After experiencing several problems with my computer and being helped by essexboy and bob3160 on this thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=147918.0, my computer was running quite smoothly. However, just over a week later I did a boot time scan which revealed five CRC errors (which I fixed using chkdsk) and I have also noticed that whilst browsing with flash player enabled, both Firefox and Safezone Browser are very slow to load anything which runs flash. As soon as I disable flash, the problem disappears. I have the latest version of flash and both browsers. Does anyone know what could be the problem here? You might want to refer to this thread describing the history of problems with my computer: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=147918.0
Today my computer froze again whilst using the Safezone Browser, the only option I had was to turn off the computer by holding down the power switch. Whilst doing this, I noticed that the hard drive light was on, it wasn’t even flickering or anything, just lit solidly. I read previously by doing a search on this forum that CRC errors could be caused by a failing hard disk, given what I have described happened today and in the past, does it look like this is what has been causing all the problems with my computer? If so, is there anything I can do about it other than purchasing a replacement hard drive? I wouldn’t have a clue what type of hard drive to purchase or how to install it.
Not sure what you mean by disc diagnostic. I ran chkdsk which seemed to fix the CRC errors as none were detected in the boot time scans I ran afterwards. I would be happy to try running the disc diagnostic if you think it would help figure out the problem.
I’ve downloaded Seatools, but don’t know which tests to run. I’ve taken this from the Seatools user guide to show you the options it gives me:
C. Select the Drives to Test
After SeaTools loads, the screen will list the different storage devices in your
system. Select the drive
you would like to test by making a check mark in the
box next to the drive information. This screen also
displays information about the drives such as the Model Number and Serial Number. Seagate internal drive
model numbers begin with the letters “ST”. Maxtor
model numbers begin with the word MAXTOR. External
drives may show a descriptive name like “FreeAgent” or “OneTouch” under the model number column.
Seagate serial numbers are alpha numeric and eight ch
aracters long. Seagate and Maxtor drives models
are given a
gold
drive icon. Non-Seagate drives have a
silver
drive icon. The blue serial number indicates
the boot device.
You may select more than one drive at a time for te
sting. Multiple drives will test simultaneously. You
may also start tests on other drives after other tests are already running.
Be sure to choose the correct drive!
D. Select the Tests to Run
A menu of the possible diagnostic tests is show
n. With the exception of Long Generic which offers the
option to repair sectors on USB external drives, all other
Basic Tests
are data safe, read only tests. Select
the tests that you would like to perform. The test w
ill begin immediately. Fix All Fast and Fix All Long also
do sector repair on Seagate supported SATA drives. See SATA Repair Properties screen below.
These tests include:
•
Fix All Fast and Long, requires confirmation to begin
•
SMART Check
•
Short Drive Self Test 20 to 90 seconds long
•
Drive Information can be saved to the Log file
SeaTools for Windows User Guide, Rev. 12-Sep-2013, v1.2.0.10
4
•
Short Generic three-part test
•
Long Generic progress in 1% increments, sector repair option for USB external
•
Advanced Tests see section 3 below
The software will report “Test Unavailable” if the requi
red level of support is missing. For example, Short
Drive Self Test may not run on a
ll external USB storage devices.
Fix All Fast and Long require the F8 key to be presse
d which is your acknowledgement that SeaTools for
Windows should attempt to repair any problem unreadable
LBAs (sectors) it might detect. It is important to
know that when the sector is bad and unreadable then any
data in it is already lost. See section 4 “Help
Topic: Bad Sector Found” for more information on this topic.
When you launch the “Short Drive Self Test”
(DST) most drives will run a thorough diagnostic routine
that is built in to the hard drive’s firmware. DST is completely data safe.
The “Short Drive Self Test” is adequate for mo
st situations. Consider running the long Generic or long
DST test, which reads each sector on the drive if you need a more comprehensive test.
The long tests will take time to complete. Be
cause the long tests read ever
y sector on the drive, the
amount of time required will depend on the speed and capacity
of the disk drive. The highest capacity drives
SeaTools for Windows User Guide, Rev. 12-Sep-2013, v1.2.0.10
5
often take 2 to 4 hours to complete. You can abort th
e test at any time without harming the drive, although
the drive will not be fully test
ed if the test is aborted.
“Short Generic” will run on internal and external
drives. It has three segments: outer scan, inner scan
and random read.
“Long Generic” will run on internal and external dr
ives. It scans the entire drive, from beginning to end.
This test may take several hours to complete. You ma
y abort the test at any time. The test will fail and end
if a bad sector is detected on an internal drive.
In the case of USB external drives, the “Long Gene
ric” test has the option to Repair sectors. For more
information on this subject, see the topic below “Bad Se
ctor Found” in section 4. If you choose Repair
None, the “Long Generic” test will scan the entire drive
and simply list any unreadable sectors in the log file.
Data is stored in sectors and each sector ha
s 512 bytes. The “Long Generic” test with USB sector
Repair enabled will only repair individual sectors as
needed. When a 512-byte sector is unreadable, any
data that might have been in that sect
or is already lost. When a drive has a large amount of free space,
odds are in favor of an unreadable sector being empty
and not in use. If you choose Repair All, the “Long
Generic” test will scan the entire drive after pressing t
he F8 key and attempt to repair unreadable sectors. If
a sector cannot be repaired, then the test will fail and
end. See the log file for a listing of any unreadable
sectors.
Disclaimer: Seagate Technology, LLC is
not responsible for lost user data.
2.Click to clear the Load Startup Items check box. NoteThe Use Original Boot.ini check box is unavailable.
3.Click the Services tab.
4.Click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box.
It seems OK, but MBAM hasn’t loaded up. It’s a bit faster now but the problems I described were intermittent so I would have to run the system in this state for a few days to notice if the problems have disappeared completely, is it OK to do this?
If using the new MBAM 2.0 Premium version there is a setting to delay the protection start and for how long. Of course WinPatrol Plus also has a feature to delay program start up.
Thanks everyone for your help. How long would you suggest I delay the MBAM protection at startup?
Also, do you think it could be the update to MBAM 2.0 that has been preventing my system from being able to upgrade to Windows 8.1? MBAM is the first thing I installed everytime I clean installed Windows 8 before trying to upgrade to 8.1 and the upgrade had worked in the past before MBAM 2.0