After playing several matches of Overwatch, the HUD disappeared and some audio became unusually quiet, although the game was still playable. A few minutes later, the game closed and returned me to Steam. When restarting, the laptop took slightly longer than usual to load. After entering my password, Windows showed a black screen for around 20–30 seconds before the taskbar appeared. During that time, clicking anything caused a message saying Windows was not responding.
Windows eventually becomes usable, and Chrome and Discord open normally. However, Discord remains stuck on "RTC Connecting," and Steam gets stuck on "Loading user data" unless I completely close it through Task Manager and reopen it. The laptop is about six years old and was already an older model when I bought it.
I ran SFC and DISM, and both initially reported that they found and repaired problems. Running them again later reported no remaining issues. I am currently running `chkdsk C: /f /r`, but I am not very familiar with what it does or what hardware might be causing these symptoms. Could the crash have damaged Windows, or is the laptop's storage or another component starting to fail?
3 Answers
The symptoms could be caused by corrupted Windows files, but the long black screen, applications hanging, and connection-related programs failing also make a failing storage drive or other hardware worth considering. Running DISM before SFC is the usual order: DISM repairs the component store, then SFC uses it to repair system files. Since you already ran both successfully, let CHKDSK finish and then restart the laptop. Back up important files as soon as possible, especially if the drive is several years old.
If CHKDSK finds nothing, test the hardware next. Check the drive’s health with the manufacturer’s diagnostic tool, monitor CPU and GPU temperatures, and run a memory test. Also try starting Windows in Safe Mode. If the black-screen delay and application hangs disappear there, a graphics driver or startup program may be involved. If they continue, the drive, memory, or motherboard becomes more suspicious. Either way, back up your data before doing more troubleshooting.
The laptop is around six years old and was not a new model when I purchased it, so hardware failure would not be surprising. I will make sure my important files are backed up before continuing.
CHKDSK checks the file system and looks for unreadable sectors on the drive. The `/f` option fixes file-system errors, while `/r` searches for bad sectors and tries to recover readable data. Windows may schedule the scan for the next restart because the system drive is in use; that is normal. Do not interrupt it unless it appears completely frozen for an unusually long time. If it reports bad sectors or repeated errors, replace the drive and restore your files from a backup.
I initially ran SFC first, then found out DISM should come first, so I repeated them in the correct order. They now report that no problems were found. CHKDSK is running at the moment.