Solved Laptop randomly freezes/lags, can't even finish full antivirus scans

[icerave]

Hello, I'm new on these forums and quite not a tech-savvy person, so I apologize if I sound confusing or the details are missing. I'm on my wits end regarding my 2-year old Lenovo laptop, which has started to get wonky yesterday. The worse thing is that I'm not sure what's the real problem at all I’ll try to detail everything as I remember it, so pardon for the word vomit.

It started when my laptop suddenly froze. I had a bunch of programs open back then (can't remember all of them, but there's Google Chrome with multiple tabs, writemonkey, foobar2000 and a couple of open folders). The cursor changed to 'busy' and for a few moments I let it be. When I noticed it had frozen completely, I tried to move the cursor and it started to lag. Alt-tabbing and ctrl-alt-del won't work, so I went for the power button.

I started it up again and chose to open Windows normally. Everything seemed okay until I realized that the usual startup programs didn't open (Aeria, OpenOffice, etc) and it was lagging. The mouse is working, if I mouse over files on my desktop they seemed to react, but after a while everything just....slows down. I tried opening programs, task manager, even shut down -- nothing. I looked at my laptop's LED lights and everything's all lit up. So power-button again.

This time I went for safe mode and tried to pinpoint the problem. I thought it could be malware so I tried running Malwarebytes. Lo and behold, it...froze. I tried to wait it out but it stayed stuck. I had the idea that maybe the file Malwarebytes was stuck on was the culprit, so I tried to delete it. Turns out I can’t delete the program on safe mode, but opening on normal mode just left me stuck on lag again. Then I remembered that the program was among the ones during normal startup, so I disabled it on safe mode, restarted, continued Windows on normal and finally deleted the thing (it was Evernote). The next time I booted up on normal everything was well. I thought I’ve finally nailed down the culprit.

Nope. Not yet. When I opened Google Chrome, I was greeted with yet another unrecoverable freeze/lag. Same problem on safe mode. I got Firefox and it seemed to be working well, so I thought this was Chrome’s problem. I really liked Chrome, so I uninstalled/reinstalled it, but the freeze/lag still occurred. So I deleted it for good. I ran Microsoft Security Essentials (quick scan) and Malwarebytes quick scan. Nothing turned up. Used Disk Defragmenter too. I thought the laptop’s okay now, but apparently not yet.

Because I just got another freezing episode after several hours of using it. Upon yet another hard reboot I thought of finally running a full scan. The thing is, after several tries, either Malwarebytes or MSE just won’t finish a scan. It will get stuck, and while the laptop will be responsive for a while (mouse moving, MSE tabs giving descriptions upon highlighting, clock still working, etc) it will eventually glitch and be unusable, and I have to resort to a power button shut down.

I’m not sure what’s the problem anymore. Overheating? Malware? Memory leaks? Help will truly be appreciated, I need this laptop working very badly. Thanks in advance.

 

[gregrocker]

Establish a Clean Boot, test your hardware, check the logs and System Resources, test System Files and the other Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

If this happens when using Chrome, try uninstalling it to use Firefox and IE10 which aren't pernicious spyware phoning your every move to advertisers. You can always reinstall it if you miss the company.

 

[icerave]

Thanks for the reply, will try these out. Apparently I can use the laptop just fine for several hours, but when I leave it idle for a while will be lagging badly by the time I return @@

EDIT:
So I used the Event Viewer, and I saw...quite a long list @@ Anyways, it seemed that overall, from 7/13 to 7/15, I have a lot of 7001, 7009, 10005 and 6000 (plus a lot more). There's also 12348. After some googling, seems like I'm having errors with the Volume Shadow Copy things and GPClient, though...I don't really understand what's going on @@

System Health Report also tells me that I'm having driver problems o__o Okay, I never knew about that one...

 

[gregrocker]

What are the driver problems? Have you run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates after enabling Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3). Try that now. Keep going back to Check for Updates until they are all installed.

I work through errors by googling their text and number to see how others have resolved them. Start with the most frequent. Post back the error text and number if you can't find enough on Google to resolve it yourself.

More important are the hardware tests, running SFC /SCANNOW Command to check System file integrity, and check for overheating which can cause this problem - all in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/220165-troubleshooting-steps-windows-7-a.html

 

[icerave]

Thanks for the replies again! So far the laptop's being cooperative after removing some of the extraneous startup programs. No sudden freezing, though I hope I'm not jinxing it. I still don't know what caused those lag spikes. Haven't tried running a full scan using MSE and Malwarebytes yet though.

@Browser: Using Firefox now. Imported bookmarks from Chrome and I think I'm going well.

@Drivers: It appeared that I had the WiFi adapter on disable. Enabled it and updated. There's three Bluetooth devices that I can't update though...maybe those were the devices I plugged in ages ago @__@ I rarely use Bluetooth.

@Event Viewer: Doing this now, wrangling with Event Viewer (I'm terribly noob with these things). It seems that my common problems for the last 7 days were:

• Event ID 3 Kernel-EventTracing: Session "Microsoft Security Client OOBE" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D
  I think I've seen a suggested solution for this, but I'm pretty ambivalent since it involves deleting something @@ (I'm kinda averse to tinkering around with files I know zilch of). Moreover, seems like this error's been happening behind my back for ages already.
• Event ID 7001 Service Control Manager
  Several programs/operations seem to be the causes of this. Client Virtualization Handler, HomeGroup Provider, etc., all with the same error: The dependency service or group failed to start.
• Event ID 7026 Service Control Manager: cdrom
  But...I don't have a cdrom? o__o Should I ignore this? Microsoft has offered a fix, but it involves registry fixes and, well...
• Event ID 10005 DistributedCOM
  Most common I've seen involves VSS, McAfee Site Advisor, ShellHWDetection, EventSystem and WSearch. Hasn't showed up so far today though.
• Event ID 6000 Winlogon
  Logs say 'GPClient'. Out of the possible causes, I'm thinking it's the inadequate resources since my laptop was working on overdrive for some strange reason. Tried Startup Repair and CCleaner said my registry's okay. Also, seems like it's yet to appear again today.
• Event ID 12348 VSS
  Okay, seems like this has reappeared once today (though records said it has been happening way, way back). Have to deal with this.

@SCANNOW: Did this, and it said everything's fine

 

[gregrocker]

None of those errors look more than routine. Make sure you have the latest MSE program as well as updates.

You should have nothing MucAfee on the system. It is the worst crapware we see here.

If it came with preinstalled Win7 then you have an inferior install and will only finally enjoy native Win7 perfect performance when you do a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. You are competent and capable enough to do this with us here to help you along the way. The payoff is a perfect install if you stick with the tools and methods given.

Until then you can Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

 

[icerave]

Thanks for the help, gregrocker! My MSE's updated, and I think I'll finally remove McAfee. I'll try cleaning up the bloatware first. I wish I could say that the issue's resolved since I've managed to use the laptop without any incident for a good length of time earlier, but sadly no

I booted my laptop around 4:00pm (GMT +8 time) and it started okay. Then I opened Firefox. I left the laptop idle for a while since I had to go somewhere else, thinking I won't be long. Ended up taking around 50 minutes lol. When I returned, it's lagging again. All LED lights lit up, mouse moving but everything extremely slow, etc. D:

Restarted twice because for some reason the first restart was buggy and the tell-tale 'all LED lights continuously on' (still managed to shut down without resorting to the power button though). Upon a good 2nd restart I looked up the logs in Event Viewer to see what went wrong. I hard rebooted the laptop around 4:50pm so I tried looking for error logs before that. Strangely enough there were no critical logs or errors, just a couple of warning logs (Event ID 100 CVHSVC) and long list of information logs. Since I was away I'm not even sure when the slowdown happened

 

[gregrocker]

I would do the Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 so you have a baseline perfect install which absolves the software, and then if the problem returns you'll know it's the hardware.

Otherwise after cleaning up the bloatware make sure you complete all of the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

 

[icerave]

Ugh, pardon for late reply. Laptop's been running nicely for several hours and wakes up from hibernation/sleep just fine. The thing is, seems that I really can't leave it idle since it freezes again (I've left it running patching a MMORPG update for close an hour and it was fine). I'm not sure if it's Firefox's problem (because as far as I can remember it only happens when I leave the laptop idle with Firefox on) or something else entirely. I checked the logs of when the slowdown was most likely occurred (1:00am-1:30am) and the logs started at 1:14 regarding...MPTelemetry. The only answer I've googled up so far is that MSE might be having conflicts with another antivirus. I don't have another antivirus, but there's...well, turned out I have another copy of SiteAdvisor lurking around /facepalm The only error of note is yet another 7011 from WerSvc.

As for a clean reinstall, I'd love to get one when my time/resources permits it @3@ So for the meantime I have to settle for cleaning up bloatware XD

PS. This might be slightly OT, but are there other services/programs like SiteAdvisor that's less insidious?

 

[gregrocker]

What do you need SiteAdvisor for? Stick with the tools and methods in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164 to get and keep a perfect install.

 

[Layback Bear]

Like Greg I recommend removing every thing McAfee. (EVERYTHING)
Using a computer with only 2 gigs of ram with Windows 7/64 leaves very little wiggle room for Windows 7 and a few programs to work.
Along with Greg's suggestion I suggest you take a good look at this.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1401-startup-programs-change.html

 

[icerave]

Ugh, I'm sorry for the super late reply, been busy lately. Thanks for the reply Layback Bear! I've disabled a lot of my startup programs, and yeah, it's godsend. *U*

So far I've pinned down Firefox as causing some of the lock-up/freezing/delayed reactions/what-have-you -- it only seems to happen if I leave it running idle for a while (so I've taken to closing it whenever I have to leave for a bit, or just go hibernate/sleep mode). I'm still looking for a reason why it happens though @_@
Interestingly, the latest freeze-up happened with foobar2000. If I'm not mistaken, I haven't opened it ever since the initial freeze last July 13 (it was open when it happened), and I tried opening it again today. Stuff froze, delayed reactions from everything, my sidebar began displaying the 'busy' cursor when I hovered on it, etc. My RAM/CPU usage remained in its usual range though. Or at least that's what it said. Anyways, made a hard reboot, tried to see in event viewer what went wrong and it said...erm, nothing. No errors at least. I tried opening foobar2000 again after another restart and it froze right after (the program didn't even start up; it just displayed the 'busy' cursor and nothing happened), so I pegged it as a culprit. Deleted it now (kinda regrettable since I liked foobar2000).

Still going to observe for a few more days if freezing still occurs in another context.

 

[gregrocker]

I would uninstall FooBar and replace with Windows Media Player or VLC open-source player if there is a codec or file type WMP will not play.

I'd also uninstall and reinstall Firefox latest version.

Update the Adobe Flash Player and Display driver.

Have you run all Important and Optional Windows Updates after enabling Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3)?

 

[icerave]

Thanks again gregrocker Yep, uninstalled foobar, back to using VLC and winamp (for music).

As for the Firefox, it says I'm updated, but I'll reinstall it just to be sure.

Haven't checked Adobe Flash Player and display driver, as well as latest updates. Will do just that *__*

 

[gregrocker]

Run the Updates after enabling Hardware updating first, to see if WIn7 has any drivers it prefers. If not find the latest display driver on the OEM's Support Downloads webpage, downloading and installing only the driver if possible to avoid the bloatware package.

 

[Jacee]

Let's see if FireFox has some adware .....

Download AdWareCleaner AdwCleaner Download
or from here Téléchargements - Outils de Xplode - AdwCleaner
to your desktop
1.Right-click on adwcleaner.exe and select Run As Administrator to launch the application.
2.Click on Delete button.
3.Confirm each time with OK.
4.Your computer will be rebooted automatically. A text file will open after the restart. Please post the content of that logfile in your reply.
Note: You can find the logfile at C:\AdwCleaner[Sn].txt as well - n is the order number.

 

[icerave]

Thanks for the tip, Jacee! The results are pasted below.

It seems that my drivers are updated, and my settings have always been to automatically download them. I did redownload the latest version of Flash though. Latest updates are also installed.

Also, managed to run a full MSE antivirus scan. Nothing came up. It's a relief since the last time I tried, the laptop would freeze up (both safe mode and normal mode). I dunno what happened during those times though.

And here's the AdwCleaner results:

# AdwCleaner v2.306 - Logfile created 07/27/2013 at 06:53:46
# Updated 19/07/2013 by Xplode
# Operating system : Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1 (64 bits)
# User : Lenovo S205 - LENOVOS205-PC
# Boot Mode : Normal
# Running from : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\Desktop\AdwCleaner.exe
# Option [Delete]


***** [Services] *****


***** [Files / Folders] *****

File Deleted : C:\windows\SysWOW64\conduitEngine.tmp
Folder Deleted : C:\Program Files (x86)\FreeRIP
Folder Deleted : C:\ProgramData\FreeRIP
Folder Deleted : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\Local\Conduit
Folder Deleted : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\Local\TempDir
Folder Deleted : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\LocalLow\Conduit
Folder Deleted : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\LocalLow\PriceGong
Folder Deleted : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\FreeRIP

***** [Registry] *****

Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\AppDataLow\Software\PriceGong
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Ask&Record
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Conduit
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{02478D38-C3F9-4EFB-9B51-7695ECA05670}
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88}
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{02478D38-C3F9-4EFB-9B51-7695ECA05670}
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88}
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\YahooPartnerToolbar
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Conduit.Engine
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Toolbar.CT1060933
Key Deleted : HKLM\Software\Conduit
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{02478D38-C3F9-4EFB-9B51-7695ECA05670}
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88}
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{02478D38-C3F9-4EFB-9B51-7695ECA05670}
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88}
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{02478D38-C3F9-4EFB-9B51-7695ECA05670}
Value Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar [{EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88}]

***** [Internet Browsers] *****

-\\ Internet Explorer v10.0.9200.16635

[OK] Registry is clean.

-\\ Mozilla Firefox v22.0 (en-US)

File : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\q12p7w84.default\prefs.js

[OK] File is clean.

-\\ Google Chrome v [Unable to get version]

File : C:\Users\Lenovo S205\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Preferences

[OK] File is clean.

*************************

AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [2813 octets] - [27/07/2013 06:53:46]

########## EOF - C:\AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [2873 octets] ##########

 

[Jacee]

Looks good! ... now download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.
Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

** this application is one to keep!
TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs).
TFC only cleans temp folders. TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail. TFC requires a reboot immediately after running. Be sure to save any unsaved work before running TFC.

 

[icerave]

Done, Jacee! Hopefully Firefox won't freeze up anymore, though tbh I won't take any chances and just close it when I go idle for long XD If it doesn't freeze for the next few days, then I'd mark this as thread as solved (so I take it that my problems stemmed from the clog of startup and memory-eating programs?)

 

[Jacee]

Glad that helped! Yes, Adware is a nuisance