Awful HDD benchmarks, motherboard issues?

I work in a small, privately-owned computer shop and we have been seeing this issue from time to time. Usually in laptops. The thing will be way, way too slow. I install and run HDTune and benchmark it and get usually something like .5-1.5mbs. If I pull the HDD and hook it up to our desktop as a slave and benchmark it, it's fine. So it seems like something on the IDE/SATA bus. I have looked for some kind of HDD benchmarking software that will run off a boot disc outside of Windows to rule out a problem with the Windows installation on the HDD in question, but just failed conclusively. This has happened on both IDE and SATA laptops.

I have tried poking around in the BIOS to see if some setting was limiting the speed, but usually don't find anything.

Need ideas of what it could be, things to try in order to fix it, etc. Very much appreciated.

 

Hello,
Maybe the UBCD will have something you can use. It does have System Speed Test 32. Just a thought, but if the laptop overheats, I would imagine that would cause a serious slowdown.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

I wasn't able to find System Speed Test, but I did find DiskCheck from Miray, and was able to benchmark using that. It was coming up 34mbps. So I am saving files and reloading Windows, appears to be a problem with the Windows installation. Will try to remember to post results of the reload.

 

As a side note, I dont believe that Ultimate Boot CD or any or its components are free for comercial use. If you are charging for your work can I request that you make a donation to the developer to allow them to keep developing these tools.

 

Well, we don't charge for diagnosis. We only charge if we can fix the problem. A lot of the work we do ends up in the customer taking home their still-broken computer (and them usually buying a new one, which we don't sell because we can't even begin to compete with anybody's prices in that area) and us not making a dime.

Totally forgot about this in the hectic going-ons. Reloading Windows did work. So if somebody encounters a similar problem, it's something to try.