[bcrdukes]

Revscene,

I need help with my PC.

I was gifted a Compaq PC (very ghetto specs) running on Windows 7. Often, the PC will just be sitting there idle with Skype and Google Hangouts with Winamp running. I've owned this PC for a good 5 years now.

Then out of nowhere, what I think is the hard drive spins likes crazy, doing its own thing for a good 15 - 20 minutes and anything I do, takes forever. If someone where sending me a message via Skype, the window wouldn't pop up for a good 5 minutes. The PC becomes practically useless at this point.

Please help. I'm about to introduce a sledge hammer to my PC.

Thanks.

bcrdukes

[mb_]

Inb4 no one helps just to see you take a sledge hammer to it

---

In all seriousness, the hard drive could be on it's way out

[yray]

bcrdukes not using a mac... does not compute :fulloffuck:

[R&R]

Just buy a ssd

[bcrdukes]

bcrdukes not using a mac... does not compute :fulloffuck:

Actually, I came from a PowerMac G4 tower and it suffered the same fate.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Hard drive failing

[bcrdukes]

Thanks for the replies.

So given that it is likely a hard drive failure, I think it's safe to say that it's time to back up the hard drive sooner than later. What are my options in doing this? I know for a fact that this stupid case has only a slot for one hard drive and it is SCSI. God damn it.

Thanks again.

[Razor Ramon HG]

I would do this:
1) Stick your hard drive in the freezer in an airtight bag for 24 hours
2) Get a hold of an external USB hard drive
3) Pray to Buddha you can pull all your important shit off of it before it dies

[Reeyal]

Pretty sure the hard drive is failing.
Most Compaq PCs have a hard drive test in the BIOS. It's called DPS test or something like that. It will tell you right away if the hard drive needs replacement.

[TOS'd]

Do you have a laptop to use? You could always remove the hdd from the compaq and plug it into a hard drive docking station (http://search.ncix.com/search/?qcatid=0&q=hard+drive+dock) to retrieve any important files you wish to backup.

Or if you have another computer to use, just plug the hdd from the compaq into the other one and retrieve the files you wish to backup.

As a sign of changing times, I have one of those hard drive docks I can lend you. txt if srs.

Kappa

[bcrdukes]

So it appears the hard drive is a Western Digital. I downloaded their diagnostic software and it came back clean.

I also ran Malware Bytes just to be safe - nothing.

I'll wait and see what happens over the next few days. If this keeps up, holy fuck, I'm going to smash this thing on Main Street and throw it through multicartural's apartments in Gastown making sure it hits him on the head. Fuck.

[smoothie.]

If you're NOT trolling...

Disable antivirus/indexing that could be running in the background.

If you need the drive copied, PM me :hotbaby:

[underscore]

Back up your files and reformat it, has it ever been reformatted in these 5 years?

[bcrdukes]

If you're NOT trolling...

Disable antivirus/indexing that could be running in the background.

If you need the drive copied, PM me :hotbaby:

Not trolling. This is the only PC I have.

The only antivirus I have is Microsoft Security Essentials (or whatever it's called.) I went through a list of programs running in the background and startup programs and have disabled some, but most of them were non-intrusive. I'll give this another week or so before I do anything. It's been an on-going thing for a few months and I've finally lost my patience.

Back up your files and reformat it, has it ever been reformatted in these 5 years?

No, I have never. It was fine until this shit started happening.

[smoothie.]

you could check the drive with

crystaldiskinfo or hdtune, but if it is failing... you'll just make it worse

[bcrdukes]

Fuck this.

I'm buying a Mac.

[smoothie.]

take your PC to the apple store and have them transfer your files over for free

[bcrdukes]

I wasn't serious about buying a Mac.

[InvisibleSoul]

I'm surprised everyone thinks it's the hard drive.

From what you described, I think it's because you don't have enough memory, and all that disk activity when the machine is unresponsive is when it's swapping the memory to disk.

How much RAM does this machine have, and what is the usage like if you go to Task Manager under the Performance tab?

[Eff-1]

I'm no expert but was thinking maybe it could be the motherboard on the way out?

Either way, I suggest you quickly plug in an external HDD and backup only your most important docs and photos for now. Or upload those files to dropbox.

[TOS'd]

After much deliberation, I have concluded it is the user (http://www.revscene.net/forums/members/bcrdukes-2854/) that is at fault.

[smoothie.]

check that superfetch is turned off, it kills most windows 8 machines i've worked on. some 7's have it on by default

[bcrdukes]

I'm surprised everyone thinks it's the hard drive.

From what you described, I think it's because you don't have enough memory, and all that disk activity when the machine is unresponsive is when it's swapping the memory to disk.

How much RAM does this machine have, and what is the usage like if you go to Task Manager under the Performance tab?

I had a lurking suspicion it isn't the hard drive, but being a noob, I have no way of confirming. I opened up the case and FML - there are no free RAM slots. What a piece of shit.

The PC shows 3GB of ram, 2.75 of which is usable. Going into Task Manager > Performance shows the following:

http://bcrdukes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/task_manager_bcrdukes_march2015.jpg

I only have Outlook, Chrome, Skype, and Hangouts running.

Edit: I think upgrading this PC is pointless. Am I just better off buying a custom built PC?

[smoothie.]

download CCleaner

clear all the temp files
clean up the registry
dont bother backing it up

defrag hard drive

see if that helps

[smoothie.]

Dukes, if there is a disk in the cd/dvd tray, I'm gonna laugh.

[bcrdukes]

No, there isn't.

That would be funny though. But no. Straight up, my hard drives goes on this insane spaz and it gets out of control. I could make an espresso, a cappuccino and with enough time to wash all the dishes and a full wipe-down of my counters and if I'm lucky, the fucking thing is still going berserk. It's like it hit VTEC and it's stuck there forever.

Edit: Just saw your previous post. Disk is defrag'd regularly. I looked up CCleaner. I have to pay for that shit? Man, how the hell am I going to afford my dry cappuccinos and espresso when I'm out?

[underscore]

CCleaner should be free, if you haven't had it formatted in 5 years though I'd say it's well overdue.

[smoothie.]

theres a free one - use that.

pm me your number if you want live support.

[InvisibleSoul]

I had a lurking suspicion it isn't the hard drive, but being a noob, I have no way of confirming. I opened up the case and FML - there are no free RAM slots. What a piece of shit.

The PC shows 3GB of ram, 2.75 of which is usable. Going into Task Manager > Performance shows the following:

http://bcrdukes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/task_manager_bcrdukes_march2015.jpg

I only have Outlook, Chrome, Skype, and Hangouts running.

Edit: I think upgrading this PC is pointless. Am I just better off buying a custom built PC?

Click through the Resource Monitor and the Memory tab. Sort by Working Set.

What does that show?

[bcrdukes]

Click through the Resource Monitor and the Memory tab. Sort by Working Set.

What does that show?

Oh, shit. Earlier, there was only 35MB or RAM available.

http://bcrdukes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/working_memory.jpg

[smoothie.]

Invisible wins with pagefiling.

:okay:

[InvisibleSoul]

Oh, shit. Earlier, there was only 35MB or RAM available.

http://bcrdukes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/working_memory.jpg

Close some Chrome browser windows/tabs, man!

But yeah... pretty sure swapping from running out of physical memory is your problem.

Keep an eye on the "Free" and "Cached" numbers and see how it changes corresponding to before and after the next time your machine gets unresponsive.

Programs are way too memory hungry these days.

[bcrdukes]

Thanks guys. :okay:

[inv4zn]

Chrome does this thing where it opens multiple instances of itself to run various things, for "effeciency".

It comes with it's own internal Taskmanager (I think Shift + Escape) when in Chrome - and you can see what exactly in Chrome is killing the system.

[double0seven]

I'm selling my mac. PM me

[SoNaRWaVe]

if your hard drive has space left in it, try doubling your page file.

To change the size of the virtual memory paging file

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
1.
Open System in Control Panel.
2.
On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
3.
On the Advanced tab, under Virtual memory, click Change.
4.
Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
5.
Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, and type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases typically do not require a restart.