Notebook freezes

[Nomad]

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

[Willy2]

- 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.

[Boggin]

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".

[Rick]

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!

[Nomad]

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

[Shane]

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

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

Shane

[Boggin]

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.

[Nomad]

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

[Boggin]

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.

[Nomad]

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

[Boggin]

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

[Shane]

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.

Shane

[Boggin]

The Seatools for DOS that I've linked will do the disk check externally.

[Nomad]

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

[Boggin]

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

[jraju]

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.

[Nomad]

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

[Shane]

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

[jraju]

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

[Boggin]

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/

[Nomad]

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

[Boggin]

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.

[Shane]

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

[jraju]

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