computer suddenly running slowly, some inability to start, etc.

[ippolito]

I purchased my toshiba laptop about 2 years ago. I have never had any
problems with it, or with Windows XP, which came with my computer. I turn it
off after use, or put it into hibernation mode, never leaving it on for more
than a few hours for fear the fan will burn out. Recently I went to turn on
my laptop and it remained on the black windows startup screen for an
extremely long time (about 10 minutes). I restarted it several times with the
same thing happening repeatedly. I eventually got it to turn on in safe mode
so I could save some important files. I shut off my computer for a few days,
and when I tried again I was able to start up with seemingly no problems, it
just took a while. At the present time, my computer will start up after about
6 minutes or so, but it takes forever to start programs such as Word, or open
documents. When typing in Word, or typing a web address, the speed is
delayed. I type in: speed and by the time I reach the letter 'd', the screen
is just now displaying the letter 'p'. This is making things very difficult
for me as I am in college and need my computer on a daily basis for writing
papers, etc. Also, when I go to turn off my compouter, or put it into
hibernation mode, it takes several minutes, where just last month it did it
what seemed like less than a minute. I am running Norton Antivirus. It is up
to date. The most recent program installed on my computer was SealedMedia
Unsealer. I used to have LimeWire but I deleted the program when these
problems started to occur, but I hadn't downloaded anything using LimeWire
for months. As far as an internet connection goes, I am directly connected to
the modem (not using a wireless network). Does anyone have any potential
solutions for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Gerry]

Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it
is more informative.

How much RAM memory? How large is your drive and how much free space?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Try running HD Tune(freeware).

Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy
to Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Also do a full surface
scan with HD Tune.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ippolito wrote:
> I purchased my toshiba laptop about 2 years ago. I have never had any
> problems with it, or with Windows XP, which came with my computer. I
> turn it off after use, or put it into hibernation mode, never leaving
> it on for more than a few hours for fear the fan will burn out.
> Recently I went to turn on my laptop and it remained on the black
> windows startup screen for an extremely long time (about 10 minutes).
> I restarted it several times with the same thing happening
> repeatedly. I eventually got it to turn on in safe mode so I could
> save some important files. I shut off my computer for a few days, and
> when I tried again I was able to start up with seemingly no problems,
> it just took a while. At the present time, my computer will start up
> after about 6 minutes or so, but it takes forever to start programs
> such as Word, or open documents. When typing in Word, or typing a web
> address, the speed is delayed. I type in: speed and by the time I
> reach the letter 'd', the screen is just now displaying the letter
> 'p'. This is making things very difficult for me as I am in college
> and need my computer on a daily basis for writing papers, etc. Also,
> when I go to turn off my compouter, or put it into hibernation mode,
> it takes several minutes, where just last month it did it what seemed
> like less than a minute. I am running Norton Antivirus. It is up to
> date. The most recent program installed on my computer was
> SealedMedia Unsealer. I used to have LimeWire but I deleted the
> program when these problems started to occur, but I hadn't downloaded
> anything using LimeWire for months. As far as an internet connection
> goes, I am directly connected to the modem (not using a wireless
> network). Does anyone have any potential solutions for me? Any help
> would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Malke]

ippolito wrote:
> I purchased my toshiba laptop about 2 years ago. I have never had any
> problems with it, or with Windows XP, which came with my computer. I turn it
> off after use, or put it into hibernation mode, never leaving it on for more
> than a few hours for fear the fan will burn out. Recently I went to turn on
> my laptop and it remained on the black windows startup screen for an
> extremely long time (about 10 minutes). I restarted it several times with the
> same thing happening repeatedly. I eventually got it to turn on in safe mode
> so I could save some important files. I shut off my computer for a few days,
> and when I tried again I was able to start up with seemingly no problems, it
> just took a while. At the present time, my computer will start up after about
> 6 minutes or so, but it takes forever to start programs such as Word, or open
> documents. When typing in Word, or typing a web address, the speed is
> delayed. I type in: speed and by the time I reach the letter 'd', the screen
> is just now displaying the letter 'p'. This is making things very difficult
> for me as I am in college and need my computer on a daily basis for writing
> papers, etc. Also, when I go to turn off my compouter, or put it into
> hibernation mode, it takes several minutes, where just last month it did it
> what seemed like less than a minute. I am running Norton Antivirus. It is up
> to date. The most recent program installed on my computer was SealedMedia
> Unsealer. I used to have LimeWire but I deleted the program when these
> problems started to occur, but I hadn't downloaded anything using LimeWire
> for months. As far as an internet connection goes, I am directly connected to
> the modem (not using a wireless network). Does anyone have any potential
> solutions for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Because you were doing risky behavior with Limewire, etc. the first
thing to do is determine whether the computer is infected. Simply
running Norton is inadequate. Go through these general malware removal
steps systematically -

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If the computer is really clean - and you will not know this if you skip
the malware scans - then you may be having hardware issues. I would
start by running a hard drive diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr.'s website. You will create a bootable CD with the file you
download. You will need third-party burning software to do this such as
Roxio, Nero, or the free CDBurnerXP Pro.

http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Boot with the CD you made and do a thorough test of the drive. If it
fails any physical tests, replace it.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User