Sony VAIO SZ very poor performance - Software or Hardware issue?

Hi,

A few weeks ago my Sony Vaio started running very slowly. I started by doing all the textbook software checks (malware spyware, hijackthis) and nothing worked. So I backed up everything, i copying across both C & D drives to my external disk drive.

I then ran the recovery console to wipe it clean and start from scratch. Stages 1 & 2 went well (wiping clean both drives, reinstalling Win XP). I ran thru the registration process etc and then it rebooted in factory settings. Almost immediately I got a prompt asking me to complete the last stage of recovery; re-installing the Sony software. The recovery console re-opened and started to do so, but got stuck at 73%. When i rebooted, the same thing happened again. And again the third time. I can close the recovery console via Task Manager. Regardless, I still have very slow performance - only now the machine doesn't crash after 15m.

I think the HD is gone - it has started making a whirring noise recently and may have been damaged before i cleaned out the fan system (lots of dust inside, laptop had been running too hot to touch underneath until i did this, ran only slightly warm ever since i cleaned the dust out).

Laptop is almost 3 yrs old. Any idea what the problem could be? Does this sound like hardware or software?

Alex

 

It might be the drive. I've had a notebook drive fail after the temperature in the case exceeded it's operating specs. Hopefully that's what it is; drives are relatively cheap and easy to replace - although maybe with a three year old notebook you may already be thinking of upgrading to a newer unit?

One more thing to try: burn (or have someone burn you) an Ubuntu CD and boot the notebook directly from the CD. Are you still seeing similar performance problems? If not maybe some key hardware drivers were not correctly installed during that third part of the recovery process..

I'd also try some disk intensive operations. It's possible that if the drive was damaged prior to the restoration process that the high disk activity during recovery caused excessive temperatures that may have forced the hardware to shut down.

Last thought: depending on how often you use your notebook it's possible that the fan itself needs to be replaced. I'm a heavy user and pro-actively replace the fan once a year. After three years of use it's definitely something I'd look into.

Good luck!

 

Sounds like the drive to me.

Get a new one, they are very cheap, and throw it in there. You'll be as good as new.

 

HDD issue that for sure better send for service or replace the HDD. this one is one top problem for unit running very slow.