Hard drive corruption causing WinXP slowdown?

[Panzer_ace]

A couple of days ago I decided to take my computer tower to school. After I got there (carried it on the bus ) and set it up it wouldn't boot (said it "could not load OS"). I tried starting in save mode but it would hang while trying to load the system files (specifically on the file 'agp440.sys').

When I got back home I tried the Microsoft bug fix suggestion for the 'agp440.sys' (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764) problem but it didn't help (safe mode just hung up on a different .sys file). I was suspecting some OS files got currupted.

Then I tried booting from the WinXP SP2 CD, pressed 'R' and then tried to run chkdsk /p and /r which took A WHILE (at first it was fast, but after getting to about 70% it went back to 50% and then took about 1.5hrs to finish).

I then reinstalled Windows XP SP2. It kinda worked...Windows started up fine, but it was VERY VERY SLOWWW (the first time it started it took about 20sec for the start menu to open after it was clicked). I restarted, it was better but it was still SLOW (the cursor would jump, took a while to open any program, etc). I quickly started backing up my data to my other HD, which also was SLOWW (transferring a 700MB file to my other HD took about 35min!). Burning CD's and DVD's was also 10 times slower (took 2hrs to burn a DVD which usually takes 15min).

I tried running hardware diagnostics tools such as PowerMax (both my HD's are Maxtor), Tuff-Lite (full hardware system tests) but they claimed all was fine!

I ran Defrag which found the HD to be rather fragmented (didn't defrag for 5 months). To Defrag the 80GB drive took about 8hrs! There was no improvement in symptoms afterwards.

I tried running ScanDisk, which went through the first 3 phases fine but was VERY slow on phase '4 out of 5' (checking file data)...it took about 2hrs to get to 13% at which point I gave up and stopped it.

Currently I'm running 'HDD Regenerator v1.41' which does a physical surface scan (and repair) for bad sectors. Currently it went through the first 20GB but found no bad sectors!

I'm running out of ideas!!!
Is my HD done for?? Would doing a clean format fix this? And even if that does work would it be dangerous to store data on it because it's 'unstable'??

---- My System Specs:
- P4 2.0Ghz 512K 400FSB S478
- motherboard: ABIT BD7II ATA100
- RAM: 512MB PC2100 266Mhz
- Video card: ATI Radeon 9600XT
- HD1 (OS on this one): MAXTOR 80GB
- HD2: MAXTOR 120GB
- OS: WinXP SP2 fully updated.
-----

HELP!!!

 

[zoomtm]

was it working before you took it to school? maybe something got damaged in transport

 

[Panzer_ace]

It was working just fine

Before I took it to school it was working just fine.

That something was damaged in transport was the first thing that came into my head, but as I said, I did a full hardware diagnostics scan with a few different programs and they found nothing. If it was an actual Hardware problem I doubt the OS would start. It's just very odd that windows runs and I can see/read all the files...it's just so SLOWWWW!!!

Also, forgot to mention, although windows Defrag said it finished it actually was around 39% done in the progress bar and then suddenly declared it was done and that it couldn't defrag a certain file (I think it was some incomplete Emule incoming file -> a file sharing program). Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

ps: The comp wasn't connected to the net at school so it couldn't have been a virus. I have an up to date Norton 2004 running all the time, router, all the Window critical updates, and XP firewall, so I doubt it's a virus.

 

[Panzer_ace]

Arggg!

Checked all the connections (CPU, video card, RAM, IDE cables), even tried using a different IDE cable...still nothing

ps: the HDD Regenerate found no bad sectors at all!!!

what else could be wrong??

 

[SSE4]

Well I'd say having not defragged it in so long would do a number on it, but since it was working fine prior to transport that is not likely to be the case, although it could be aiding it. How much empty space is there on the HDD? I would most likely suggest a clean format after you back everything you want to save up.

 

[alvino]

I'm suspecting that it happened when you brought it to or from school...you might have to buy a new hard drive...I think something got busted during transport.

 

[ExGamer]

Yeah my Hardrive my os was on just craped on me 2 40gb Maxtor(go figure) had it for 2 weeks my other hd is a maxtor 2 but it works fine try takign a hd out and unsing one.... intall os on it and it will probally work fine....

thats what i did plus mine was saying...Ntldr device or soemthing is missing...what ever that means

 

[Panzer_ace]

Fixed!

FIXED!

I formatted and did a clean install of Windows...and all was good! Just proves that often formatting is the best (and easiest) fixing method.

I still have no idea what was wrong with it specifically (software problem for sure though). Here's my theory: When I brought it to school I guess all that shaking somehow managed to corrupt a few system files on the HD (that's why windows wouldn't start). After I reinstalled windows I guess those files were over-written but something else got messed up (drivers, file system, swap file...we'll never know).

Suggestion for similar problem of this type:
1. Do a virus scan, defrag if you need to.
2. check all hardware connections (especially IDE cables) and restore your BIOS setting to default.
3. check Hard drive for problems (ScanDisk or physical surface scan using programs like HDD Regenerator to find bad sectors)
4. If neither one helps, back up your data, format the drive and do a clean install of windows
5. If the problem still presists, well then there is something for sure wrong with your hardware. Try using the hard-drive in another computer, basically do a process of elimination until you find the culprit.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone!