Windows performance declines over time (hardware or software problem?)
Windows performance declines over time (hardware or software problem?)
I've been assembling PCs for more than seven years. My primary OSes are MacOs and Linux, but I'm still comfortable with Windows. Around three to four months ago, my father's PC began slowing down and his boot times became erratic on his R7 2700. He mentioned feeling sluggish and thought an upgrade might help, especially since he works with architecture and 3D rendering. I suggested he upgrade to a faster SSD, which he did by switching to a PCI-E M.2 drive and reinstalling Windows. Boot times returned to normal, and everything seemed fine. But after a day, they started to lengthen significantly—from 25 seconds up to nearly a minute and a half. He suspected the graphics card was the problem, so I donated it to 1080ti to allow him to continue working. He reinstalled Windows, and everything worked again. After three days, the issues reappeared. I believe this is more related to software than hardware. The BIOS screen appears after 14 seconds, and Windows takes an unusually long time to load. The gradual increase is worrying. My father is now reinstalling Windows again, this time using only the SSD and just 16GB of RAM in dual-channel. Any suggestions on what might be going on?
I've been assembling PCs for more than seven years. My primary OSes are MacOs and Linux, but I'm still comfortable with Windows. Around three to four months ago, my father's PC began slowing down and his boot times became erratic on his R7 2700. He mentioned feeling sluggish and thought an upgrade might help, especially since he works with architecture and 3D rendering. I suggested he upgrade to a faster SSD, which he did by switching to a PCI-E M.2 drive and reinstalling Windows. Boot times returned to normal, and everything seemed fine. But after a day, they started to lengthen significantly—from 25 seconds up to nearly a minute and a half. He suspected the graphics card was the problem, so I donated it to 1080ti to allow him to continue working. He reinstalled Windows, and everything worked again. After three days, the issues reappeared. I believe this is more related to software than hardware. The BIOS screen appears after 14 seconds, and Windows takes an unusually long time to load. The gradual increase is worrying. My father is now reinstalling Windows again, this time using only the SSD and just 16GB of RAM in dual-channel. Any suggestions on what might be going on?
Start from safe mode whenever this happens, check if the process takes a long time to launch—it might indicate a software issue causing delays.
It might have been resolved by removing any non-default software from startup. Outside of that, I’m unsure what’s causing the problem, but it seems to be related to software conflicts. My laptop became slow after a Windows update, improved once I disabled certain programs, but it wasn’t the same delay.
It's difficult to determine exactly what's happening, as some programs can modify Windows settings. Even when the system isn't active, these changes might still affect performance.
It seems the problem isn't related to software. Installing Windows again won't help. It could be a faulty second drive (if your dad has one) or an external device slowing down the boot process because it can't start properly. Overheating might be involved too. An external hard drive could also be the cause. Years ago it might have been a DVD inserted. If it's a software issue, it likely connects to the software your dad uses. Some programs have unusual protection and require special drivers that might interfere with boot if they're outdated. An automatic driver update could also be the culprit. Consider creating a clone of your old OS to verify. If the cloned system boots faster than the original, the issue is probably with the drive. To check which software starts first, use Autoruns.