[Shikamaru]

Please help me. My laptop (Acer Travelmate 4152LMi) was very okay this day. In the afternoon, I viewed some pictures from my friend's CD. That CD was clean and had no viruses. Still while viewing, my laptop suddenly froze. We had no choice but to restart it. It did not restart until we took the CD out. The problem is, after that incident, my laptop now has frequent slowdowns. Startup used to be very quick. Now it's so slow that the startup sound is kind of slowing/skipping. When you play music, the same thing happens. It's as if the laptop is reading/doing a very hard task every few seconds that makes things slowdown. This happens every few seconds. Thus music/videos don't play properly when. How could this happen when it was as good as new just this morning?

Please help me. Thanks in advance.

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Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

Windows will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this. This will take an hour or so before it gets to the desktop.

When it gets to the desktop, the system files and the hard drive will be as they should and you can check for any improvement

This section is optional

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

If no change, the next thing to do would be a repair install, this will leave data and settings intact

XP Repair

If you are unable to run XP Repair

Alternate XP Repair

Use the last one, Windows Installation CD to repair the current installation, which uses a slightly different method

After running the repair it will be necessary to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[Retired Tech]

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

Windows will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this. This will take an hour or so before it gets to the desktop.

When it gets to the desktop, the system files and the hard drive will be as they should and you can check for any improvement

This section is optional

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

If no change, the next thing to do would be a repair install, this will leave data and settings intact

XP Repair

If you are unable to run XP Repair

Alternate XP Repair

Use the last one, Windows Installation CD to repair the current installation, which uses a slightly different method

After running the repair it will be necessary to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[Shikamaru]

Okay... I'm currently defragging it now. It's taking a long time. Is that normal? Also, do you need any of my error logs? I was reviewing these logs and at that day when it hanged it had many errors saying "The CD has a bad block."

[Retired Tech]

If you haven't defragmented the disc, or not for a while, it will take ages

You should go as far as running chkdsk /f /r then checking how it is

[Shikamaru]

Oh no... Will it take years? Can I use any XP CD or should I use the one that was installed on my laptop?

[Retired Tech]

The one that was installed on your laptop

Defragmenting is as quick in the long run as the file system will be ordered and the other checks won't have to hunt for ages all over the drive

[Shikamaru]

Okay... I can't find my XP Home Edition CD. Is there any workaround? Can I use the XP Professional CD?

[Retired Tech]

Very unlikely

You can borrow an XP Home Edition CD to run sfc /scannow though it will need to be the same version as was originally installed, if you downloaded SP2 then you need an SP1 CD

If you use the borrowed CD to run the repair, if it gets to that, you will need to use your product key

[Shikamaru]

According to the My Computer Properties,

System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

Registered to:
<my name>

I can't remember if I downloaded SP2 or it was already included. How would I know then? Is that my product key up there? If it's not where could I find it? Is it in my XP Home user's manual?

[Retired Tech]

It should be on the PC or there should have been a sticker on the CD wallet, which should have been attached to the PC

Go to Microsoft Update and check installation history

[Shikamaru]

Umm... You mean I can view my product key in the PC? Where? I can't find the CD jacket either.

[Retired Tech]

On the outside of the PC, if it isn't there you can use programmes which will tell you what it is

[Shikamaru]

Oh well... I really can't find it. Guess I'll just give up. Anyway, thanks for helping me. I really apprecite your/this forum's help. Keep it up.

[Retired Tech]

Check back tomorrow, you can find the product key from the PC, some programmes have stopped doing it so I will need to ask

[Shikamaru]

Okay. Thanks. I have to go to school now.