hard drive running all the time

[husky86]

I'm running Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 2). I'm having problems with
something going on in the background -- something associated perhaps with
Windows XP itself or a background process -- in which the hard drive is
constantly running. This constant hard drive usage slows down everything
else associated with the computer's operation, of course.

The problem is especially bad during startup and when it's brought out of
standby mode. During startup, I would say the hard drive is running
furiously for at least 10 minutes. It usually takes about 3-4 minutes to
finally get to the desktop (after restarting), and the hard drive is busy
running for another 5-7 minutes thereafter. When it is brought out of
standby mode, it's a similar problem, but it generally runs furiously for
about half that time -- about 4-5 minutes.

Here is what I have done to solve the problem (with no success):

1. I'm running AVG antivirus. After doing regular scans, there is always
nothing found on the hard drive.
2. I'm running the latest version of Webroot's Spy Sweeper. The program
will find spyware on the system from time to time (during regular scans), but
removing the spyware doesn't affect this underlying problem.
3. I'm using Startup Cop to limit the number of programs that are
automatically loaded. Even severely restricting the number of programs
doesn't affect this problem.
4. I'm also using Process Explorer to mine the number of processes running
in the background and quitting those programs/processes to see if that
improves the overall performance. It doesn't.
5. I have played around extensively with MSConfig, but this doesn't help
the situation either.
6. Defragmenting the hard drive has not proved effective. (There is one
point to note here: when using the defragmentation system utility built into
Windows XP, it recommends defragmenting the hard drive about 80-90% of the
time, even if defragmentation occurred only a week or two ago. I know that
this is highly unusual. I have no idea what is causing this increase in
fragmentation of the hard drive.) After defragmenting the hard drive, the
hard drive still operates the same way. Defragmenting the hard drive doesn't
prevent the hard drive from running furiously all the time (seemingly) in the
background.

I'm out of ideas at this point.

The technical specs on this laptop system, by the way, are: Hitachi 80 GB
(7200 RPM) HD, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA graphics card (512 MB).

Anyone that has any suggestions, I would be more than happy to entertain them.

 

[Gerry]

How much RAM memory?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[V Green]

I'm running Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 2). I'm having problems with
something going on in the background -- something associated perhaps with
Windows XP itself or a background process -- in which the hard drive is
constantly running. This constant hard drive usage slows down everything
else associated with the computer's operation, of course.

The problem is especially bad during startup and when it's brought out of
standby mode. During startup, I would say the hard drive is running
furiously for at least 10 minutes. It usually takes about 3-4 minutes to
finally get to the desktop (after restarting), and the hard drive is busy
running for another 5-7 minutes thereafter. When it is brought out of
standby mode, it's a similar problem, but it generally runs furiously for
about half that time -- about 4-5 minutes.

Here is what I have done to solve the problem (with no success):

1. I'm running AVG antivirus. After doing regular scans, there is always
nothing found on the hard drive.
2. I'm running the latest version of Webroot's Spy Sweeper. The program
will find spyware on the system from time to time (during regular scans), but
removing the spyware doesn't affect this underlying problem.
3. I'm using Startup Cop to limit the number of programs that are
automatically loaded. Even severely restricting the number of programs
doesn't affect this problem.
4. I'm also using Process Explorer to mine the number of processes running
in the background and quitting those programs/processes to see if that
improves the overall performance. It doesn't.
5. I have played around extensively with MSConfig, but this doesn't help
the situation either.
6. Defragmenting the hard drive has not proved effective. (There is one
point to note here: when using the defragmentation system utility built into
Windows XP, it recommends defragmenting the hard drive about 80-90% of the
time, even if defragmentation occurred only a week or two ago. I know that
this is highly unusual. I have no idea what is causing this increase in
fragmentation of the hard drive.) After defragmenting the hard drive, the
hard drive still operates the same way. Defragmenting the hard drive doesn't
prevent the hard drive from running furiously all the time (seemingly) in the
background.

I'm out of ideas at this point.

The technical specs on this laptop system, by the way, are: Hitachi 80 GB
(7200 RPM) HD, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA graphics card (512 MB).

Anyone that has any suggestions, I would be more than happy to entertain them.

Failing hard drive?

download diagnostics from the mgfr's website and run them.

 

[RajKohli]

1. Turn on your Computer and enter in BIOS setup. Stay there for a while and
check if your Hard Disk is still running and the HDD Led is continous
blinking. If yes, then probably a bad power supply connector may cause the
problem. Try a different available Power Connector.

2. Have you tried running Windows in Safe Mode? Is this still happens in
Safe Mode too? If Windows is working fine in Safe Mode then could be possible
that a Startup process is using the maximum resoures of your computer or any
kind of Virus / Spyware infection may causing the problem. Follow Step 3 to
diagnose it.

3. To diagnose the any kind of infection in Startup process try the
following link:

http://technodigits.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/how-to-manually-remove-viruses-from-your-system/

Here you will find to useful small utilities. One is Process Explorer and
another is Autoruns. If your system is infected by any kind of Spyware then
you will not be able to remove those infected processes from Startup or by
Ending Task or by removing them from MSCONFIG or by using common Process and
Startup managers. Here those above utilities may help you. Using the Process
Explorer you can diagnose unusual processes and can End Task them and later
can remove them from Startup using AutoRuns. The detail explanation is given
in the link.

Hope this help, let us know!