Solved HDD Light constantly on

[BJC1992]

Just recently my computer has started to become extremely slow, to start with it's fine but after roughly 20 minutes everything is slow, even opening the start menu can take a minute or two. When I open Task Manager the CPU is running normal, using about 10% or less, and the HDD Light is pretty much stuck on the whole time as if it's busy doing something, even when sitting on the desktop without any programs running, no power hungry tasks are running that I can see either, does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi BJC1992,

How old is the computer?
Have you got indexing switched on?
Have you downloaded any programs or software recently?
Are Windows Updates set to Never check for updates?
Are there any new entries that have appeared in the startup menu (Start > search box type msconfig > Enter > Startup tab)?

I hope this helps!

 

[BJC1992]

The computer is now 8 years old. How do I check if indexing is turned on?
And no new programmes or software has been downloaded recently, but some programmes such as 'Origin' has recently been updated. And windows updates are switched on.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi BJC1992,

How do I check if indexing is turned on?

Start > Computer > Right-Click drive C: > select Properties > click General tab.

I hope this helps!

 

[BJC1992]

I have just checked that and indexing is switched on.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi BJC1992,

I have just checked that and indexing is switched on.

Try turning indexing off and reboot to see if that makes a difference.
Do you ever clean out your temp files etc?
Are there any new entries that have appeared in the startup menu (Start > search box type msconfig > Enter > Startup tab)?

I hope this helps!

 

[BJC1992]

I often clean out temp files, but I did run CCleaner and even Malwarebytes and gave the PC a good clean out, it was surprising what it found even though it wasn't long ago that I last did it. I looked in the startup folder and removed a few entries from programmes I no longer use, which have now been uninstalled, there are only 3 items in the startup folder.
The PC appears to run a bit better, I tried to load up a game called SimCity (2013) which runs within the 'Origin' programme and took a long while to load, it kept freezing and the game was unplayable, everything else on the PC is slow but not as bad as it was, but even internet browsing takes longer, and as I'm writing this message the HDD light has its moments when its on full, but not all of the time.

 

[Megahertz07]

Schedule a check disk (chkdsk c: /f). Pay attention on the results.
If it finds bad blocks or bad clusters, your disk is dying. Save your data on an external disk and buy a new one ASAP.

 

[BJC1992]

I did do a disk check this morning, which took a long time to complete, but the results disappeared before I had a chance to read them, the only bit I saw was it said the drive was 'clean', is there some sort of report within the PC that I can access from that scan?

 

[Megahertz07]

It seems that your drive has a problem as it took a long time to complete.
Have a look at the log file.
How To Extract The Check Disk (CHKDSK) Logs From Event Viewer on Windows

 

[BJC1992]

I decided to schedule another disk check as I couldn't find any record of the previous one that I did, but today it managed to complete it in just 5 minutes, whereas the other day it took well over an hour, and if I remember correctly it done it in 5 stages where it was only 3 today, upon looking at the results it says it couldn't find any problems within windows.
Also when I first started up windows I got a message saying that windows failed to start, and it gave me the options to use the startup repair tool or to start windows normally, I had this message the other day too and chose the startup repair tool, but it could find any problems, so today I just selected to start windows normally and it loaded everything as normal, but I don't know what is causing this to happen. But I think the computer has good and bad spells as at the moment its not running too badly, but I find it odd that the disk check was so much quicker this time round.

 

[Megahertz07]

That are good news.
HDD may have two kinds of problems:
- Hardware - Disk is noisy, have bad clusters or bad blocks. There is no fix.
- Logical - There are many ways to get a corrupted disk. Improper shutdown, virus etc. Check disk most of the time can fix it. If highly damage a format will fix it.
From all problems I've seen on computers, Disk is the most common.
Must have, at least, data back up. It's not a matter if you going to need it but when.

 

[BJC1992]

The disk isn't noisy so I don't think there is a problem there, I don't think there are any viruses either as I have scanned for those.
I didn't expect the disk check to fix anything, I thought it would only identify the problem, but at the moment all seems well.

 

[Marie SWE]

Test to open the Resource Monitor and check out the disk activity and see what for files that the disk is working so hard on?

 

[BJC1992]

At the moment the PC is running fine, ever since the last disk check all seems well. I looked in the Resource Monitor anyway and can't see anything out of the ordinary.
Although the only issue that I have is when I started up the PC today I get a message saying "Windows failed to start", and when it restarts I get a message saying "A hypertransport sync flood error occurred on last boot", I think this is due to a weak battery as the date and time are wrong, or are there any other possible reasons?

 

[BJC1992]

After replacing the battery all seems fine, computer is still running normally, the check disk must have done its job, thanks to all those who helped.