Having issues with my PC

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510
My question is if I were to replace the RAM and hard drive as well as reinstall my operating system would that bring my PC back to its day one operation and quality? I Bought my CyberPowerPC about 3 years ago and it was amazing for a long time. I could run multiple games at once, watch videos and listen to music all at the same time with no issues. For the past year and a half my computer has been slowing down. It cannot make any update of any sort (windows, steam, etc..). Just the other day I attempted to run a malware scan that ended up taking 4.5 hours and it still hadn't finished so I ended up cancelling it. These scans used to take my PC 30 minutes at the most. It runs extremely slow and is constantly telling me web pages are not responding. I am not very proficient in fixing computers so any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
BadActor

BadActor

Expert
Ambassador
Oct 31, 2015
8,749
1
54,965
If you don't have enough RAM, adding more may help. Also over time, OS updates, installed software, and drives getting fuller, can cause significant slow downs. I would try updating all my drivers and uninstalling anything you are no longer using. Run disk cleanup and defragment the HDD. Then run Malwarebytes and one or two online virus scans. Check you CPU cooler to make sure it's clean and the fan is working. See if this improves anything.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510


Thanks for the reply, I will try those things tomorrow. My only problem with updating anything is that nothing ever updates. Whether I'm trying to update windows or team fortress 2, it never finishes. When I try to select a single windows update from the list of about 27 that it shows me it will stay at 0% progress for days until I inevitably cancel it . Tomorrow I'm going to try to take it apart and clean it and I'll give your suggestions a try and report back. Thanks again.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
30,984
9
125,315
downlaod hdture look at your hard drive smart info see if there any warnings of failure. on windows updates not updating turn of windows update service and clean out the withdows update folder.
net stop wuauserv
del c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution /q /s
net start wuauserv
if it a damaged file then windows update should work again.
also try runnig online virus scan malware bytes and hitman pro see if your infected.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510
A long update about my current situation lol. I managed to physically clean out the PC of all the dust on the components and fans. I then ran a disk clean-up in safe mode. I attempted to clear out the windows update folder using this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-h5CMJp_A. I ran into some problems trying to delete everything in the software distribution folder. Two files would not delete because they were "being used by another program". I decided to continue with the steps in the video anyway and reboot. After rebooting my PC then was stuck at the "Preparing to Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer." screen for a couple hours before I did a hard reboot to try to boot in safe mode and attempt a system restore. (The PC has been stuck at that screen in the past for 5+ hours at a time so I figured I would have to restore again.). When attempting a system restore I received a message indicating that there were no system restore points that had been created. After some heavy googling I was able to reboot by pressing F8 shortly after the PC turned on and was able to somehow by the whole configuring screen straight to the login screen. It seems I am back to the point before I attempted to delete the windows updates. I know none of this probably makes no sense as I am not tech savvy in the least and googling solutions seems to only create more problems for me but if I were to replace the RAM, hard drive, and operating system, would that basically eliminate any issues I'm currently having? I don't have many important files on this PC and the RAM sticks I have are 3 or 4 years old and only like $35 a piece now. Thanks again for all the suggestions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mike_259

Commendable
Sep 8, 2016
2
0
1,510
Well have you tried seeing how long backing up your current status would take? personally I would always backup memory before a restore ad an operating system change. That being besides the point as mentioned before your best bet is to add ram and clean your PC. Try deleting old save files from your games or pictures music or videos you no longer need. This will help tremendously. Another thing, make sure your fans are working correctly and you have proper ventilation. If you have even the slightest thought they aren't running full speed, get some duster and blow the dust away gently at an angle. Also make sure you are not leaving your computer on for 6 weeks straight and powering it off any other way then shut down.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510


Thanks for the reply! I have not tried backing up the current status so I will give that a try. I will also try deleting some pictures and videos that may be lingering on my PC. It is running slow but my other concern is the fact that I can't update anything whether it be windows updates, drivers, game updates, etc...It has trouble running disk cleanup, disk defragmenter, and even malwarebytes scans in regular mode. Yesterday I ran a disk cleanup and a malware scan in safe mode which only took about 15- 20 mins for each but when I try a malware scan in regular mode it can take 6+ hours (it used to be so fast in regular mode). I did a pretty thorough cleaning on my PC 2 days ago, opening it up and vacuuming out the components and cleaning all the fans and tight spaces with q tips and alcohol (sad to say I hadn't done that in well over a year maybe even two). I will admit that I am most definitely guilty of leaving the PC running for extended periods of time, although it does go into sleep mode after about 30 mins, I'm not sure if that makes a difference? As far as powering down goes, I always use shutdown but lately because of my PC not being able to update anything it attempts to make updates before shutting down and just gets stuck at the updating screen and never makes any progress. I have done a few hard reboots because of this because it will never shut down if I don't.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510


I managed to delete some photos, videos, and other programs I wasn't using. I believe it was something like 153GB worth of items removed. I'm not quite sure how to tell if there is a memory leak or CPU running at a reduced frequency but here is my task manager. https://s9.postimg.org/hc7k3fz7j/task_manager_numbers.jpg The CPU Usage bounces from 1% - 16% and the Memory bounces from 2.61gb - 2.94gb as far as I can tell. I'm not sure if that helps? I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and according to that the health status is good and the temperature reads 31 degrees Celsius.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

StinkWrinkle89

Commendable
Aug 29, 2016
14
0
1,510


I am running Windows 7 home premium 64-bit. As of now, for antivirus, I just have Microsoft Security Essentials. I don't think MSE is working correctly though as it is not able to update like everything else. 3 days ago I attempted to download eset NOD32 antivirus to see if maybe that would be better than MSE. While I was installing eset NOD32 it suggested that I uninstall any other antivirus programs that were running (Microsoft Security Essentials). When I tried to uninstall MSE I received this error message https://s17.postimg.org/jfkoptm5b/MSE_error.jpg and MSE was unable to uninstall. I then cancelled the installation of eset NOD32 because it said it may be harmful to run both antivirus programs at the same time together.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom