[zcrazymonkys]

Ok so for the past couple of days i have been having several issues with my desktop computer. For a while every time I would try to boot it it would just kinda give up and sit there. I did a windows repair and that seemed to fix it. But now i constantly get the blue screen of death. Some friends seem to think that this is a hard drive issue and that it could be failing. I upgraded the pcs components two summers ago but the hard drive is still the original from about 8 years ago. I have done numerous virus scans (nothing comes up) so now I'm just backing everything up. PLEASE HELP!!!

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zcrazymonkys

Your friends may be correct in that the issue is a failing HDD but it also may not be.
Once you have backed up all your data can you do the following for us please;

Run Speccy and provide a url for us http://www.piriform....file-to-the-web

Go to Start then to Run/Search
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On the left side click on Disk Management
On the right side you will see your hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply.
Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.


Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[phillpower2]

zcrazymonkys

Your friends may be correct in that the issue is a failing HDD but it also may not be.
Once you have backed up all your data can you do the following for us please;

Run Speccy and provide a url for us http://www.piriform....file-to-the-web

Go to Start then to Run/Search
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On the left side click on Disk Management
On the right side you will see your hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply.
Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.


Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[zcrazymonkys]

http://speccy.pirifo...O75H0rYyuz1RlsX

Ok i have attached the screen shot. The internal hard drives are the C: and D: drives.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Veeg]

I am going to say it's your C drive and the only thing i see wrong with it,is...........it is almost full...in my experience with just 9% free space,most pc's with a windows os doesn't behave very well..

[phillpower2]

Couple of things of note
1: Your C: drive which has the OS on it is too low on free storage space and is most likely the cause of the issue, see my canned text below.
2: You are using AVG as your anti virus software, AVG was among the best AVs for many years but has now fallen out of favour with many people because it hogs system resources, in short AVG is compounding the issue that you are having.
3: Your power results are showing a couple of low readings, these may be anomalous but we will need to check them out as well.

Please note that you must always have a minimum of between 15 and 20% of a HDDs overall storage capacity available as free space or you risk the data on the drive becoming corrupt or in a worst case scenario mechanical failure of the HDD itself.
The above can render a computer inoperable if the HDD concerned has the OS on it due to the MBR (Master Boot Record) becoming damaged/corrupt, please see information @ http://pcsupport.abo...sterbootrec.htm

The first thing that you can do to help with this is uninstall any software that you no longer use, if the software has an uninstaller use that but if not use the control panel/uninstall procedure.

If AVG is the free version uninstall it using the uninstaller tool and then install either Avast or MSE, both offer very good protection, are light on system resources and free, AVG uninstaller http://www.avg.com/gb-en/utilities

I will help you free up some more space on the C: drive when you have provided an update.

[zcrazymonkys]

I followed your advice and tried to free up some space on my C: drive. I uninstalled AVG and installed avast!. Sadly I have to uninstall a bunch of my games but they are mostly all on steam so that doesn't matter. Here are the updated specs:

http://speccy.pirifo...c5gB0sumMT4xbSF

Attached Thumbnails

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[Veeg]

Well you did free up some space from 9% to 34%,which is not bad...I would suggest that you may need a bigger HDD something bigger than 180 gig. You could go with a 300 gig,maybe a 500 gig HDD the prices on this size isn't to bad..

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update which shows you have done a good job on freeing up a fair amount of storage space

How is the computer behaving at present.

The next suggestion is to tidy up the remaining data on your HDD, please follow the directions provided below starting with Autoruns http://technet.micro...ernals/bb963902

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
5: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
6: Attach to your next reply.

2nd: Download and run TFC from http://www.geekstogo...ds&showfile=187 your computer should automatically re-boot on completion but if not do it manually.

3rd: Defrag your HDD http://www.auslogics...re/disk-defrag/ a tidy drive is a more efficient drive, please note that I am not suggesting that you use any other product or service at the link.

To speed up your boot times find any unnecessary programs linked to start up "how to" below;

START -> RUN
type MSCONFIG in the RUN box
then click OK

Click on the start-up TAB

Look at each line that has a check in the box, these are start-up items, with the exception of Windows programs and your AV software uncheck the ones you do not want to run at start-up.

[iammykyl]

Gday.
Some observations/Speccy/suggestions.
A look in Task scheduler,
7/5/2013 9:20 PM;: AVG-Secure-Search-Update_JUNE2013_TB_rmv7/8/2013 12:05 AM;: AVG-Secure-Search-Update_JUNE2013_HP_rmvCCleanerSkipUAC

RAM.
Running as Single,
Shows as in slots 1&2. Possible Duel Channel, 1&3, if supported?
XMP not enabled.

MB. Voltage especially +12V.
BIOS, Possible update.

Services. Many could be set to manual or disabled.

[zcrazymonkys]

Well I used all of those programs and it seemed to help a lot but I still occasionally blue screen and last night a popup said "debug failed" and my computer shut off... I'm starting to think that i should just admit defeat and get a new hard drive. Anyone know of a good place to get one without breaking the bank?

[Veeg]

What country are you in? What size HDD did you have in mind? What is your budget for a HDD?

[zcrazymonkys]

I'm in the US and i think a single TB should do fine it can then replace both of my current 186GB drives

[Veeg]

Yes it will do...Went over your post again and i am assuming your pc is around 8 years old...correct? If so please verify you have Sata connections and or IDE connections..

[zcrazymonkys]

I have sata connections i upgraded the motherboard and cpu 2 years ago

[Veeg]

I'm in the US and i think a single TB should do fine it can then replace both of my current 186GB drives

Here is a link i use quite often... http://www.pricewatc...movable_drives/

Of course theres Newegg and Tiger Direct as well..

Edited by Veeg, 22 June 2013 - 08:00 PM.