Help win 7 x64 running extremely slow suddenly.

[wakeboardr116]

This is the second time my computer has started doing this, last time I had to do a clean install to fix the problem. Here is the problem. I have win 7 x64 on my laptop and it has been running fantastic for several weeks now. But all of the sudden it has just become unbareably slow and unmost completly unresponsive. I can hardly do anything on it it is so slow. It is not my laptop, which is still quite new and fairly fast. I have 32bit on my desktop which is much older and it runs fine. The only recent changes I have made is installing the latest updates for office 2007, and installing PS3media server with Java runtime. I can boot to safe mode and it runs fine and is not slow at all. I tried to restore to the restore point before installing office 2007 updates but it fails to complete. I was able to uninstall Java after taking almost an hour to open control panel and everything. Now i am trying to completly uninstall office to see if that fixes it, but I have a feeling it will take all day or more. This is the second time it has done this, both times I installed win 7 it ran really great for a few weeks than its just dead like it hit a brick wall. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing the problem?? Thanks

 

[Tews]

You might start by opening task manager and see what process is taking up your resources ....

 

[wakeboardr116]

I've checked and it all looks perfectly normal. RAM usage is what it always is, about 20-22% with 4gb installed. CPU usage is normal too, it stays low even when its trying to open stuff and do everything. Thats whats strange. It seems like everything is just fine and how it should be, but it just crawls whenever I try to do something.

 

[wakeboardr116]

Office 2007 finished unistalling and I restarted and it is still extremely slow. I read a couple other threads on here and someone said something about running sfc /scannow, so I am running that right now. Of course it is going extremly slow too. Anyone else go any other ideas??

 

[Victek]

Office 2007 finished unistalling and I restarted and it is still extremely slow. I read a couple other threads on here and someone said something about running sfc /scannow, so I am running that right now. Of course it is going extremly slow too. Anyone else go any other ideas??

.
Download a better process viewer, such as Process Hacker or Process Monitor, and you will be able to see what is tying up the CPU. The windows 7 task manager does not show all running processes. These two are freeware - just Google for them.

 

[wakeboardr116]

Office 2007 finished unistalling and I restarted and it is still extremely slow. I read a couple other threads on here and someone said something about running sfc /scannow, so I am running that right now. Of course it is going extremly slow too. Anyone else go any other ideas??

.
Download a better process viewer, such as Process Hacker or Process Monitor, and you will be able to see what is tying up the CPU. The windows 7 task manager does not show all running processes. These two are freeware - just Google for them.

I'll give one of those a try, if i can even get one installed. It takes a couple minutes just to open the windows task manager. I've got a process monitor gadget on my desktop and it showing very minimal process usage between both cores. Only 2-5% on each core.

 

[Dinesh]

How about a system restore?

 

[wakeboardr116]

How about a system restore?

I tried to with the restore point before i installed updates for office 2007, which was the last thing i did before it started running slow, but it would fail and not finish the restore every time i tried it.

 

[Dinesh]

How about a system restore?

I tried to with the restore point before i installed updates for office 2007, which was the last thing i did before it started running slow, but it would fail and not finish the restore every time i tried it.

What anti virus do you use?

 

[wakeboardr116]

avast.

 

[Dinesh]

Go to Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center\Reliability Monitor and see if there is any suspicious activity.

 

[mobow]

Is it possible this is caused by the same issue that causes the installation to be slow? In that case it was the floppy drive that was enabled in the BIOS. Try this.

 

[wakeboardr116]

Well I've figured out the problem. My HDD is damaged. I guess thats why its been running so inconsistently. It's been doing it for a few weeks but just today I got a message on startup saying it has detected an error and failure is imenent. Then once windows started I got a message saying "Windows detected a hard disk problem" "Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, and then contact the computer manufacturer to determine if you need to repair or replace the disk" I checked and my 1 year warranty expired back in may.

So I guess I need to buy a new drive now. Anyone have any suggestions? I know SSD's are becoming more common and affordable. What are the benefits to an SSD over a typical HDD? I dont want to spend alot of money, not more than about $140. I dont need a huge capacity cause I've got external drives for all my multimedia etc.

 

[logicearth]

...I dont want to spend alot of money, not more than about $140. I dont need a huge capacity cause I've got external drives for all my multimedia etc.

Then an SSD is out of the question. Aside from spending a huge about of money and still getting great performance, Western Digital Caviar Black; 750 GB; 7200 RPM; 32 MB cache; $80. Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Can find out lower priced drives, but be sure to get one with as much cache memory on the drive possible! If you think you need something faster, 150 GB; 10000 RPM; Raptor Drive is $180. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
"Im EATING your HDD".

Slowdown in systems are usually caused by 3 problems - assuming no infection.

1) Lack of RAM - probably not in your case -- RAM shortage shows up most accutely when trying to run more VM's than you should on a small machine.

2) Too many apps running at once - probably not an issue either on W7 -- you would be surprised at how many you con run concurrently even on a 1GB machine - especilally if it's only browsing, email, office type apps, music. Gaming is another issue but if a game works reasonably then it won't suddenly cause the whole system to stop.

3) Indexing and AV software. Check to see if your HDD light is on. If this is solidly on then "Houston we have a problem".

My remark that I've posted elsewhere is that home strength (as opposed to corporate server type) AV software is a 100% total waste of time and system resources. You are better off chucking it and usiing your computer intelligently.

http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/28742-its-not-system-but-its-user-whose-problem.html

If its indexing let it run through - but as the indexing algorithm in W7 is excellent I would suspect your AV software as the biggest candidate in causing system slowdown.

Be very careful in assuming a HDD is damaged -- these are actually very robust these days --- they DO fail but unless you spill coffee on them or drop them modern (internal) disks rarely fail -- average MTBF is of the order of 100,000's of hours.

(In any case hard disk problem or not ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM)


CHKDSK it and re-format (full) with NTFS. Windows sometimes says a HDD is damaged because of a corrupt file - and this can happen not because of a defect in the hardware but an OS crash, switching off W7 suddenly, unplugging a usb disk before copy has completed etc etc.

If you have to get a new disk ensure its SATA with at least 7200 RPM and a decent sized cache. There's some really good fastish 1.5 TB disks available quite cheaply -- 130 USD / 80 EUR plus tax -- good time to buy HDD's as people start moving toward SSD's. HDD's will still be around for many many years yet.

Cheers
jimbo.

 

[wakeboardr116]

...I dont want to spend alot of money, not more than about $140. I dont need a huge capacity cause I've got external drives for all my multimedia etc.

Then an SSD is out of the question. Aside from spending a huge about of money and still getting great performance, Western Digital Caviar Black; 750 GB; 7200 RPM; 32 MB cache; $80. Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Can find out lower priced drives, but be sure to get one with as much cache memory on the drive possible! If you think you need something faster, 150 GB; 10000 RPM; Raptor Drive is $180. Newegg.com - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Well I've found a couple 60 and 64gb SSDs for around 150-175. Like I said, i dont need alot of space, just enough to install the o.s. and some other programs and a little room for school work. I have external drives for music multimedia etc. I just want to know if there is a benifit to an SSD vs. HDD, I dont do any gaming or anything, but I do some editing and rendering with Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier. Would one make a difference in these situations or would a 7200rpm HDD suffice?

 

[wakeboardr116]

Jimbo45, I've ran a check disk (took over a day to complete) and completly reformated the drive and installed a clean copy of 7 with no additional software and it still runs slow at times. I'm pretty sure it is a mechanical problem cause when its running sometimes it will sound weird and make some pretty loud noises compared to a HDD running smoothly.

 

[johnhoh]

Jimbo45, I've ran a check disk (took over a day to complete) and completly reformated the drive and installed a clean copy of 7 with no additional software and it still runs slow at times. I'm pretty sure it is a mechanical problem cause when its running sometimes it will sound weird and make some pretty loud noises compared to a HDD running smoothly.

Those noises should cause you to conclude that this is a hard drive issue. You might try CPUID to see what your hard drive temperature is. Sometimes a drive just goes bad, but sometimes we helped it.

 

[logicearth]

Well I've found a couple 60 and 64gb SSDs for around 150-175. Like I said, i dont need alot of space, just enough to install the o.s. and some other programs and a little room for school work. I have external drives for music multimedia etc. I just want to know if there is a benifit to an SSD vs. HDD, I dont do any gaming or anything, but I do some editing and rendering with Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier. Would one make a difference in these situations or would a 7200rpm HDD suffice?

I don't really know anything about Sony Vegas or Adobe Premier, I assume those two will be working with large files. But will they be writing lots of big and small files to the main drive? While a SSD drive will be fast a lot faster then any HDD, they come with a price. Lots of writing and erasing will kill an SSD. So you want to take that into consideration and the programs you use.

 

[Lomaaaz]

if u r using laptop u hould use the high performance power plan it might slow ur pc if u didnt but it wil eat ur battery so fast so use it when u plug it in ac
also u may want to use microsoft security essentials
its safe and very light
good luck
also try to delete temp folder
try to disable all uneeded startup programs
also defragment ur hard disk
from winkey+r rigth temp select all then delet
and also prefetch as tha same
but dont delet eady boot folder
open this folder after showing hidden files and system files
C:\Users\-ur user folder-\AppData\Local\Temp
dont worry nothing bad
n good luck