Preserved Topic: Need help on solving this computer problem.

Hi all...something has happened to my computer and can't figure out what. Here is the problem...everytime we use the computer now to get to any program it just grinds and takes almost forever to open up...just like it is on it last leg. The computer is a Pentium 233 IBM Aptiva. We have tried to run the CD to reinstall everything without reformatting. It just grinds and clicks all the time even when the program is up and open. Just started this a couple of days ago. Anybody ever had this problem before? I really hope it something that can be fixed without having to reformat. Help us if you can.

I had that problem with a jaz drive not the computer itself though. Good luck.

If those sounds are coming from your disk drive, you could be in serious trouble. It could be the drive failing, in which case you should back up everything and get a new drive.

If you can, try replacing the drive and seeing if the problem goes away.

Hmm that's weird... I thoguht I posted on this thread before.. anyways... this is what you do.

The bad news: You hard drive is probably bad
The good news: Scan disk "MIGHT" fix it

So restart your computer in MS-DOS mode and when you see a black screeen with a letter c:\ type in scandisk
This will run a surface scan and it will tell you when there is a problem.

If scandisk will not fix it you will need to get a new hard drive.

Don't run the DOS version of Scandisk unless absolutely needed. Run the Windows version. It doesn't break long file names like the DOS version can. Then defrag. Then reboot.

Make sure there is enough drive space for the swap file.

I run scan disk and defrag every Saturday night while I sleep. I'm a geek huh

~Blaming guns for Columbine is like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnell being fat~

Don't worry, Shiiz, not as much of a geek who actually watch the derag (ain't naming no names).

Thanks all...we tried running scandisk and defrag and it still giving us problems. It is the harddrive I believe and now i will have to just up and buy a new one and reinstall. I really appreciate the help.

Allgood, did you run scandisk with the "thorough" option checked? If you do, it will check the disk surface for errors and that might detect the beginning of a failure. But definitely back up everything as soon as possible.

ok i had such problem once...
My hardisk made a lot of noise when it comes to live
My comp slows down in general a lot
Tried fiddling with my swapdisk settings no help
Put in more memory... no help
Then my hd makes even more noise..
Scandisk and Defrag shows "bad blocks" all over the place
Then my comp foze and my hd stops being noisy

Now what happend?
It has run out his barings... So it was physicaly broken.
I had the hd made open in a shop and put it on display in my bedroom for over an year.

~Rinswind ~

This is so different cause we are using win2000 professional series. When you do defrag and stuff on this one it look so different than using win98. I don't like it cause you can't tell anything with it. We ran it but I didn't see a "thorough" option on it. Maybe someone else is running win2000 pro can help me out here.

Ah, I didn't know you had 2000.

You'll need to run chkdsk, which is 2000's version of scandisk. Go to start->run and type in cmd.

Then (assuming your drive is drive c , type: chkdsk c: /r

It will take a while (longer depending on the size of the drive).

Thanks silence..we tried it the way you said and still not looking good for the harddrive. Well, guess we will have to buy and install a new one in it's place. Thanks alot for the help.