Is my laptop hard drive dying or is it a windows problem?

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JLZ286

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This past week my laptop started acting really weird. The first thing was that my mouse wouldnt work anymore, I thought ok its a cheap mouse it probably died on me. But then I found out it was a problem with the USB port because my Ipod wont connect either. Now my mouse works whenever it wants but nothing else, printer, ipod, works. I also keep getting this message, "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. " It just keeps popping up every 15 seconds even if nothing is connected to the usb port. Now the other problem, I have Toshiba Satellite A65-S126 and when I turn it on usually it shows me the Toshiba screen for a few seconds and then boots up windows(xp). Now When I turn on the laptop it will stay on the Toshiba screen for 5 minutes or up to 15 minutes and then it lets me pick if I want to boot from cd, hard drive, etc... Once I actually get into windows it runs so slow. I checked for viruses, spyware, malware everything and im clean so I really have no idea what the problem is.
 
You could try getting speedfan from the downloads section and getting it to check out your hard drives S.M.A.R.T. characteristics, but im not sure if it works ok on a laptop!!!!
 
Im backing up all my music and my other files because im going to format my hard drive to see if it will fix my problem but is it worth it? Will it actually help me or am I just waisting my time?
 
If you do as i suggested in my previous post it may tell you if the hard drive is bad or not!!!!!!!!!
 
That all means that your hard drive is in good condition so the problem isn't a physical one!!! It's probably caused by either damaged data stored on your hard drive, bad ram, or viruses and spyware!!!!

First, run error checking on your hard drive by opening up your "my computer" and right clicking on your hard drive and selecting properties then tools then error checking!! It will probably ask you to schedule it and reboot you laptop, let it do it all and see if there is any improvement!! If not, post back here and i will help further!!!
 
I have worked on many Toshiba's at work and the last time I had that problem it was a Mother Board problem. I checked the HD, ram, and even tried to restore it but after all was said it done it came out to be a faulty Mother board. Without really seeing it i can't say for sure but thats just my past experience.
 
I did the error checking and it finished but I still have the same problems. Freeze at start up and my usb is messed up. I really hope its not a motherboard problem because I have no idea how I would go about replacing that.
 
i think that is motherboard problem. You need to get it to authorized tech service for diagnose and replacement (if needed). You can try reinstall Win, but probably it will be impossible due to the motherboard failure.

Regards.
 
Crap, I knew this computer was gonna crap out on me soon. Is there any program I can download to check if it is a motherboard problem like speedfan did for my hdd? If not how much can I expect to pay to have the problem diagnosed and a new motherboard put in?
 
Depending on where you take your computer it will cost you at least $500 for the mother board to be replaced. If you think you can do it yourself it will cost less but if you don't have a good grip on the subject i highly recommend taking some where that has the experience. If you do it yourself only knowing about half of what is really required you can get into a real mess trying to get it all back together and functioning correctly.
 
due to the "laptop" specs ill recommend to get a new 1 - it will save you some nerves and time.
$500 is too worth to pay for mobo and wait to fix it.
you can find Hiren's Boot Cd which is all most the ultimate diagnose and repair tool set

regards
 
Hello! I've been through a similar problem before, and those 5-15 minutes to boot up is you MOBO is trying to look for something, and I believe those are bad USB ports, can U live without the USB ports? if so, try disable them from the BIOS and see what happen, also try to arrange the bootup priority to your HDD as the first device, CD second and floppy third, and disable any other devices. I personally don't think is a Windows Problem, or if you have another HDD at hand for that laptop, give it a try without have to erase all your data. Good Luck
 
I've tried almost everything with the USB ports. I uninstalled them from the device manager and restarted the computer so that they would reinstall. I disabled them in BIOS, re-enabled them and nothing. The thing is that I could live with the 5-15 minutes of boot up time but I cant work without my usb ports. Im a journalism student in college and I have a huge need for usb devices on my laptop such as flash drives, mouse and printers. I 've changed the bootup priority in the BIOS but still get the same thing. The thing is that when I just close the laptop and windows hibernates it boots right up when I open it again its only when I restart it or turn it off that it takes a while to boot up. It seems like im going to eventually just have to get a new computer.
 
Gars said:
i think that is motherboard problem. You need to get it to authorized tech service for diagnose and replacement (if needed). You can try reinstall Win, but probably it will be impossible due to the motherboard failure.

Regards.
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Are you saying that if I try to restore my computer using my Toshiba Recovery cd it wont recover? If I do that will I be stuck with a worthless laptop?
 
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