not sure where this post belongs but my PC is messed up. Sometimes it fails to boot. Other time it boots but things dont load completely or fail to respond to attempts to access a program. Yesterday, trying to run Systweak adv.syst. optimizer, the process ran for a while(everything is very slooooow), then when almost complete entire system froze. had to turn off with switch and restart. This happened twice.

This has been going on for some time and I don;t know what to do. Is there any help?

Hello and welcome to PCHF

Off the top of my head, I'd say it's the Hard Disk, but let's see:
Check your HDD's S.M.A.R.T. records:
Download the free program SMARTUDM - HDD S.M.A.R.T. Viewer, it is on the bottom of the page, scroll down to find it.

Put the program on a boot floppy or a bootable USB stick and boot from it.

(HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool: Run the program, and select "Create a DOS startup disk, using DOS System Files Located at:" then point to a bootable floppy and copy the bootfiles from there)

After you boot your system from the floppy (or the USB), on the prompt type: smartudm
Select the HDD you want to see the S.M.A.R.T. records from, and keep pressing <ENTER> until the program asks you to press R to generate a report.
Generate the report and then do the same for the rest of the HDDs -if any.

In windows, open the report(s) with Notepad, save as .txt (makes viewing easier) and post them here.

hi George

Two things:

first, my level of expertise is pretty low, so some things may need to be more laid out for a low tech user.

second, the only removable drive i have is DVD/CD-RW Drive. Can I perform the tasks you laid out using a CD or do i need other equipment?

Some things that you and many others might understand by inference I probably need spelled out. Sorry for the extra work but i appreciate your willingness to take on my problem.

Thanks
D

George

Didnt mean removable drive, meant removable media. So will this work or do i need some other stuff?

D

You can use a (cheap) usb stick.
And do not worry , we can take you step by step

thanks, can't get on this till after weekend. Get back to you then

ok nso I finally had a chance to try and get a bootable USB stick. Went to large electronics store& told them what I needed and why. Two people at different times suggested that my computer( a laptop, by the way..I hadn't mentioned that before) might not support booting from a USB stick.

they said that that has only become available in last couple of years, and that my 5 yr old motherboard might not be able to do that.

Any comments or suggestions?

d