PC is unusually SLOW, even w/out Windows!!! 2

[javierdlm001]

I don't know if it's some kind of malware, but in a matter of 72 hours my pc became unusable. Small symptoms first, until it just would not run much at all.
I would mention error messages, but non were given. Is just that it take forever to do about everything. Even starting the pc up, way before it reaches Windows, all that part where it scans for hardware and the BIOS, etc, much much slower than usual. Maybe even longer than 10 times slower. This is only a year old pc (Acer Predator 710, 5i, 16Gb ram).
Even when just going to BIOS is very slow. Same thing when booting from a live drive. Acer sent me a bootable USB drive to reinstall Windows 10, well, even this takes longer than 4 hours to install. And in the end it doesn't succeed (it did before, but ever since I got this problem it no longer can).
I had downloaded 3 "free" programs to burn DVD movies. It must have been one of them.

At the moment Windows 10 is no longer there. I formatted the partition with Disks from an Ubuntu Live USB drive.

Would you please ask me what you need to know to pin point what is the culprit?


Thanks

 

[2ffat]

If it's slow even after reformatting the drive and installing Ubuntu, I would suspect a hardware failure. Is this a S.M.A.R.T. drive? If so, what do the diagnostics show? It could also be a RAM problem.

James P. Cottingham
I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah - need to test hard drive and memory
Maybe reset BIOS to defaults
You may want to run something like a CPU stress test from Ultimate Boot CD to see if it's overheating
Could be a power supply out of spec. Do you have a power supply tester?

So many possibilities!!!

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[javierdlm001]

That makes sense. I'll check on these things asap
Thanks a million guys

 

[javierdlm001]

Well, I tested both the drives (1xHD, 1xSSD), and the memory.
Both are ok according to Disks (Ubuntu Live USB), and MemTest86. The photo below is from yesterday. But today it completed 7 passes.
I don't have photos of the drives' results, but if it helps I can get them.

What is the next most likely hardware part now? PSU?

 

[goombawaho]

I guess if you have blown the cpu out to make sure it's not packed with dust, the PSU might be a good placed to start.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Nelviticus]

Can't see how a faulty PSU would make things run slowly, more likely things wouldn't run at all.

I'd strip the machine down to the minimum components for it to power on - just the PSU, motherboard and CPU - then see whether it's still slow getting into the BIOS. If it is, the fault lies with a core component, possibly the motherboard.

If it suddenly becomes sprightly, add back one component at a time until you find the one that makes it slow.

Nelviticus

 

[javierdlm001]

I'll strip it down then!
Thank you guys!!!

I'm just waiting to hear from Memtest86 as it is refusing to stop. It's supposed to by just hitting ESC, but is not. I just wouldn't want to ruin the memory ram by shutting the pc off while memtest86 is still running...

 

[goombawaho]

Stopping it during testing won't hurt it at all.

Stripping is a good idea. You will need video card if NOT integrated onto motherboard.
I have seen crazy things where if you plug in an optical drive, the system goes nuts. So this is a good test - bare minimum. If you have two sticks of memory, try running with just one. Then if normal, try booting after swapping sticks.
Then start adding everything else until you can detect a change in performance.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[javierdlm001]

Well, it turns out it was the PSU! Go figure!
There was a false contact with the video card pins too. This came to complicate the troubleshooting.
But all this is no longer a problem.

Thank you guys

 

[rclarke250]

Nice job, and thank you for posting the fix.