Laptop slowing down the longer it's on...

[DJ...]

Laptop slowing down the longer it's on. (Solved)...

EDIT: SOLVED - turned out to be IOBit Start Menu 8 that was causing hassles with the machine. Uninstalled it and all is super fast again...

I bought the HP Pavilion Touchsmart 15 n267si a few months ago on account of the great specs

Touch screen
Intel® Core™ i7-4500U
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM (1 x 4 GB, 1 x 4 GB)
1 TB 5400 rpm SATA
HD BrightView LED-backlit touch screen (1366 x 768)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)

Problem is it has been getting slower and slower, the longer it remains switched on, yet there is no indication in the task manager of any memory or CPU issues. It gets so bad that I have to restart the machine twice a day now to get it to function properly. I've reinstalled the OS, updated to the latest Windows 8.1 updates. Updated drivers for the thing. I'm at my wits end with this machine now. It feels slow to start up (takes about a minute and a half until it's usable from a restart), but then gradually it just slows down until it's literally unusable and I have to do a hard reset with the power button as I can't even open the menus to get to the power options.

I'm hoping someone can advise me on what tests to run to determine the problem, and perhaps I can fix it myself without sending this thing in for who knows how long it's going to take to diagnose and resolve...

 

[cerebus]

Sounds like it's throttling due to overheating. Step 1 would be to do a thorough clean out of the exhaust vents for the fans. Unscrew anything that can be unscrewed at the back and look for clumps of clogged up gunk. Is it also making a noticeably louder fan noise than before?

 

[DJ...]

Sounds like it's throttling due to overheating. Step 1 would be to do a thorough clean out of the exhaust vents for the fans. Unscrew anything that can be unscrewed at the back and look for clumps of clogged up gunk. Is it also making a noticeably louder fan noise than before?

I checked the heat and it feels fine (haven't checked actual temps - where do I do this?). There's no clumping at all. What I've noticed is that when it slows down, the fans do sound a little louder, but there's no heat. The laptop is just slightly warm to the touch on the underside...

 

[skimread]

Put in SSD instead of the SATA

 

[cerebus]

I checked the heat and it feels fine (haven't checked actual temps - where do I do this?). There's no clumping at all. What I've noticed is that when it slows down, the fans do sound a little louder, but there's no heat. The laptop is just slightly warm to the touch on the underside...

You can use this tool to check the temps. If the core is going above 80 it's overheating.

 

[DJ...]

SSD instead of the SATA

Sure, that will speed it up, but doesn't resolve the underlying issue here. Something is not right...

 

[Electric]

Is this the one you purchased recently?
I can't see how it could be dust build-up.

 

[xrapidx]

Some sort of malware, or memory leak? (Windows not displaying all tasks)

 

[TehStranger]

Have you visited any sites of ill repute recently? Serious question.

What antivirus are you running? Scan and see if it picks up anything.

 

[DJ...]

You can use this tool to check the temps. If the core is going above 80 it's overheating.

Chrome reckons that file is malicious...

 

[DJ...]

Is this the one you purchased recently?
I can't see how it could be dust build-up.

Yes, very recently purchased...

Have you visited any sites of ill repute recently? Serious question.

What antivirus are you running? Scan and see if it picks up anything.

No sites of ill repute. Not running an antivirus other than Windows Defender, but I've also not installed anything on this machine other than Office and safe media programs...

 

[TehStranger]

No sites of ill repute. Not running an antivirus other than Windows Defender, but I've also not installed anything on this machine other than Office and safe media programs...

Worked off of any external media such as flash drives?

 

[DJ...]

Worked off of any external media such as flash drives?

Yes, but both were completely clean and belonged to me. Only contained Excel and Word files...

 

[Electric]

Install Microsoft Security Essentials and do a scan to be safe.
It works well imo.

Have you run msconfig and done a selective startup to see what it could be causing the slow down?

 

[DJ...]

Have you run msconfig and done a selective startup to see what it could be causing the slow down?

Not yet, but I've only got a few essentials starting up in any case. The issue is that I can't go hours without certain apps that are starting up, and it takes a few hours before the machine crawls to a halt. It's fine for the first hour, then begins to slow down over the course of the next few hours...

 

[Electric]

That's a bit of a pain.
Not even being able to fault find can be endless issues.

Based on your statements I'd say the laptop hardware is faulty.
Have there been any shorts or surges lately that you have noticed?

 

[skimread]

For that spec machine to slow down like that without full usage CPU is odd.

Is it not perhaps a malfunctioning driver problem with the touch screen. Perhaps try disable it.

 

[TehStranger]

Yes, but both were completely clean and belonged to me. Only contained Excel and Word files...

Right. What sort of files do you deal with mostly on the machine? Mostly Office, or more intensive applications (Photoshop etc)?

What is the RAM usage when the machine starts to slow down? Can you post a screenshot of task manager when the machine starts to slow down?

Also have you changed the pagefile size at all? If not and you only work with mild programs, try disabling it completely.

 

[Eskomisaloser]

Check if anything is overheating?

I recommend Speccy for checking the temps: http://www.piriform.com/speccy

Had you updated the bios?

 

[cerebus]

Coretemp isn't malicious. Maybe a false positive but it'll probably try and offload some crapware when you do an install so just be wary.