Dell Inspiron 15 freezing during Windows 7 bootup

This doesn't happen every single time I boot up Windows 7 on my laptop, but when it does, the startup drags on for several minutes—I can literally see the Windows 7 logo freeze before it finally switches over to the loading icon. I've already tried a clean install of the OS, but the issue persists. I even went as far as disabling all startup services and programs, yet nothing worked. Once the system actually loads, everything seems fine, except for this intermittent error claiming an unrecognized USB device is connected, even though Device Manager shows no issues at all. Can anyone actually help me out here?

Once you get Windows up and running, just grab this tool: https://www.crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

Install it, and it'll show you the S.M.A.R.T. status for your hard drive—if you want, feel free to post a screenshot so we can take a look together...

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CrystalDiskInfo 6.8.1 (C) 2008-2016 hiyohiyo
Microsoft: https://www.crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html
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Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
April 23, 2016 | 4:40 PM

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
Intel(R) 8 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
Seagate ST1500DM016 firmware SCSI Disk Device
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SU-208FB SCSI CD-ROM Drive.

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
Seagate ST1500DM016 firmware: 500.1 GB [0/0/0, pd1]

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Is anyone actually still using a Seagate ST1500DM016 firmware drive?
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Model: Seagate ST1500DM016 firmware
Is this firmware version AM003M?
Serial Number: 64KECHD2T
Disk Capacity: 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1/500.1)
Buffer Size: 8192 KB
Queue Depth: 32. Is anyone actually testing at this level?
Total sector count: 976,773,168. Is anyone actually keeping track of this?
A rotation rate of 5400 RPM? Are we really still dealing with this kind of sluggishness?
Interface: Serial ATA
Major Version: ATA8-ACS
Minor Version: ----
Transfer Mode: SATA/300 | SATA/300
Power On Hours: 2,792 hours. Is that really all?
Power On Count: 1,047 times. Is that even supposed to be normal?
Temperature: 37°C (98.6°F). Is that really all we're seeing?
Health Status: Good.
The specs include S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48-bit LBA, and NCQ. Is that really all we have to work with?
APM Level: 0080h [ON]
AAM Level: ----

S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID | Cur | Wor | Thr | The RawValues(6) | Attribute Name
01 100 100 _50 000000000000 Постотак грешака у читању
02 100 100 _50 000000000000 Опште излазне перформансе диска
03 100 100 __1 000000000543 Време почетка крета
04 100 100 __0 000000000418 Рачун покретања/гашења
05 100 100 _50 000000000000 Сектори поново додељени
07 100 100 _50 000000000000 Постотак грешака приступа главе
08 100 100 _50 000000000000 Перформансе приступа главе
Is this even worth discussing? It shows 09 _94 _94 __0 000000000AE8 hours of operation. Does anyone actually care about these numbers anymore?
0A 120 100 _30 000000000000 Rotation reboot count.
Is anyone else seeing this? 0C 100 100 __0 000000000417 Start cycle count. Why does this even matter?
Is anyone else seeing BF 100 100 __0 000000000085 error codes triggered by physical impact or vibration? It’s absolutely ridiculous. Why does a little bit of movement cause this much instability?
C0 100 100 __0 00000000001C Head recovery count due to voltage loss.
C1 _97 _97 __0 000000007DBC Number of head repositioning changes
Is anyone actually monitoring their temperatures? C2 100 100 __0 0032000D0025 Temperature.
C4 100 100 __0 000000000000 Number of reallocated sectors.
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Unstable sectors. Is anyone actually surprised?
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Bad sectors that cannot be repaired. Is anyone actually surprised by this?
Is there anything more infuriating than seeing a C7 error pop up? I’m looking at a 200 UltraDMA CRC error count—zeroes everywhere else, but this one keeps staring me in the face. Why does hardware always decide to fail right when you need it most?
DC 100 100 __0 000000000000 — Disk seek distance during rotation (typically caused by physical shock).
Is anyone else seeing this error? DE _94 _94 __0 000000000A78 SATA error during read operations. What is going on here?
DF 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
Is there anything more infuriating than a disk that fails during a read attempt? E0 100 100 __0 000000000000—just another endless cycle of reading errors. Why does this keep happening?
Is anyone else seeing this? E2 100 100 __0 0000000000F8 Load 'In'-time. What exactly am I supposed to make of this?
Is there any point in even looking at these error codes? F0 100 100... what am I supposed to do with this? Is anyone actually getting anything useful out of this nonsense?

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Is anyone actually looking at this? Does anyone even care to analyze what we're seeing here? It’s just a string of hex values sitting there, completely nonsensical without context. Why am I even bothering to post this?
010: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2036 344B 4543 4844 3254
020: 0000 4000 0000 414D 3030 334D 2020 544F 5348 4942
Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Why am I looking at hex code instead of actual information?
Is this some kind of joke? Does anyone actually think these hex values make any sense in this context?
Is this supposed to be helpful? Does anyone actually expect me to make sense of this string of numbers without any context?
Is this some kind of joke? Does anyone actually expect me to make sense of this string of hex code? Why am I even looking at this?
Is this supposed to be useful? What kind of data dump is this?
Is this some kind of joke? What am I looking at here?
Is anyone actually looking at this? Does anyone even care about what's happening here?
Is this supposed to be useful? What exactly am I looking at here?
110: 9398 8E86 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401C
120: 401C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0021 0000
130: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
140: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0003 0000
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 003D 0000 0000 0000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1518 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 101F 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 0080 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 02A5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 0B 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 05
010: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 27 00 64 64 43
020: 05 00 00 00 00 00 04 32 00 64 64 18 04 00 00 00
030: 00 00 05 33 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 0B
040: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 05 00 64 64 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 32 00 5E 5E E8 0A 00 00 00
060: 00 00 0A 33 00 78 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32
070: 00 64 64 17 04 00 00 00 00 00 BF 32 00 64 64 85
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 32 00 64 64 1C 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C1 32 00 61 61 BC 7D 00 00 00 00 00 C2 22
0A0: 00 64 64 25 00 0D 00 32 00 00 C4 32 00 64 64 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C6 30 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 32
0D0: 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 DC 02 00 64 64 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 DE 32 00 5E 5E 78 0A 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 DF 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E0 22
100: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E2 26 00 64 64 F8
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 01 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 00 00 5B
170: 03 00 01 00 02 73 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ED

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 32
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 01 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 05 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 32
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 32 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 0A 1E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BF 00 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C4 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C6 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 DC 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 DE 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 DF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E0 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E2 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 36

So, what’s the status on your hard drive? Are we looking at blue, yellow, or red?

Blue. I even ran a check with HD Sentinel and it claims everything is at 100%.

Personally, I’m leaning towards this being a software issue—have you by any chance run a MemTest yet? It might also be worth checking your laptop's temperatures using HWMonitor, just to be safe. Maybe try installing Windows 10 and see if the behavior changes once you're on a newer OS...

It’s not a constant issue. Everything runs smoothly for a week, then suddenly, the whole system freezes up. My workaround has been to force a shutdown and boot directly into Safe Mode—that seems to get me back up and running without a hitch.
This started happening back when I was first using Windows 7. Since then, I’ve gone through two other different versions.
Once I manage to bypass the freeze and get back in, the performance is perfectly fine.
Could this be relevant? Every so often, I get a notification on my taskbar saying a USB device isn't recognized. Device Manager shows everything is functioning correctly, so I have no idea what the problem is since nothing actually seems broken.

It’s possible you’ve got a dead USB port, or maybe you just haven't installed all the right motherboard, chipset, or USB drivers yet. Another thing—check if there's a thumb drive, an external hard drive, or even an SD card plugged in during bootup. Or, you might have a non-bootable DVD sitting in the drive while your BIOS is set to prioritize optical drives. 🤷

When that "unrecognized USB device" error pops up, what does Device Manager actually show? Are you seeing any yellow exclamation marks?

I've installed every single driver available. Everything looks perfectly fine in Disney. Yet, mid-task, my computer suddenly starts cycling on and off—I can actually hear the system beep—and a notification pops up in the taskbar. I check Disney, and everything reports as normal. For the last two days now, it hasn't even flagged an unrecognized USB device. What am I supposed to do with that?