"Something" blocks processes while writing to disk

I think of me as a computer expert and I believe this is a very though one (I'm planning to scratch Windows, in facts), but I have a last hope asking here!

The problem is: there's "something" that blocks processes while they're writing to disk.
The effects showed are, for example:

• the kaspersky internet security breaks during updates and suspend itself saying the virus base is broken
• download in chrome stops halfway
• Adobe Lightroom (which uses a custom sqlite db) breaks during operations, saying the catalog is corrupt and attempts recovery at restart (operation that can break, too)

I tried disabling windows defender that in other occasions showed to lock files, but with no success.
I noticed that in Safe mode operations seems good.
I used ProcExplored to see if there's any process using CPU during this breakups, but didn't find anything; I also looked in the open handles to find other processes using the same file as the breaking ones without luck.


I don't thing it to be a virus as I have AV protection and tend not to expose PC to malware.


I also notice that this behavior mainly happens a few minutes after boot and then seems to disappear after other several minutes.


Does anybody have clues on what's happening or on how to find it out?


Thank you very much!!

Noo!! I didn't even think of an hardware failure!! No panic, no panic!!!

Ok, I'll go for the sfc and chkdsk checks and still hope it's a sw problem.

About KIS: I also tried suspending and stopping it; I will also try a reinstall, if you think it could be the cause (I thought that it is something below it, as it is itself broken).

Thanks for suggestion. When I mentioned HW I was thinking of bad sectors, that sounds plausible...

I tried sfc but it said it cannot run after getting to 28%.
I tried windowed check disk selecting bad sectors check, it complained it couldn't run and set a boot scan.
I rebooted but nothing happened, so I set the disk dirty with fsutil and rebooted; it is now scanning for error, but it says is going through 5 steps which will exclude sectors scan.

One thing I noted before rebooting is the Crypto Service taking almost 50% CPU (basically a full core) and a LOT of ESENT errors in the Windows logs (saying it cannot read or write some files), but I don't know if this is a cause or an effect.

If I'm able to find out the disk is good, I think I'll go for 7 reinstall, so to retake my last GB of RAM that now is hidden by the graphic memory.

I left chkdsk run this night; this morning I found Windows rebooted: I looked in the event log, but it seems no errors were found (bad sectors check skipped); anyway something happened, because I lost my Google cookies in Chrome (I found my self logged out of Gmail), I lost my ssh password in MobaXTerm and other oddities.
I tried sfc again and it stopped, I'll try in safe mode.

Anyway, I'm preparing for Windows reinstall, but I first need to be sure the HD is ok: can you suggest a way to check the disk surface?

Yes, thank you! I'll look at them and try these tests

Welcome to the forums pdario,

If it's unable to write files to the disk, then I would think of it either being some kind of malware, or possible disk failure/corruption.