Windows 10: 100% Disk Usage during startup/opening new programs

Hello,
Awhile ago, I was still on Windows 7, and my system began to be incredibly slow, especially during startup. I wasn't sure back then what the problem was, or what I had done to make it so slow. I figured it was linked to BlueStacks, and uninstalling it did help a lot. Startup took about 10 minutes, instead of over 30. However, it was still very slow to open programs, right click, and play games. I thought upgrading to windows 10 might help, but I was unable to because of an error. It only worked after I used CCleaner to fix up the registry. Windows 10 allowed me to see the cause of the sluggish behaviour, as task manager reports 100% disk usage during starup. The problem is, no program in the list actually uses the disk activity, and idles around 0.3MB/sec. It was still always 100%, and only started dropping to normal levels after I messed around with skype (see below for the list of things I tried). Now after startup, if left for a long while, it will eventually finish and drop to idle around 0%. But if I open a program for the first time (ie. WoW, Firefox, Documents, Word etc.) it spikes to 100%. For most programs, it will return to 0%, such as firefox. I am able to browse with no problem, but it will occasionally still spike to 100%, though this seems random. It is most noticable when playing games, such as WoW. If opening for the first time, it spikes to 100%. Some time later it will return to 0%. If I log in, or switch zones when playing, open my bags etc, it again spikes to 100% and makes the game almost unplayable, as it freezes until disk usage returns to 0%. It only behaves this way on lowest settings. If I play on max settings, it almost always stays at 100% (my laptop can easily handle max settings btw). Other games are similar, but the less complex the game is, the less spikes happen. Here is a list of things I have tried to fix the 100% disk usage:
-Turn off tips about windows - no effect
-Turn off BITS - no effect
-Turn of prefetch and superfetch - no effect
-Turned on read/write for skype using the security tab in properties - Disk usage is no longer always 100%, but still spikes as told above.
-Turned off cloud protection and real time protection for windows defender - no effect
-Uninstalled/reinstalled nvidia drivers, and geforce experience - no effect, also worth mentioning that when I restarted after uninstalling, the system took almost an hour to startup, disk usage was again always 100%, and took ages to reinstall the latest drivers. After using CCleaner and getting rid of system files/registry cleanup, the system was as before, 0% disk usage, but 100% spikes.
-Increasing the RAM cache - no effect
-turning off disk fragment scheduling
-Disabling all startup programs - startup takes a lot less time, but disk usage is still 100% during startup
-Disabling all non-microsoft services - no effect
-Check disk using cmd, no errors reported
I installed HD sentinel, and it says disk health is at 98%, with 3 weak sectors, but no action required. Disk temperature is also normal, but if disk usage is 100% for long enough, it begins rising, up to 60+ degrees (C).
Im running out of options, as I've tried nearly everything suggested by google. The only thing that had any significant effect was the read/write enabling for skype, but even that didnt solve the problem entirely. I even tried uninstalling skype, to no avail.
Please help, the new patch for WoW released, and I really want to be able to play normally. Sorry for the lengthy post.

:)

 

100% disk usage on boot up for at least 5 to 10 minutes

Hi there, I did a clean boot as you suggested and the boot up time became considerably longer and although disk usage was 100%, this was only for a minute or so. The program at the top of the disk utilisation list this time though was service host:superfetch.

However I then didn't disable anything in the services tab but disabled all the programs in the startup tab and restarted. This resulted in a very speedy boot up AND there was no 100% disk utilisation. I've done this several times enabling a couple of programs
on startup and the disk utilisation is no longer 100%.

It appears therefore as though it was some kind of conflict in the startup programs that was causing the 100% disk utilisation.

Thanks very much for your assistance.

 

Multiple Services Damaged After Factory Reset

Last week my PC began to run slower and slower. After a few days it could no longer open Chrome so I switched to Edge which it could barely open. The reason I discovered, was that it was running at a constant 100% disk usage. I tried all the fixes listed
here, 10 Tips to Fix 100% Disk Usage & Improve Windows Performance and none worked. So I decided to just do a factory reset. That sort of worked. My PC still sometimes runs at 100% disk usage but it goes back to normal after 10-15 minutes.

My new issue is that the reset created a host of new problems. Everything is slower now! Typing, opening programs, startup for sure. I cannot install programs now, that just started today. Powershell won't run, I just discovered that issue 10 minutes ago.
I imagine there are numerous other issues I don't yet know about. My PC is crippled. Can anyone help me? Sorry for lack of info, I'm not very knowledgeable about this stuff.

 

Also, my hard drive is a 1TB HHD hybrid with 16GB SSD.

 

In case its relevant, I checked the windows event logs, and found 4 errors related to disk.



I also that my net speed drops when disk usage is 100%. So for example, if I refresh a page, the browser waits. The second disk usage is back to 0%, the page refreshes immediately.

 

Run >> services.msc >> disable windows search and check.
if issue still persists please try a clean BOOT.

 

Noted you have tried disabling startups.
Suggest you run chkdsk

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

If you get a clear result or fixed, try booting to safe mode.. any change?
Beyond that, I'd be suspicious of your HDD. Also depends what you might have lost on failing blocks if those were used.

Do you have disk images? Strongly recommended here, imaging even allows you to restore your PC to how it was when you created the image should your HDD fail.
e.g. Macrium reflect (free) + its boot medium + external storage.

It would be interesting to see if you can create an image successfully - this will fail if there are CRC errors reading your disk - a useful check.

 

I have tried disabling windows search before, had no effect. Here are the results of the chkdsk:



HDSentinel says disk health is at 98% with 4 weak sectors, no action required.
CrystalDiskInfo set health status at caution, current pending sector count 4.

 

Ok, marginally suspicious; suggest you try as before creating an image with Macrium. That
a. gives you a complete backup if it succeeds
b. is exceedingly god practise
c. will fail if it finds a CRC failure, which would be significant.

You could also do a surface test on your disk
Macrorit Disk Scanner Scan Disk and Check Bad Sectors in Windows Server partition

 

Hi Reaver,

Welcome to the 10forums *Smile

I see you ran chkdsk, but not in the way @dalchina suggested.
Please follow below instructions and provide the requested screenshots/photos so we have some more information about the status of your hard drive.
I understand you ran chkdsk before dalchina suggested it, but please run it again per the instructions.






Diagnostics Test

HDD TEST
*Arrow Check Disk (chkdsk) - Read Event Viewer Log - Windows 7 Help Forums



Run HDTune to

• scan for errors, no quick scan but full scan
• check the health,
• run a benchmark.

It may take some time, but please take the time you need to perform it properly.
When above is done please make screenshots of the following

• the error scan,
• the health,
• the benchmark incl. following
  • transfer rate,
  • access time,
  • burst rate,
  • cpu usage.

 

The scan for errors is gonna take a very long time it seems. Its been going for about 2h with only 2 rows complete. Seems like it needs over a day straight to finish. Will post back the results here if it ever finishes, along with everything else. The scan speed fluctuates between 50MB/s then steadily drops, and disk activity is 100% the entire time, explains the slow progress.

 

It is known for taking several hours, it depends on how much there is to do and the speed of the drive.

 

Sorry its been a while. I was waiting for the error scan, which sadly did not finish. After 70+ elapsed hours, it only reached about 650gB of 1000, and the speed was almost always at 0.1MB/sec, and seemed to slow down with time. The benchmarks did complete however. There are also now 5 weak sectors, up from 4 at the beginning. The first time I used a hard disk analyser, it reported 3, this was several weeks ago, so it does seem to be increasing.

 

Follow this part to realllocate the sectors, so long as you don't run chkdsk properly the unstable sectors will remain unstable.
You only ran a scan, either through Windows Explorer or by running chkdsk without any parameter, it is not enough to reallocate the bad sectors.