GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction to resolve this issue. I am not sure if what I say below is related or are separate, unrelated, issues. I will state what I observed and what I have done to date. If anyone has any insight how to resolve this issue it would be greatly appreciated. I never had any problems prior to the June, 2019, that I discuss below.

Win 10 did an auto update in early June, 2019. shortly after that, sometimes (but not all the times), when I start my computer it is trying to boot from an online source. I hit "escape" and "enter", and it stops that process and switches to a boot from the computer itself. It only began doing this after the June update. in response to this I undid the June, 2019, update, and it seemed like it resolved the problem - until late in june. At that point the computer slowed down A LOT. When I look at the Task Manager the CPU and Memory usage are all normal. However, the HD usage will remain in the 100% range for long periods of time (10+ minutes). This affects all aspects of the computer and internet connectivity. Eventually, the computer freezes, and the only way out is to do a hard restart.

I tried defrag, troubleshooting, check disk/scan disk, and whatever else I could find that are the first go-to fixes, but to no avail.

I tried a System Restore to prior to June, 2019, and got a message that the process could not extract a Google Chrome Temp file. I re-loaded Chrome, and it seems to be running marginally better, but the HD still runs excessively and the system is still not running right.

Any thoughts or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Gary

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Could be due to any one of a number of reasons. Here is a link to 8 of the most likely and how to resolve them.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/100-disk-usage-windows-10-fixed/amp/

GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

Thanks mwsilvers. I took a quick look at the link you provided and the image of Task Manager, with the HD running at 100%, is exactly what my TM looks like.

I will check the troubleshooting list out after work today.

Thanks.

Gary

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

How would it have run if you hadn't re-loaded Chrome?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Also microsoft says there is one function that can do it, here are their instructions for that problem:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3083595/task-manager-might-show-100-disk-utilization-on-windows-10-devices-wit

Here is another list of several possible problems and things to do, I have about 3 different lists that I merged and printed out. Once a month I go over all four computers in the house with this list to see if anything has changed.
https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/100-disk-usage-windows-10.html

Google "Hard drive at 100% in Windows 10" (or 7, XP etc it happens in other versions of windows also) and you will get a lot of lists, fixes etc.

And one other thing I do is a "restart" at least once a day. It seems Win 10 does not close down 100% when you "Shut Down", it keeps a few things running for quick start up (like your TV etc has the remote control circuits always running). But doing a "restart" it closes down 100% cleans out temp files etc (but we know that doesn't always work right so we need cleaner apps to run once in a while) and then restarts everything.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Do you mean it is trying to boot "from an online source" before it even gets to the Windows icon after turning it on? Windows would not have anything to do with that.

Turn it on and go into the BIOS (pressing F2 typically). Look for "Boot Sequence". There are options for internal hard drive, USB drive, CD ROM, and possibly NIC and more,
NIC is the network interface card, which some computers can boot to.
Make sure Internal Hard Drive is set as the first priority. Disable the NIC option. If you ever need it you can re-enable it.

The computer could be trying to boot from the NIC, and failing that it moves to the next option....the hard drive. I've never heard of Windows changing the boot sequence in the BIOS, though.

BebuLamar

You could have low memory so Windows keeps swapping memory to HD.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

The latest Win10 version, 1903, uses more hard drive space than previously.
How much available space does your hard drive have? How much RAM does the computer have?
Too little RAM combined with not enough drive space will slow down a computer. Windows, and every other OS, requires space on the drive for a swap file to enable moving things back and forth between CPU/RAM/hard drive. It's like having a clean worktable/desk versus a worktable piled high so you can't move things around easily.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Oops.

RowdyRay Loc: MN

If you've already rolled back to a previous version or uninstalled the latest update, and that didn't fix it, it may not be update related. But, Win 10 updates are notorious for these weird glitches. Open the task manager and look under the "processes" tab. It should show you what process is causing the issue. Then Google it and see if there is a fix.

I recently helped out some friends. They are retirees and know nothing about PCs. Installed the latest Win 10 update and suddenly couldn't do anything. They called several places, they remoted in, and couldn't figure it out. I took a look at it. It was not a memory issue or virus related. There was one particular process that was the culprit. I could kill it, but it would start right back up and the evil cycle would begin again.

My son is a PC guru...literally. He's paid very well for what he does. He remoted in and thought it would be a quick fix. Never seen anything like it. Made it his mission to fix it. Turns out the automatic updater was stuck in a loop. Couldn't possibly tell you what he did to beat it into submission, but he did. They treated him to a very nice dinner. And wanted to adopt him...Lol.

My point is this....even if you figure out what process is causing the issue, it may beyond your knowledge to correct it.

GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

Thank you to all who responded with suggestions - they were GREATLY appreciated.

I worked through the list from mwsilvers and robertjerl. Seems like both the Superfetch and ACHI-MSI fix have worked the best. I will wait to see how it holds up over the next day or two.

If I need to I will venture into the BIOS as nadelewitz suggested, and other suggestions as well.

Again, many thanks.

Gary

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I would leave the BIOS to an expert. One computer expert said that if you play around with the BIOS when you aren't an expert it means "But I am Optimistically Stupid!"

cochese

Still can't figure out why Windows is the leading OS out there when it has so many issues.

larry wright Loc: SW OHIO

Try any of their suggestions but I suspect according to the books I have is the download of a big updat file has been corrupted because you shut it off before it was completed.

That is the biggest problems with owners because Microsoft updates automatically IF you set it up that way,,,,,,,then the shut off before the update completed file is corrupted and needs to be deleted in order to work properly

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

If you shut down by only using the Start > Shut Down buttons you won't have that problem. Windows will just tell you it is busy at whatever and keep going until it is done and then shut down.

Shutting down by the power switch on the computer or the surge suppressor is a world class NO NO under 99.999% of circumstances. There were a few teachers at my last school who used the surge suppressor/power strip to shut down the computer, printer and scanner if they had one in their classroom all at once "It is so easy and takes less time." I think the school Tech Coordinator was daydreaming about mayhem directed at them. He had to have his computer geek student aids reset everything or even reload everything on a regular basis.

One of those people got into my three teacher rotation. Huge 5000 student school on a campus built for about 2500 max so it was on 3 tracks - 3 teachers/sets of students with two classrooms, one teacher and students always on break and you rotated through the two rooms as you went on and off track. Well the first day of school one semester I fired up the teacher's desktop and set it to run the house cleaning programs (the TC trusted me and I had all the passwords to the anti-virus etc). An hour later the anti-virus popped up a report - 600+ viruses etc several of them major bad actors. The TC gave me a copy of the disk with all the software on it and I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled everything. One of my students had a cousin in that other teacher's class and passed the word she allowed students to use and/or play games etc on the teacher's desktop - a major no no according to school rules. Shortly after they put in software that restricted access to the files, internet etc to cut down on that sort of stuff from the teacher's computer (it had always been that way for the computers for student use-at least two or three per room). You needed multiple passwords to get past them. I was one of about 6 teachers the TC trusted with those passwords. He would even ask me to go to the room next door and do resets, run the house keeping apps etc. A two classroom bungalow/building with a connecting door from one room to the other so I could put my students to work, open the door and work on the other room's computer while still keeping an eye on my students.

Oh, stuff like that is why I had my personal laptop and did most of my work on it - and my personal printer on my desk. I used the teacher's desktop mainly for the very large screen TV it controlled that was hanging from the ceiling. Power points, videos etc. The school did have over 200 laptops that faculty and staff could sign out like library books but I brought my own - the couple of school laptops I tried were just as messed up as many of the desktops. Again the TC just gave me the passwords to get my private laptop onto the network with full access.