Computer comes to a halt. Bad HD?

OS= 7

My laptop has gotten so slow it's almost unusable. When I first turn it on, everything runs normally for about two or three minutes, then things start to slow down until it grinds to a halt. It does this in normal mode, as well as safe mode.

I checked the CPU usage in normal mode and it was running at 50-70% usage while idling. In safe mode it grinds to a halt with 0% CPU usage while idling.

I don't get any popups or warnings.

I tried to run malwarebytes and advanced system care on it, but those programs come to a halt with everything else. I have a laptop HD to USB adapter that I used to plug it into another computer. I'm thinking about scanning the HD that way, but I'm scared I might somehow delete all my data.

Also, the laptop is running extremely hot. I checked and the fan is working, but half the keyboard gets extremely warm very shortly after startup. I could also blowdry my hair with the hot air coming out the exhaust.

Any suggestions? Could it be a slowly failing hard drive?

 

Sounds like something is eating up your cpu time,can you hit control,alt,delete and start task manager,click 'show processes from all users' and look for process/es using the most cpu%.

There should be one using around 40%. no I don't think its failing hard drive they don't produce much heat and the little they do produce doesn't get pumped out of the side,I think its either a wayward process or malware.

Welcome to the forum

 

EDIT Specs: HP Pavilion g series OS= Windows 7 64 bit 3GB RAM AMD Athlon II P360 Dual-Core 2.29 Ghz

I checked in the resource monitor processes and under CPU "System Interrupts" and "PresentationFontCache.exe" is taking up a full quarter each of CPU usage.
Also, RAM is at 1GB in use while idle.

 

Here's the fix from the Microsoft that worked for most people,I would have restarted the service also but I wanted to double check as its part of windows,it also looks to be a pretty common problem.

To stop the service go to,control panel,admin tools,services and find it,right click and stop the service then find the file as per instructions and delete,now restart the service.

Does your cpu idle go back to normal? Now restart your computer see if its cleared up.

 

I deleted the font cache file, but it is not listed in the services. The computer is still frozen with System interrupts. I looked around and the only suggestion I saw was to update drivers, but all my drivers seem to be working.

 

How are you checking?Have you checked device manager for any exclamation marks or crosses?

Has it cleared up the font cache error deleting the file?

Can you go to control panel,admin tools,event viewer,custom views,admin events and post and post any errors that happened since you turned on your computer,if there's a fault code post it.

Do you know of any programs that could have caused this,how long has your computer been like this and have you tried system restore?

Also if you end the processes can you use your computer as normal and run tools?

 

If Rikky's solutions don't work, there is a chance (albeit slight) you could have a hard drive problem.

In the start menu, type in cmd and open the cmd (DOS prompt) window.

Type in chkdsk /f.

The computer should respond with a question asking if you want to run chkdsk at the next system reboot, choose yes.

Reboot the PC and watch the screen carefully during the chkdsk process. Although the checking of index files will be slower at certain points (usually between 50%-65% done), watch for unusually long hang (more than 4 or 5 seconds) time on a specific entry. Although this is a bit unscientific, it tends to catch disk errors that S.M.A.R.T doesn't.

If you see this symptom, back up your data immediately if you have not already done so. Creating restore discs at this point is iffy; whatever file corruption has already happened will reload as part of a system restore.

To check a drive thoroughly, try a long drive self test (DST) using either WD's Data Lifeguard or Seagate's SeaTools. A long DST is usually the only method to detect these stealth drive issues.

That, or if you have an extra HDD you know is in good shape, hook it up, reload Windows and see if it solves the problem (don't enter your license code until you're sure it solved the problem; you have up to 30 days to enter the license code on a new Windows install).

Hope this helps.