Windows 7 very slow start up and sluggish general performance

[jeffmo]

Hi all,

My Lenovo G570 (i5, 4GB ram) running on Windows 7 Home Premium had been running great up until last night...
It's now booting up really slowly and once it eventually has booted up it runs very slowly too (everything seems to be in slow motion i.e. if I click "computer" it opens up very slowly, almost like it's stuttering). I also can't play audio / video files (the files open but playback is broken / chopped up).
I've also noticed that one of my USB ports is no longer working (external hard drive lights up for a second when I plug it in, but then goes off and the drive is not recognised).
Browsing the net (Chrome) seems to be fine though, streaming audio and video is ok.

I've tried disabling all start up options when booting up, booting in Safe Mode with Networking, CHKDSK, virus scan, malewarebytes scan and a system restore to a few days ago but haven't had any joy.

I'm hoping someone on here might have a few suggestions for me to try.
Thanks!

 

[OldMX]

Check the s.m.a.r.t. attributes of the hard disk with crystak disk info, post screenshot, i bet it has damaged sectors and needs to be replaced.

 

[jeffmo]

Thanks very much for your response. I'll do as suggested and post a screenshot of the results a little later this evening.

Cheers.

 

[jeffmo]

Hi again...please see the attached screenshot. It doesn't mean much to me so any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[jeffmo]

Here's the data log info - encase that helps.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Good, the disk seems fine.

Can you have a look at resource monitor? (type "resource monitor" in the Start searchbox), then at the tab about CPU and the tab about RAM, is there a specific entry gobbling more than 50% of CPU or 3-400 mb of RAM?

Also, what did you do "last night" (just before that happened)? Did you download anything?

If you installed something you can revert back by doing a system restore.

 

[jeffmo]

Hi, thanks for your response and help.

CPU usage seems fine according to Resource Monitor.

Memory seems ok too (no individual applications using 300-400mb of RAM) although it does indicate that I'm using about half of my installed 4gb RAM - which does surprise me a bit (screenshot attached).

I hadn't downloaded anything before it started acting up - I had been streaming some sport and then closed the browser and shut the lid of the laptop, came back about an hour later and the one USB port wouldn't work, so I thought a restart would help, which is when I noticed the slow boot up speed and poor windows performance.

Thanks again.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Dunno, might have something to do with hibernation maybe? does your laptop hibernate when you close the lid and let it there for a while?

Try this tutorial to reset hibernation. Won't do any harm either way.

 

[jeffmo]

Yes, when I close the lid it hibernates, but it's never been an issue before. Thanks for the suggestion, will try it this evening.

 

[indianacarnie]

I'm assuming you've already ran your anti-virus and other security scans? (Malwarebytes etc.) Have you tried running a sfc/scannow to check for/repair any corrupted system files? We have many excellent tutorials here, like this one.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

As bobafetthotmail so succinctly put it, won't do any harm either way

 

[jeffmo]

Thanks very much - I'll give it a go this evening...

And yes, I ran Avast and Malwarebytes and both came up empty...

 

[jeffmo]

Ran a sfc/scannow - no irregularities found
Also reset hibernation, but no luck with that either...

The machine is still under warranty so I guess I'll have to take it back to the reseller - it's just that the idea of not having my laptop for what I assume will be a fair amount of time is not very appealing...

Thanks for your suggestions regardless...

 

[Tweakit]

jeffmo,
Exchanging the machine is certainly not a bad idea and I would probably go that route myself. Here is something to keep in mind if you feel like you need another project to soak up some more time. I have had a few cases where a hard drive will cause a system to bog down similar to what you are describing. In my cases the drive passed even the extended testing and no errors were found in the event viewer. I suspect the reason for this apparent conflict is that the testing programs are looking for defects on the platter and defects that otherwise result in errors. Some hard drive defects are due to the electronics in the drive and the result is that the drive simply becomes unavailable periodically but does not generate read or write errors. That can bog things down pretty seriously while still passing extended testing. In the most recent case, the drive was tested multiple times and always passes all tests. When all else failed I was still suspicious of the hard drive (why is a long story). I used windows 7 back up to create an image of the hard drive on an external drive. Then I installed an older but known good drive in the computer and restored the image to that drive. This solved the problem without losing any programs or functionality. Only the hard drive was changed. It may still be best to return the machine especially if it has a bad drive. I just wanted to point this out if only to complete the picture. Good luck!

 

[jeffmo]

Hi Tweakit - thanks so much for your response. It is a very strange issue indeed. I'm not quite sure that I trust myself enough with swapping hard drives in the machine as you've suggested - sounds like a good option, but I guess I should check what my warranty covers first.
I do appreciate your time though, so thanks again for the info you've provided.

Cheers.