Programs load/perform extremely SLOW

[beto]

Hi,

About a week ago I left my PC idle for a few minutes. I came back and
clicked on
a minimized Internet Explorer page. The page began to remanifest itself and
the PC began making this loading noise but it never stopped so I turned off
and turned
back on the PC. When I inputted my password to log in to my administrator
profile I get a little window saying it may not be available because of
networking security issues or the profile is corrupt. It also tells me I will
log in using a temporary profile and when it loads the desktop is different
and all my files are gone. I perform a system restore to a couple days back
and I'm able to load my profile and all the files are there.

But when I try to go online again by opening IE, the Yahoo page doesn't
load. What happens is that the page is blank and the PC makes this distinct
sound while the page is trying to load. The noise is sort of a clicking sound
and goes sort of like this " click click click, SLIGHT pause, click click
click, SLIGHT PAUSE, and then many clicks that sound sort of like a machine
gun basically. So it's click click click, SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click,
SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click click click click click click click click
click. And the slight pauses are very brief, less than a second. If I let it
doing all that loading and the noise it can take more than 5 minutes to load
and even when it loads it doesn't stop the noise. I try to close the loading
page and it wont close. I have to get a 'program is not responding' window
before it can close.

So then I downloaded Norton Antivirus 2010 and it removed 12 viruses, 285
tracking cookies, and 1 adware. I thought this was the problem but when I
tried to go online again, nope. Same slow loading and same clicking noises.
And it's not
just Internet Explorer that loads slow. Basically any program that requires
any form of processing does not run normally. Trying to open a Windows Media
PLayer
video also loads very slow and makes the same sound. My PC has Windows XP SP2
and Internet Explorer 6.0. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

p.s. Last night I disabled System Restore and started in Safe Mode to run a
full system scan but nothing was detected.

 

[Touch Base]

Hi,

About a week ago I left my PC idle for a few minutes. I came back and
clicked on
a minimized Internet Explorer page. The page began to remanifest itself and
the PC began making this loading noise but it never stopped so I turned off
and turned
back on the PC. When I inputted my password to log in to my administrator
profile I get a little window saying it may not be available because of
networking security issues or the profile is corrupt. It also tells me I
will
log in using a temporary profile and when it loads the desktop is different
and all my files are gone. I perform a system restore to a couple days back
and I'm able to load my profile and all the files are there.

But when I try to go online again by opening IE, the Yahoo page doesn't
load. What happens is that the page is blank and the PC makes this distinct
sound while the page is trying to load. The noise is sort of a clicking
sound
and goes sort of like this " click click click, SLIGHT pause, click click
click, SLIGHT PAUSE, and then many clicks that sound sort of like a machine
gun basically. So it's click click click, SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click,
SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click click click click click click click click
click. And the slight pauses are very brief, less than a second. If I let it
doing all that loading and the noise it can take more than 5 minutes to load
and even when it loads it doesn't stop the noise. I try to close the loading
page and it wont close. I have to get a 'program is not responding' window
before it can close.

So then I downloaded Norton Antivirus 2010 and it removed 12 viruses, 285
tracking cookies, and 1 adware. I thought this was the problem but when I
tried to go online again, nope. Same slow loading and same clicking noises.
And it's not
just Internet Explorer that loads slow. Basically any program that requires
any form of processing does not run normally. Trying to open a Windows Media
PLayer
video also loads very slow and makes the same sound. My PC has Windows XP
SP2
and Internet Explorer 6.0. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

p.s. Last night I disabled System Restore and started in Safe Mode to run a
full system scan but nothing was detected.

================================================================
"The noise is sort of a clicking sound
and goes sort of like this " click click click, SLIGHT pause, click click
click, SLIGHT PAUSE, and then many clicks that sound sort of like a machine
gun basically. So it's click click click, SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click,
SLIGHT PAUSE, click click click click click click click click click click
click. And the slight pauses are very brief, less than a second. If I let it
doing all that loading and the noise it can take more than 5 minutes to load
and even when it loads it doesn't stop the noise. I try to close the loading
page and it wont close. I have to get a 'program is not responding' window
before it can close."

---------------

I would be backing up my data or complete hard drive and then running the
hard drive vendors hard drive checking program.

From your description in my opinion your hard drive may be faulty and in
eminent danger of failing.

So open your case and check the make of your hard drive then check here for
the program required to run the test.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Depending on who the vendor is you may need to create a bootable floppy
hence the need for a floppy drive to run the test or
otherwise you may need to burn a ISO file to disk. Some vendors provide both
a program for floppy and an ISO file.

 

[beto]

I do have a floppy drive if it is needed so I am going to try your
suggestion. Hopefully something is revealed. Thanks, I'll post an update.

 

[beto]

I have a Seagate ST3160021A Firmware 3.06

I downloaded Seatools for Windows and there were 5 tests I ran. The first
test was the SMART Check and it passed. Second was the Short Drive Self Test
and that failed. It failed the Long Drive Self Test. The Short Generic Read
test was passed. And the Long Generic Read test failed.

If there is something wrong with the hard drive I'm wondering if there is a
fix. I'm going to try contact Seagate and see if they know anything about
this.

Also, while doing the tests I noticed a feature in Seatools that lets you
use the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool I recently downloaded from
Windows Updates. I'm trying to figure out where this tool is located because
I can't find it but yet I can access it only through Seatools.

 

[Touch Base]

I have a Seagate ST3160021A Firmware 3.06

I downloaded Seatools for Windows and there were 5 tests I ran. The first
test was the SMART Check and it passed. Second was the Short Drive Self Test
and that failed. It failed the Long Drive Self Test. The Short Generic Read
test was passed. And the Long Generic Read test failed.

If there is something wrong with the hard drive I'm wondering if there is a
fix. I'm going to try contact Seagate and see if they know anything about
this.

Also, while doing the tests I noticed a feature in Seatools that lets you
use the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool I recently downloaded from
Windows Updates. I'm trying to figure out where this tool is located because
I can't find it but yet I can access it only through Seatools.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Normally when you run those tests particularly the Long Drive Self Test if
Seatools can fix it then you will get that option, if not then the drive
needs to be replaced.

If it is still under the 12 month warranty take it back to the place of
purchase for a replacement hard drive. If it is more than 12 months you may
have to send it back yourself.

Check here if it is still under warranty - some hard drives have a 3-5 year
warranty

https://store.seagate.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SgCheckWarrantyView?langId

I reiterate:

I would be backing up my data or complete hard drive...

From your description in my opinion your hard drive may be faulty and in
eminent danger of failing.

 

[beto]

A few days ago I seem to have fixed the problem. I went to My Computer and
right clicked the C: Drive and under Tools selected Error Checking. It said a
disk check would happen the next time I restarted because of some files
needing access, so I restarted. It took about an hour and a half and it went
through about 5 steps some of which corrected certain files. When the desktop
loaded I tried going online again and it worked. The PC no longer makes that
clicking sound and the programs all run properly. I did backup my files a
week ago in case nothing worked, but so far it's back to normal.

 

[Touch Base]

A few days ago I seem to have fixed the problem. I went to My Computer and
right clicked the C: Drive and under Tools selected Error Checking. It said
a
disk check would happen the next time I restarted because of some files
needing access, so I restarted. It took about an hour and a half and it went
through about 5 steps some of which corrected certain files. When the
desktop
loaded I tried going online again and it worked. The PC no longer makes that
clicking sound and the programs all run properly. I did backup my files a
week ago in case nothing worked, but so far it's back to normal.



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

OK

Well it's good that XP did a chkdsk and repaired bad sectors but because
Seatools was not able to repair the bad sectors for you is
an omnious sign that the hard drive is not reliable and I would still
consider a replacement drive. Good luck.