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Hardware malfunction? Need help pinpointing the problem.

Go to solution Solved by DigitalHermit,

Alright. RAM seems to be fine. At least that's what the memory check resulted in. Also in regard to the second poster, the Hard Drive does not make any hearable noises. But I can listen to it working, even when the notebook is idle, when I get my ear close enough to the area where the drive is. The noise is a continuous spin-like noise, and a frequent tic or scratch noise which, I assume, is being produced by the reading heads right ?

 

That might be normal operational noise...

Have you checked for fragmentation? I recommend using Defraggler...

 

Also, please quote the person you're replying to... It's the third button from the left at the bottom of the post...

Hello.

I have serious problem with my notebook. The notebook itself is relatively new (came out in 2012 if my memory serves me right). I have only been using it for half a year. It's performance was good. At some point I decided to switch from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 . The notebook was working fine at first, but after a while (a week or so) the notebook started acting weird. Windows Explorer and applications, like my web browser, would go on a "not respoding" state, only to become normal again after 20-50 seconds. This became more frequent each day, to the point of rendering my computer almost unusable. I opened the resource manager ,( or whatever its name is, I am not using English Version of windows), at the time of the above event my hard drive would constantly work at 99% and it's read speed would be between 500 KBps - 2 MBps (I am not very knowledgable on tech stuff but I think that this is not a normal speed, am I wrong ?) . I decided to go back to windows 7 so I formated the Hard Disk in order to install the OS. Although the problem still persists, it  is less likely to happen. However, new problems popped up like very long Boot and Shut down times(Longer than the time before the change into Windows 8.1 happened) and frequent lag spikes on games. (The only games that are installed are LoL, OSU! and Terraria). Now, I know that the problem here is probably the Hard Drive, but since I do have the money and equipment to make experiments with the notebook's parts, I want to be sure that the problem is,  indeedm the Hard Drive and not related to the OS or some other hardware malfunction.That is why I decided to make this post, and I would be glad if you could help me. Below I will note specifications and some screenshots. Thank you in advance.

 

Notebook Model : Samsung 300E5A S04

Mainboard: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. 300E4A/300E5A/300E7A/3430EA/3530EA 

Operating Sys. (What I am CURRENTLY running): Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU: Intel Pentium B950 2.10GHz

RAM: A-Data, Single Channel, 4 GB, 665MHz

Graphics: 1) Onboard Intel HD Graphics 2)NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (For 3D Applications)

HDD: Seagate 500GB 5400RPM SATA-2 (Model: ST500LM012 HN-M500MBB)

Some extra info about my hard drive: The hard drive has 4 partitions and this is how it was when I recieved the notebook. (More info in screenshots)

Temperatures: Mainboard: 47-55| CPU: 38-59 (In some rare cases it can reach up to 70, but only under much workload) | Graphics: 34-36 |

HDD: 29-31.  (All temps. are measured in degrees celsius)

 

Notes: All the drivers are up to date. When playing either of the games stated above the temps. are: CPU: 74-81 | Graphics: 63-68 | Mainboard: 57-60 | HDD: Steady at 32. (Might the problem be caused by some damage due to the high temperatures ?). I did change the thermal advensive on the GPU and the CPU 2 days ago. Before that the CPU temp would reach as high as 87 Degrees.The CPU's Tjunction temp is 85.

 

ScreenShots (I apologize for not running an english version of Windows but that is the only language available since the OS is authentic and backed up in the hard drive on one of the partitions, which lets me install it at any given time through samsung's Recovery Solution App)

 

HDD S.M.A.R.T.

ZmqNH34.jpg

 

Partiotions and Resource Manager graphs

Q91lZ1K.jpg

 

Graph while playing OSU. The ScrnShot was not take during gameplay, but the spikes on the Hard Drive graph are during the gameplay. Also, the times the lag, or lag spikes occur during the game are not visible on the game's frame rate counter.

bHcpNFF.jpg

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SERN did it, they found you

 

try crystaldiscinfo, maybe check your ram as well.

cpu: intel i5 4670k @ 4.5ghz Ram: G skill ares 2x4gb 2166mhz cl10 Gpu: GTX 680 liquid cooled cpu cooler: Raijintek ereboss Mobo: gigabyte z87x ud5h psu: cm gx650 bronze Case: Zalman Z9 plus


Listen if you care.

Cpu: intel i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz Ram: G skill  ripjaws 2x4gb Gpu: nvidia gtx 970 cpu cooler: akasa venom voodoo Mobo: G1.Sniper Z6 Psu: XFX proseries 650w Case: Zalman H1

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Damn that Supah Hackah. He is never here when you need him... 

 

Here is a Screenshot of Crystal Disk Info. By the way, there were multiple versions of it, I downloaded the Stadard one. I am now running a RAM test and will be posting results soon.

nCdg4RY.jpg

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Does your HDD make any noise?

 

Some signs of a dying drive may not appear on SMART data...

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Alright. RAM seems to be fine. At least that's what the memory check resulted in. Also in regard to the second poster, the Hard Drive does not make any hearable noises. But I can listen to it working, even when the notebook is idle, when I get my ear close enough to the area where the drive is. The noise is a continuous spin-like noise, and a frequent tic or scratch noise which, I assume, is being produced by the reading heads right ?

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Alright. RAM seems to be fine. At least that's what the memory check resulted in. Also in regard to the second poster, the Hard Drive does not make any hearable noises. But I can listen to it working, even when the notebook is idle, when I get my ear close enough to the area where the drive is. The noise is a continuous spin-like noise, and a frequent tic or scratch noise which, I assume, is being produced by the reading heads right ?

 

That might be normal operational noise...

Have you checked for fragmentation? I recommend using Defraggler...

 

Also, please quote the person you're replying to... It's the third button from the left at the bottom of the post...

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That might be normal operational noise...

Have you checked for fragmentation? I recommend using Defraggler...

 

Also, please quote the person you're replying to... It's the third button from the left at the bottom of the post...

I downloaded the program you suggested, and used "Analyze" on the hard drive. It seems that it found a lot of Fragmented blocks. Almost half of the blocks were marked as fragmented. Moreover, Disk Health is marked as Good. To be honest I did not expect that since I formated the hard drive recently. But I guess formating it has nothing to do with fragmentation, right ? Should I initiate a Defrag ?

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I downloaded the program you suggested, and used "Analyze" on the hard drive. It seems that it found a lot of Fragmented blocks. Almost half of the blocks were marked as fragmented. To be honest I did not expect that since I formated the hard drive recently. But I guess formating it has nothing to do with fragmentation, right ? Should I initiate a Defrag ?

 

Do the defrag in safe mode to increase its effectiveness...

 

When it comes to formatting, the first few boots will cause fragmentation... I think it might have something to do with the 'recently used' timestamps and drive optimization? (idk, lel) I had this experience with my drives where I needed to defrag after the first week of use... The drive was 30% fragmented...

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Do the defrag in safe mode to increase its effectiveness...

 

When it comes to formatting, the first few boots will cause fragmentation... I think it might have something to do with the 'recently used' timestamps and drive optimization? (idk, lel) I had this experience with my drives where I needed to defrag after the first week of use... The drive was 30% fragmented...

 I just realized there is a fragmentation percentage inticator, lol. I am blind  :mellow: . Mine has a fragmentation percentage of 27%. I am not doubting you, but how does safemode help increase the effectiveness? Also, the remaining time of the fragmentation, seems to be very unstable. It flactuates between 1 day and 8 hours. Is this normal ? 

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 I just realized there is a fragmentation percentage inticator, lol. I am blind  :mellow: . Mine has a fragmentation percentage of 27%. I am not doubting you, but how does safemode help increase the effectiveness? Also, the remaining time of the fragmentation, seems to be very unstable. It flactuates between 1 day and 8 hours. Is this normal ? 

 

By going into safe mode, a lot of services and background processes are disabled so more files can be defragmented...

Fluctuations in the remaining time is normal... I had one session go from 72 hours to 3 hours within 5 minutes and the session ended in 4 hours 30 minutes...

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By going into safe mode, a lot of services and background processes are disabled so more files can be defragmented...

Fluctuations in the remaining time is normal... I had one session go from 72 hours to 3 hours within 5 minutes and the session ended in 4 hours 30 minutes...

Thanks for the info. I will let the Defrag complete, and test drive the notebook for a day. I will report back tommorow.

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Thanks for the info. I will let the Defrag complete, and test drive the notebook for a day. I will report back tommorow.

 

Best of luck.

 

Also, if you have any active antivirus software that scans stuff in the background, that can be the cause of the sluggishness too, coupled with the fragmentation...

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Best of luck.

 

Also, if you have any active antivirus software that scans stuff in the background, that can be the cause of the sluggishness too, coupled with the fragmentation...

I kind of already knew that, so I actually disabled the antivirus before starting the defrag. I know I could just disable the scan and not the antivirus as a whole, but you know what they say, better safe than sorry.

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Best of luck.

 

Also, if you have any active antivirus software that scans stuff in the background, that can be the cause of the sluggishness too, coupled with the fragmentation...

Alright! After some testing on apps and games, I have come to the conclusion that the Hard Drive is fine. No more lag spikes in osu! . (yay :lol: ). The whole computer runs smoother than before. I also removed some unnecessary startup applications and that seems to have improved the boot time quite significantly, so that's out of the way too. I would like to thank you for your offering to help me, and for the time you spend on listening to my problem! 

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Alright! After some testing on apps and games, I have come to the conclusion that the Hard Drive is fine. No more lag spikes in osu! . (yay :lol: ). The whole computer runs smoother than before. I also removed some unnecessary startup applications and that seems to have improved the boot time quite significantly, so that's out of the way too. I would like to thank you for your offering to help me, and for the time you spend for listening to my problem! 

 

No probs.

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