Solved Laptop was left on, now lags after idle

I left my laptop on for about a day and it started to get really slow after being idle. It would freeze up and load a bit by bit every 3-5 minutes. I would have to do a forced shut down to turn it off, because it wouldn't open the start menu, and even after running shutdown /s in command prompt, it still didn't shut down. I recently ran sfc /scannow and Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth in an admin command prompt, and I also restarted it once.

After the sfc scan, it said it found corrupt files and successfully repaired them, and the Dism scan found no problems. I've found that the problem is still here though, but it's less bad. After being away from the laptop and coming back, it lags, and takes some time to load new windows I click on or existing windows I tab into, and it still freezes, but it's not forever and the lag goes away eventually, usually after a few minutes. I keep task manager up sorted by disk usage, and I noticed that when it lags, the disk says 100%, but the processes at the top are using like 0.1 MB/s or some small value. Sometimes nothing on there is using the disk. But I don't know if task manager is showing every single process that's using the disk. When the lag ends, the top process is usually System or something else accompanied by some other processes each having around 1-5 MB/s. I also get a notification to scan for drive errors afterwards.

If I continuously use the laptop, however, it runs perfectly with no problems.

This started yesterday and the only recent updates I have are:

Security Intelligence Update for Microsoft Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Version 1.455.378.0) - Current Channel (Staged)
Successfully installed on ‎7/‎27/‎2026

Security Intelligence Update for Microsoft Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Version 1.455.367.0) - Current Channel (Staged)
Successfully installed on ‎7/‎26/‎2026

Security Intelligence Update for Microsoft Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Version 1.455.360.0) - Current Channel (Staged)
Successfully installed on ‎7/‎26/‎2026

I'll probably run Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth later, but I just wanted to know if there's a reason this happened, or if there's a better solution.

Thanks.

There can be a number of reasons, none which can be analyzed without more information.. You say you left it on for a day. How are your power options set? Is it set to hibernate or do you use modern standby? Was the lid closed? Did it get hot? Were the fans running full blast?
Was all normal after you did a force shutdown. Did it happen only one time? (Windows can get a transient fault and be constipated on occassion)

It stayed on completely without sleep, hibernation, or modern standby. The lid was open, it wasn't hot, fans were normal, and all was normal after a force shutdown, aside from it lagging after being idle again.

Edit: I checked the power setting "Turn hard disk off after..." but I had set that to never for both plugged in and on battery a while ago, and the setting hasn't changed.

If it lags after being idle every time it's a matter of trial and error.

I'd start by running in clean boot to see if it happens. A clean boot eliminates some piece of 3rd party software hosing it up. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. You have to use process of elimination to find which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

The proper sequence to check for file corruption is Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair.

I'd also test it in safe boot. https://www.elevenforum.com/t/boot-to-safe-mode-in-windows-11.538/

Open a command prompt as admin and type powercfg -a Post results.

I'm not sure how to interpret when you say "It stayed on completely without sleep, hibernation, or modern standby." Check your power & sleep settings. I don't have a laptop to look at but I pulled a screenshot off the web. Hopefully this is the right page to find it. Please check these values.
Go to:
Start > Settings > System > Power & battery > Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts.

What I meant to say was when I left it on, I left it on without putting it on sleep, hibernation, or modern standby, and the screen was kept on completely.

Screen timeout results:


powercfg -a results:


As for right now, I will continue using the laptop since I'm in the middle of something, but I'll run the DISM restore health command tomorrow probably and then type the results here. Thank you!

Edit: Wanted to add that I have no idea what modern standby is, and after looking at my own photo, I see that apparently it's available. So I don't know if it entered that automatically or something, but I definitely know I didn't willingly activate it.

Maybe try reinstalling Windows using the easy Windows Update method. This retains all your files. All it takes is time. On my GMKtec device it took 1 3/4 hours to get to the sign-in prompt.

Settings > System > Recovery > Fix problems using Windows Update > Reinstall now.

wiganken said:

Maybe try reinstalling Windows using the easy Windows Update method. This retains all your files. All it takes is time. On my GMKtec device it took 1 3/4 hours to get to the sign-in prompt.

Click to expand...

Does this method have the same effects as the Repair Install option from @Brink Tutorial?

Yes, it's the same.
I just forgot about the tutorial. I also forgot to mention about the Windows.old folder which is quite large so need to have enough spare disk space on the device before attempting the update.

Thanks

Something I missed seeing before I wrote my previous post is the "I also get a notification to scan for drive errors afterwards."
This leads me to think your disk may be failing. I would eliminate the disk being the problem before looking at it being data corruption.
I see you are using an HDD instead of SSD. For a quick check use CrystalDiskInfo or Seatools to check the health status of the drive.

glasskuter said:

Something I missed seeing before I wrote my previous post is the "I also get a notification to scan for drive errors afterwards."
This leads me to think your disk may be failing. I would eliminate the disk being the problem before looking at it being data corruption.
I see you are using an HDD instead of SSD. For a quick check use CrystalDiskInfo or Seatools to check the health status of the drive.

Click to expand...

Yeah it looks like this is a standard 1TB spinner drive that the computer came out with, and in 2021 as well.

I would back up your data and replace that with an ssd asap.

The HDD itself is from another laptop from 2015. I had problems with the drive this computer came with so I swapped it out for the 2015 one. Would the DISM restore health command do anything or should I not worry about it? All data has been backed up.

HPUser said:

The HDD itself is from another laptop from 2015. I had problems with the drive this computer came with so I swapped it out for the 2015 one. Would the DISM restore health command do anything or should I not worry about it? All data has been backed up.

Click to expand...

even more reason for you to swap the drive out for ssd

DISM deals with system data files, not hardware failure. As I said, It's easy enough to look at the S.M.A.R.T report which is a good indicator the drive is failing. And no, I am not saying you shouldn't worry about it. There is no software that can fix SMART errors. Degradation of the drive has already occurred.

While any drive can fail at any time, a 11 year old HDD is not ideal. Make sure the drive is good before proceeding to looking at data. SFC is run AFTER DISM because DISM fixes the underlying component store, providing the clean backup files that SFC needs to successfully repair any damaged system files that SFC finds.

Okay. Thank you all!

I completely forgot to run the DISM restore health command and ran the chkdsk C: /r command instead, and after it finished overnight, everything is working so far. I've been wrong before and celebrated too early but so far I've been leaving it idle and it's not having the problems anymore! Thanks again!

HPUser said:

I completely forgot to run the DISM restore health command and ran the chkdsk C: /r command instead, and after it finished overnight, everything is working so far. I've been wrong before and celebrated too early but so far I've been leaving it idle and it's not having the problems anymore! Thanks again!

Click to expand...

For a drive that old I still highly recommend replacing it with a ssd as soon as possible

True. For now though I'll stick with this one as long as possible and keep the backup updated.

HPUser said:

True. For now though I'll stick with this one as long as possible and keep the backup updated.

Click to expand...

your computer. If your not using too much storage you can get them cheap if cost is a concern.

Thanks for the link! It's more procrastination I guess.