Laptop dead slow, even in safe mode

[Blue Banana]

I have been struggling with this laptop for a few days now. Customer brought it in saying her son browsed a few sites and 'it started getting incredibly slow'. Incredibly slow isn't even the best way to say this, it's almost impossible to work with. I can get a bit more done in safe mode, but it's still so slow, it looks like it's frozen. Even just clicking on start takes a few minutes to register.

After a while of nearly tearing my hair out, I managed to open task manager only to see 0% CPU usage and 47% RAM usage.

What I did thus far:

1) Complete AV scan, turned up nothing

2) Disabled services and startup items using Autoruns

3) sfc /scannow

4) Hard disk check, everything seems fine

5) Checkdisk

6) Defrag for the sake of it

7) Replaced RAM

8) Disk cleanup (Hiren's)

At this point I feel like doing a nuke and pave, but if you guys can give me some hope or any further ideas, I'd be grateful.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

4) Hard disk check, everything seems fine

What did this involve exactly?

I can get a bit more done in safe mode, but it's still so slow, it looks like it's frozen.

Is that Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Networking?

 

[NYJimbo]

1) Complete AV scan, turned up nothing

What did you use to scan and did you use any offline or boot disks to scan outside of the installed O/S environment ?

Check system event log for anything in red, especially disk errors.

Check system temps after running for a few minutes (don't trust the customers report about this happening after viewing a few sites).

 

[layoric]

Perhaps the testing is flawed. Maybe there are viruses but you didn't find them. Maybe the drive is experiencing issues but the app didn't report them. Those things still seen as non-issues, may in fact be just that, then there's other possibilities, such as motherboard issues... of course it may be as simple as viruses caused the problems, but were removed before you received it, but not until the OS got damaged.

Go with your gut, mine says there are problems your software didn't report.

 

[katz]

4) Hard disk check, everything seems fine

What tool(s) did you check it with? How does the pc perform with a live disk? Almost sounds like a system that is stuck in PIO mode.

If the HD checks out, I would consider using the tweaking tool before going for a N&P.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Boot a Linux CD like Puppy to verify it's not hardware. If not, an offline scan with Kaspersky or your favorite A-V.

 

[Altster]

Sure would help with diagnostic offerings from us "outsiders" if we knew more about the unit.

Items such as:
type of O/S and CPU info
total amt of memory (and it's speed - ie; PC2-6400)
if you have cloned the drive to another and used the cloned drive in the computer
what diagnostic & A/V software you have tried.
etc....

I generally use Linux Mint for my live linux cd of choice.

 

[HFultzjr]

Agree with Katz.......check PIO mode.

Process Explorer may show what's going on.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Agree.....more info needed.
Operating system
Ram
Etc.,

 

[Pc Fixed Right]

is the machine over heating? How is the temp near the vent? If it is really hot to the touch you will need to take the unit apart and clean out the fan and vent and or replace a dead fan.

Nuke and Pave might not do the trick. What brand is the machine? Is it a Dell?

 

[glennd]

check hdd smart info for failures
hdd surface test
chkdsk /f
sfc /scannow
memtest
clean internal case
ensure all fans are working
extreme cpu temp may cause it to throttle down
device manager for failing device
scan using every kind of malware scanner you can dig up
start switching things off, both software and hardware

 

[Kaizen]

No shame in doing a nuke and pave, sometimes it is the best fit for the client.

How old is the install?

I would not assume it just started running slow based on the clients words. It may have slowly been getting bad then all of the sudden got real bad.

Edit added later//
Did you do a complete surface scan and check smart status? Gsmartcontrol is a great program for this.

 

[Dedicatech]

If by any chance the machine is a Dell check in BIOS if the charger is recognized. If it says that "charger not recognized" (or something similar I can't remember exactly, but it should be under Battery Info) the system will not be able to operate in optimal mode, and it will run very slowly regardless of being in safe mode or not, live distro or not.
This happens mostly when the charger develops a fault and the laptop can't recognize it anymore. Unfortunately there is no other way of solving this issues other than ordering a genuine dell charger. (You might get lucky with some higher quality Chinese ones off eBay or Amazon, but I wouldn't trust these...)

Hope this helps.

 

[Kaizen]

If by any chance the machine is a Dell check in BIOS if the charger is recognized. If it says that "charger not recognized" (or something similar I can't remember exactly, but it should be under Battery Info) the system will not be able to operate in optimal mode, and it will run very slowly regardless of being in safe mode or not, live distro or not.
This happens mostly when the charger develops a fault and the laptop can't recognize it anymore. Unfortunately there is no other way of solving this issues other than ordering a genuine dell charger. (You might get lucky with some higher quality Chinese ones off eBay or Amazon, but I wouldn't trust these...)

Hope this helps.

I we see dell's like that all the time in our shop, it may be the charger but a flakey DC jacks can do the same. I have never gotten the feel that the computer is throttled back. The only symptom we have ever noticed is the battery won't charge. You may be correct, but I have my doubts.

 

[Dedicatech]

I we see dell's like that all the time in our shop, it may be the charger but a flakey DC jacks can do the same. I have never gotten the feel that the computer is throttled back. The only symptom we have ever noticed is the battery won't charge. You may be correct, but I have my doubts.

The failure is due to loss of the power supply ID signal. Sometimes this happens because of strain on the plug, which breaks the signal wire. The other cause is one or more of the power socket solder connections to the system board become broken.

Regarding the symptoms you don't have to trust me when I tell you that the throttling is real.
Do a simple Google search for "This article provides information on "AC Adapter Error Messages at POST"." where you'll find a short article on the Dell website explaining it, or do an image search for "dell the ac adapter type cannot be determined this will prevent optimal system performance".

 

[katz]

Well what do you know...it is on Dell's site, although I must say I've never felt that the PC was performing sluggishly either. It does say "MAY" however...

When powering on a Dell portable computer, you may receive an error message similar to:


The AC adapter type cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance.
Strike F3 key ( before F1 or F2 key) if you don't want to see power warning messages again.


The system will continue to power on after pressing the key, but the error message is repeated every time the system is turned on.
Also, the system may exhibit symptoms such as sluggish performance or the battery does not charge.

 

[Dedicatech]

Well what do you know...it is on Dell's site, although I must say I've never felt that the PC was performing sluggishly either. It does say "MAY" however...

I MAY run a benchmark next time I encounter it

BTW it also says that it "will prevent optimal system performance"

 

[Markverhyden]

Well what do you know...it is on Dell's site, although I must say I've never felt that the PC was performing sluggishly either. It does say "MAY" however...

I've used non-chipped AC adapter many times over the years and have never seen any performance issues. I doubt that Dell would actually spend the time and money so a laptop operates in a "down graded" mode with a unchipped adapter.

Their verbiage is just like many other manufacturers where they try to make the buyers think that not using their stuff might cause a problem. Same with Apple and their AC adapters. From my experience they may not charge when powered up but will when powered down.