Disk Defragment taking forever!

[Duranie]

I got this HP G60-508US notebook for my son for Christmas, and now we're having problems with how slow it's running. I'm pretty well versed in keeping our home computer in top shape, but this laptop is driving me nuts! It's not like we've loaded up the C drive with crap either. I decided to go ahead and load some of his favorite websites on it, and he'd only used it a day before having slowdown problems. The screensaver would freeze up, taking a long time for the main screen to come back on, and he said the internet was running slow. So I did a disc cleanup like I always do with ours, then I went into Disc Defragment to see how things looked. Man, how slow is this thing suppose to run? I've never seen a Windows XP program run as slow as this Windows 7 disc defragment has! Then during the "Pass 4" phase of the defrag, the computer froze. So I exited out of that, and tried running our McAfee anti virus program on it. A quick scan showed no problems, but when I ran a full length scan, it froze at 42%. This is crazy! I found the "HP Support Assistant" and am using that right now, doing the "tune up". It's been running since 10am this morning, it's not 2:07pm, and has been on the Disc Defragment part for almost 3 hours now. How long should this take? I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just do a complete system restore and take this back to factory specs and start all over again. But if there's something wrong with that computer, I need to know so I can take it back. How much longer should I wait on the defrag before knowing this isn't going to work?

 

[richc46]

I got this HP G60-508US notebook for my son for Christmas, and now we're having problems with how slow it's running. I'm pretty well versed in keeping our home computer in top shape, but this laptop is driving me nuts! It's not like we've loaded up the C drive with crap either. I decided to go ahead and load some of his favorite websites on it, and he'd only used it a day before having slowdown problems. The screensaver would freeze up, taking a long time for the main screen to come back on, and he said the internet was running slow. So I did a disc cleanup like I always do with ours, then I went into Disc Defragment to see how things looked. Man, how slow is this thing suppose to run? I've never seen a Windows XP program run as slow as this Windows 7 disc defragment has! Then during the "Pass 4" phase of the defrag, the computer froze. So I exited out of that, and tried running our McAfee anti virus program on it. A quick scan showed no problems, but when I ran a full length scan, it froze at 42%. This is crazy! I found the "HP Support Assistant" and am using that right now, doing the "tune up". It's been running since 10am this morning, it's not 2:07pm, and has been on the Disc Defragment part for almost 3 hours now. How long should this take? I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just do a complete system restore and take this back to factory specs and start all over again. But if there's something wrong with that computer, I need to know so I can take it back. How much longer should I wait on the defrag before knowing this isn't going to work?

I am sorry that a wonderful day like Christmas was spoiled for your family. We could give you all kinds of advice on what to do, which may or may not work. My advice is bring it back, if you are not satisfied. The stores are very easy going about exchanges this time of year. But, make sure that the computer you have has a good fit with win7, not just minimum specs, but a little extra to make it work properly. If the computer that you currently own is taking too long to defrag bring it back. If it is behaving proprerly, but you are not satisfied, again bring it back.

Even though you may not feel it, now because of the comuter. I truly wish you and your family a Merry belated Christmas and all the best for the New Year

 

[raf051888]

I do believe that the time of defrag has to deal with the processor and the size of the HD. What size is the HD? Also, the Celeron Processors aren't exactly known for their performance.

 

[Qdos]

Windows7 native defragger is pants in my opinion.

Suggest you download an alternative freebie called Defraggler

(If you decide to stick with it remember to delete native defrag passes which are scheduled in your scheduled tasks area...)

Sometimes defrag' fails if there are corrupt sectors on the hard drive. This can happen if a hard restart has occured, or a laptop has been knocked, but can also happen when a program error occurs - and it does not mean your drive is rodgered!

Before all else, however, I suggest you open a command prompt (type CMD in the start menu, search box...) and at the C: prompt, you should type...

chkdsk /f (note the space between the k and the /)

This command will cause you to have to agree to run the process on reboot. Just hit Y and Enter when prompted to. Let the machine reboot, it will check your drive when doing this. After you're back to your desktop the W7 native defrag' should run.

Good luck

PS; If your BIOS offers you a SMART disk management option - turn it on, this will help to prevent physical errors on the hard disk in the future.

 

[Duranie]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I was online with an HP support person (could barely understand her) and of course, after doing all kinds of things like F10ing and checking the hard drive for errors, she's got me doing a system recovery. After it finishes, I have to call them back with my ticket # and see what else they want me to do. If we have these same problems after the recovery, I am taking this laptop back to the store and talking to the manager. I've never been so disappointed in an HP product in my life. This is the first laptop we've ever had, and it makes me glad I have a desktop.

The hard drive is a 250 GB drive, and the processor is a Intel Celeron 900.

Rich, you are a sweetheart, thank you for those words. Our son has a learning problem, and we've tried to do everything possible to make this Christmas special for him. This recent diagnosis had him depressed, and he had no idea he was getting this as his major gift this year. One way or another, I expect HP to make this right.

 

[richc46]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I was online with an HP support person (could barely understand her) and of course, after doing all kinds of things like F10ing and checking the hard drive for errors, she's got me doing a system recovery. After it finishes, I have to call them back with my ticket # and see what else they want me to do. If we have these same problems after the recovery, I am taking this laptop back to the store and talking to the manager. I've never been so disappointed in an HP product in my life. This is the first laptop we've ever had, and it makes me glad I have a desktop.

The hard drive is a 250 GB drive, and the processor is a Intel Celeron 900.

Rich, you are a sweetheart, thank you for those words. Our son has a learning problem, and we've tried to do everything possible to make this Christmas special for him. This recent diagnosis had him depressed, and he had no idea he was getting this as his major gift this year. One way or another, I expect HP to make this right.

We all should be grateful, for all that we take for granted. Take care my friend.

 

[Duranie]

One more thing, when the tech person tried to go back in after the hard drive check, she tried to back in remotely to look at the computer again. When she tried, the system booted off, giving a blue screen saying the computer was going to shut down. This makes no sense to me, I think there is a major problem with this. In fact, I should call Office Depot right now just in case.

 

[richc46]

One more thing, when the tech person tried to go back in after the hard drive check, she tried to back in remotely to look at the computer again. When she tried, the system booted off, giving a blue screen saying the computer was going to shut down. This makes no sense to me, I think there is a major problem with this. In fact, I should call Office Depot right now just in case.

Return policies are easy this time of year, dont hesitate.

 

[computersplus]

Bad Hard Drive?

This is sounding like a defective hard drive do yourself a favor take the HP back and look for another brand HP laptops have had a lot more than their share of issues and have been rated lowest on reliability study.

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

 

[Duranie]

It's disheartening to know that I may have to stop using HP products. I always used HP, none of my desktops ever really gave me trouble that I couldn't work on myself. I've installed hard drives, RAM, and DVD drives. I hate to think that I"m going to have to box this back up and try to find something comparable.

This was 549.99 at regular price, 349.99 on sale. Are there any good alternatives out there in that price range with comparable hard drive size and RAM? I won't touch a Dell, and am nervous about other brands. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Queen6]

When 7 initially starts (first run) the system will perform numerous tasks, updating, indexing all this tends to drag down performance, this will be much more noticeable on lower performance systems.

With such a new machine you can always try the factory restore or just return it, personally I would not touch HP, as they are one of the more unreliable on the market, just look here and good luck with the support. Me I would just start over and let the system update, leave it on overnight at the end of the day the slowest part of the machine is the hard drive and if it is reading, writing continuously to update the system, index the system, update security definitions it`s going to slowdown significantly, that and the CPU is a single core, single thread. this machine is best not being asked to perform multiple tasks all at the same time so just go one by one.

Windows 7 defrag is more than adequate for the average user other programs are only going to conflict with what Microsoft intended, and at best only have marginal impact on performance if any at all on a standalone system, save your $$$ and save on installing programs you just dont need.

McAfee is a very resource hungry security solution for a Notebook, this will also load up the system, Esets NOD32 is a much lighter program, or simply use Microsoft Security Essentials, it`s free and has good ratings.

As has already been posted make sure the machine has some extra capacity in comparison to windows 7`s minimum requirement, I would look as Asus, Toshiba, also Samsung & LG as the smaller venders tend to try harder at quality to increase market share, I have both and am impressed so far by the reliability, build quality, lack of bloatware, inclusion of software that is actually useful, only needing to uninstall the usual MS Office try out and of course McAfee

I do hope that it works out or you can get a replacement in good time

 

[computersplus]

A Possible Replacement

Here is a decent laptop in that price range


Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS5732Z-4510 NoteBook Intel Pentium T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 2GB Memory DDR2 667 160GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA 4500M - Laptops / Notebooks

 

[computersplus]

An Even Better Replacement

This is an even nicer unit for a little more money


Newegg.com - lenovo G550(2958-ACU) NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 3GB Memory DDR3 1066 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel GMA 4500M - Laptops / Notebooks

 

[Duranie]

Well, after reading that McAfee was dragging down some Windows 7 computers, I decided not to install that program. The HP tech after the system restore was done installed an update to the BIOS system, and it seems to be helping. I installed a free version of AVG anti virus, and will let this run a couple of days to see how things work. I'll take the laptop once a day and make sure we do disc cleanups and stuff. As far as HP products go, the 3 desktops we've owned have never really given us trouble, and have been very dependable. If this laptop gives me any more headaches, I"ll take it back and replace it.

 

[richc46]

Well, after reading that McAfee was dragging down some Windows 7 computers, I decided not to install that program. The HP tech after the system restore was done installed an update to the BIOS system, and it seems to be helping. I installed a free version of AVG anti virus, and will let this run a couple of days to see how things work. I'll take the laptop once a day and make sure we do disc cleanups and stuff. As far as HP products go, the 3 desktops we've owned have never really given us trouble, and have been very dependable. If this laptop gives me any more headaches, I"ll take it back and replace it.

Morning,
May I suggest, look into MSE Miscrosoft Security Essentials, one of the best antivirus, free from Microsoft, if you have windows, one of the best.

 

[Queen6]

Well, after reading that McAfee was dragging down some Windows 7 computers, I decided not to install that program. The HP tech after the system restore was done installed an update to the BIOS system, and it seems to be helping. I installed a free version of AVG anti virus, and will let this run a couple of days to see how things work. I'll take the laptop once a day and make sure we do disc cleanups and stuff. As far as HP products go, the 3 desktops we've owned have never really given us trouble, and have been very dependable. If this laptop gives me any more headaches, I"ll take it back and replace it.

I have a Acer 3810T Timeline and it is also a single core, single thread machine, running Vista SP2, and it has pretty much the same limitations;

I wouldn't go overboard with the disk clean up once a week, even a month is more than enough. Windows 7 will automatically defrag the system periodically, however it is scheduled for 2 in the morning (Wednesday), you can either just leave the system on or change the scheduled time & day by typing defrag in the start menu search box and following the links.

Installing Google "Chrome" will speed up browsing the internet tremendously, as it`s far faster and less resource hungry than MS Internet Explorer.

AVG is a good enough option, although Microsoft Security Essentials would still be my AV of choice out of the free ones on offer.

Open Office is a good free alternative to Microsoft's Office and is more than capable for home use.

The majority of HP machines work as intended, so if you are happy with it, dont worry.

 

[Duranie]

Well, after reading that McAfee was dragging down some Windows 7 computers, I decided not to install that program. The HP tech after the system restore was done installed an update to the BIOS system, and it seems to be helping. I installed a free version of AVG anti virus, and will let this run a couple of days to see how things work. I'll take the laptop once a day and make sure we do disc cleanups and stuff. As far as HP products go, the 3 desktops we've owned have never really given us trouble, and have been very dependable. If this laptop gives me any more headaches, I"ll take it back and replace it.

Morning,
May I suggest, look into MSE Miscrosoft Security Essentials, one of the best antivirus, free from Microsoft, if you have windows, one of the best.

Thanks for the info Rich. The thing I like about McAfee (we get it free with Comcast internet) is that is does something called "McAfee Quick Clean", cleaning temp files, internet cache, lost file fragments, orphaned registry keys, deleted emails, active X files, and other crap that bogs down the computer. I never saw AVG do that. Do programs like MSE do the same? :huh:

 

[cmckaycm]

Tell me the System Information.

 

[richc46]

Well, after reading that McAfee was dragging down some Windows 7 computers, I decided not to install that program. The HP tech after the system restore was done installed an update to the BIOS system, and it seems to be helping. I installed a free version of AVG anti virus, and will let this run a couple of days to see how things work. I'll take the laptop once a day and make sure we do disc cleanups and stuff. As far as HP products go, the 3 desktops we've owned have never really given us trouble, and have been very dependable. If this laptop gives me any more headaches, I"ll take it back and replace it.

Morning,
May I suggest, look into MSE Miscrosoft Security Essentials, one of the best antivirus, free from Microsoft, if you have windows, one of the best.

Thanks for the info Rich. The thing I like about McAfee (we get it free with Comcast internet) is that is does something called "McAfee Quick Clean", cleaning temp files, internet cache, lost file fragments, orphaned registry keys, deleted emails, active X files, and other crap that bogs down the computer. I never saw AVG do that. Do programs like MSE do the same? :huh:

Morning Duraine,

I, too get Mcafee, free with ATT (eveyone gets it free, I think that means something) and I use it. It works in a satisfactory manner and, I, too, like the clean up features. But, I would not spend money on it. If I were in the market and had to pay or use the best free A/V, my choice would be MSE.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Be very careful with McAfee Quick Clean or any similar program.

Deleting temp files and lost file fragments is probably harmless.

Deleting anything related to the registry is begging for trouble unless you are an expert user. It might seemingly be a good idea and cause no problems for months, and then suddenly do something disastrous. Leave the registry alone--extraneous entries in the registry are just ignored and would have no noticeable affect on system speed.

This is a new machine. The chances of the hard drive being so seriously fragmented as to cause problems is very very small.

Your chances of getting lucid and accurate help from HP support is likely not too good either.

You have a very modestly powered machine that likely came with a lot of unnecessary software on it and much of it may be running automatically at startup. You can defeat a lot of that.

Run msconfig and tell us what is checkmarked on the startup tab. You can probably uncheck everything except antivirus as an experiment.