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xp home hard disk constant access slow performance

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by robert_uang

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Hi,

After starting up my laptop from hibernation one day, the CPU was running non-stop on "explorer.exe", so I did a hard shut down (hold the power button down for 5 seconds). When I booted the computer back up, the hard disk was constantly accessed - I can see the light blinking non-stop, and everything runs very slowly. It takes minutes to execute a command. This happens everytime now, and I have to use Knoppix to use my computer. Can anyone offer help?

Thanks,

Robert

9 replies

by older mycroft

That would account for the disk thrashing.

Perhaps you woke it up just as a scheduled defrag took place.

My Acer frequently has disk activity when first woken up, but settles down after a few minutes.

Check what is loading at boot-time. There must be a routine that is responsible for all this disk activity.

by notsochiguy

Try booting into Safe Mode, and try to do the following:

Check to make sure you have sufficient free space on the hard drive (at least 15% free space)
Run a defrag on the hard drive
Check the Registry, and see if there is any malware listed under RUN (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run)

Those are just some initial things I'd check. I'm sure others will offer you some more.

Good luck!

by robert_uang

Thank you both for your replies and suggestions. I've managed to re-boot in windows safe mode, where I don't have any problem with the hard disk. I will try a defrag soon, but first I wanted to ask how do you know which of the files are malware under the registry location that Saigman pointed me to? Also, how do I check what is being loaded at start up as suggested by Old Mycroft?

by ozi eagle

Hi,

At times these symptoms can also indicate that the hard drive is failing.

Back up all your data ASAP then run disk manufacturer's utility program on the HDD. Maxtor has a good one that does test several different brands.

Herb.

by robert_uang

I ran the HDD test accessed through the main computer menu (by pressing F10 right before windows loads), and it said that everything was fine. It's also fine when I run in safe mode, so I think the hard drive is ok, although I really don't know very much about failing hard drives.

Another piece of information is the hard disk gets accessed even while (normal) windows is loading up so it takes 5-10 minutes before I even get to the welcome screen. I tried a system restore to a week before this started happening, but it made no difference. I tried defragmenting the drive, and that made no impact as well.

Anymore advice or tips would be welcome. Thanks for your comments so far.

by robert_uang

Hi all,

Just wanted to give you all an update on my situation. It turns out that ozi Eagle was correct in diagnosing the failed hard disk. My IT person looked up the error messages and found that most of them said something about a bad block. So I re-formatted the drive, and sure enough everytime it got to one particular section of the hard disk, the computer practically stalled for minutes. It took him a couple of hours of re-booting and shutting down Norton Anti Virus (a nasty program btw) and trying to open up some other applications. After re-formatting and installing XP, the computer worked ok, except at start up, and if it had to check the failed portion of the hard disk. A new hard disk only costs less than $100, so I got it replaced, and now the computer works like new.

Robert

by nikosaki_subs

In Vista there is reliability and performance monitor, which shows very accuratly hdd usage. Unfortunately XP does not have such easy to use tool. You can use HDD Light, which place very nice icon in the task bar and shows all disk activities.

by nikosaki_subs

In Vista there is reliability and performance monitor, which shows very accuratly hdd usage. Unfortunately XP does not have such easy to use tool. You can use HDD Light, which place very nice icon in the task bar and shows all disk activities.

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