Windows 11 began acting sluggishly unexpectedly, might it be due to malware infiltrating your system?
Windows 11 began acting sluggishly unexpectedly, might it be due to malware infiltrating your system?
In short: The SATA SSD began acting slow and eventually stopped working after a reset. I fixed it by reinstalling Windows onto another drive via USB, but I’m still unsure if a virus was involved. Recently, while using Chrome, my computer slowed down significantly. Videos loaded quickly, but thumbnails took ages to appear; websites took over a minute to load completely. CPU temperatures kept rising on the AIO cooler display. Even after shutting it down, the process took an unusually long time. I tried resetting, entering the login screen, and booting in Safe Mode, but nothing resolved the issue. Eventually, the BIOS reported no bootable device found. It became clear something was wrong with the SSD. After several attempts, a final reset brought the system back online, though the app icons and wallpaper still flickered and the taskbar disappeared. I checked the Task Manager and saw the SSD was stuck at 100% usage while others showed zero. My Windows was installed on a Kingston SATA SSD, with two NVMe drives.
I managed to fix it by using a Windows Media Installer via USB. I powered off the PC, removed the faulty SSD, and reinstalled Windows from the USB drive. I formatted and deleted partitions for both the other SSDs, then reinstalled Windows on the 512GB NVMe drive. The system functioned normally afterward, restoring its performance.
Still uncertain, though—I wonder if a hidden infected file or malware was present, or if the SSD simply failed unexpectedly. I don’t recall downloading anything suspicious, but I’m open to the idea of a hidden threat. The only real concern is whether the virus could have left traces after a format and partition deletion.
Details:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte DS3H B550M
- CPU: Ryzen 7 5700x
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 (Kingston Hyper X)
- GPU: RTX 4060 Ti (8GB)
- Power Supply: Corsair 750W SATA
- SSD: 512GB Kingston SATA
- NVMe: 1TB & 513GB Kingston
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
Your motherboard is a Gigabyte DS3H B550M.
What BIOS version do you have?
Your power supply is a Corsair 750w SATA unit.
Corsair is the manufacturer, and 750W is the stated power rating. Could you tell me the model of your PSU and its age?
TL;dr: The SATA SSD started acting slow and eventually stopped working after a reset. I fixed it by reinstalling Windows to another drive via USB, but I’m wondering if that might have been caused by a virus.
If your disk drives or system resources were showing unusually high usage, two possibilities exist:
1) Your operating system has a memory leak, which can be resolved by formatting and reinstalling the OS.
2) You may have malware, which can be addressed using Malwarebytes.
I opened Task Manager with ctrl+alt+del and noticed that the SSD’s active time was stuck at 100% while other drives showed 0%. This suggests the first scenario.
Your SSD options include Kingston SATA 512gb and a 1TB & 513GB NVMe model. Kingston offers several drive models—feel free to mention which ones you own.