[Solved] slow unresponsive laptop

[tismehi]

toshiba satellite l500-1xj, 3gb ram, win 7 home prem, celeron dual.

 

my nephew owns this 1 year old laptop and asked me for help yesterday.

 

there is a permanent eggtimer on the mouse cursor and clicking trackpad or any key does nothing.

 

i ctrl, alt, del to open and select task manager but then the thing freezes. depowering then the only solution.

 

i could not access my computer or start/ programs etc. clicking anything does nothing.

 

i booted in safe mode with networking and updated & ran several programs - super antispyware, spybot, ccleaner & anti malwarebytes. the latter found some stuff but no importance or anything was reported by any.

 

he has no recovery discs as none were supplied. he never made the recovery discs as advised when new so i tried to make a set of discs but it was unable to read some files and i had to abort the operation.

 

i downloaded and ran system mechanic but this found no real problems.

 

when i try to open my computer the response is a long time in coming and opens up a m/s windows help page only. it advises system restore but there ar no restore points available.

 

when i tried running avg it was behaving "very weird" to say the least. i uninstalled this too.

 

i uninstalled several toolbars and gaming stuff that my nephew had but for all of my efforts, above the situation remains the same.

 

i'm now making a windows repair disc and will try that to see if it helps.

[KenB]

Hi

 

Try running System File Checker

 

Start ......type in .....cmd .................do not hit ENTER

Right click on cmd.exe that is top left of the screen > Run as Administrator

 

At the command prompt type in ..........sfc /scannow ( there is a space after sfc )

[tismehi]

i made a windows repair disc and rebooted with the disc in the drive. i followed the prompts and left it reinstalling windows from an apparent sector of the hdd. i left this running and went off to work.

when i came home again i got a message on the screen saying that the computer has an unexpected error. restart to finish the installation. when i click ok to restart, the message is repeated. i retried this several times - same result.

it now seems that i now can't get the machine to be in a position to try the "cmd".

is there anything else i could try?

[KenB]

i made a windows repair disc

Presumably this was from the problem pc and not another one?

 

Try switching on and immediately start tapping F8 about once per second.

This will take you to the advanced startup options.

There should be an option to "Repair your Computer"

Click on this.

Follow the prompts.

 

If there is any important data on the drive you may wish to consider trying to back that up before you do anything else.

You would need an external enclosure to connect the hard drive to another system.

 

Having got half-way through the recovery process may have put paid to both of these options.

[tismehi]

i tried the f8 idea and there was no options there.

i'm sure windows was corrupted in some way and a fresh installation is the order of the day.

i ordered a recovery dvd from toshiba. quite expensive at just under £30 but i suppose a set of recovery dvds should have been made initially.

my only concern now is that i'm sure when i try and install it that it will ask me for the windows licence number and the sticker on the laptop base is in a bad state.

[KenB]

i tried the f8 idea and there was no options there.

 

There should have been if you could get to the Advanced options

see here

 

If you have ordered the disks it is too late now :)

[Starbuck]

Feel free to post the reports mentioned below and i'll take a look just in case something can be done about this situation.

 

Step 1

• Download OTL to your desktop.
  right click on the link and select 'Save Link/Target As'.
   
  if you have problems, try this download link:
  OTL
  
• Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed and to let it run uninterrupted.
  
• When the window appears, underneath Output at the top change it to Minimal Output.
  
• Check the boxes beside LOP Check and Purity Check

.

 

.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/new/Otllatest.png

 

Now copy the lines in bold below.

 

netsvcs

msconfig

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\*.*

%systemroot%\system32\Spool\prtprocs\w32x86\*.dll

%systemroot%\*. /mp /s

%systemroot%\system32\*.dll /lockedfiles

%systemroot%\Tasks\*.job /lockedfiles

%systemroot%\system32\drivers\*.sys /lockedfiles

%systemroot%\system32\*.exe /lockedfiles

%systemroot%\System32\config\*.sav

%PROGRAMFILES%\*

%USERPROFILE%\..|smtmp;true;true;true /FP

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

hklm\software\clients\startmenuinternet|command /rs

hklm\software\clients\startmenuinternet|command /64 /rs

CREATERESTOREPOINT

 

• right click in the Custom Scans/Fixes window (under the blue bar) and choose Paste.
   
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/new%20forum/scan-fix.png
  .
  
• Click the Run Scan button.
   
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/runscan.png
   
  
• Do not change any settings unless otherwise told to do so. The scan wont take long.
  
• When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are saved in the same location as OTL.
  
• Please copy (Edit->Select All, Edit->Copy) the contents of these files, one at a time, and post them with your next reply.

 

 

Step 2

Download aswMBR and save it to your desktop.

• Double click the aswMBR.exe to run it.
  
• The latest version gives you the option of adding the latest Avast definitions:
   
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/new/03-07-201116-24-19.png
   
  
• It is recommended at this time to click NO. ( as there is a possibility of crashing the system)
  
• Click the Scan button to start scan.
  

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/new/asw1.gif

 

On completion of the scan click Save log and save it to your desktop.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/new/asw2.gif

 

Please post this in your reply.

 

NOTE:

aswMBR will create MBR.dat file on your desktop. This is a copy of your MBR. Do NOT delete it.

 

 

In your next reply, please submit:

Both reports from OTL

ASW Mbr report

 

 

Thanks.

[tismehi]

sorry i should not have just said that there were no options there. there were advanced options and i followed all to do a hdd recovery. the problem was that it run for ages then said it was unable to complete until it is restarted. when restarted, the same message came up. again and again i tried this - same result.

[RandyL]

my only concern now is that i'm sure when i try and install it that it will ask me for the windows licence number and the sticker on the laptop base is in a bad state.

You might not need it since you will be using recovery disks instead of a retail version of Windows.

[KenB]

OK - thanks for the additional information.

 

Is there any chance that you can follow Startbuck's post?

[tismehi]

the machine is as good as dead now i think. it will not boot up and the reinstallation does not complete.

 

thanks all for contributions.

 

i will come back and report once i get the dvd from toshiba.

 

hopefully then all goes well and my nephew is a happy chappy again.

[KenB]

Let us know how it goes :)

[tismehi]

the dvd arrived from toshiba so i put it in the drive and selected 1st boot to the dvd drive.

 

everything going as expected until i get an error message:

 

entitled: "reader_sl.exe - Application Error"

 

details: "the application was unable to start correctly (0x0000006). click ok to close the application"

 

this happened then i did nothing just to see what would happen.

 

i retried this a few times. sometimes i selected "ok" to close the application.

 

i just kept repeating.

 

i waited until about 90 minutes of this to pass and then i retried the toshiba installation. same results.

 

after a further period of time wasting and frustration, i retried the dvd installation of the toshiba dvd again.

 

this time i still got the above error message but then things started to happen as expected. toshiba registration page, network log on options, time and region settings, etc all appearing.

 

i suppose i should be happy with this but i'm wondering if i now go ahead and set it up for my nephew with, will i live to regret ignoring the earlier message.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

reader_sl.exe - Application Error

This is related to Adobe Acrobat

 

if i now go ahead and set it up for my nephew with, will i live to regret ignoring the earlier message.

I don't think so - give it a go :)

[tismehi]

cheers for that. thats a bit of a relief.

 

as i was about to open ie to begin downloading, the blue screen of death appeared and the laptop crashed.

afterwards i was able to restart.

 

i really struggled to open ie to download my first program; avg. it just kept freezing and i had to shut down a few times.

i'm now trying to download and install windows updates in case there are issues relating to the o/s.

 

i have to say i do not have a good feeling about this as i have set up several desktop and laptops over the years and never have any of them behaved in this way.

[KenB]

It doesn't sound too good.

 

I assume that you have the OS installed if you are trying to access the internet.

 

Windows updates may sort out a few things ................still odd to be crashing after a reinstall ...................unless there is a problem with the hard drive itself.

 

If you get a Blue Screen again - copy the STOP error and post it here - it may help to identify the problem.

Most of the time they are so general it tells us next to nothing.

[tismehi]

yes, the os, etc all installed from recovery dvd supplied to me by toshiba.

 

i had thought i seen a reference, when the laptop was in its original state, to this being windows 7 64bit system and i think i seen 32bit somewhere along the way when installing the dvd yesterday.

 

the machine behaves very, very slow. i know it is only a celeron but its is like having a new mondeo and it is driving like a clapped out hillman imp.

 

everything takes an age to open up.

 

all of the windows updates would not download.- ie some failed. i retried unticking a lot and trying again, still failing. i will keep trying.

 

i was able to download avg and remove mcafee.

 

i would expect this sort of behaviour from a machine with a fragmented and full hdd, corrupt memory and dodgy malware etc. not in a machine which is essentially in a new state.

 

it displayed a message that the web camera could not load.

 

i will keep trying to be patient.

[KenB]

i think i seen 32bit somewhere

Start > Control Panel > System

This will tell you if it is 32 or 64 bit.

 

You said in your first post that you have 3GB RAM. This is fairly typical for a 32 bit system as much more than this is not recognised by the OS. 64 bit systems generally have more RAM installed ( not always ).

 

You can have a 32 bit OS on a 64 bit capable machine - the one I am on is set up this way.

 

I wouldn't put anything else on that machine until you have sorted it out.

 

I would be inclined to run check-disk on it to verify that the hard drive is OK

Then run system file check to check the installed OS files.

 

Start > type in .....cmd .............do not hit ENTER yet

right click on the cmd.exe top left of screen.

Run as Administrator

 

At the prompt type .......chkdsk /f/r ...........ENTER

You will need to restart for check-disk to run

 

This will check and repair any problems with the disk (if it can).

 

===============

 

When you used the Recovery Disks - did the process format the hard drive ?

 

Did you see this?

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD7C02140000R0136064.jpg

 

CAUTION:

Restoring a hard disk drive to its factory default state deletes all partitions on the hard disk drive and all data stored in this partitions. All of your files and information will be overwritten, and lost. Be sure to back up all important files first.

 

 

Press 1 to restore your hard disk drive to its original factory default state. A confirmation message will appear, indicating that all data will be lost during the restore process. Be sure to back up all important files before proceeding.

 

Click Yes to begin the restoration. A message will appear once the operation is finished, indicating that the HDD has been restored.

 

Press any key to restart the computer.

[tismehi]

ctrl panel/system states 64bit.

 

in the meantime a lot of windows updates completed and some failed.

 

after customary restart, updates are trying again.

 

things seem to be a bit faster and more responsive.

 

i'll wait for this to be sucessful and then run the cmd.

 

regarding the recovery utility, it did not display the above exactly, but i was asked permission to format the drive and install all on the recovery dvd.

[KenB]

If the drive was formatted there would be nothing left on it at all - no data - no malware ......nothing.

So your installation literally started afresh with a clean drive.

[tismehi]

that what i always believed but the way this was behaving i wondered.

 

the machine finally finished all of the windows updates and is running stable and at a speed i would expect from a celeron.

 

as advised i have run a check disk. it is currently running and i will post back the result.

[tismehi]

all of the windows updates completed and the wee laptop seems to stable with the speed that i would expect from a celeron.

 

i ran the disc check as advised. it took quite a while to complete obviously, and as i was away from it when it finished, windows restarted itself.

 

i assume from that that there were no serious problems found or windows was not start.

 

i have now installed all the required programs - avg, super antispyware, malware bytes, ccleaner, spybot along with m/s works and a few utilities.

 

everything seems to be fine with one little exception - there is no address bar or back, reload buttons in firefox.

[KenB]

That is good to hear. Strange how it was slow initially though.

 

there is no address bar or back, reload buttons in firefox.

I don't use F-F so the only advice I can suggest is that you un-install then install it again to see if this corrects the problem.

 

If you have MBAM - you don't really need Spybot ......it is a bit dated according to our security experts.

[tismehi]

strange indeed. i can now give it back to my nephew who can begin the process of downloading rubbish stuff and i get it back in a few months for repairing.

 

tried above for firefox. it worked for a while and then they disapearred again. i'm not too worried just now as i do not even know what browser my nephew uses.

 

thanks for the advice, suggestions, professionalism and patience.

[KenB]

thanks for the advice

You are very welcome - glad that we got there in the end :)