HP Laptop even laggier after reformat

[samle977]

I recently did a reformat on my 1.5 yr laptop (windows 7 home premium 64 bit)
because it was acting a bit laggy and the videos I recorded using hypercam (a screen recorder) turned out very jumpy even though the images I was recording were not jumpy.
I was also getting error messages sometimes when I boot up that said "there is no drive/disk to boot from. insert disk and press any key"
I usually just pressed the power down button and restarted in the hopes that it would go to desktop which it sometimes did. (I noticed that these error messages came most often when I had an external hd plugged in)

so i used my recovery disks and did a system restore. but if anything the lag got worse. the error message at bootup still happens sometimes. it takes a lot longer to startup. and actions that used to be instantaneous like deleting small images now sometimes 3 seconds. when I type, the letters appear several seconds afterwards

do i have to install some video drivers or something? the windows update says it installed the Intel Corporation display Intel(r) HD graphics. I assumed those were the video drivers and that the rest of the drivers were installed when I used the recovery disks (but honestly I dont know. I don't know anything about computers)

are there are tests I could run to see if theres a hardware problem? I dont know which programs to scan computers for problems are real and which ones are actually spyware.
I ran an AVG scan but nothing showed up.
the weird thing is that there are moments when the laptop is fine. as in the typing is instanteous. other times its like the computer cant keep up with my typing speed (which has never been a problem)
my screen recording stuff with hypercam was fine for a day after reformatting and then the jumpiness of the recorded video came back after a day.

please help and sorry for the long post

edit: it might just be my mind playing tricks on me but my laptop seems even laggier after windows update installed service pack 1 (or it might have been one of the seven other updates they made me install) dunno

 

[svennd]

Sounds like a failing HDD. Check S.M.A.R.T. info (opensource tool, din't test : CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World)
and needless to say, keep backups.

Also Its possible that your external HDD is marked as "bootable" but in fact isn't. You could move boot from USB lower then boot from HDD in your bios to fix this. (Though this is no reason why windows itself would run slower)

 

[samle977]

I tried to start up my laptop this morning and the exact words of the error message were "no bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key"

also if I replace my harddrive, I assume I'll have to reinstall my OS right?
will my system recovery disks that I made when I first bought my laptop work? or do I have to buy a new copy of windows 7?

 

[seavixen32]

It does sound as though your hard drive may be about to fail and if you replace your hard drive you will need to reinstall Windows.

Your system recovery discs should work, but if you prefer installing Windows minus the computer manufacturer's bloatware, you can do so, as this tutorial explains.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

You won't need to buy another copy of Windows because your OEM product key on the COA sticker is your licence to use Windows.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
COA: Certificate of Authenticity

 

[samle977]

so what I would do is take the harddrive out, put the new one in and after pressing the power button, press f11.
it should be pretty easy from there right?

i read online some ppl have problems with the recovery discs and new harddrives...if I buy a new harddrive with the same settings/size I should be fine right? would I have to buy a hp brand drive or could be any brand with the same settings?

also I would like to make sure that its actually my harddrive thats the problem...I keep reading about S.M.A.R.T but I'm not sure how to go about using these S.M.A.R.T. programs or interpreting the results.

 

[seavixen32]

Before you go any further, check this article for advice on checking your hard drive.

Testing a computer hard drive for failures.

You also want to contact HP and see what they say. Who knows, they may even replace the drive for you.

 

[shmO]

It does sound as though your hard drive may be about to fail and if you replace your hard drive you will need to reinstall Windows.

Your system recovery discs should work, but if you prefer installing Windows minus the computer manufacturer's bloatware, you can do so, as this tutorial explains.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

You won't need to buy another copy of Windows because your OEM product key on the COA sticker is your licence to use Windows.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
COA: Certificate of Authenticity

Seavixen beat me to it ;] I was going to suggest that.

 

[gregrocker]

Test your HD with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan, followed by Disk Check run from the Win7 installer or Repair CD.

These disks and their use to repair Win7 are available and detailed in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.

In the future make sure to Clean Up Factory Bloatware to get better performance or Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 for best performance of all.

 

[samle977]

I ran a chdsk on my computer...after my computer restarted (after the scan) just told me my drive is NTFS and that the volume is clean. I'm not sure what that means...but it doesnt seem to say much about the state of my harddrive. and then it went to desktop. still very laggy

i've also notice that when my laptop starts up. the sequence is usually HP logo, multicolored flying windows logo then desktop. recently its been 3 minute hp logo, a black out, hp logo for a minute and then flying windows logo for a long time. dont know if thats relevant or points to how my harddrive is dying.

 

[gregrocker]

Go ahead and test your HD and RAM to get that out of the way.

 

[samle977]

...how do you test RAM?

I've also never had any problem with bloatware or lag in these 1.5 years...and I just reformatted my laptop so I dont see how bloatware could be the sole culprit. I just want to know if theres a tutorial for the computer illiterate for seeing if its actually the harddrive that needs to be replaced. I ran checkdisk already and it didnt really tell me anything

 

[gregrocker]

The HD and RAM tests are in the note at the beginning of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.

Those steps assure you have done everything possible to save the installation before deciding to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to get a perfect baseline reinstall we can help you troubleshoot if lagging persists: Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

 

[Dave76]

Sounds like a hardware issue, first find the hard drive manufacturer.

D/L Speccy , install and open it, the initial page will have the hard drive information.

Run the HDD manufactures testing app, example:

Then D/L and run Western Digital Lifeguard – Quick Test and Extended Test
D/L and run Western Digital Lifeguard – Quick Test and Extended Test

Then D/L and run Seagate SeaTools – Short Drive Self Test and Long Drive Self Test
D/L and run Seagate SeaTools – Short Drive Self Test and Long Drive Self Test

Post the information here.
For posting the information , enter 'Snipping tool' in the Start button > Search box, hit enter. Select the area you want to post and save to a convenient place.
How to Post a Screenshot in Seven Forums

 

[samle977]

hello sorry for bumping this thread again but I finally got the chance to run the RAM test last night...I ran 4 passes with memtest86+ but it said no errors. The second, third, and fourth test took like 50 minutes each while the first was like 25 minutes...if that matters.
is it possible that memtest86+ sometimes fails to pick up an error?

also I ran the speccy program and it says I have a toshiba harddrive...what would be the appropriate program or thing to do to run a test on toshiba harddrives? or can i use the tests from WD or seagate?

 

[gregrocker]

Toshiba refers you to Hitachi DFT which is the best test of all. I'd try that using the second DOS listing here, which should unzip to an ISO you can burn with Windows image burner to CD, boot to run extended test: Software Utilities

If that fails try SeaTools for DOS | Seagate.

Did you already check SMART by installing CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World? Just install, run it and post back a screenshot.

 

[samle977]

I tried running the hitachi dft but my harddrive didnt show up in the list of drives

I ran the CrystalDiskInfo thing and I got this

edit;hmmm i downloaded the zip file from the toshiba site you linked to up there but the file inside was a exe file not an iso...how should i go about running that particular test?

also i ran a chdsk a few days ago and told it to fix bad sectors...so I would have thought the reallocated disk count would be lower

 

[gregrocker]

The second download says its for bootable CD but when I run the .exe it runs in Windows. You can try it.

It would be better to run a bootable repair CD test which Toshiba doesn't list, except Hitachi. So you may need to run Seatools.

 

[samle977]

the exe file gave me an error message: the version of this file is not compatible with the version of windows you're in or something

I tried running the seatools but when I tried to boot from CD, all I got was a blank screen with some purple illegible scribbles near the top of the screen

 

[gregrocker]

The .iso download for Hitachi DFT is here: Downloads

This is what is prescribed for Toshiba HD's .

 

[samle977]

tried that an hour ago...it wouldnt detect my harddrive