Solved! Laptop problem please help :(

[wilem_WAR246810]

My friend has this MSI laptop and whenever he starts (boots) it, he gets this 'lagtime' where it will be sluggishly slow for around 10-20 minutes, even audio and video playback is in slow motion or stuttering. He's tried virus scans in safemode, opening MSconfig and disabling non windows services, gamebooster and I think maybe even defragmenting(I'll ask him about that). I really feel sorry for this guy because these days all our PCs don't have long boottimes like Pentium 4 and he doesn't deserve that at all(nobody does) here's the specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6600 @ 2.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G

I'm pretty sure my sister's lowerend netbook can boot faster than that

I really appreciate any valuable insight on this

 

[wintermint]

Hey! My pentinum 4 still runs fine Anyway, has he installed anything suspicious of the likes lately? What OS is he using? He should find some tweak to optimize his desktop. Anyway, try out this program and let us know how it goes.

 

[lunyone]

Well my first thought is that he might have some RAM issues, but just guessing at this point in time. He might even have a HD going out and this is causing slow load times too.

* Which OS is he running? If he's on Vista and 1 gb RAM it'll run slow, but will need to verify that all of the RAM is being recognized.

* What HD does he have?

* Can you do a fresh install of the OS?

* Is there any issues with the Battery or even the Power Supply issues?
I'd rank the possibilities at:
1) Possible HD issues.
2) Possible RAM issues, but not as likely.
3) OS related issues, including Malware/Virus issues, but slim due to you already checking this already.

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

Well my first thought is that he might have some RAM issues, but just guessing at this point in time. He might even have a HD going out and this is causing slow load times too.

* Which OS is he running? If he's on Vista and 1 gb RAM it'll run slow, but will need to verify that all of the RAM is being recognized.

* What HD does he have?

* Can you do a fresh install of the OS?

* Is there any issues with the Battery or even the Power Supply issues?
I'd rank the possibilities at:
1) Possible HD issues.
2) Possible RAM issues, but not as likely.
3) OS related issues, including Malware/Virus issues, but slim due to you already checking this already.

He's got 2 GB RAM, he's running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit, only one HD:
Drive: C:
Free Space: 95.5 GB
Total Space: 305.1 GB

He refuses to reformat because he's got too much GBs worth of anime lol but if we really have to resort to that, then we will

I think if it's a power issue he'd tell me about it but I'll ask nevertheless

How do we check how much RAM is utilized?

 

[lunyone]

You can check on how much RAM is currently being used under the "Task Manager" (ctrl-alt-delete to bring up menu to select taks manager).

Well it looks like he's getting close to filling up the HD and it might be a good time to backup his "files" in case he has future issues. Than if he doesn't backup his files, he might have to format the HD to get this going again.

At this point I'm leaning towards an iffy HD, but I'm just guessing. The best way to verify this is to format the HD and do a fresh install (at least that has worked for me). There are online HD programs that can check the integrity of the HD (which doesn't always work, which I've had experience with). They can be used to troubleshoot HD issues, but like I said, they aren't 100% accurate. Just look up what brand of HD he has (usually Western Digital, Seagate, Hitatchi, or possibly Samsung), and than go the manufacturer's site and download their HD utility program that analyzes their HD.

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

Ok thnx I'll make him do the RAM thing but how do I know what brand of HD is he using?

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

oh wait, how do determined how much RAM is used?
There's total,cached and available in the taskmanager, should we be looking at total?

 

[lunyone]

Without pulling the bottom of the case off, you can look under the "Control Panel>Device Manager>Disk Drives" and it might give you the Brand of HD. It's not always that easy, but most of the time it reveals the Manufacturer of the HD.

 

[lunyone]

Total is important to see and also how much is being allocated during idle state helps too.

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

Total is important to see and also how much is being allocated during idle state helps too.

What exactly should I be seeing? His total should be like 2046mb or sumthing right? and how much allocation is optimal during idle state?

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

aha from his DXDIAG
Drive: C:
Free Space: 95.5 GB
Total Space: 305.1 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0 ATA Device

So that means it's a Western Digital right?

 

[lunyone]

Well it should be around the 2048 total and allocation can vary, but should be under 800 mb's or so. I don't have a windows 7 machine in front of me, so I can't give you a more exact #.

 

[lunyone]

Yes WDC is Western Digital Corporation!

Here's the link to the 2.5" WD HD software section:
Link to Utility Software

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

oh kay I'll make him do both the RAM check and the HD check, one last question, so I basically tell him to download WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows then make him run either a Quick Test or an Extended Test? then see if he finds errors? is it that simple?

 

[lunyone]

Yes it's that simple. Like I said, it's not 100% perfect, but it's a good place to start.

 

[claydavis]

Are you sure that there is no virus in your system. It may also happen because of initialising too much of Applications while Booting. You go to control panel and remove all unnecessary programs which you might have installed.