hi guys.. I have a toshiba portege lappie which worked really well until one day =/ it is really slow and startup takes about 15-20 minutes =/ i recently formatted my computer a few times (totalling up to 5 times in the past 2 weeks) and it is still slow.

since toshiba comes with loads of other 'utilities' i uninstalled them all when it was fresh out of format and it still runs very slow.. i have barely any big programs running except for AVG and zonealarm in my background, the rest ive gotten rid of them by msconfig.

i was wondering if there is a hardware problem such as processor, ram or hard disk.. i ran some tests such as checkdisk and AMIdiag which came back without errors, checking my ram with MemTest and AMIdiag which came back all good, checking my processor with AMIdiag as well, which also came back positive.

Hopefully there is someone who can help me XD

post anymore information that you need..

after what you have done my first thought would be RAM

any way i can be sure that it is the RAM problem..? because i would want to change the faulty part as soon as possible, but if i cant pin point the right hard ware (presuming its a hardware problem) then id just waste my money =/

why do you say it is the RAM anyway?


by the way, another info on the computer, after i reformat the computer, it runs very smoothly, firefox opens in 1 second, windows load up in less than 1 minute, but after a few programs installed and a few files placed in, it then starts getting slow and unbearable.. =/

I had pretty much the same problem as you but on a PC,ran loads of tests and everything was coming up fine,I was told to try Partition Magic and check HD for bad sectors,I did that and found the problem,the HD was loaded with bad sectors and caused the comp to slow down big time.Sometimes bad sectors can be repaired,Partition Magic will repair them if they can be,in my case they couldnt be repaired and had to put in new HD,after the new HD was installed comp worked great.Not sayin this is the problem your having,but wouldnt hurt too check out your HD,I use Partition Magic 8.0....Good luck.

read the speed up your computer guide in the guides forum

hmm, i think i kinda got it up and running a little better than it originally was, thankx for the partition magic tip.. i partitioned my hard drive into 2 and call me paranoid, but when i place some files into the second partition especially big video files, the computer starts getting slow again.. so i deleted it and restarted the comp and its fine.. not as good, but fine..

so heres another question, if there is a bad sector, is it possible to isolate the bad sector by partitioning out the bad sector of the hard drive ? because im afraid that space in the hard drive is more dynamic rather than static.. hehe..

ohh, another question, if my laptop does not have a built in CD-rom or floppy disc drive.. how can i install windows if i get a new hard drive?

Hi and sorry took me so long to reply,got kinda busy.Yes you can partition out the bad sector or sectors,but if you have a few bad sectors and if they are scattered throughout the hard drive partioning them out can be a little tricky.As far as as a CD Rom goes for installing Windows you can get an external,they are a little pricey though 80-100 bucks.Hope this helps you out.