Asus F551C hangs at startup, Windows 10 won't load

[tparkjohnson]

My laptop was slow when Windows was up and running so restarted it. Login screen was very slow, would type in password and characters would lag. Got into Windows so tried a restart from there. Seems like it shut down OK, but now it is stuck between the Asus startup screen and the Windows login. On hard power restart gets through the Asus screen everytime and then sits. Can hear HDD working occasionally and have a mouse cursor that moves, but rest is a black screen. Can get into BIOS with F2 at startup, but not sure what to do at that point to get a restart into Windows? Ideas?

 

[webworkings]

Try starting up in "Safe Mode" and see if that gets you in. If it does, then you need to check the system for what was blocking it.

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10 ...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.

 

[tparkjohnson]

OK so I can get in to it now, but its still somewhat clunky and slow. Tried to clean up the HDD which was about 85% full. How do I look at which programs might be causing this?

 

[tparkjohnson]

Now seeing that the HDD is running at 100% according to the Performance monitor in Task Manager. Found some other threads that talk about stopping superfetch and windows search but those wouldn't stop even from an admin cmd prompt. also chkdsk won't run, saying that its in use by another process.

 

[webworkings]

That sounds very odd. It should not keep you from stopping them and it definitely shouldn't say chkdsk won't run. Are you doing this with admin privileges?

 

[tparkjohnson]

That sounds very odd. It should not keep you from stopping them and it definitely shouldn't say chkdsk won't run. Are you doing this with admin privileges?

yes did windows icon + x + a and got the cmd window. all 3 things said they couldn't be completed because another process was using them.

 

[webworkings]

Which no other process should be using chkdsk. This makes me more suspicious that something is on the computer that should not be.

 

[tparkjohnson]

Which no other process should be using chkdsk. This makes me more suspicious that something is on the computer that should not be.

So suggestions on how to identify what's "on there that shouldn't be" and remove it?

With patience I can get into Windows, but its ridiculously slow. I tried doing a Windows reset twice but it failed to complete both times. Is there an update or some kind of virus scan I can do?

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[webworkings]

I would try virus scans, malware and more. It is up to you what software you choose to use. Me I use Avira, Ad-Aware and Spybot, plus the standard old Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[tparkjohnson]

Got a Windows Defender scan to run but it took forever. No issues found. Downloaded Ad-Aware but then the scan won't run, says the service is unavailable.

Everything still super slow, wondering how to prioritize all this b/c it takes so long. Is there a particular path to pursue first? Or am I just randomly trying to get scans to run and hoping they find the problem?

 

[webworkings]

Well you could do a few different things, but they all come with a risk if you don't know what you are looking it. You could go into "Start" then "Run" and type in "msconfig.exe" (without the quotes) and check what all is running on the device. Sometimes there are things running we didn't know were. You can also go into "Control Panel" and then "Programs and Features" and uninstall anything you don't actually use. But, as I said, both of these have their risks, as if you delete or uninstall something without knowing what it is/does, you can really mess up the laptop.

 

[tparkjohnson]

Well you could do a few different things, but they all come with a risk if you don't know what you are looking it. You could go into "Start" then "Run" and type in "msconfig.exe" (without the quotes) and check what all is running on the device. Sometimes there are things running we didn't know were. You can also go into "Control Panel" and then "Programs and Features" and uninstall anything you don't actually use. But, as I said, both of these have their risks, as if you delete or uninstall something without knowing what it is/does, you can really mess up the laptop.

well i finally took it to a local repair place and they found out the HDD is bad. thx for the suggestions along the way.

 

[webworkings]

I was hoping it wasn't. Ah well, better to find out and get it fixed so you can use it.