely Win7.

To get the cleanest slate for a perfect install, you want to reset BIOS to defaults, set SATA to AHCI, wipe the HD, follow the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

See if the problem persists after a baseline perfect reinstall and nothing else.

The bios options I posted above are the only ones I have. I can't change between sata and ahci.