Whats dead or dying in my PC?

AlexTrickle

AlexTrickle

AlexTrickle

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30 Jul 2007
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996
Location
Surrey
So this PC on paper is not slow by any standard, its just over a year old and until recently has been working flawlessy.

However over the last month its just started to struggle and slow down with everything to the point that it will take over a minute to close my web browser (with only 1 tab) and will take almost 10 minutes to shut down. Loading even the smallest programs like web browser/notepad/word etc takes around a minute and I can audibly hear the PC struggling.

As for specs they're in my signature. The Hard Drive is no where near full 600/931GB free and I've run AVG to check for viruses/malware and nothing has come up.

Curiously it seems to be reasonably fine when first booting and for a while after a fresh boot, but as time goes on it gets slower and slower which to me sounds like a memory issue?

Any help would be appreciated!
 
Get UBCD on a memory stick or disc, test the memory with memtest86+ for at least two cycles and then test hard drive using the manufacturers testing tool (backup key data first). Lots of useful tools on UBCD, so it often saves wasting a disc on a single application if you don't have any rewritables, although putting it on a memory stick is easy (near the bottom of the page): http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/customize.html

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
 
Your spec is fine and shouldn't struggle with basic tasks. Most uninformed people just re-install their operating system when they reach this point. The time spent learning how to diagnose the problem is probably not worth it for you.

Back up your important data and re-install your OS; taking care this time of what you install. Take a peek at Windows Event Viewer once in a while too.

If you have the same problems with the new installation then you will have to bite the bullet and learn how to troubleshoot.
 
Speed said:
Get UBCD on a memory stick or disc, test the memory with memtest86+ for at least two cycles and then test hard drive using the manufacturers testing tool (backup key data first). Lots of useful tools on UBCD, so it often saves wasting a disc on a single application if you don't have any rewritables, although putting it on a memory stick is easy (near the bottom of the page): http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/customize.html

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
Click to expand...


Without sounding like a moron, I tried following the UBCD website and had no idea what it was going on about - any chance of simplifying it?

I've downloaded memtest86+ and will run that for two cycles and let you know the outcome!
 
yashiro said:
Your spec is fine and shouldn't struggle with basic tasks. Most uninformed people just re-install their operating system when they reach this point. The time spent learning how to diagnose the problem is probably not worth it for you.

Back up your important data and re-install your OS; taking care this time of what you install. Take a peek at Windows Event Viewer once in a while too.

If you have the same problems with the new installation then you will have to bite the bullet and learn how to troubleshoot.
Click to expand...

Haha a few years ago I was more informed but since this build I've just completely fallen off the PC scene really and forgotten nearly everything I knew! That said I never really had any problems with previous builds and so never had to do anything like this!
 
AlexTrickle said:
Without sounding like a moron, I tried following the UBCD website and had no idea what it was going on about - any chance of simplifying it?

I've downloaded memtest86+ and will run that for two cycles and let you know the outcome!
Click to expand...

Just use individual applications then, it isn't the most well designed or friendly website I'll grant you. You could try HD Tune for a Windows based hard drive tester: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

Install the trial, start the application, select your main drive in the drop down top left (might be already selected). Then click the Health tab and look for any warnings, if Health Status reads ok then it should be fine. Also do a error scan, look for any red blocks. This will take some time though.
 
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As above run some hardware tests but before that I would suggest running Malwarebytes. AVG won't pick up on everything virus/malware related.

Your problem sounds like either a hard drive or malware problem.
 
I completely forgot I had bought Windows 8 Pro upgrade CD a while back so I've used that now as an idiots test :) and I selected 'Keep Nothing' on the install. Just installing drivers etc at the moment. If the problem is sorted I'll post an update, but if it persists with a fresh install of Windows then I may get that SSD I've always fancied!
 
Just don't forget to do some hardware tests as well, you can always leave them running while you are away from the computer. :)
 
Well it seemed to be going so well now ive hit the weirdest thing ever.

Installed latest geforce drivers which asked to restart so i clicked yes to restart.

Now instead of getting anywhere my screen keeps flashing; not changing source or saying no signal just the backlighting flashing but no picture. Edit sometimes i can see my cursor when backlighting goes on but nothing else.

Its flashing in time with the backlighting of my (wired) Microfost Sidewinder keyboard.

Tried hard restarting several times same problem both times and cant even get to a windows screen now!
 
Further info to above problem: unplugged keyboard and backlighting no longer flashes on screen but still only shows cursor and no background/icons/anything just a cursor on a black screen.
 
What power supply do you have? Remove the secondary graphics card from the system and see if that helps.
 
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any ideas anyone?

after a couple more restarts windows 8 tried automatic repair and i got a gui and selected restore it then restarted and same problem again
 
You need to boot into safe mode and remove the nvidia drivers, I had this happen to me the other day on windows 8. Try following these instructions to boot into safe mode:

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-boot-into-windows-8-safe-mode/

Let us know how it goes! (Pro tip: hold shift just after the bios has finished and then hammer F8 till you get to the GUI, if it doesn't work then reboot and try again).
 
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