I built this gaming PC in 2021 and have never cleaned the inside. Since around 2023, it has developed several problems. Windows usually starts normally, but sometimes I get a black screen before the login screen and have to restart repeatedly. I have also had to reinstall or reset Windows after automatic repair and recovery errors appeared. The computer is still noticeably slow, especially while gaming or streaming.
I plan to clean out the dust soon, but I would like to troubleshoot it in the meantime and hopefully keep this PC working instead of replacing it immediately. The system has an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-11500, 16 GB of RAM, a GTX 1660 Super, and about 1.38 TB of total storage with 838 GB used. It has an ST1000DM003 1 TB hard drive listed as Disk 0 and a Samsung MZVL2512HCJQ 512 GB SSD listed as Disk 1. Windows appears to be using the HDD, while the SSD seems empty. In Task Manager, both drives often show 0% activity. Could the operating system being installed on the HDD explain the slow performance, and how can I move or reinstall Windows onto the SSD if it was not detected during my previous installation?
3 Answers
Cleaning is worthwhile, especially if temperatures are high, but it probably will not repair drive errors or corrupted Windows files. Use compressed air with the PC powered off and hold the fans still while cleaning. Also check CPU and GPU temperatures under load, run Windows memory diagnostics, and look for crash dumps if the recovery or blue-screen errors return. If startup problems continue after moving Windows to a healthy SSD, test the RAM, graphics card, power supply, and motherboard rather than repeatedly resetting Windows.
The HDD being Disk 0 is not automatically a boot problem, and seeing both drives at 0% only means they were idle when you checked. However, an aging or failing HDD can cause slow loading, freezes, repair screens, and startup problems. Check the health of both drives with a SMART monitoring tool, run a surface scan on the HDD, and make sure you have backups before doing anything else. If the HDD reports warnings or errors, replace it rather than trusting it with the operating system.
First confirm which drive contains Windows. If the operating system is on the HDD, that would explain much of the sluggish booting and general performance. The SSD should be considerably faster, so back up your important files and perform a clean Windows installation on the SSD. During setup, delete or format only the partitions on the intended system drive, and disconnect the HDD temporarily if necessary so Windows cannot place boot files on the wrong disk.
That may be the issue. When I previously reinstalled Windows, the SSD did not appear as an available destination, so I probably need to check whether it is detected and initialized in Disk Management or in the firmware settings first.
If the SSD is missing from Windows Setup, check its connections and whether it appears in Disk Management and UEFI/BIOS. It may need to be brought online or initialized, although initializing it will erase anything already on that drive.