Laptop Extremely Slow

[xraycatj]

Hi, first post here.

I have a Toshiba Satellite running Windows XP home.

I read through the troubleshooting guide on the main page here and couldn't find a definite answer; I'm hoping its a super easy fix.

The computer was working perfectly fine for the last month without any changes in hardware or software. Now when it starts up it takes two hours (not an exaggeration) for everything to load and for the desktop and icons to appear. Even then it is super slow selecting files . Sound familiar to anyone? What other info is needed for more assistance?

Thanks in advance!

[xraycatj]

I'm burning ultimatebootcd to run some diagnostics.

[minsonngo]

You could be having some virus or spyware/adware related issues. I would run a scan and if any are found, remove them.

You could also run a diagnostic on the HDD and memory to make sure those are not the problem. The Ultimate Boot CD should be fine for this task.

As a last resort, you could also start fresh and reformat and reinstall the OS again. There is nothing better than a clean new installation of Windows XP.

[xraycatj]

This hasn't seen the internet in over a year.

I want to try and save the first three months of my newborn son in pictures which weren't backed up on a CD. Plus all the gigabytes of music I downloaded and ripped.

[minsonngo]

You can pull out the HDD and hook it up to a PC through some type of adapter. They sell laptop HDD adapters that allow you to connect to a PC via USB or IDE usually. And then back up your important data.

[xraycatj]

yeah I saw this from another thread: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...2IDE-N&cat=HDD

looks like it should do the trick, but does it need a laptop adapter? I'm still going to try and save the HDD though because I don't have any of the original Windows XP software to reinstall.

[glc]

This is the adapter you need, not that one.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-25-35&cat=HDD

[xraycatj]

Originally Posted by glc This is the adapter you need, not that one. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-25-35&cat=HDD

right, thank you.

[xraycatj]

finally had a breakthrough.

missing or corrupt file: windows\system32\config\system

can this be repaired using the XP disc without losing data?

[minsonngo]

Should be able to.

Follow the instructions here: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=151522


If that does not fix your slowness problem, you may want to think about the format and clean install of the OS.

[glc]

That is a registry problem, most often caused by hard drive corruption or bad sectors. I would boot with the CD and use the console repair to run chkdsk /r. Your data is in jeopardy.

[xraycatj]

I ran chkdsk and it said, "index has one or more unrepairable problems"

If this is a physical flaw or something else can those bad sectors be blocked somehow and the necessary files written to another place?

edit: I ran chkdsk /p....I'll try /r as well.

[glc]

If it's giving you those errors, you need to run diagnostics on the drive, it may be too far gone. Chkdsk /r may get it readable enough to get the data off it using an adapter, but you may have to use something stronger like Spinrite. I've been able to use Spinrite to get a junk drive readable enough to be able to clone it to a new drive, but you will most likely have to do a Windows repair reinstall to get it bootable.

[xraycatj]

update: The USB 2 IDE adapter works wonderfully and all files are intact! (thanks GLC!) Works flawlessly on WinXP but I'm having problems with the drive being recognized on Win98 after installing the driver. Just can't find the drive. It appears in the system configuration with the other HDD and FDD.

All I have to do now is buy another OS for the laptop; HDD will get a format then a new OS.

[glc]

If the drive is NTFS, Win98 can't read it.

[xraycatj]

Well that's lame...oh well. Guess it's still good for connecting Win98 HDDs and other 3.5" hardware.