Suddenly lagging laptop

[maplegrower]

Hello,

I'm having a rather frustrating problem with my laptop. It was working wonderfully until suddenly, it started micro-stuttering and lagging. Long story short, I reset Windows, updated my Bios, updated my Display adapter driver (and other drivers), did hard Disk check, memory test, tested compoments...all to no avail. There was a slight improvement when I updated my display adapter driver but the result is far from where it was originally. 

The only symptom my notebook was showing before this happened was a problem where the battery would not be charging though plugged in. This only happened ever so often.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Resolv_S]

Hey@maplegrower,

Thanks for reaching out to HP Support Forums. One stop for all solutions about your HP product.

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I was going through your post and would like to help you.

Slow performance on the laptop. correct?

I recommend you to try the steps to check if that solves the issue.

Use the link below to access the steps that need to be executed for the issue.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05207140

Hope the above steps will help you finds the solution. Please share more to serve you.

Resolv_S

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[maplegrower]

Resolv_S,

Thank you for your reply!

I checked the link you sent me and I had already done almost everything that was listed. I'll get my hands on a can of compressed air asap, but my computer isn't manifesting any of the symptoms consistent with a heat problem. As I said in my original post, I updated my BIOS and also the display adapter driver (and also did the other checks I mentioned), which showed only a slight improvement. Windows reset hadn't changed anything noticeable.

Following the instructions in the aforementioned link, I changed the appearance settings so that they are set for "best performance". This indeed improved my laptop performance. However, it's still a little choppy. I also don't want to keep these settings and would like to get to the core issue. My computer was working really great before this with normal settings and I was trully enjoying its performance.

If there's anything else I could check to get my laptop to original performance would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to go ahead and do the components Test again (don't know what else to do at this point).

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I should mention:

Windows 10

8GB Ram

CPU: Intel i5-5200 CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.19GHz

Display Adapter: Intel HD Graphics 5500 

[MKazi]

@maplegrower

Happy New Year to you too!. Thanks for replying with the results. 

I appreciate the steps you have performed and have certainly done a good job.

As the hardware has tested okay, I would like to now if you have reinstalled the Windows OS. You did mention a reset. Was it the complete reinstall of Windows or was it a reset without deleting data. 

I would suggest you to perform Windows 10 updates. Also, you may reinstall Windows if not already done. This would delete all data and restore the original factory image of Windows 10 on your laptop. Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows 10).

Keep me posted. Cheers! 🙂

[maplegrower]

Dear MKazi,

Thank you for for your help, it is greatly appreciated!

So, resetting windows was itslef something of a challenge as the oridinary recorvery option provided by Windows would not work. I would ask for it to do a reset and it would only respond telling me that it couldn't complete the operation and that no changes were made. I therefore had to download a "MediaCreationTool" from Microsoft and did a total reset (deleting everything). In my overzealousness, I subsequently did another Total Reset using Windows recovery. In both cases, the reset was total and was succesful. Nevertheless, the reset (s) did not resolve my micro-stuttering/lag. Windows is fully update. If necessary I will reset Windows again if you think it could possibly resolve something though it would be, in effect, the 3rd time in a week. 

I have come to notice a problem that was already occuring before my problem manifested itself: when plugged in, the battery says that it is not charging ("plugged in, not charging") only shutting down the computer, taking out and placing back in the battery seems to make it work. Nevertheless, Hardware tests were a Pass. Hp assistant gave my battery an "OK" and says it is functioning within normal parameters. Windows device manager says drivers for battery are up to date. Though my PC was bought in North America, I have been in Europe for the last several months (maybe the difference in voltage can be affecting something?)

I mentioned this earlier, but I find it curious that updating my Display Adapter Drivers using Device Manager did improve performance, though not to previous levels. Should I consider updating this driver directly from Intel rather than using Windows?

I also notice that when multitasking, my speakers crackle though my PC used to do these tasks seamlessly before it manifested these symptoms. Audio drivers are up to date.

Finally, I have been routinely checking perfomance data with Task Manager. Though not always, sometime Disk Usage seems to be unjustifiably high for extended periods of time, hitting 99% and even 100% usage though no apps are (to my knowledge) open. Though this is not a continuous phenomenon.

I hope this helps. Thanks Again!

[MKazi]

@maplegrower

You are most welcome. 🙂

This has turned out to be neither a hardware issue or a software issue. Hardware tests have passed. Windows has been reinstalled. You can try to contact HP phone support and order the original Windows recovery media to install Windows and check if that helps.

Regarding the cracking noise, I suggest you to run the hardware test on the speakers:

• Hold the power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.

• Turn on the computer and immediately press the F2 key repeatedly, about once every second.

• The HP PC Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI) main menu is displayed.

• Select Component tests.

• Audio - The Audio Playback Test checks your system to make sure the audio device is functioning properly. During the test, a few music notes are played in sequence and then repeated. This test takes 1 minute to complete. Click Audio, then click Run once. Choose either the speakers or the headphones. When asked, enter the number of notes you heard.

Please observe during the test if the crackling noise appears.

Let me know if you need further assistance. Thank you again! 🙂

[maplegrower]

 Dear Mkazi,

Sorry about the late reply. I did the audio test and no crackling was noticed. As I said previously, drivers have been reinstalled for audio. The crackling only appears when multitasking, so I assume it isn't anyhting to do with audio itself, buth with reduced performance.

You mentioned, in you previous post, that it seems like I don't have a hardware or software issue since I performed all necessary diagnostic and other tests, but I wonder what else can it be?

I know sometimes perceptions of "lag" are somehwhat subjective, but the difference in performance is so big that I am absolutely certain of it...it's like night and day.

Finally, with regards to getting Windows recovery media to install Windows, isn't that what I essentially did when I downloaded the "MediaCreationTool" from Microfost?

Thanks

[MKazi]

@maplegrower

You are most welcome. 🙂 I appreciate you taking your valuable time to troubleshoot.

The Media Creation Tool may require a product license key for installation and it is not the original operating system copy that came with the computer. As per Microsoft link: http://hp.care/2i9JZ7P. 

Therefore I suggest to use the recovery partition from the hard drive to reinstall windows. You may refer to this lin to know how to reinstall Windows using the recovery partition: http://hp.care/2i6FjEH.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks again! 🙂

[maplegrower]

Hey,

Ok, here's an update. After the audio jack was behaving very oddly, for te 3rd time in just a few weeks, I reset windows using windows recovery in Settings. I did so not just for the audio problem but as a last ditch effort to try to resolve my overal performance problem. It was a total reset and took some 8-9 hours. As I startup my computer I notice that there is still the lag and performance still isn't as it used to be . However, a message appears when windows starts up:

"AccelerometerSt.exe - System Error

The prgram can't start because VCRUNTIME140.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

This message appeared in after previous resets as well, but I neglected to mention it because I forgot about it (in those past cases, subsequent restarts did not resend the error message). However, this time around, the message persists after several startups. Could it be this maybe at the root of the micro-stuttering and lag? How can I should I proceed to solve this problem?

I know you suggested that I get an original Windows recovery media via HP phone support. However, since I am out of country, and will be for awhile, I was hoping I could find another solution.

Thanks!

[MKazi]

@maplegrower

You are most welcome and thanks for letting me know the results. 

The Accelerometer is a part of HP 3D DriveGuard Software. Please uninstall the program and download and install the Windows 10 compatible HP 3D DriveGuard Software from the following weblink:

• Open windows Control Panel, open Programs and Features, right-click on the entry for 'HP 3D DriveGuard' and select Uninstall.
• When Windows has fully reloaded, download and install the latest version from this link: http://hp.care/2jbLqoc.

Also, please try running a test on the hard drive from the UEFI diagnostics.

Keep me posted. All the best! 🙂