Pavilion g6 will not start 2024

[Unionfan]

Hello. In the process of trying to fix a 100% disk usage problem with my friend's Pavilion g6 laptop, it will not now turn on.

As I have for other machines with the same issue, I followed the steps here: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/fix-100-percent-disk-usage-in-windows-10/ and the first few worked fine. When I uninstalled Skype (the user did not have Chrome at all anyway), I hit restart and it simply won't.  The LED in the power button shines solid white, the LED next to the power cable shines red (this has the USB symbol next to it), the 'power' LED and the disk drive LED next to where the power lead plugs in do not illuminate at all.  The LED under the f12 / wifi button is now red (was solid white when working) and the LED in the caps lock button is flashing white.  The fan or HDD is running as you can hear a noise when the power button is solid white.  If I press the power for 5 seconds, you can hear the machine 'turn off'.... no sound and no lights except for the red LED next to the power socket.

I have tried a hard reset as per instructions on this forum and pressing F8 to enter boot menu but with no success. Any advice to get the machine working again would be very helpful, thank you.
UF

[Gaya1239]

Hi @Unionfan,

Welcome to the HP Support Community

I understand you are facing an issue with your HP Product. Not to worry I will help you to get a resolution to resolve the issue.

To assist better:

• May I have the exact name of the model of the product? Refer to this document for steps to find the product details. Do not share your personal information such as serial, phone number, email ID, etc.

Could you please elaborate in detail? 

I hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Gaya1239

HP Support

[Unionfan]

Hello and thanks for your reply.  The Pavilion G6 laptop has now powered back on having tried the multiple lengths of time holding down the power button to perform a hard reset, suggested on the web.  for some models it's 15 seconds, for others it's 25 but for this model it was 30. So the power is now back up and running but the 100% disk issue is still there and we're not happy about it.  The machine is not frequently used and my friend bought an i5 intel machine with 6GB RAM and 1 TB HDD because he was advised as a non-expert that this would be plenty of oomph to give him decent performance for years!  All he days is use the web, check his emails, update his car's satnav and type Libre Office documents 😞

Fast forward 4 years and is his only option really to replace the HDD (which has never been pushed beyond 100GB)?  We've done literally everything else we can find on the web from disabling Superfetch etc to reducing display performance and the disk usage is still at100% for most of the time. It even takes more than 5 minutes to boot up.  Your suggestions will be gratefully received and the details are:
Product ID: 00326-10000-00000-AA742

Processor: Intel Core i5-3210M @ 2.5GHz

64 Bit Windows 10, all as up to date as it can be as of this morning.

Thanks

UF

[Gaya1239]

Hi @Unionfan ,

Welcome to The HP Support Community.  

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you.

I understand the HP Pavilion g6 laptop's 100% disk usage issue can be particularly frustrating, especially given its specifications should handle basic tasks smoothly. Here's how to troubleshoot and potentially resolve this problem:

May I know 

Do you see an HP Logo when you try to turn on the unit and then the screen goes blank or blue screen, If Blue screen Have observed any error message?

Or the unit is not turning On at all 

Do You see a light glowing on the power button and next to the charging Port? 

Please try the following Troubleshoots steps. 

1.    Turn off the Unit.

2.    Disconnect the AC adapter.

3.    Remove any discs from the disc drive.

4.    Remove memory cards from the card reader slot.

5.    Disconnect all nonessential peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, external hard drives, and USB flash drives.

6.    Disconnect the AC adapter press and hold the power button for approximately 15 seconds.

7.    Reconnect the AC adapter, and then turn on the computer.

Step 2

Turn off the unit and please press and hold the Windows key + letter B key and the power button together for 30 seconds after 30 seconds, 1st release the power button but keep holding the Windows key and B key for ten more seconds and then release these two keys If done correctly, you will see the display flashing once. Please attempt it thrice as this step and Restart the unit

Step3

The unit has to be turned off, Press Win+ V while holding these two keys then Press the Power button, continue to hold all three keys for 30 seconds and then release the Power button first and then release these two keys Please attempt it thrice  and then you may get a Pop-Up CMOS Check and it will restart the unit 

Even if you don't get a Pop-up restart the unit manually after 3 attempts.

After the above  troubleshooting steps if the unit  turns on 

1. Check for Background Processes

• Task Manager:
  • Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
  • Sort processes by disk usage to identify what is causing the high utilization.
  • Common culprits:
    • Windows Search Indexing
    • Superfetch/SysMain
    • Antivirus scans
• If unnecessary services (like Search Indexing or SysMain) are consuming resources:
  • Press Win + R, type services.msc, and disable these services.

2. Update or Roll Back Drivers

• Outdated or incorrect storage drivers can lead to high disk usage:
  • Press Win + X → Device Manager → Expand Disk Drives.
  • Right-click the drive → Update Driver.
• If the issue began after a recent update:
  • Right-click the drive → Properties → Driver → Roll Back Driver.

3. Disable Windows Search and Superfetch (SysMain)

• Windows Search:
  • Press Win + R, type services.msc, and locate Windows Search.
  • Right-click → Properties → Set Startup Type to Disabled.
• Superfetch/SysMain:
  • Repeat the steps above for SysMain.

4. Check Disk Health

• Open Command Prompt as Administrator:
  • Type chkdsk C: /f /r and follow the prompts to schedule a scan at next reboot.
• Run the command: wmic diskdrive get status
  • If the output isn’t OK, the HDD might have physical issues.

5. Diagnose Using HP Tools

• HP Diagnostics:
  • Turn off the laptop and press F2 during boot to access the hardware diagnostics.
  • Run a disk check to confirm if the HDD is failing.
• If the disk health is poor, replacing the HDD with an SSD is recommended. SSDs are faster, more reliable, and can significantly improve boot times and overall performance.

6. Replace the HDD with an SSD

• Given the laptop's specifications, replacing the HDD with an SSD is the most effective upgrade:
  • An affordable SATA SSD (e.g., 500GB) will drastically improve performance.
  • Use disk cloning software (e.g., Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper) to transfer data if you don’t want to start fresh.

7. Perform a Clean Installation of Windows

• Sometimes, old or corrupted files cause persistent issues.
• Back up important data and perform a clean installation of Windows 10:
  • Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's website.
  • Create a bootable USB and reinstall Windows.

Refer to this document:

I hope this helps. 

Take care and have a good day.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!