Laptop Update

This is worse than I thought.

  • CHKDSK – OK
  • Virus Scan – OK

Still, the computer acts like it’s got problems reading the hard drive. In fact, it timed out on a system restore and popped an error message that leads me to believe there is some sort of hard drive problem.

I’m currently defragging, with the thought that this moves and rewrites disk blocks. Maybe it will uncover the problem.

At some point soon, I’ll backup whatever will copy off the machine, reformat and reinstall Windows. I hope it doens’t get to that.

5 thoughts on “Laptop Update”

  1. Geoff,

    If its a Dell, run the diagnostics built in or use the diagnostic CD that came with it. You can even download them and create floppies. One of the tests is for the hard drive. That would give you a better indication of where the problem is. Is the laptop still under warranty?

  2. Most hard disc manufacturers have a free download that will run diagnostic tests on the hard drive. If you are unsure of the HD manufacturer, Belarc (http://www.belarc.com/) has an excellent, free, utility that identifies all of the PC hardware (and a lot more).

    I assume you have already ran msconfig, to see if that all progies that automatically start up are needed. CTR-Alt-Del will show the CPU usage for all processes; another possible clue to the slow down.

    Good luck

  3. Most hard disc manufacturers have a free download that will run diagnostic tests on the hard drive. If you are unsure of the HD manufacturer, Belarc (http://www.belarc.com/) has an excellent, free, utility that identifies all of the PC hardware (and a lot more).

    I assume you have already ran msconfig, to see if that all progies that automatically start up are needed. CTR-Alt-Del will show the CPU usage for all processes; another possible clue to the slow down.

    Good luck

  4. I was contemplating SpinRite. Luckily, I was able to fetch most of what we wanted off the drive. However, the drive is failing and SpinRite can’t overcome what seems to be a physical problem.

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