HELP!! I am in SAFE MODE!!

[JEFF247]

Trying to make long story short. If I turn on my Toshiba laptop with Vista, starts up fine. But after everything loads it slows down to BARELY a crawl and hard drive light stays on and it sounds like it's defragging or something. I thought I fixed last night after I removed a program. Worked fine for a couple hours, then this morning it's back barely a crawl.

I am in safe mode now and it seems to be fine (for safe mode). No constant hard drive working and programs work fine. Any suggestions? Thank you.

PS-Should I be encouraged at all that it's very fast in safe mode?

 

[JohnHenry]

Would seem that some program starts running in the background consuming all available cpu and reads/writes to the disk.
Download and install this,http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx
Process explorer works like windows explorer, except that is shows loaded programs and the files that each process has open.

 

[JEFF247]

Thanks. I'll give it a try and report back. I should have mentioned before, I did the normal stuff like run antivirus, malware, defrag and others maintenance.

 

[goose2ca]

Which Model of Toshiba is it? And has it always been that way or did t his just start happening? A salesman at Future Shop told me that Vista has so many unnecessary modules running that it eats up the CPU. So they will do a set-up for you that turns off all the unncessary modules.

Try starting the task manager, and look at the Performance Tab. That will tell you how much of your CPU is being used. As well, look at the Processes tab which will tell you all the programs running in the background.

 

[blue_bawls]

Sounds like spyware to me, since your cpu is @ 100% upon login it would be very challenging to install anything to scan your system. Perhaps try booting in with a rescue cd and scan your system perhaps it would resolve the issue for you.

Here is the link to such a tool: http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html

 

[WoodPeckr]

Have to agree it sounds like you picked up some spyware/malware.
As was pointed out below get familiar with using 'task manager'. It will show you what processes are running and which ones are maxing out CPU usage, which will slow your PC to a crawl. When you kill the offending process your PC should run better. Then you have to get rid of that offending process.

Try starting the task manager, and look at the Performance Tab. That will tell you how much of your CPU is being used. As well, look at the Processes tab which will tell you all the programs running in the background.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.46 usually can track down the offending bugs.

 

[JEFF247]

Which Model of Toshiba is it? And has it always been that way or did t his just start happening? A salesman at Future Shop told me that Vista has so many unnecessary modules running that it eats up the CPU. So they will do a set-up for you that turns off all the unncessary modules.

Try starting the task manager, and look at the Performance Tab. That will tell you how much of your CPU is being used. As well, look at the Processes tab which will tell you all the programs running in the background.

The laptop is a 135-S4527. 2 yrs old. Started having problems a month ago. Was slowing down. Downloaded Advanced System Care. Seemed to help. Even downloaded another program to turn off selected background programs.

Problem with Task Manager now is that it would literally take a hour to get to it if I'm lucky in "normal mode". Safe mode, that I'm in now runs great (for safe mode that is) Thanks

 

[JEFF247]

Have you tried reverting to an earlier restore point?

Yes. Not really. I thought it did, but went back to slow after a few minutes.

The only success I've had in the last 24 hrs was deleting "Toshiba Value Added Pack". Kept getting TVAP won't start". I thought the problem was solved. Worked great for 2-3 hrs. This morning, back to slow again. Thanks

 

[WoodPeckr]

The laptop is a 135-S4527. 2 yrs old.

If you are still under Warranty give Toshiba a call. Their phone tech help is decent.

 

[JEFF247]

I ran 2 malware programs Lavasoft Adaware And Adv Syc Care. Nothing. I had to run both in Safe mode becuse normal mode is so slow it would take days to finish scanning.

 

[enyaw]

I suggest backing up all of your shit and formatting the drive. That way you know your os is clean as well as the harddrive. Reinstall all of your progs. Do you security patches and install your Av.

 

[JEFF247]

I started up and looked at Task Manager. Proceses-78 CPU-1 to 5 % after start up Physical Memory 62%

 

[JEFF247]

I going to do that now (call tech). I didn't get a recovery disk, nor was I prompted to make one when I first bought. Anyone know how to make one or will they kake me buy one? I am thinking of just buying a new hardrive. Thanks

 

[JEFF247]

Just spoke to someone at Toshiba Tech Support somewhere in the Phillipines. Anytime I asked a question she said let me put you on hold and find out. No fuckin way I am going through that.

I did find out I can create a recovery disk, just got to use normal mode. So if I'm lucky it should be done by thursday.

 

[JEFF247]

Long story short. I found Recovery & Apps disks. So I will recover/restore and hope that solves the problem. Thanks for everyones help and suggestions.

PS I will backup what I want to keep and the restore will erase the rest.

 

[WoodPeckr]

I started up and looked at Task Manager. Proceses-78 CPU-1 to 5 % after start up Physical Memory 62%

I just started my 2½ yr old Toshiba laptop to boot up Vista:
IMHO you have too many Processes 78, running.....I just opened up Vista and have 54 running.
CPU Usage @1-5 % is OK....I am idling @ 1-3% right now.
Your Physical Memory @ 62% is too high.....mine is at 25%.
But this may be due to how much RAM you have. I have 4GB of RAM.

(PS: just adjusted my numbers down lower due to the laptop settling down more after further idling....)



Click on Start > and in the Start Search box at bottom type: msconfig , then hit enter.
In the System Configuration popup click on Startup tab.
On the drop down that opens I ONLY have Avast with a checkmark.

All other boxes there are unchecked!
This tells you what opens every time you boot up.
Look for anything suspicious, then uncheck it.

Again all I have checked is Avast AV.

Not having a Vista install disc sucks.
I was lucky mine came with one.
There is supposed to be a way to reinstall Vista off your recovery partition but I've never had to do that, nor know how to.

Buying a new HDD won't help because you still will need an install disc.

I would get and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.46 to check for malware.

 

[JEFF247]

I ended it and used the recovery disk. It's back to running like the day it came of the assembly line!! Thanks to everybody for your help and suggestions.

 

[enyaw]

did u have to resinstall any programs av etc? if not congrats. and be more careful next timee As a golden rule always backup make sure you keep a copy of that shit.

 

[JEFF247]

did u have to resinstall any programs av etc? if not congrats. and be more careful next timee As a golden rule always backup make sure you keep a copy of that shit.

The recovery disks returns it to it's factory new state and settings. Takes 25-30 minutes. I wasn't worried about data backup, I did that. Was thinking it might be the hard drive and wanted system disks if I needed a new drive. Didn't think I had the disks, but did. Works great now.

 

[shakenbake]

Yes. Not really. I thought it did, but went back to slow after a few minutes.

The only success I've had in the last 24 hrs was deleting "Toshiba Value Added Pack". Kept getting TVAP won't start". I thought the problem was solved. Worked great for 2-3 hrs. This morning, back to slow again. Thanks

I had a Toshiba Portege that was loaned to me. It suffered a similar problem, and was traced down to a thermal issue with the unit. As another poster said, call Toshiba and have it checked out, especially if it is still under warranty.