performance issues?

my laptop crashed over the weekend. I lost every thing and had to do a fresh install of windows. I just got everything working again and was working on a song and noticed the performance meter acting crazy. the cpu monitor was ok, but the disc bar was all over th place. I didn't have that issue before. it was clipping and causing audio drop out. I have drop out protection on high, and have set my samples high, but the disc meter is still going awol. is there anything I can do to fix this issue?