Disk Usage shoots to 100% whenever I run any application

[kata124]

Recently purchased an Omen Desktop that I am very much enjoying with the exception of one major issue: since initial setup, I have been experiencing an issue with disk usage always being at 100%. Usage in Task manager will hover around 0-2% when no application is opened, and then shoot to 100% when opening an application. Some applications stabilize after roughly 5 mins and drop to 25% disk usage while heavy applications like games will continuously run at 100%.

• Hard Disk Drive is a Toshiba DT01ACA100 (914gb)

As a result, most applications take a long time to load. Some games do not render environments or characters correctly for the first 5 minutes of the level (looks like the textures folded on top of themselves). I have even had some applications crash unexpectedly with error codes varying and being generally ambiguous on forums.

Some interesting thoughts I have noted:

• Windows may be acting like the disk has a very small capacity. Even applications that are running at 2.0mbps are consuming 75% disk
• The CPU and RAM are fine and hardly exceed the 30% marks, even on tough applications.

Things I have tried that did not work:

• Making sure all my drivers were up to date
• Lots of tricks around the internet.  I have tried the google chrome and skype fixes. I tried changing the registry key for that one AHCI controller. I did a clean boot and tested each application and service to see if there was a particular one like Superfetch or Windows Defender that was causing the issue.
• Ran in safe mode
• Reimaged my PC
• Ran HP diagnostic tool from boot menu, chkdisk, defragmentor. No errors and defragmentor said 0% fragmented.
• Spoke with HPSA representatives. They were very friendly and tried their best, trying a lot of the above again to confirm. They sent me a fresh copy of Win10 on USB which did not work either. Case is being escalated.

Thing I tried that kind of worked:

• Attached a spare hard drive as a secondary drive. The applications that ran on the problem drive continued having issues, but the ones on the spare drive ran just fine. I was able to run my most performance intensive games on the spare drive with no problems.

Intrestingly, when the spare drive is attached (it is tiny, only 237gb). Task Manager recognizes the primary drive as 30% of disk usage and the tiny spare as 70%. This means that when the primary is doing its problematic thing and running at 100%, task manager shows 30% disk usage total. Supports my earlier theory that somehow the drive is being recognized as having a much smaller capacity than it really does.

None of this leads me any closer to understanding what the issue might be though. If a spare drive works, does that mean the primary one is faulty? If so why did all the disk check return good with no issues? Could it sill possibly be a firmware/sofware issue? If so why didn't reimaging the pc or installing a fresh copy of win10 provided by HP fix it? Any ideas?

tl;dr - hard drive usage always 100%, disk checks show no errors, clean windows install doesn't fix it, secondary hard drive runs just fine.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @kata124, Thank you for visiting the HP Forums! A great place where you can find solutions for your issues with help from the community!

I understand you are getting 100% disk usage on your PC.

Don't worry I'll try to help you out.

Did you make any software or hardware changes on your PC?

Please provide the product number of your PC to assist you better.

Please try the steps recommended below.

Type “task manager” in the Windows search bar and select Task Manager: 
In the Processes tab, look at the % at the top of the Disk column. If it’s 100% (or it’s close and it has a red background), something is causing your hard disk to over-work.

Try the steps recommended below.

Open Command Prompt as administrator and use the following command:

net.exe stop “Windows Search”

Use this command to start Windows again:

net.exe start “Windows Search”

Another cause for your hard drive going full capacity is a firmware bug in Microsoft AHCI driver called StorAHCI.sys. It’s known to cause the 100% hard disk problem and even BSODs in Windows. Follow these steps to disable Message-Signaled Interrupts support for the driver and fix the issue:

Open Device Manager (Right-click This PC > Manage > Device Manager).
Extend the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers entry in the list.
Right-click Standard SATA AHCI Controller and go to Properties.
Under Driver tab, click Driver Details. If it shows C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\storahci.sys in the Drivers files field, then your system might be affected due to the bug.
Now click OK and go to the Details tab.
Select Device instance path from the drop down menu. You can copy the value present there to some text file or keep the box open.
Now, open Windows Registry (Windows + R > Type regedit).
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\
Look for the value you saw in the Properties and expand the relevant key. Make sure you expand the correct key.
Once you have found the correct AHCI Controller using the given string, navigate to:
Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\MessageSignaledInterruptProperties
Here, double-click MSISupported and change it’s value to 0 (means turn off the MSI).
Click OK to save the value. Close Windows Registry and restart your machine.

Also, try updating the BIOS and other drivers on your PC using HP support assistant.

Refer this article to know more information about using HP support assistant.

Try running system diagnostics on your PC and check if the hardware components on your PC are functioning correctly.

Refer this article to know more information about running system diagnostics on your PC.

If the solution provided worked for you, please mark accepted solution for this post.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Have a great day! 🙂

Please click "Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

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[kata124 · Accepted solution]

Update on this. I was not able to find a fix but HP covered a replacement. I used the HP support assistant that comes pre-installed on the computer and started a chat session. The agent was very helpful and had me run through a number of the above fixes to make sure they were not working. They then mailed me a copy of windows 10 so I could reimage my pc with a fresh copy of win 10. That didn’t work so I got back on the support assistant and they escalated my case to a higher up. The higher up requested that I ship the computer to a center (they covered cost) and gave me $ for the HP.com store equal to the amount for the computer. Got another Omen and this one is excellent!