System only stable for about 10mins

osaddictosaddict London, UK
edited February 2009 in Science & Tech
I was using my laptop all last night and it was working fine, no problems what so ever.

This morning I switch it on, open Firefox and it stumbles almost straight away, so I wait, try to open task manager, or anything else, alas, nothing works.

I have to physically switch off and on. On reboot I try just using windows for a bit - opening folders, using the start menu etc - again it stumbles.

I restart (physically again), but this time in safe mode - everything seems to work for a bit longer so I reboot (normally this time!) and manage to open event viewer - there's some error about the C: drive and Vista suggests a checkdisk - so I schedule a checkdisk and one runs, great, takes ages but then reboots and works fine for about 20mins or so.

Now I can't use the PC for more than about 10-20mins before it locks up and I have to physically restart it.

I tried 'Last known good configuration' alas it doesn't seem to have helped.

What else can I do?! - it takes longer for it to restart than I am able to use it for at present!

Comments

  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited February 2009
    I'd suggest running memtest on it and then rebooting into safemode and see if it's stable in safemode. Also once in safemode do a chkdsk /r which will run a checkdisk next time it reboots.

    Then we go from there.
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Just run a few full cycles of memtest and it passed fine. It began a checkdisk on restart, so I've left that running - I shall go into safemode run another from there...
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Well, it was stable for a good while - over an hour or so, so I decided to give the checkdisk /r a go, as I expected, it's taking a while 3hrs + atm, however, it seems to be stuck on step 5, hanging at 83 percent :(

    Any ideas what would cause this, and what I can do to rectify it?!
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    Any ideas what would cause this, and what I can do to rectify it?!
    If after 15-20 minutes, it still won't advance, run checkdisk again. If it still won't get past that point, your drive needs replacing.
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Hmm, it's been at that stage since about 7 now - so that's nearly 3 hours - also, it was at 85% then dropped to 83% - apparently that suggests it's fixing something. Not sure if I should just leave it overnight to be certain or whether I should just kill it (which would require switching it off physically, not gracefully).

    Hmm
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Caps lock light did not respond when pressed, and the hdd light was not flickering... I've restarted checkdisk... I guess I'll see in the morning - I ain't waiting around now for another 4-5 hours!
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    If when you arise in the morning and Checkdisk hasn't complete, your next step is salvage whatever data you can, assuming you don't have a backup of your computer. At this point, it appears that your hard drive's days have come to an end.
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    It didn't work, bailed at only 16% on the final check this time.

    It runs quick and without any problems when using /f switch.

    Just need to use the lappy for a bit now and see how stable it is I guess.

    Bit of a cause for concern that the /r stumbles though isn't it?

    Oh yeah, anything I needed to get off it I nabbed this morning on to a usb HDD, was only around 3gbs of random stuff so nothing too bad.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    If it won't work with the /R flag, your hard drive is screwed.
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Hmm, it's been fine since the time I made the post.

    It was a concern that /r didn't work.

    Can I do anything further to see why it's not working, or, is it simply a defective HDD, which whilst working atm will give up the ghost soon enough?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    It will probably do just that, yes. Failure to complete a chkdsk with the /r flag indicates that there are unrecoverable deformities in the geometry of your hard disk.
  • osaddictosaddict London, UK
    edited February 2009
    Hmm, well, as I said, everything is backed up on it, so I guess I should dig out the restore disks and make a note of the other stuff I have installed on it, and keep an eye out for a new drive. (I take it there's no logic to making an image of it?)

    I'm rather partial to Seagate drives - are they still the ones to go for?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    I like Seagate as well. :)
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