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My laptop (ASUS G73jw) sometimes gets in a state where it will repeatedly (every 10 seconds or so) "freeze" - the Task Manager CPU usage goes to zero - and then recover after a few seconds. The HDD light is on during the freeze.

Having browsed for a solution, I have installed Windows Performance Analyzer, which shows clearly that during the freezes:

  • the CPU is idling
  • the Disk I/O stops
  • the Disk usage is at max(!)

I've run chkdsk, no defrag needed, etc etc. The disk is a Seagate Momentus XP (hybrid SSD/HDD). I tried Acronis Drive Monitor but it says the drive is healthy.

What else can I look for?

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1 Answer 1

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When I have seen this, it was my disk that was actually starting to go down the tubes. If you are getting a lot of retries on the disk, but the data is eventually read successfully, the minimal tools might not even show you are having a problem. This includes Windows, since it would not report anything,and thus Acronis would not report anything in this case.

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Thanks - I'll see if I can get it replaced under warranty. I read that the XT has a 5 year warranty. Also need to try Seagates own diag tools. –  Dan Feb 19 '13 at 11:07
SeaTools didn't show anything - I bought a new Momentus XT (750GB) drive, and the problem is gone. So it must have been the drive. –  Dan Feb 25 '13 at 9:50

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