Tweaking.com Support Forums
Main Forum => General Computer Support => Topic started by: Nomad on March 19, 2015, 06:29:50 am
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Hi everybody!
My notebook works on a Vista Home Premium 32 bit OS.
About once a fortnight it gets in a stalling condition, since long ago: clock freezes, cursor doesn't move, HD light doesn't blink; if this condition starts when sound was beeing produced, sound freezes too (it keeps a continuous sound on); this situation can not be modified by keyboard neither by mouse, even doing Ctrl+Alt+Del. The only signal of life remaining is fan revving.
All I'm left to do is energy button pressing for a few seconds to switch off and restart.
What's the cause of this and what can be done to prevent it from happening?
Thanks
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The system is locking, hard. Sometimes locks like that can happen if the temp of the cpu gets to high or if the laptop gets really hot. Does that seem to be the case when it happens?
Otherwise it can also be bad memory or bad sectors on the hard drive, normally it is hardware related. Both of those can be tested :-)
Shane
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Shane
Thank you for the answer.
I have temperatures monitored permanently: GPU, HDs, MB and CPU. Usually, GPU is the higher one, 48 ou 49 C, close to the MB, then the HDs (they are two, 42 and 30 C), and the CPU is the lower one (32 to 54C, varying constantly), in an environment of 18C.
It seems to me this is not a temperature issue, because when it happens, the showed temperatures, although frozen as the rest, are not any higher than ever before.
As to memory and HD, I have the sidebar activated, and one of the gadgets there, is the CPU/RAM meter, and at the moment the freezing happens, they show quite normal too; yesterday RAM showed about 65%. About the HD I'm not so sure, CHKDSK do not indicate trouble, but in the past, things happened which I didn't understand, like analizes by Advanced SystemCare (from Iobit) saying there were problems, then I used to run CHKDSK and it seemed there was nothing wrong. Please tell how can I test both RAM and HD.
Nomad
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You can run Windows own memory test by going Start - type memory then click on Windows Memory Diagnostic but if you have more than one RAM module fitted, as a quick test try running on just each one at a time to see if you get the freeze.
I find HD Sentinel a good program for testing the HDD has it gives you a status report. http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php
It's a paid for program but you can use it up to 30 days on a free trial.
After I use it just for the S.M.A.R.T. report, I uninstall it then just reinstall it from my Downloads folder as and when and that way you can continue to use it.
42ºC could be a bit high for a HDD so that one could be suspect for me.
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I would run a memory test and also do a chkdsk c: /r on the drive to have it check for bad sectors and then go from there :wink:
Shane
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Thank you Boggin and Shane for your replies
Till now I used Boggin's hints: Windows memory test concluded OK.
HD Sentinel (4.60 PRO, Trial version) stated in overview:Performance: 100% Excellent; Health: 100% Excellent "The hard disk status is PERFECT. Problematic or weak sectors were not found and there are no spin up or data transfer errors. No actions needed."
This version of HD Sentinel does not the Extended Self-test, I ran just the Short Self-test which took 2 minutes and was Successfully Completed, although I noticed it slowed down on some parts of the disk; I didn't run other tests because they were not guaranted to be not destructive.
As soon as I can I'll do a chkdsk c: /r.
Nomad
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Hi,
You just go to Bios and there will be self test to perform. One is simple boot and another configurations test. You select it and run. It will test the hard ware configuation and if it passes 100%, then the close the system and reboot. Your problem would be fixed. Laptop has self test features by the manufacturers and it restores the system to stability.
If self test is not succeeded, then you have to go to the manufac web site to recovery processes.
if you press delete or press f2, you get bios settings. The freezing is due to corrupt mbr. If that is the case, you have to get the command prompt from cd dvd installation disc and there you have to select command prompt and execute the command fixmbr to fix mbr and your problem would be solved
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Have you managed to run the chkdsk /r and has it brought any improvement, but as the freezes are intermittent you may have to run it for a while.
You can view the chkdsk report in Event Viewer.
To do this go Start - type eventvwr and press enter.
When it has read the logs, expand Windows Logs - click on Application - Find then type chkdsk or wininit into the Find box and press enter.
Cancel the Find box and view the report in the scrollable window - it will be any KBs in bad sectors that you are looking for but as the freezes are so far apart, I don't think it will be bad sectors and because of that I would also discount overheating unless you are placing more demand on the machine at these time periods.
You may be able to view the temps in the BIOS but HWMonitor will also give you this info if the BIOS doesn't have them. http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/hwmonitor.html
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Hi again
Ran chkdsk C: /r. It didn't come to an end, stopped saying "50 percentage concluded (23799245 from 54036967 free clusters processed)".
I had to press power button to restart. What's the meaning of this?
Jraju, I don't get what test you are telling me about; going to BIOS I found tests for HDs and Memory, didn't find boot or configuration test, what hardware configuration test do you mean?
This freezing issue does not happen at booting.
And there is not any cd/dvd instalation disc, the notebook has a recovery partition.
More hints, please?
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That doesn't sound very healthy.
Can you boot up into the Advanced Boot options - usually by tapping F8 as you switch on - select Repair your Computer (I assume Vista also has this option) - navigate to the Recovery Environment and select Command Prompt.
At the prompt enter bcdedit |find "osdevice"
Using whichever partition letter it gives, enter (assuming c) chkdsk c:
This is a read only mode and hopefully it will show if there is any file corruption, but more importantly if there are any bad sectors.
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While that error could indicate a failing HDD, that would seem to contradict what HD Sentinel had reported, so did a Google on that and one solution that got the chkdsk /r to complete, was to wipe the free space.
You can do this with the free version of CCleaner in its Advanced options by checking Wipe Space on the default page. https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
It will take a while to complete but try the chkdsk /r again after.
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Boggin
I did as you said: wiped C: drive free space with CCleaner (3 passes) and ran chkdsk C: /r after, and it stopped again, this time "49 percentage concluded (23982004 from 55624671 free clusters processed), so I restarted using power button again.
Then I ran chkdsk C: in read only mode and it finished saying (maybe the most important part?):
"Windows checked the file system and did not find any problem.
303483883 KB disk total space.
86142592 KB in 166210 files.
86564 KB in 30195 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
324275 KB being used by the system.
65536 KB ocupied by registry file.
216930452 KB available in disk."
What now??
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Don't know - never come across this problem before.
It's a bit late here in the UK for me to do some more digging, but you could Google the problem to see if any other solutions pop up.
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How long did you let chkdsk go before restarting the system?
A lot of times it will appear to be stuck at a cluster for a very long time if that cluster is bad.
But yet it shows 0 bad sectors and finally finished the scan, but not till you had to restart it a few times.
That means that if the hard drive is getting hot or is dropping out then it would lock or freeze the system because everything is running off of it. So if the drive just cut out during the chkdsk then the chkdsk would simply freeze up because it would never stop trying to access the data.
Right now it does sound like your freezing problems are your hard drive dropping out :wink:
Shane
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Shane
Both times I tried the CHKDSK /r, it went for about 1 and a half hours (it´s a 320 GB drive), before the drive light blinked no more; I still waited some minutes, hoping some activity sign but there was none.
I'm not getting what you are telling:
1) Shouldn't I have shut the computer because it might be just apparently "dead"?
2) If so and in case of beeing stuck at a bad cluster, would it "ask" me to restart?
3) So, when it gets to a (very) bad cluster it drops out and the freezing happens. Does this mean that CHKDSK /r has not enough "healing" power to correct that cluster?
4) What's the meaning of "drive dropping out" (sorry, english is not my native language)?
Thank you for your patience.
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What it sounds like is that the hard drive is bad.
When I say dropped out I mean that it stop responding. Which would explain the freezes, the hard drive light stops blinking and why the chkdsk was never finishing.
In other words it is time for a new hard drive :wink:
Shane
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Hi Shane
Thank you again for your hint.
Let me report a couple of things:
1) I ran today a chkdsk D: /r (the data HD of this same notebook); it stopped too, at "37 percentage concluded. (14345466 from 47729176 free clusters processed)".
2) I have this machine for almost 6 years and I ran chkdsk C: /(r or f) several times before (and at least once chkdsk D: /r or f). As I can recall, for C: it concluded just once (may be at the third attempt, or more), but for D: it didn't ever concluded.
3) About once a month I run "Disk Doctor" from Iobit's Advanced SystemCare; most times it says there are problems for C:, but the last time, about 2 weeks ago, it said there were no problems found; for D: it always said there were no problems.
Can you give me a comment about this?
And finally, in case I must find a new hard drive, what specifications do I have to consider, as, I think, I will not find exactly the same make/model?
Nomad
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You could Google for HDD replacement for your make & model of computer and even if the model is discontinued, there will be one to fit even if you have to contact the computer vendor's parts dept.
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Is the D: drive on the same hard drive though? In other words the current hard drive is simply partitioned into two, so you get drive C: and D:. Most laptops only have 1 hard drive so that is most likely it, and so you see the same problem with D: using chkdsk.
So yes a new drive is in order.
Your drive should be a standard laptop sata hard drive. Unless it is really old and it is the old school IDE drives.
If it is the sata then any new sata laptop drive will do the job, but if you want to make the system 10 times faster, spend a little extra and get a SSD drive.
The samsung Pro 550 comes with a crazy 10 year warranty.
The hard drive is the bottleneck of performance on a system, so when you boot up and such you are waiting on the hard drive. A SSD is so much faster than a normal drive that your system will feel worlds faster. It will be, with anything hard drive related. The CPU and memory are still the same of course :-)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147360
Shane
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Thanks Boggin and Shane
My notebook has 2 hard drives, one with 2 partitions (C:, OS and software, and E:, a recovery partition) and the other drive (D:) is single-partitioned, for data; both have the same capacity (320 GB each).
Yes, they are both SATA/300 (Toshiba MK3252GSX).
I like your advice about the SSD, except for... the price.
Anyway, as this present situation seems constant for the last 6 years, may be it will last another 6 years, and then, if I will have to replace the HDs, prices of SSDs will be much lower :smiley:.
But yet, what do you think: the dropping out happens when bad clusters are starting to be read, or the real cause can be of different nature?
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If it is happening to both drives then it could be more motherboard related, such as the sata ports dropping out or not responding.
At the same time it could be a bios problem as well, have you checked to see if there is any bios updates for the system?
Shane
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I've done that in the past, I'm not sure the date, may be 2011, I downloaded and executed an update released in 2010.
I just checked again, and oddly, every available versions now are older than the one I installed (one from 2007 and others from 2008).
I can't tell if this freezing thing began after the BIOS update.
Could it be the update I installed is no longer available because it gave trouble?
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It's unusual to find a BIOS update being withdrawn - at least I've never come across it.
What you could do is to reset the BIOS - you may need to look that up via Google for how to do that on your make & model, see how that goes and update to the latest version if all still okay.
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What is the exact model of the laptop so I can go look at its support page of downloads. And what version bios do you have installed right now?
Shane
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It's a HP Pavilion dv9890 EP.
BIOS: F.5A
Thanks
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OK you said the bios is F.5A The page shows F.58a
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/previousVersions?softwareitem=ob-62510-1&product=3717537&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=2100&productOid=3717536&sw_lang=
Can you double check if yours is F.5 or F.58
If it is only F.5 I would go ahead and do the F.58A updated, it should be newer AND there is no F.5A listed for it, so if it was a bios meant for a different model it could explain why you have this problem.
So do the F.58A and let me know how it goes. :wink:
Shane
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Hi again
I have been thinking about this and done nothing yet because:
1) There's no doubt my BIOS is F.5A;
2) As you say it isn't listed anymore; maybe, at the time I updated it, I have missed the correct reference of my computer, as Boggin said it's unusual a
BIOS update beeing withdrawn. A few times after that update, I got to the HP support site to look for updates and it was there, though.
Unless, again, I was using an incorrect computer reference, this beeing a bit hard for me to concede now.
3) In case F.5A is meant for a different model, wouldn't it just not allow the computer to boot? Or showing incompatibilities whatever?
4) F.5A is newer than F.58 A (it was released in 22 March 2010). In case I do the F.58 A update (July 2008), what can I do if something goes wrong?
5) Is there a way to find out which was the original BIOS version of this computer?
I feel I need to see clearly in all this so I can act having no afraid of the next scenario.
Thanks Shane
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Resetting the BIOS to Default would be one way of finding the original version but from what I can find on that, it seems you would have to remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes.
It's possible there could be different BIOS versions for locale, but can you give us a link where you found the F.5A version.
On the site that Shane had linked there is an auto detect for out of date drivers http://support.hp.com/gb-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv9800-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/3675209/model/3717536/drivers?lang=en&cc=uk but your computer also has a built in facility for BIOS recovery which will update you to the latest version http://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c02693833
Always have a fully charged battery installed and connect the AC when dealing with any BIOS changes as a loss of power during the operation will brick your laptop.
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Shane has a point, how old is your hard drive?
Have you made an image of your hard drive, I would do this before anything else at this point. make an image offline, perhaps Shane or one of the guys can describe how to do.
that is your first priority, then look at a new hard drive and download X-copy and copy your old system to the new hard drive.
** X-copy is a free program with boot options for home users.
what type of computer do you have?
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There is 2 possible ways why you have a different bios version than what is listed.
1. The bios was for another model that had a motherboard very similar to yours and so the bios works on both. But if it was the wrong bios for the motherboard it would explain both drives just dropping out manually as that would be the sata ports on the motherboard.
If that is the case then installing the F.58A should be fine. (No promises though since I havent seen the machine)
2. The motherboard had been replaced, say a while back you had it fixed and they replaced the board with a newer model or one that was from another model laptop. If that happened and you dont have the motherboard as they have it listed on their site, then you bios build would be different, in that case you do NOT want to do the F.58A update.
Have you ever had the motherboard replaced? Did you by the laptop new or was it used?
Shane
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Boggin, I used to look for software in http://support.hp.com/pt-pt/product/HP-Pavilion-dv9800-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/3675209/model/3717536/drivers?cc=pt&lang=pt (http://support.hp.com/pt-pt/product/HP-Pavilion-dv9800-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/3675209/model/3717536/drivers?cc=pt&lang=pt), the HP support site for Portugal, although, as I said, I might have been looking for an incorrect model reference.
The information you posted about the built in facility for BIOS recovery seems very promising, though I have 3 questions: 1) Is it certain my computer has it? 2) Is the HP TOOLS partition the recovery partition? 3) If my computer doesn't have that facility, will the current or any BIOS version still be there to boot normally after the procedure (Windows key+B key+Power button)?
Rick, for now let consider the perspective of a BIOS defective case.
Shane, I bought it new, and since I have it, the motherboard was never replaced, so I must admit it is the original one, it's a QUANTA 30CB 79.2E (from system informations).
It is not mentioned in the specifications I looked for http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01422158 (http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01422158), so I can't tell it is the one that should be. Oddly these specs mention the microprocessor as "2.40 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T8300", where the system informations on my notebook say it is "2.5 GHz Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300". So there is a little thing different here.
Can you help here?
Nomad
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I think the only way to find out would be to follow the tutorial, but clicking on this link which is near the bottom of the article http://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c01443485 gives you an extra bit to follow.
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Oddly these specs mention the microprocessor as "2.40 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T8300", where the system informations on my notebook say it is "2.5 GHz Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300". So there is a little thing different here.
That is odd. The thing about the bios is that it shouldnt let you upgrade it if it wont work on the board. At least most boards have that check and I do believe all the OEM ones do as well.
A lot of times the bios update tool will show you your current bios version and what the new one will be and if it will allow it, so it wont hurt to at least get that far and see what it says. It is possible the reason why you cant find that version bios any more is it could have been a beta build they didnt mean to put online.
Shane
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Oddly these specs mention the microprocessor as "2.40 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T8300", where the system informations on my notebook say it is "2.5 GHz Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300". So there is a little thing different here.
That is odd. The thing about the bios is that it shouldnt let you upgrade it if it wont work on the board. At least most boards have that check and I do believe all the OEM ones do as well.
A lot of times the bios update tool will show you your current bios version and what the new one will be and if it will allow it, so it wont hurt to at least get that far and see what it says. It is possible the reason why you cant find that version bios any more is it could have been a beta build they didnt mean to put online.
Shane
is the motherboard 6 years old? hint hint
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Well,
I tried to recover the previous BIOS version (Windows key + B key + power button) a few times, but didn't work, the result was always a blank screen and beeping sounds for more than a minute, so either my computer does not have that BIOS restore tool, or there's some trouble.
Then I downloaded the F.58 A version and installed it. A wizard came telling I was replacing F.5A with F.58 - 16/Oct/2008, when F.58 A's date is 8/Jul/2008. I agreed because it is told that F.58 A is a revised version, so, I think, it's related to F.58.
Operation ended, system informations say BIOS version is F.58.
Next I commanded a CHKDSK C: /r; didn't come to end, stalled about the same point as previous tries (52% concluded).
Then CHKDSK D: /r; didn't come to end either (33 % concluded, about the same point as previous tries).
Seems there was no issue with F.5A.
Back to disk, I have a disk image by Macrium Reflect. However It seems it could only be restored in a drive with, at least, equal capacity, I mean, it could not be smaller than the original.
But could it be a SSD?
Nomad
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Just to correct in previous post F.58 - 16/Oct/2008, it is F.58 -16/June/2008.
Nomad
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Back to disk, I have a disk image by Macrium Reflect. However It seems it could only be restored in a drive with, at least, equal capacity, I mean, it could not be smaller than the original.
But could it be a SSD?
Nomad
Hi Nomad,
I use Macrium Reflect (Free version), and I have successfully restored an image of a larger drive (250GB) to a smaller one (80GB), It'll work as long as the amount of data is less than the smaller HDD's capacity and leave at least 25% headroom too. Just drag the image to the smaller HDD.
http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/How_to/Restore/Restore_Partitions_with_Resize_and_Reorder.htm
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Hi Samson
The image I have was made in an old Macrium version (4.2 3775) and to boot for restoring I recorded a Linux CD.
Which is your version?
Nomad
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Hi Samson
The image I have was made in an old Macrium version (4.2 3775) and to boot for restoring I recorded a Linux CD.
Which is your version?
Nomad
V 5.3.7297 But I have used previous versions of 5 as described above, also I use Win PE rescue CD.
I don't think that the type of rescue CD (Linux or Win PE) would make any difference. But I don't know about V4.
To be sure just get a drive the same capacity or bigger, you'll probably need the space at sometime anyway.
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I was kind of hoping it was the bios lol
Ok so normally I would say it is the hard drive that needs replaced. But when you said that a 2nd drive in the system does the same thing, and it was a 2nd drive and not a 2nd partition.
Because of that it makes me think it is the motherboard that is dropping the sata ports.
So now we just need to find out once and for all which it is, and we can do that by doing a simple test, if you are able to.
2 ways we can do this,
1. Take both drives out of the laptop and hook them into a tower or another system and run the chkdsk on them there.
If they fail out at the same point then we know it is bad drives (Since we are connected to a different mother board).
If chkdsk works just fine and doesnt drop out then we know the drives are good and the problem is the motherboard in the laptop.
2. If you dont have another system to hook the drives to then if you have a 3rd and different hard drive you can remove the 2nd drive in the system and put in the 3rd drive and do a chkdsk to it. But of course you need to be sure the 3rd drive is good.
The first test would be best to do if you have another system you can use. :wink:
Shane
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I was kind of hoping it was the bios lol
Ok so normally I would say it is the hard drive that needs replaced. But when you said that a 2nd drive in the system does the same thing, and it was a 2nd drive and not a 2nd partition.
Because of that it makes me think it is the motherboard that is dropping the sata ports.
So now we just need to find out once and for all which it is, and we can do that by doing a simple test, if you are able to.
2 ways we can do this,
1. Take both drives out of the laptop and hook them into a tower or another system and run the chkdsk on them there.
If they fail out at the same point then we know it is bad drives (Since we are connected to a different mother board).
If chkdsk works just fine and doesnt drop out then we know the drives are good and the problem is the motherboard in the laptop.
2. If you dont have another system to hook the drives to then if you have a 3rd and different hard drive you can remove the 2nd drive in the system and put in the 3rd drive and do a chkdsk to it. But of course you need to be sure the 3rd drive is good.
The first test would be best to do if you have another system you can use. :wink:
Shane
Motherboard 6 years old?
maybe need a new processor and FAN!
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Hi Shane
I could use another laptop with Windows XP O. S., which has USB ports, for test 1 as you hint, if it will do.
As I never took off a hard disk from a computer, please tell me how the connection can be made and what care should be taken in the whole operation.
Thanks
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Not going to be easy to do with another laptop.
The laptop drives are a sata connection from what you said. So normally I would take the drive out and plug it into a spare sata port in a tower, and hooke the power end to it as well and then boot into the tower like normal, with the drive being a secondary drive. Then run chkdsk on it and see how it does.
The trick is to have the system be a secondary drive because you cant put it into another laptop and have it be the main drive as the windows install has drivers for the other motherboard and the system will just blue screen.
Does the other laptop have a 2nd drive bay like your current laptop? most laptops only have 1 slot for a hard drive, the older models did have 2 on some models.
Shane
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Shane
I was not getting it. It seems to me that the laptop I mentioned is IDE, single drive, so, no way.
But, tell me, couldn't I try to take the D: hard drive off my HP and connect it to an USB port of the other laptop and do a CHKDSK? Would it work with an adapter?
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If you have a sata to usb adapter then yes that will work. I have one myself that is for laptop drives only and it works well. I got it off of newegg.com :-)
Shane
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Hi Shane
Last Friday the notebook went through a BSOD; after that somethings changed, like the desktop backgound image and the shortcuts in the desktop. I used the Macrium image I mentioned to recover. It took me a lot of time to update.
If you have a sata to usb adapter then yes that will work. I have one myself that is for laptop drives only and it works well. I got it off of newegg.com :-)
Shane
I have not such adapter but I'll look for one.
I suppose it would not work with the disk that has the C: partition, right?
Nomad
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- Download Piriform's SPECCY.
- Change the language to english
- Select "File", "Publish Snapshot" & add the weblink that shows up to your next post in this thread. Then we can see what the specifications are of your system. That would help A LOT.
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Hi Willy2
Here it is http://speccy.piriform.com/results/vvHBkw4LOfrarv203z1MiOa (http://speccy.piriform.com/results/vvHBkw4LOfrarv203z1MiOa).
Hope you can tell something.
Thanks
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- Get rid of "SmartDefrag", "Driver Booster". Nothing but "snake oil" IMO. Instead use the build-in Windows Defragmentation program and set it to automatically optimize every week or month. It works "hand in glove" with Windows itself.
- Use Piriform's Ccleaner to disable (NOT remove (yet) !!!) a number of tasks in Task Scheduler. Do you REALLY need those programs ?
-The "freezing" occurs every 14 days. Was/is "SmartDefrag" set to run every 2 weeks ? That could explain the freezing.
- Install PcWinTech's (a.k.a. Shane's) Cleanmem. It reduces memory usage every 15 minutes. Much better than many other "optimizers".
- Run "GSmartcontrol" (http://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.net/home/index.php/) and make a screenshot of the "Attributes" tab and post it here. Are there any red(ish) lines in the picture ? That would point to problems with your harddisk(s).
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@Nomad: Install Tweaking's Registry Backup. It makes a backup of the registry upon startup. If you get more BSODs then you can try to restore the registry to a previous point with this program.
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Hi Willy2
"SmartDefrag" is not scheduled at all, I only use it once a month and put it to run manually instead of buil-in Windows program because it seems to me it's much faster. Freezing never happened when it was running.
"Driver Booster" is not set to start with Windows; I rarely run it.
As I said before, memory wasn't showing full or near it every time freezing happened, normally is shows a 45-65% rate. Sometimes I saw it at 100% or close, but freezing didn't occur then.
All the optimizers I have ("Advanced SystemCare" package, CCleaner) run once a month normally and manually.
I downloaded "Gsmartcontrol", called it to run, then a BSOD happened, twice! Didn't try again.
I was looking for a SATA to USB adapter, didn't find yet.
I suppose it would not work with the disk that has the C: partition, right?
Would it work for a CHKDSK /r to C:?
Thanks again
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- SmartDefrag & Driver Booster DO run upon startup. See your SPECCY snapshot under Task Scheduler (TS). Some programs, when run (manually), add things to TS & the startup procedure. And those things aren't removed when those programs close.
- Do you REALLY need to run ALL those programs (See TS) ? Clean out TS.
- You've got 2 anti spyware progams running. Advanced System Care & Spybot Search & Destroy. Remove Advanced System Care. I personally HATE all that IObit stuff.
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If you've allowed ASC to indiscriminately clean the registry, use its Recovery option and you should be presented with a number of dates when you did run its "tune up".
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If you've allowed ASC to indiscriminately clean the registry, use its Recovery option and you should be presented with a number of dates when you did run its "tune up".
50 replies?
its time to do a repair install!
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Thank you Willy2 for the information.
I disabled "ASC", "SmartDefrag" and "Driver Booster" in "CCleaner".
If you've allowed ASC to indiscriminately clean the registry, use its Recovery option and you should be presented with a number of dates when you did run its "tune up".
Yes, I used to do that once a month, but now, as I recovered with a Macrium image, I have only the last ASC recovery session which is from April the 4th, and since then no freezing happened, so I would not do it.
This morning I had an endless "waiting moment", with the wait circle spinning around, not leting me to open some programs, like the calculator; this used to be very common too (maybe every 3 days), memory usage rate was normal, CPU usage was low; in such case I use to call task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del), try to end some processes, but it never works because task manager does not ever responds.
50 replies?
its time to do a repair install!
How would it be done, just in case?
Please tell me whether is possible to run a CHKDSK of my system disk in another laptop with a SATA to USB adapter.
Thanks
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Well the download fall is you will need a vista install disk that SP2 already on it, if you have one then you just follow this guide here :wink:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html
Shane
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Just going back through the thread - you could perform a chkdsk /r to see what that reports.
I think you would view its report in Vista as you would in Win 7 and this is found in Event Viewer.
Go Start - type eventvwr and press enter.
When it has read the logs expand Windows Logs, click on Application/Action/Find then type chkdsk or wininit into the Find box.
Cancel the Find box and read the log in the scrollable window.
Primarily you will be looking for any KBs in bad clusters.
If that comes back clean as well as saying it has fixed everything and no further action necessary, then see how it runs but as you have an OEM machine, you may have a Recovery partition which will allow you to factory reset the laptop after backing up all of your personal stuff.
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Shane I do not have a Vistal instal disk with SP2 or any kind of Vista instal DVD, I just have a recovery partition (E:) in the same disk were C: partition is.
Boggin, the usual problem with CHKDSK C: /r in my notebook is that it does not end, so, till now I had no result from that action, except once, a long time ago.
For now, it seems to me that I could only try to run a CHKDSK /r to the C: partition hard disk after taking it off the notebook and plugging it to another laptop with an adapter, which I still didn't get. But I don't know whether this would work, can somebody explain this point?
Thanks again
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That's the problem with such a long thread, you forget what's gone on before.
I don't have time to go back through the thread at the moment, but have you tried chkdsk without any parameters ?
If you can back up your personal stuff and create a full external system image as a fall back, I guess you could go ahead with a factory reset.
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Right Boggin, let me do a summary:
Notebook HP Pavilion dv9890EP, Vista Home Premium 32 bit, bought 6 years ago, all original, 2 hard drives (1 with 2 partitions, C: is O.S., E: is a recovery partition; the other HD is single-partitioned, D:, data).
Problems (3):
(1) for a long time till last March 19th it used to freeze completely about once a fortnight, although temperatures and memory didn't show abnormal levels;
(2) since 2011 never completed both CHKDSK C: /r and CHKDSK D: /r, dropping out in the process.
(3) it was common (about once every 3 days) immediately after booting, having endless waits, the waiting circle spinning around; doing Ctrl+Alt+Del to call the task manager never worked because I could ever stop any process, task manager never responded.
Actions since last March 19th:
BIOS memory test concluded OK;
CHKDSK C: /f shows 0 KB in bad sectors;
HD Sentinel shows no problem;
after running CCleaner Drive Free Space Wiper on C:, CHKDSK C: /r still drops out;
after updating BIOS version, CHKDSK C: and D: /r still drop out.
In April 3rd, BSOD occured, and I recovered the notebook with a Macrium Reflect image.
Installed "Gsmartcontrol" and tried to run it, but BSOD happened, twice.
I found an old arquived CHKDSK C: log from September 2011 showing that back then there were 4 KB in bad sectors.
As I said before, nowadays it doesn't show any KBs in bad sectors.
This notebook didn't come with a Vista install disk, but after buying it I burnt recovery disks (2 DVDs) of the whole factory image, according to instructions (I believe at the time I had not SP2 installed yet). I never used them, I don't know whether they are usable after all these years. Would them be helpfull now?
As Shane said, there is the possibility of taking off the D: disk and plug it to a laptop with a SATA to USB adapter to try a CHKDSK /r; would it work with the C: disk as well?
Thank you all
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Have you tried the chkdsk in Safe Mode and while it can be inconvenient, do you get any freezes in Safe Mode with Networking ?
While a sfc /scannow would tell you if there is any file corruption, you can use Seatools to check the actual disks.
There's Seatools for Windows and you create a bootable disk to run Seatools for DOS without the need to remove the drives.
You can use ImgBurn to create the bootable disk as well as one for Memtest86+.
http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/
http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/seatools-dos-master/
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/246994-guide-to-using-memtest86/
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/memtest86_ffaa.html
http://filehippo.com/download_imgburn
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Have you tried the chkdsk in Safe Mode and while it can be inconvenient, do you get any freezes in Safe Mode with Networking ?
When chkdsk is ran it cant be done while windows is loaded and so will run before windows starts up.
He drive stops responding through the scan, which makes me think bad motherboard since he has 2 drives that do it.
One way to be sure it isnt Windows for some reason (After all it is still loading drivers into memory to access the drive) is to boot off a Windows PE cd or something like that and run a chkdsk on the drive from outside Windows itself.
If the drive STILL drops out and it does it to both drives then it is a bad motherboard. If it scans find and doesnt drop out then the Windows install is the problem and a fresh install will be needed. :wink:
Shane
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The Seatools for DOS that I've linked will do the disk check externally.
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Thanks Boggin for the tools' links provided.
Well, Seatools DOS test to the C: drive resulted OK (but so had been before with HD Sentinel).
I still didn't use Memtest86, as I have tested memory before with the BIOS and it passed.
It seems to me that following Shane's idea would be a good path, but I still do not quite understand the process of creating a Windows PE booting CD, though I tried to get information.
As I see from what I read, I should download a WAIK file, burn it to a CD or DVD, and then execute and install it from the CD/DVD to a directory in my notebook; is it so or did I get it wrong? Having a booting CD/DVD ready, why must I install whatever in the computer? Can you help?
Nomad
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I think Memtest86+ may stress the memory more than Windows so it may still be worth running as other than overheating, RAM failure for whatever cause is probably the next best thing to check.
Having skip read through https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766093(v=ws.10).aspx I'm not really sure as to the benefits of this over a Repair disk, but this article may help with creating the bootable CD - if you aren't already reading from it. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749311(v=ws.10).aspx
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Hi, try chkdsk thro install dvd. It may fix the problem. You have to boot from dvd and then when the install screen comes, press shift f10, which would take you to the command prompt, there you could use diskpart and then list disk. If hard drive is shown in list disk and you know which partition it is showing, for eg c: or d: by the size of gb,you could access that drive in command prompt and then do chkdsk /f/r and it will fix the corrupted hard disk.
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Boggin, I read the stuff about creating a bootable CD but I do not have enough understanding of the matter, as I said before; and I could not create a repair disk either; it seems I need to have an installing disk, which is not the case, to create a repair disk, what seems odd to me.
In either case I was hopping to be allowed to execute a chkdsk from off the system, as it seems to be a good path to a diagnostic.
Nomad
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Here is a windows pe ISO that is already made, at least while this link works lol
http://tinyempire.com/notes/generic_windows_pe_disc_for_vista-7-8.html
Use a program like imgburn to burn it to a cd-r or you can use a iso to usb tool to make a bootable usb thumb drive with it.
Shane
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Hi, chkdsk off the system only could be done thro install dvd.
as shane has suggested you could easily create the bootable usb disk, by using a pen drive of 4gb and then try it. The method is so simple that it does not require a expert. Normal commands and copying and pasting will do the trick. But this could be done in vista or higher running computers, which support list disk commands showing the online drives including the pen drive which has to be formatted to execute some commands to do the bootable usb. The imgburn is excellent , but you have to choose the correct speed, if this is not selected then the disc would not work as expected, particularly while expanding the files in installation process. the procedure i gave in another post would help you create a bootable usb drive easily. I will try to give the link in my next reply
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You don't need a Vista install disk to get into the Recovery Environment as booting up with a Repair disk will also get you there.
Unfortunately from Vista SP1, the option to create a Repair disk was removed which I've learned from this article, which also describes how to create a Repair disk for your 32 bit version https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-repair-windows-vista-without-a-vista-dvd-disc/
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Well, some light through the tunnel, at last!
Thank you Shane, I burnt the booting CD from the link you posted and I managed to run CHKDSK /r for C: and D:; both completed with an indicated 0 KB in bad sectors.
So, if I'm thinking right, this means I have either to reinstall/repair my Windows or run memory tests? I suppose motherboard can not be blamed now?
This booting CD is a Windows 7 one; what else can I do with it, since my O.S. is Vista?
jraju, I hope you post that link here, maybe it will be usefull.
Boggin that was one of the articles I was reading yesterday, I followed the procedures to create a repair disk; that done, when I pressed Start and typed recdisc the wizard told me to insert a blank disc, so I did; then another wizard showed up telling to load the Vista install disc. Odd!! It seems that without a install disk there will be no repair disk!
Thanks
Nomad
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That does seem odd as the article says you don't need an install disk, but it isn't the first time that what looked like a sure fire fix didn't tally with what happens on other machines.
Not sure where you are going to find a Vista SP2 ISO with MS clamping down unless you can get Google to work overtime and find some obscure site that MS has missed.
I did come across a Torrent site once but I wouldn't advise P2P as you never know what else is going to come down the line.
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Correct, since you where able to scan it without trouble outside of windows that means it is either bad memory, which you can test or the windows install is crap lol
If it was the motherboard or drive it would have crashed out in PE but it didnt, so those should be good :-)
Shane
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Hi, do you the install dvd of vista. Then my link will be useful to make it bootable pen drive. Ok. Please tell me whether you are having gthe install dvd of the OS