[Shawn156]

I am working on a friends HP.It boots very very slow,takes about 15 minutes to boot into windows.After that the computer runs very very slow.Its a 2.5 celeron and wasn't like that a few weeks ago.I think its the harddrive gone bad but I want to make sure.I have already formatted it to check that part but no luck.Your thoughts?

 

[iker0]

if its a maxtor drive its quite probable.

 

[Shawn156]

Seagate

 

[kc-tr]

I would RMA it asap. Get a new one rather than troubleshooting it, If its that new, there should be no problem just getting a new one.

 

[RonindeBeatrice]

Pull the drive and run HDtach in another machine, to rule out any motherboard issues.

 

[Shawn156]

Out of warranty,already been checked.

 

[kc-tr]

Try a different HDD, Even if it is just a worthless 6GB or something like that, because if you test it, and it still does the same thing, you know its not the hdd. It could be something else.

 

[Shawn156]

Yeah I was thinking it could be a stick of ram doing it as well.I asked them if the computer was dropped or knocked over but they say no.
But I found out they are shutting it down wrong and have been for atleast 2 years.Instead of powering it down correctly,they just hold the button in until it shuts off.Not sure if that would cause it to go bad.

 

[kc-tr]

It could, but I would start with the cheaper easyer stuff first. Cables, HDD, RAM etc..

 

[gonX]

Defragmenting?

 

[Penicilyn]

If you have an IDE controller card you can try using that first of all to test if it's the motherboard.

Also, check to see if the hard drive is running in PIO mode or in DMA. You want DMA as it's about 300% faster access then PIO (icky)

Also find a program that tests your SMART on the harddrive and see if it fails. If so, replace the hard-drive.

 

[Shawn156]

OK HDD says it has 54% health left and 54% performance.Could that be the problem?It didn't fail the smart test either.

 

[Penicilyn]

On what program did it say that?

 

[ENTERPRISE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn156 OK HDD says it has 54% health left and 54% performance.Could that be the problem?It didn't fail the smart test either.

Yes thats a sign of a failing drive im afraid..Your HDD has gone below the allowable really...Start backing up your DATA and look for a replacement..

Also use the Diagnostic tools from seagate :http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

 

[Shawn156]

I used HDDLife Pro to check the health and performance of the drive and used HD Tach and used speed fan to look at the smart.But Speed fan and HDD Life say 2 different things.Speedfan says the drive is almost 100% on both Fitness and performance.

 

[ENTERPRISE]

I would use the Western digital Diagnostic tools here mate :http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

 

[Ropey]

Download VoptXP,

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/VoptXP.html

Use it as a trial. Run the program, go to Status --> Drive Test and run the test. Look to the drive performance. Does the speed consistently move fairly quickly? Or does it run and stop etc? This is a very good indicator of a drive that is dying. A healthy drive will not halt in this testing.

R

 

[ENTERPRISE]

Also Random system Lag in General use and in games is a big giveaway.

 

[Shawn156]

Well I really think the hdd is bad and going to pick a 20 up tonight to try in it.All but 1 drive I have here us Sata and I don't want to format my 250GB
I have tried the ram and its fine.Other then that a bad board is my last guess.And it shouldn;t be.I just formatted this about a week maybe 2 ago and it was running great.

 

[Shawn156]

OK After further looking into this,I can not get this thing to boot from cd.(not surprised).Then it lost a cd rom drive.No where to be found in bios.I have tried IDE cables and a different power supply.
So,I think the board on this just took a crap.Nothing anyone done except that its a junk HP.Thanks for everyone's help!