The Glade 4.0

I have a friend's laptop here that I'm trying to help fix, and I absolutely cannot figure out the root of the problem.

The computer barely functions at all when started in normal mode (Vista). It takes 25 minutes just to boot and if you click on anything like the Start menu it takes 2-3 minutes to respond. I was expecting to see a gigantic pile of spyware and unnecessary programs but I got into the task manager and there's nothing suspicious there at all. The computer has very little installed on it and I can't see any evidence of any kind of spyware. There's no fake virus warnings, questionable-looking programs, or tons and tons of useless garbage that you usually see on a "slow" computer that's spyware infested. Still, while started in normal mode the hard drive constantly spins so it's doing something that is sucking up all the CPU. However this does not show up in Task Manager, TM shows 99% CPU available even with the hard drive spinning away and a three minute delay on just opening the control panel. Obviously I can't do much with the computer in this state. If left on for an hour random important-looking core parts of Windows will "stop working" (like rundll32) and it eventually just hangs.

If you boot it in safe mode the "slowness" does not happen. Everything is nice and fast. I ran spybot and antivirus in safe mode and both found nothing. I ran through device manager and installed programs and there's nothing suspicious there. Everything is installed and working properly. I ran the BIOS self-tests on the hard drive and memory and both say everything is fine. However, the laptop cannot connect to the Internet even started in safe mode with networking. It simply refuses to acknowledge the existence of any networks even though the wireless card is installed and according to DM working properly. Even if you make a wired connection to a router, it simply does not recognize it at all. I can only assume this also happens in normal mode, but of course I can't DO anything in normal mode.

Does anyone have any advice on where to start looking for where the problem lies? I am completely at a loss with this one.

I know this is extreme, but the first thing I would do is back it up to external, and wipe the drive, then install the o.s. Fresh. Sounds like either some really wrecked drivers or a spyware/virus that is NASTY.

How full is the hard drive?
Install 7 if possible.
Darkroland has a good idea.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

You gotta re-image it bro. That's my expert advice.

before re-imaging... (which will likely need to happen ASAP)

Have you run a checkdisk or defragged the hard drive?

At least to try and get to the point where backing up the data does not make the baby jesus cry...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Boot with Ubuntu live and backup files onto a USB.

Re-image operating system of choice onto it.

Are there any restore points?

I had something similar happen with Vista after an update (SP1 maybe) on one of my systems. I went back to the previous restore point and it was (nearly) good as new.

I never did re-install that patch before I upgraded to Win7...

Put me down for "Bite the bullet and reimage"

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"