Acer Laptop/Fresh install mysteriously slow. a few questions too

Hi everyone.
I am not making a lot of progress with this laptop and need help.
I have a 5-6 year old lower-end Acer with original installation with an i5 2.x GHz with 3.0GHz turbo and two sticks of 4 GB Ram. It started running slower and slower despite removing a lot of old programs so I decided to troubleshoot. A system restore came up with an error on all previous restore points. I then did an SFC scan and also got errors thate windows could not fix. I then proceeded with a Win 10 "Repair" in which I kept my files. It took overnight to do the repair and even after losing all the apps, it was slow. To put that into perspective, a reboot would take upwards 15 minutes. Opening a browser at least 2 minutes or more. Even typing had lag until the text appeared on the screen.
I then did a Reset. This took over 24 hours but was successful; no difference. Someone suggested my HDD was about to die but I didn't notice symptoms of a dying hard drive. Nevertheless, I performed a test while running with no errors and then removed the hard drive, hooked it up to another laptop to transfer my files and had no issues.
After the reset, I did a RAM test - no errors. Interestingly though, I did remove the ram chips and inspect and replace but I put them in different slots and the screen would not display thereafter. After returning them to original slots, it worked again. The Ram chips are labeled 1of2 and 2of2 but didn't think it would matter which slots they were in. Perhaps I didn't install securely when I switched them.
Anyway, did another SFC scan and got a a near 4 MB CBS log file and again messages that windows found errors that it could not repair. So that's where I am now. A few other details, last I checked, my Windows build was the older one (1809?). I can also recall in the course of my troubleshooting that somewhere it said I couldn't use a certain kind of repair tool on this laptop or that I couldn't upgrade to 1909. It's a vague memory but might make sense to you.
I also read on this forum someone with a very similar problem noticed that his CPU speed wasn't going higher than like .480 GHz so he pulled the battery and problem solved. I monitored CPU performance a little and saw my CPU was going right up to 2.x GHz but would often fall to very low speeds of less than 1 GHz. Is this normal?

Here are my questions:

1. When you use windows repair or reset utility and a clean version of windows is installed, where does it get these 'clean' OS files?
2. How is a repair or reset different than using a USB recovery thumb drive that you create when you unbox the laptop?
3. How do I actually wipe the HDD clean and reinstall windows (and where does windows come from)?
4. Could a virus or hard drive glitch lead to corruption of the files Windows uses to restore or repair?
5. The back of my laptop doesn't have a Windows serial# on it. Is the number I retrieve from system properties the licence number (I am concerned if I do a hard drive wipe and install windows from external source that it will ask me for my licence number and I don't have the correct one. I did but this laptop new form Staples).
6. When I had my hard drive hooked up external to another laptop to transfer files, I was surprised to see that windows would not allow me to access several Windows protected folders (like Users folder) so I wasn't able to transfer the contents of My Documents or saved Windows Live Mail folder. This surprised me. How are those folders protected when they are not in their parent computer?
7. What suggestions do you have as a next step?

Thanks for wading through all this!

With a processor like that, more like 7-8 years old. i5 is more mid range in terms of performance.
"I monitored CPU performance a little and saw my CPU was going right up to 2.x GHz but would often fall to very low speeds of less than 1 GHz. Is this normal?"

Yes, that is normal for a Laptop type CPU. Mine ranges from 3.1 GHz down to 800 MHz. No worries, it turbos up when required.
On the latest iteration of Windows 10 this is set by the Power Mode from the Task bar, the centre setting being the one where the CPU frequency will vary.

Have you done full hardware checks on BIOS settings battery and the HDD drive both are getting close to needing replacement. Is the HDD nearly full, that in itself will slow things up. A proper HDD sector scan check takes many hours.

2. The recovery drive you make on unboxing is for the original version of Windows installed, not much use now.

3. You can download the latest version of Windows 10 from MS to make an install Media, USB drive or ISO to burn a DVD. Details are on here.

4. Yes to both.

5. Don't worry about that MS has your Windows 10 hardware ID when you upgraded to Windows 10. It should activate no problem.

6. Those are protected files for the account on the original Laptop. All about folder/file permissions, you can 'take ownership', however you are putting it back in to the original machine so I would not do that.
There are other ways of transferring those files.

majbach said:

I also read on this forum someone with a very similar problem noticed that his CPU speed wasn't going higher than like .480 GHz so he pulled the battery and problem solved. I monitored CPU performance a little and saw my CPU was going right up to 2.x GHz but would often fall to very low speeds of less than 1 GHz. Is this normal?

If you have a problematic battery you should replace it. It can damage your internal Power Supply. However, it doesn't affect CPU performance.

Here are my questions:
1. When you use windows repair or reset utility and a clean version of windows is installed, where does it get these 'clean' OS files?
It doesn't really do a clean install. It cleans the existing version from your settings and programs. To do a clean install you must boot from a installation disk (DVD or USB flash drive) and delete all partitions and proceed.
Clean Install Windows 10

2. How is a repair or reset different than using a USB recovery thumb drive that you create when you unbox the laptop?
You can download latest Win 10 from M$.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

3. How do I actually wipe the HDD clean and reinstall windows (and where does windows come from)?
Clean Install Windows 10.
To do a clean install you must boot from a installation disk (DVD or USB flash drive) and delete all partitions and proceed.

4. Could a virus or hard drive glitch lead to corruption of the files Windows uses to restore or repair?
When you have a failing HDD, Windows is slow and you get corrupted files. You should do a disk check (chkdsk C: /f)

5. The back of my laptop doesn't have a Windows serial# on it. Is the number I retrieve from system properties the licence number (I am concerned if I do a hard drive wipe and install windows from external source that it will ask me for my license number and I don't have the correct one. I did but this laptop new form Staples).
As mentioned, M$ already has your laptop ID on their servers so it will activate.

6. When I had my hard drive hooked up external to another laptop to transfer files, I was surprised to see that windows would not allow me to access several Windows protected folders (like Users folder) so I wasn't able to transfer the contents of My Documents or saved Windows Live Mail folder. This surprised me. How are those folders protected when they are not in their parent computer?
If the computer user has another ID than the original it will deny access. You must log in as the built administrator account.
You have to activate the Administrator account.
Open a CMD window as administrator and type:
net user administrator /active:yes

To turn it off, open a CMD window as administrator and type:
net user administrator /active:no

After activating / deactivating you must reboot

7. What suggestions do you have as a next step?

Do a clean install after you sure your HDD is healthy. If disk check finds bad blocks, bad clusters, bad sectors, your disk surface is damaged and can't be fixed. Replace it with a SSD.

Megahertz said:

Do a clean install after you sure your HDD is healthy. If disk check finds bad blocks, bad clusters, bad sectors, your disk surface is damaged and can't be fixed. Replace it with a SSD.

Thank you both for your advice. So far, I have only done CHKDSK scans using various parameters like /f /r /x. I see the check being performed successfully but after some time when I return to the laptop it's rebooted so I am not certain if it found anything. Do the results go into the CBS folder log and just get added to the previous log?

Regardless, I managed to get into the BIOS and I don't see anything there that's useful (what am I looking for?). I've changed the Mx battery as well. I'm at the point where I want to know why/what as much as I am concerned about fixing it. As I've said before, I've encountered HDD failures before and the symptoms seem pretty identifiable. I am not observing any symptoms of a bad drive plus ive done some HDD tests and they've come back with positive results. I've also done RAM tests with same results. Let me explain a little more what is happening.
The hard drive has been 'wiped' from a Windows repair and a windows reset; no programs installed. Windows runs extermely slow even while doing tasks that should already be in RAM. For example, hitting WIN+X do bring up the menu and then selecting the Powershell takes several seconds. Once Powershell is selected, it takes like a minute to load and then, keystrokes aren't acknowledged for at least 20 seconds. This cannot be an HDD problem, could it? Even with Powershell loaded, launching another one takes just as much time as it did launching it for the first time. What could be causing that? I have a feeling that a new HDD or installing windows from a USB is going to solve this. Thoughts?

I still think you have a problematic disk.

Enter windows and retrieve the check disk log and post it here.
How To Extract The Check Disk (CHKDSK) Logs From Event Viewer on Windows

Megahertz said:

I still think you have a problematic disk.

Enter windows and retrieve the check disk log and post it here.
How To Extract The Check Disk (CHKDSK) Logs From Event Viewer on Windows

Thanks for your reply. Attached are 2 logs run 24 hrs apart with slightly different parameters.
MB

There is no bad sectors (surface damage) but what was strange is that on 04/11/2019 20:36:52 Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
On 05/11/2019 14:35:54 (next day) Windows has made corrections to the file system.

My suggestion is to replace the HDD with a SSD. It will boot in seconds and open programs at a blink of an eye.
I've been using Crucial (they are fast and cheap).
Crucial-bx500
If you have a CD/DVD drive, you can replace it with a HDD caddy and use a small SSD for windows and programs and use the HDD for data. You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.
If you don't have a CD/DVD drive, you can put the HDD on a external USB case.
Hard Drive Enclosures

Save all your data on an external disk and do a Clean Install Windows 10

Megahertz said:

My suggestion is to replace the HDD with a SSD. It will boot in seconds and open programs at a blink of an eye.
I've been using Crucial (they are fast and cheap).[/URL]

Thanks again for replying. I am not yet at the point that I want to spend money on this laptop; once I get it running I only need to use it for a browser or TV. I am going to continue troubleshooting as I am learning as I go.
A couple of questions: I have another Acer laptop that I no longer use that has Win 7 installed. It has a functioning HDD and RAM. I am wondering if I can use this hardware into the problem Acer to determine what's not working properly.

You mentioned earlier about re-installing windows and that M$ can identify the computer so I don't have to worry about licence key. What happens if I install the working HDD from the laptop I no longer use into the one thats running so slow? Will it boot? It too was purchased with a legit copy of windows and I have the key

majbach said:

Thanks again for replying. I am not yet at the point that I want to spend money on this laptop; once I get it running I only need to use it for a browser or TV. I am going to continue troubleshooting as I am learning as I go.
You have a very nice hardware laptop. The weakest is the HDD. It deserves a a SSD.
A couple of questions: I have another Acer laptop that I no longer use that has Win 7 installed. It has a functioning HDD and RAM. I am wondering if I can use this hardware into the problem Acer to determine what's not working properly.
Won't help
You mentioned earlier about re-installing windows and that M$ can identify the computer so I don't have to worry about licence key. What happens if I install the working HDD from the laptop I no longer use into the one thats running so slow? Will it boot? It too was purchased with a legit copy of windows and I have the key
Your old laptop HDD has Windows 7 and won't boot. And it will make your disk un boot able also on the old laptop. DON'T DO IT.

Asnwers in red.

You have a failing HDD. Go to the hard drive manufacturer's website and download their HDD test program. Run it. You will find the answer to your problem in their software. The symptoms definitely mimic a failing HDD.