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I have a problem with my Gateway DX4831-01e desktop computer (1 1/2 years old) which is running Windows 7.
Last week, something happened (I don't know if it was an upgrade or a virus) but Windows 7 (64) started running extremely sluggish. I restarted and it was extremely slow on start up. I can get into Safe mode but it takes a couple of hours to load all. I can still access my hard drive and files there and I can plug devices into my USB ports (to allow backups and to load files for running)
On start up it goes from the Gateway screen to the Bios screen and then starts acting slow. Pressing F8 over and over gets me into Safe mode but it is very slow and during driver loading, it seems to hang up on the ClassPNP.sys file, but it eventually loads all(after an hour or so).
I have tried many things including running System restore and repair and running sfc /scannow (took overnight), removing AVG 2011 free (my virus scanner) and all of the folders that the AVG removal tool didn't remove, and deleting Temp files.
One other strange thing I noticed is that in my Start up programs (I use selective start up) there were three checkboxes for starting up a Java update, and Adobe reader and Adobe acrobat.) I removed all checkboxes but the system gets slow before I even get to the start up files, but it was strange and might point to the cause of the big problem.
My questions are, what is happening between the Bios screen and the driver loading screen that would slow it down? Could it be prefetch or start up file loading? I don't think so because I haven't even gotten to the Safe mode choice screen before the slow down happens.
Should I erase Prefetch or remove and reinstall the button cell battery to reset Bios? Will it ask me for a password on restart that I know I don't have?
Thanks in advance!
Gwen
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
HI,
Gateway should have documentation on installing Windows on a new drive. And
they will sell the installation media cheap, if you need it, since you already own
Windows. Once you have the correct disk the installation is very straight forward.
The Repair Disk you made is not an installation disk.
Hope this helps.
Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle <- Mark Twain said it right.
If a computer is slow in the initial stages of booting, it is because the hard drive is faulty or because there are faults on the hard drive. This is the pre-cursor to total hard drive failure.
What you need to do is identify the make and of the hard drive, and then download and run the test utilities. It seems that it may take some time for you to be able to complete the task as the hard drive is in a pretty bad state already, but try anyway.
To make life easier, when you have found out what make and type the drive is, use another computer to get and create the utilities CD. You would do well to select the utilities which have to be booted from CD at startup, not the utilities which run within Windows. In this way, you can avoid having to wait for Windows to load.
Western Digital.. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en
Seagate/Maxtor.. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/
These are the most likely..
Hitting the pause/break key when the screen comes up should freeze it.
Jerry
I have seen the screen but it flashes by so quickly. I guess there's no harm in restarting over and over into that new boot disk until I have all of the information.
And, I won't try to remove the BIOS battery until I know how exactly or until I know that it will help.
I'll be back with the BIOS manufacturer's name.
You do not want to break the clips holding the battery!
