Solved Fresh install of Windows 8.1 is incredibly slow

Gamer Dude

Gamer Dude

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3
Hey guys,

Let's start at the start.
So my Aunty complained that her computer had gotten really slow and asked me to look at it.
It was running Windows Vista and took literally 30 minutes to boot to desktop, programs would take an age to open, the mouse cursor lagged and it was the same story in 'Safe Mode' even after deleting unnecessary programs, junk, defragging and doing a complete virus scan...

My Aunty didn't have the Vista install disk (lost it) so me and my Uncle decided to just get Windows 8.1 and install that on there, but in the meantime I installed Ubuntu 14.04.02 LTS and it worked great! Ubuntu ran super fast and it was brilliant!

But then the troubles started when I installed Windows 8.1... The first sign that something wasn't right was when it took 15 minutes for it to boot from the install disk! And it was lagging (laggy cursor and slow menus) on the installation that was booted from the windows 8.1 installation disk....
It took 7 hours for the install to complete... and Windows 8.1 just lags on the desktop, programs and folders take ages to open, and the cursor movement is laggy...

So I put the Ubuntu 14.04.02 LTS usb in and booted from that and selected the "Try Ubuntu" option (to test ubuntu without installing to the HDD) and that worked perfectly.
So I created a bootable Windows 8.1 installation USB and tried that, same result as the disk, took ages to boot from it and the installation menus juts lagged...

I am at a complete loss as to what's happening here.. Is this PC just allergic to windows?? Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

PC Specs:
HP Pavilion Elite m9357c (64-bit)
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9550
HDD: Hitatchi Deskstar 750GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 9300 GE
Mobo: Unknown
RAM: 6GB
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build by me :D
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition (6 core)
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3
    Memory
    16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Gold (2400)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG IPS LED 23EA63 HDMI (Primary), NEC 17inch (Secondary)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080 (Primary), 1280 X 1024 (Secondary)
    Hard Drives
    - Seagate ST3500418AS Barracuda (500GB) =system=
    - Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda (2TB) =steam games=
    PSU
    MODXSTREAM-PRO 600W
    Case
    Novatech Galaxy III Case
    Cooling
    1xCPU FAN, 3xCASE FANS (1 side, 1 back, 1 front)
    Keyboard
    cyborg v7 gaming keyboard
    Mouse
    logitech M205 wireless
Very slow performance like this, especially across a variety of different OSs, is often an indication of a failing hard drive. If this is the same hard drive that came with the Vista-era machine, it's near or at the end of its useful life.

Since the PC runs fine in "LiveUSB" mode with Ubuntu, that further indicates that the hard drive is having serious problems.

You could always go to the drive manufacturer's website and download their drive health app ... but at this point, I think you need to seriously consider replacing the hard drive.
 

My Computer

System One

Mark Phelps said:
Very slow performance like this, especially across a variety of different OSs, is often an indication of a failing hard drive. If this is the same hard drive that came with the Vista-era machine, it's near or at the end of its useful life.

Since the PC runs fine in "LiveUSB" mode with Ubuntu, that further indicates that the hard drive is having serious problems.

You could always go to the drive manufacturer's website and download their drive health app ... but at this point, I think you need to seriously consider replacing the hard drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply :)
Sorry I didn't make the Ubuntu bit more clear, but Ubuntu worked perfectly fine when installed on the HDD... :/
I am thinking of getting either a new HDD or an SSD. but the fact that it lagged even when booting from the windows installation disk and the windows USB but not the Ubuntu one is really confusing me.

This is what happens:
Ubuntu on live usb = running fast
Ubuntu installed on HDD = running fast
Booting Windows 8 installation from disk = slow and laggy
Booting Windows 8 installation from usb = slow and laggy
Windows 8 installed on HDD = slow and laggy
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build by me :D
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition (6 core)
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3
    Memory
    16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Gold (2400)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG IPS LED 23EA63 HDMI (Primary), NEC 17inch (Secondary)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080 (Primary), 1280 X 1024 (Secondary)
    Hard Drives
    - Seagate ST3500418AS Barracuda (500GB) =system=
    - Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda (2TB) =steam games=
    PSU
    MODXSTREAM-PRO 600W
    Case
    Novatech Galaxy III Case
    Cooling
    1xCPU FAN, 3xCASE FANS (1 side, 1 back, 1 front)
    Keyboard
    cyborg v7 gaming keyboard
    Mouse
    logitech M205 wireless
Ok so I deleted all partitions on the HDD and formatted it and tried again: still slow...

So I reset BIOS to defaults, changed floppy drive from "disabled" to "Not Installed" (there is no floppy drive in the pc) in the BIOS, unplugged the printer and tried again.
And now it worked! Something in the bios must have been wrong or the floppy disk setting must have somehow been conflicting with windows??

At least it's works now :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build by me :D
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition (6 core)
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3
    Memory
    16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Gold (2400)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG IPS LED 23EA63 HDMI (Primary), NEC 17inch (Secondary)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080 (Primary), 1280 X 1024 (Secondary)
    Hard Drives
    - Seagate ST3500418AS Barracuda (500GB) =system=
    - Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda (2TB) =steam games=
    PSU
    MODXSTREAM-PRO 600W
    Case
    Novatech Galaxy III Case
    Cooling
    1xCPU FAN, 3xCASE FANS (1 side, 1 back, 1 front)
    Keyboard
    cyborg v7 gaming keyboard
    Mouse
    logitech M205 wireless
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