Windows 7 boots slow, runs slow

[DannyM]

As the title says, the computer in the living room has been running really slow over the past month or so and I've only got round to looking at it recently (I don't use it as my main machine).

Basically, Windows may take anything up to 5 minutes to get to the login screen then once there clicking on a user can take 10 seconds or so to react, then actually logging in to the system takes a good minute or so.

- Virus scan with MSE. - All clear.
- Malwarebytes - clean.
- Windows memory test at boot - clean.
- HDTune - comes back with 1 damaged segment, but I've read that that wouldn't cause these issues.

System specs:

Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 48 °C
Windsor 90nm Technology

RAM
2.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 251MHz (4-4-4-12)

Motherboard
BIOSTAR Group N61PC-M2S (Socket AM2 )

Graphics
HP w1907 @ 1440x900
256MB GeForce 7800 GTX (nVidia) 45 °C

Hard Drives
313GB Western Digital WDC WD32 00AAJS-00L7A SCSI Disk Device (ATA)

Optical Drives
ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 SCSI CdRom Device

Audio
High Definition Audio Device

I've tried rolling back the network driver, no luck.

The only thing I've yet to do is uninstall the GFX. But I can't see this causing the issues I'm currently having.

Any idea how to find out what's causing this?

[jim]

Have you tried running a speed test on HDTune?

[Zak33]

Most likely the hard drive IS the fault and they're cheap enough to swap ... but first....

msconfig.exe is your friend matey

Click the Windows globe, bottom lef of your desktopt, type 'msconfig' into the lower box... choose it from the top item (should be te only one there)

click the Start up tab

I have 7 items ticked to run at startup, inc Java update, my much hated Steam, my logitech moue and razer sound card

If you google what each of the things is, and remove them, reboot when it says and see how you get on.. you might find the bigger ruining your PC.

[DannyM]

Most likely the hard drive IS the fault and they're cheap enough to swap ... but first....

msconfig.exe is your friend matey

Click the Windows globe, bottom lef of your desktopt, type 'msconfig' into the lower box... choose it from the top item (should be te only one there)

click the Start up tab

I have 7 items ticked to run at startup, inc Java update, my much hated Steam, my logitech moue and razer sound card

If you google what each of the things is, and remove them, reboot when it says and see how you get on.. you might find the bigger ruining your PC.

One of the first things I did

@snootyjim I'll do that tomorrow, it's still under warranty so I'll get it replaced if it is.

[Blitzen]

Only having 2gb of memory isn't helping either.That's pretty low now.

[CrazyMonkey]

Pop a hijackthis log here or to my via pm and i'll have a look at it for you.

[DannyM]

I ran hijackthis a bit back I didn't find much at fault myself, I'm no pro mind.

As for memory, for what it's used for I'd of though 2GB would of been more than enough. Windows 7 isn't resource hungry from my experience.

I think I found the fault, thanks to snootyjim for mentioning it!



I'm guessing that's rather bad, well compared to what I've seen elsewhere at least.

[jim]

Yep, that's buggered

Had a similar issue here: http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...ard-drive.html

Scan refunded me for that drive when I sent it in

[MSIC]

It's most likely the drive itself, as snootyjim said, however i wonder if its worth checking the SATA driver? (ie re-installing this).
Unlikely, but a quick and easy fix if it is.