Boot into molasses: CPU and disk at 70%, network not connecting.

[Stephen Anders]

I am repeatedly booting into an unusable system - disk & CPU all used up, and when I can start Task Manager, System and svchost are taking it all. Cannot find which service, though. Network also does not connect.

Not using ReadyBoost (on an SD card) improves chances of a reasonable system coming up.

Vista home premium, HP dv2517 laptop, 1GB RAM, Office 2003, usual stuff.

Any clues out there?

 

[Malke]

I am repeatedly booting into an unusable system - disk & CPU all used up,
and when I can start Task Manager, System and svchost are taking it all.
Cannot find which service, though. Network also does not connect.

Not using ReadyBoost (on an SD card) improves chances of a reasonable
system coming up.

Vista home premium, HP dv2517 laptop, 1GB RAM, Office 2003, usual stuff.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time things
worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke