Computer lags/freezes on Youtube, Flickr, and others after STartup Repair

I have an Asus UL30Vt running Windows 7 64-bit. My computer wouldn't wake up from the sleep mode so I did a hard restart and then it got stuck at the Windows loading screen. I restarted and did Startup Repair and I was able to get in but then I noticed a lag problem. Youtube videos show a blank screen and my computer will lag/freeze for a minute or two before going back to normal. This has also happened on Flickr when I try to look at pictures. And occasionally while I'm surfing the internet. The weird thing is I can watch Youtube videos that are embedded on another site just fine. The problem happens when I try to watch them on Youtube directly. It happens on Chrome, Firefox and IE although I do most of my surfing on Chrome. During the lag I get one of two error popup messages: either it's Flash or Windows Media Player Firefox plugin (even on Chrome) that has stopped working. I also noticed the same lag when trying to save a file in OpenOffice. Also, I can no longer turn off my touchpad using the Fn keys. This all happened post-Startup Repair. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Flash, updated my video card drivers, did a whole bunch of virus/malware scans and ran some registry cleaners but the problem still exists. I'm assuming something went wrong during the Startup repair after the hard restart...

 

Phew.... looks like one of those cases were a repair breaks more than it fixes

Ok, on the browsing site - it could be a corrupted cache - try using CCleaner and clean out your temp files for all browsers, see if that helps.
Also try to download Iron portable - that's installation free and just test if the issue persists there too.


On the Fn keys - I guess Asus did something similar to Sony, their own library, you might be better asking about that on the Sony forum.

 

Thanks for the reply. I already tried CCleaner and it didn't work but I did it again and I also had it clean out the registry which I think made things worse. Ha. Now Youtube lags on the main page as well when it used to not. And just in general there's more lag now.. Sigh. I restored the previous registry settings too.
I tried Iron Portable and same thing happens there as well.

I was able to fix the Fn key though.

I would rather not do a re-formatting but that's looking like the best option.

 

Did I say to use the registry cleaner? - I'd be wary of them - CCleaner is one of the safest ones, but whenever I use it I look at every single entry.

If the same thing happens with IronPortable then that means it's not a browser issue but something else.


You could try sfc /scannow to check and repair corrupt system files - read up on it
And maybe a chkdsk to check the HDD for errors - but I don't think there should be any.

I'm sort of poking at the problem here seeing if it'll go away right now.

Can you list your chipset, processor and graphics card?
I believe some people had lag issues with i7 and i5 processors due to aggressive power saving.

 

Yeah, I guess I was just really annoyed so I tried the registry thing. Hopefully I didn't mess things up too bad.

I tried the chkdsk and it didn't find any problems I think. I tried the sfc /scannow a couple times and it stops around 40% and says Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

The processor is a 1.3ghz SU7300 C2D Processor, the graphics card is a GeForce g210m and the chipset is Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset.

 

Ultra Low Voltage and dedicated graphics? OK... anyway.
I've not heard about any power saving issues - that's what someone mentioned for i5 and i7 processors.

You said you updated the graphics driver - so that should be OK.
The Chipset has a driver - but I don't think that's the issue.

About sfc /scannow - if it stops, try it in SafeMode - if it cannot complete something is rather wrong...

 

Well the laptop has switchable graphics and the other one is an Intel GMA 4500MHD.

I tried the scannow in Safe Mode and the same thing happened. Uh Oh. T__T

 

Nice

Switchable graphics shouldn't affect sfc scanow - I have switchable graphics too and it works.

 

Is there anything else I can do or is a reformat the only option?

 

I posted my results from CrystalDiskInfo on another forum and they said my hard drive has failed which is causing the problems. I'm assuming my only option is to get it replaced...



So is my hard drive gradually dying or something? Other than the issues I posted, everything works fine such as gaming (Starcraft 2).

 

i would run a chkdsk and a defrag.... that should help isolate the issue maybe

 

Well, it's not necessarily failing yet.

BUT: It is in a degraded state which means it might fail soon.
On that note though - unless the damaged sectors corrupt system files it should work fine.

You did do a chkdsk on it, didn't you? That should have reallocated bad sectors - or marked them if they couldn't be reallocated.

That drive can easily live another 2 years - it can die tomorrow too - there is no definite way of saying when it will die.
(And yes I had my granfather's laptop on a drive with a warning from Crystal Disk run at least a year with him before I switched the HDD to a WD)

 

I did a chkdsk and also defragged but it hasn't helped. I saved all my important files so if I can't fix it in the next few days, I'll probably re-format. Would that do anything at all if the hard drive is the problem? I'm also looking into sending it off for repair at a nearby ASUS Service center.

 

If the HDD is heading down the drain then a reformat won't help.
If you have bad sectors then it's most likely physical damage.

A warranty service might be an idea

Alternatively you could get a SSD (Intel X-25M - G2?) and then you do no have to worry about bumps it's faster too

Edit:
If it is outside of warranty you are better off doing a HDD swap yourself.