Samsung 2.5" Disk Test Not reflecting very poor PC performance

[adamjedgar]

Hi guys,
I have an HP Pavillion DV6 Laptop.

A couple of years ago the screen went black and i thought that perhaps screen or video card had failed, so put laptop into box and left it there for almost 2 years.

A few weeks ago i got inspired whilst fixing another device (new screen install on a Kobo Mini) and pulled the laptop backout again and booted it up.

I was suprised as inintially, it worked as if there was nothing wrong. however the next morning things went downhill fast...it was as if the computer resources were completely used up it was running painfully slowly, to the point of simply hanging on bootup (windows logo)

I suspected it must be a virus that was causing the problem, so....

I was unable to do anything, so removed hdd from pc and installed it into a desktop pc and performed a complete reformate (including zeroing out the drive with 0's and 1's)
Reinstalled windows 8.1 x 64 bit edition.
Reset the laptop bios...including flashing it with a utility.

I was advised to check the hdd. Initial checks showed "Failing hdd", however, after zeroing out the drive and running chkdisk, the drive now appears to be ok(see results attached).

Problem is, the laptop is barely functional. It takes ages for anything to happen...some things simply will not work. Its network connectivity is sporadic on bluetooth and wireless...programs are almost impossible to use, internet explorer hangs (even web browsing is very painful). And yet, at times (for just short brief periods) computer will suddenly seem to function at normal speed. Running more than one program is terrible.

If i attempt to unzip a file the window that pops up showing speed shows values of between a few dozen kb/sec and perhaps a couple of MB/sec (mostly in the kb/sec ranges).

1. Is this a hdd problem (even though SMART status checks in both windows and using above utility says its OK?
2. Is it a lack of compatibility with Win 8.1x64 with this laptop? (CPU I7 720 8gig DDR 3 RAM) - I have heard that running 64 bit on some laptops is a bad idea...it slows them down to a crawl.
3. Could it be crook RAM even though task manager says not much is being used?
4. I dont want to buy another hdd if this one is actually ok. Are there any other things to check before i buy another drive?

I have shared file link containing test results below

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArTBFPn04HxMgYIYL4OSlYCVnPndpQ

 

[RealBeast]

Most of the old DV6 models didn't have Windows 8 drivers released. It should run fine with an x64 install of Windows 7 and if you want to use 8 you may have to install x64 W7 drivers in compatibility mode.

If you want to test out your HDD easily, I would just boot off a Linux Live USB stick that will allow you to mount the HDD by clicking on it and opening files. The stick is simple to make using the free tool from HERE and select Mint 17 32 bit -- the tool is fully automatic so it will download the image and create the bootable stick. Then just boot from the stick and you will have access to all the devices without writing anything to your drives.

 

[adamjedgar]

Hi mr Moderator,
thanks for your quick response.
I will attempt to run the checks you suggest when i get back home from holidays. At present i dont have access to much "firefighting equipment"
I just thought i would also post an update...
I decided to re enable windows indexing. Whislt in the process of doing this, i also noticed that windows has been running system maintenance in the background. It appears to have completed that maintenance process now.
I can also now add, the computer appears to be running normally again...(please refer to link to latest screenshot of task manager)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArTBFPn04HxMgYIaarI7NxCSbVzWeQ

I am not game to restart the system, as i fear that as soon as i do, things will go south once more.

I am struggling to believe the consensus i have recieved from other professionals that the system hdd is failing?
Is intermittent system performance indicative of hdd failure? (considering that SMART status says disk is normal)

 

[smorizio]

http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/70085-35-pavilion-recall-list
there a class action lawsuit on that unit for bad system board and video chipsets. see if you can get the unit replaced on a new system board.

 

[adamjedgar]

mine has an ati gpu and card in it.
I guess the dissappointing thing about my system is that the cyrstaldiskinfo software says the total power up time is just over 4000hours. That doesnt seem like much to me.
I will also add, this system has a terribly inefective cooling system. The top of the base gets so hot on left hand side of motherboard that you can not really leave your hand on it. Its been like that since new.
I have had the inside open and i believe that the reason it gets so hot is because the design utilises this part of the case to try to dissipate the heat generated by internal components. I cannot understand how its designers didnt experience this problem when testing. How can a user continue to type on keyboard with the suport area under the palms and wrists is so hot it almost burns?

Anyway, an update on system resource monitor...when i look at HDD recource monitor, it is widly fluctuating.

I for example just attempted to run Gimp. The resource monitor is producing Disk average response times at times over 7000m/s and maintaining 100% usage even though read write speeds are staying well under 100kb/sec. Now that Gimp has stated read/write speed has gone up to almost 1 mb/sec but not above that figure. I am still seeing response times over 4000m/s.

I think the problem is data transfer times and speeds. Question is, is this the system itself or the disk?

Finally, i also make note...i had a fully charged battery before turning the computer off last night. I have had it running for less than half an hour this morning and got a warning saying battery is at 10%. I have plugged charger back in again, however, i think battery is also almost cactus. Not sure if the battery problem would affect system when its plugged into power?

I am going to put the disk into another system when i get back home tonight and check these readings again.

UPDATE
Just ran a test at hdd.userbenchmark.com

here are the results.

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1865184

They dont seem to good....if you scroll down the results page on the userbenchmark website for my test and look at hdd, you will see its bloody awful.

Samsung HM641JI 640GB-$84
1,044 User benchmarks - Average bench 40%
539GB free
Firmware: 2AJ10001 Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s
SYSTEM NCQ 5400 RPM 4KALIGNED S.M.A.R.T
Performing way below expectations (0th percentile)
6.82%
Terrible
Read 23.1
Write 0.45
Mixed 1.09
6% 8.22 MB/s
4K Read 0.18
4K Write 0.69
4K Mixed 0.16
38% 0.34 MB/s
Worst: 27%↑
This bench: 6.82%

UserBenchmarks: Game 13%, Desk 24%, Work 17%
CPU: Intel Core i7 Q 720 - 23.1%
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6500M - 5.7%
HDD: Samsung HM641JI 640GB - 6.8%
RAM: Samsung M471B5273CH0-CH9 2x4GB - 36.6%
MBD: HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC