Slow Boot Up- On A Fast System?

Hi,
   I will take a look at ther link you gave me and let you know how I get on...
Thanks :)

Hmmm the more you add to an OS the longer it takes to load. Pro loads more DLL's and network protocoles then does XP Home. This alone can and does slow down XP PRO. However when was the last time you ran chkdisk and defrag? And how long has it been since you organized any all partitions?

Just because the machine has a higher CPU mark does not mean that the machine will operate at a higher speed. Too many variables involved that can and does contribute to how fast a machine will run. Like HD speed, BUS Speed, BIOS Recognition, The OS Being Loaded (And yes there is a differencre between XP HOME and XP PRO, Etc.

Also do not get hung up on the RATED CPU speed. They can be decieving, both with Intel and AMD, what they on the chip may not be the speed you get.

OK...Ime back..
  I tried the "Bootvis" as suggest by "SheharyaarSaahil" and it is good, tells me alot but I dont understand it very well.
I decompressed the IDE drive that is giving me trouble but not a big noticable change?
As for DLL's and network protocols you mention "CrazyOne"...my 750Mhz must have just as many yet is is faster?
Chkdsk and Defrag are run once a month on each machine..probably not nessassary!
IDE hard drive speed is 7500rpm
And the other is  SATA Raid 160Gb...speed...dunno:)
Because I am really out to sort this, I will even go as far as remote assistance if it is possable depending on who offers,on top of that I will double the points if the problem is solved!!!
Thanks for your comments so far

hmmmmm can you please tell me the results from safemode booting..... it can give my some idea of this slowness ??

...just tried it in safe mode, unbeleivable...it took just 1 min 20 secs to load, so what is the problem...lol

:)

Safemode is a diagnostic mode which doesn't load external and extra devices and their drivers...... it doesn't load the extra and third party services.... it doesn't load any background application...... just the BASIC drivers and services! :)

So you can guess that in normal mode,,,, all devices and services and applications are trying to load and taking too much time in it...... and in your case either you are running too much extra services and applciations or may be its Norton which is causing this...... and it can be an incompatible device also..... which is taking hard time to load its drivers :)
can you have a look in your Start>Run>msconfig>Startup list that if all those junk and unwanted programs are starting ??

SheharyaarSaahil,
                          would you be able to make a better picture of what is happening if I sent you a "trace"..bin file of my startup?

i cannot... coz im sitting here and you are sitting infront of the system..... i can only give directions to try and try that... you need to work on it..... are you ready? :)

ok...shoot...I have swapped computers and I am now running the 1.1..(makes life easier this end) :)

ok so first all Goto Start>Run>msconfig>Startup, and click on Disable All
now goto Services section, and tick Hide Microsoft Services
and now untick all those third party services
restart and now check if the same delay is happening.....(it should as no third party srevices and applications are starting)
if Yes then go back to msconfig and re-enable the services and applications ONLY which are for your av and firewall softwares...... restart again and check if delay has happened again or not..... if Yes then its your av and firewall processes and services which are casuing this delay......otherwise the problem was with those extra applications and services.. :)

Bootvis reports "disk write cache disabled"...?

right...this will take a few minutes...be right back!

you can enable it yourself if bootvis is not enabling it, just goto Device manager> Right click on your hard drive> Properties> Policies Tab> Check " Enable Disk write caching"
apply and it should not report this now :)

ok...started in just under 2 mins...loads better, can only assume its a hardware compatability problem now then?

how many external and usb devices have you attached to this system.... any old printers or scanners :-?

Modern upto date printer and flight controller for games, both USB
No scanner, but this system is hooked up to a router with the other one, would that cause a problem?

...mouse is USB too...

then disconnect router and the check ...... go on dude.... you need to check the possibilities yourself :)

>> mouse is USB too...
mouse cannot be the problem... they are innocent :)

Ok...I wont shoot the mouse then!..lol...but it took me 3 weeks to get the router to work...yes I cant network, I had to guess!...here goes everything...:)

so tell me, did you notice this dealy performance after connecting and setting this router and networking thingies ??

before and after...before it had a 56k modem it worked off, but startup was slow-ish then too.
After the router was connected and the modem removed the system started to get slower and slower, so I invested in a SATA hard drive thinking too many programs were cluttering up the IDE drive.

...the router is not at fault here, ime still nervous after unplugging it :)  ...please still work...lol

no no.... this is not hard drive problem...... as you can see that system boots really fast in safemode..... so its surely all these services and devices which are delaying the boot process..... !!

Your other XP Home system is connected to same router and network system ??

...yes...both connected to a Linksys WAG54G wireless router...only I use RJ45 leads and use it wired instead, because the computers are back to back.
..so they both connect to the internet via eithernet cards.

so now.... we disabled services and applications..... there was a sligh difference, we disconnected external devices and router and there was no change...... and still safemode is loading fairly fast.... hmmmmm tricky one :-)

you try one thing, restart and now instead of loading in plain safemode..... start the system in safemode with networking..... check if its loading fast here or not.... coz i remember slightly about an old case.... where some DHCP settings were casuing the startup delay..... :-?

**btw bootvis didn't effect anything? :)

There is one thing that bothers me here and it is the main reason I don't work EE much anymore and that is this statement from

SheharyaarSaahil

"hmmmmm can you please tell me"

Since when has this site become personal. It always has been a team effort and the word ME was not used but in its place was the word US. Meaning we all tried to help fix the problem. It was not about points are where we rated in the rankings but can WE as team solve the problem. This "ME" stuff turns me off to nth degree. I am sorry but as long as experts say "homonym can you please tell me" instead of saying "homonym can you please tell us" is in vogue than this site is dead. The "ME" thing needs to die and be replaced with the "US" thing. If it does not, which has been the trend for over year now, and only those who are hunting points do this, than this Site has pretty much has become a competition rather then really trying to help people.

I am ashamed because I have contributed to this ideal and now all I really care about is helping the particular individual with their problem. As it stands now it is only the "ME" thing that seems to be the texture of this site.

I am sorry for the lecture but this "ME" has bugged me since the time I signed on to this site and it has become more prevalent. There are a lot us that are better than those who are rated at the top of any particular TA. I mean there or a lot us that can and do help but this "ME" thing is driving many of us away from EE. Points seem to be the main aim and I do understand that but as far as I can ascertain this site has never, never been about "ME". However it use to be about "US". Hence one reason I have moved on to other sites that do give a darn about the user and not about the points. These other sites put a premium on helping the individual and no points involved. Just helping is the issue of those sites but this site has become so point based that it is shameful and I am sorry that at one point in my EE career I cared more about the points than I did about helping people. I have now changed that course and EE is not the place that cares to continue to offer up some of the best FREE advise around. Look me up on other sites that do not give a darn about points. That is where you are most likely to find me. I really only care, now, about freely helping people. Like I said I am sick and tired of this "ME" thing which use to the "US" thing that I really don't care that much about this site anymore. If you still need help email me, which you will find my email address in my profile. I have been for the last year or so I been doing private consultations for FREE. No points No dollars, No nothing involved but me and the individual trying to find a solution to the problem, period.

Just so you all know I don't care about my current HALL OF FAME ranking. Believe me if I did care none and I do mean none would have surpassed me. I know how to work this site and I know how to earn a lot of points. If I cared I would still be ranked number 1 with over 5MIL in points. I don't care about those points anymore, I just rather help people which is why I came to this site to begin with. But now it is about POINTS isn't it? Shame shame shame shame for all of us who are just mainly here for the points. I WAS WRONG FOR CHASING THOSE POINTS in my opinion. Sorry hmmmmm can we please:

get back to "US" and not the "ME" attitude that is running rampant on this site.

And you payed no attention to what I said earlier, Did you assimilator? Please understand that your 1.1 system running PRO can and sometimes is slower than the XP home because PRO loads more things at startup then HOME does, hence why one can have the absolute identical systems but the HOME addition loads faster then the PRO addition. PRO is looking for a lot more authentication then HOME dose.

And yes Safe Mode only loads the basic stuff to make at least work and it usually uses the 16BIT rather than the 32BIT version of many hardware drivers. Don't mistake SafeMode with Regular Mode. They are completely two diverse things, completely.

Ok..
     Firstly, "CrazyOne"...I paid full attention to what you said and when these O/S's were loaded on both machines I only loaded what I needed..they were given more or less identicle selected options in the cutomisation of the setup area.
If Win XP Pro put more Protocols and DLL's as you put it into the machine, I see no reason why that should make a difference,maybe you can explain:)
Also, not sure what this "ME and "US" argument is but if it is regarding the way SheharyaarSaahil has spoken to "ME", It appears that no one else was in OUR conversation last night so "WE" were working on the problem together ourselves.
So far SheharyaarSaahil has knocked almost 1.5Mins off my startup time for which I am greatful..and the problem is almost resolved, If you can do better CrazyOne I welcome it:)
Secondly...CrazyOne you stated "PRO is looking for a lot more authentication then HOME dose."
Authentication for what?
I have tried the bootvis program suggested by SheharyaarSaahil, there is no evidence of authentication work in the startup trace.
So back to the problem,when I start in safe mode I am propted for logon of Administator or my name...(2 accounts)...yet when I load the machine normally it does not do this.
I also started the machine in safe mode with network support...no difference.

Then it is your Network Protocols that maybe suspect. Like I said PRO does look for more authentication to for all passwords and user name than does HOME. Your problem stems from that and probably nothing more. If you put HOME on that machine it would probably load faster and bootVis will not help this at all because that is not what it is looking for. With Pro a lot and I mean there a lot of difference bwtween PRO and HOME. Why do you think actually now three different versions of the same OS HOme, PRo, Media? Do you thinkn they will operate the same way? Well sorry but that is no the case. Home is the most stripped down version of the OS and then PRO has the most overll perteciton of all of them. SO you tell me dose HOME have GROUP EDIT and does it allow one to boot into any and I mean account available? No it does not. So Lets look at Pro. What do we see? Hmmm I see a great big differnece from how Pro loads and Home loads.

Pro is looking more things than Home is. And I mean a whole lot of differenet things. HOme was made ot sell to users at that mainly use their OS from Home and don't care about security and whatnot. But Pro was made for bussiness's that do care securtiy and whatnot. That alone will make Pro load a little bit slower.

All I am telling you is that yeah you can tweak the startup and this and that but side-by-side Home will load fastet than Pro.

>>>Also, not sure what this "ME and "US" argument is but if it is regarding the way SheharyaarSaahil has spoken to "ME", It appears that no one else was in OUR conversation last night so "WE" were working on the problem together ourselves.


Wrong, absolutely wrong. I was here but you until now did not address anything I said earlier now did you? Hmmm it seems that your assesment needs some reevaluation, doesn't it? And all I stated was that Pro and Home are way different from each other. You did not state in your original question that there was difference between what each machine is loading, did you? No you did not. In fact you were quite vague about that were you not? Yeah you were vague and I don't care if you take everything out of startup and run Home and than Pro. Pro will load slower because it is actually looking at things that Home was never designed to look at. Home and Pro even though they have the same OS name are vastly different in their architecture. Which is info only a few of us on this site will mention because we know the difference between the two and they are guite different. But you chose to ignore what I said in the beginning and did not in your question make any differentiation between what each machine is loading at startup that you have control over, now did you? No you did not. If you really want true and good help then state your problem specifically and to the point. Don't make us guess. That isn't proper to begin with, we need to know precisely point to point what the problem is and you did NOT state that these two machines other than that they had two different CPU's were different with respect to what they load at startup, did you? Ummm Nope you did not.

And you said they both have high amounts of RAM. Well that does not translate. PRO really needs more RAM then HOME but again you have NOT stated the amount of RAM on either machine, nope I looked back at the Q and you did not state the amount of RAM for either machine.

I will tell you this unless you have at least 512MB's or more on a XP, especially a Pro machine, then you better upgrade so you can at least get to that minimum mark. I know, I know MS says 256MB's but do not believe it. Let those of us that have been there and are living there and earn a living at doing this kind of stuff be that which you take advise from. I have Home and Pro on two very very very very very very very identical systems and Pro takes longer to load, period end of story, goodbye. Apparently you think I some kind of loser so I have not reason pass the point to help you anymore.

I gave you the facts, and you did not give us the facts, so I have no longer any desire to help. Instead I will do what I have been doing and help those who know how to state their problem and look at/and maybe understand those of us that know this almost inside and out. Sorry but why should I or anyone else continue to try help someone that disrespects them. That is my point about this site. Yeah you may have cut time off by eliminating this or that from startup but even doing that on your 1.1 system still NOT as fast as you think should be and I told you the reason why but you ignored me, didn't you?

The "ME" and "US" thing really has nothing to do you personally. Sorry if I gave that impression. That particular subject is between me and the other experts. Also I do not want to give the impression that what I said is disparaging toward SheharyaarSaahil, because it is not. SheharyaarSaahil is a very good troubleshooter, my angst is toward those of us, including myself, that care more for the points than really sitting here and working with the user even if it takes days to actually try and find a solution. In other words this site is suppose to be about TEAM WORK but has vanished for propagation of points.  

>>>there is no evidence of authentication work in the startup trace

You are correct that is not what BOOTVIS is desinged for. As a matter of fact  BOOTVIS was offered by MS but they pulled it from thier site. As a matter fact all BOOTVIS that I am aware of are bootlegs or copies of the original. In other words MS no longer offers nor does it condone the use of it. Why? To be frank I don't know. I like it myself but it means the user better know what they are doing to get the max out of the program.

Thanks for the dressing down CrazyOne:(  ...if you wanted to know any more particulars about my machine to help me with my problem then you are going to have to use that "ME" word rather than "US", ...sorry but as much as I appreciate the help I have had so far,I dont recognise a team effort when I see remarks like " I don't care".
I respect what you have had to say and now ask that you take a back seat and leave the problem to someone else like SheharyaarSaahil.
You have made it clear you dont wish to help...fair enough, but I will add that your remarks were not ignored!
SheharyaarSaahil is right what he said...he doesnt need the points really does he...whats the point!!...he is just good at what he does:)

OK then why are you not accepting one or more of SheharyaarSaahil comments? Hmm and don't tell me to take a back seat on anything. I told you what your problem probably is but you still ignores me, Sorry but I will take you and anybody else to task that really does not understand what it is asked and then ignores that which has been told to them. Sorry but we do this for FREE. We do not get paid for what we do here. We do it for FREE.

I understand that you may pay for this service but WE DO GET PAID for anything, at all. You disrespected me and I will be a thorn in your side until at least you at least acknowledge I know what heck I am talking about.

Again we as experts get no MONETARY COMPENSATION at all, Nada. Yet you think my advise is worthless? Excuse me but I said from the Get-Go is true. Sorry that doesn't meet with your satisfaction but what I said between Home and Pro is true. Yet I am only one in this thread that is telling you that but yet somehow in your mind I am wrong. Hmmm it seems you cannot handle that which the majority of us that troubleshoot XP, NT, Win2000 and Win20003 know what we are talking about. If you want me gone then we will battle about that. I am telling what you need to know but yet are still ignoring what I said.

Have you tested both Home and Pro on the same system? Nope I did not think so. Until you do then you will be either left with guessing if or at least find out if what I say is true or not. Until you do that then who are to say I am wrong or should take a back seat? Hmmm

Hmm I used the term "I don't care" at least three times but never did I use it to say I did not care about your situation. If I did please point it out word for word and I will appoligize and I would suggest you go back and read every word in this thread from the very beginning. If you so you will see that I never never said "I don't care" about your problem. What I siad was you are not paying attention overall. If so this question would have been closed by now. Wouldn't it? Obviously the startup thing did not do what you hoped it would do. Now did it? Nope it did not. So why not look into what I said, Hmmm? What do have to lose?

Chill Man...your loosing it...lol

Yeah I think you are correct. I am losing it, I do apologize, I went way over the top and you did not deserve my oveall scathing comments. I was wrong and I hope you I can get off on a better footing. :)

...your comments have not produced any results...but SheharyaarSaahil did...you win some and you loose some...lol ..(_)D  <---have a cuppa and cool off!!!

LOL. I like you assimilator and please understand I speak the truth here. Pro on the same exact system will load a bit slower than Home. As far as I can ascertain and like I said yeah you trim down the STARTUP in PRO or HOME but overall PRO just loads slower than HOME. Sometimes the answer is not the one we were looking for. I mean have you tried to load PRO and HOME on the same machine and see what happens? I have. And what did you trim from startup? I hope nothing critical like the ANTI-VISUS scanner or FIREWALL or any securuty measures. I mean I don't think you did and what apps did you take out startup and why did you not do that before asking this Q?

I guess what I am getting at is sometimes one can remove critical APPS and Services from startup that does make the OS load faster but those apps or serviices sometimes are needed and there is no point in taking them out of starup. I guess I just want to make sure you have not eliminated things the OS needs, if you understand what I am saying. :)

The question is closed..and the person who knows more than you won!!!...face it...lol :)

Umm no they don't more than me but yeah they won LOL

And the accepted answer really is not acceptable becuase all it says is good luck. LOL I think you meant to accept one of the other comments from SheharyaarSaahil but clicked on the wrong button. So can we at least have you try and accept an answer from SheharyaarSaahil that meets what you were after. This will help others down the line. The current accepted answer really does not answer your question, do you not agree? :)

I simply wanted to make sure you didnt get it...lol

Ok that is understandable but can't we at least have you accept the comment that helped you. The "Good Luck" thing just does not compute to other users. Remember this, this Q has been put in the database and others that have a similar problem will look at it and "Good Luck" is just not the answer, is it?

If you feel that none of us really answered what you where after you can ask that the Q be deleted. But if you feel any expert answered your question other than "Good Luck" then you really should change your reponse to that which helped you. And you stated several times you were helped but it was not the comment that siad "Good Luck". LOL

hmmmm i could take out the time to read all this just today...... and now im thinking why i could took the time..... !!

oh well..... assimilator last time we talked about bootvis and safemode with networking..... is your system still booting slow..... if yes then please report back...... we can try some other things still.... :)

...Yeah the system is still slow and at the desktop towards the end of booting the screen shows the task bar and the desktop background without any icons.
Then the screen goes grey for 10 seconds before showing the icons and starting the software like anti-virus..ect..
As for the conversation up to this point your better off not bothering to read it...there is no progress to solving the problem throughout the conversation.
I will appreiciate any suggestions you have an award points accordingly...:)

assimilator...... a guy was having the same problem of slow booting and running..... and in the end what came out culprit was his user account..... he created a new one and all slowness went away with the old user.....!!

just thought that i would ask you that have you ever tried to use a new\another account on your system...... or are you using a same single user from very beginning? :)

i think i know your problem ...
just disconnect any external drivers or usb connections that you have .
that will make your booting time back to normal.
because the windows takes time to identify the usb connected devices.
let me know if it solves your problem.

Have you checked this out

Service Configurations
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Hello all:

I just wanted to chip in two cents to this issue...I'd like to offer some general tips that have come in handy for me in the past, and I think one or more might prove helpful here.

First, the Black Viper site posted by CrazyOne *is* a good place to tweak your system, but please be sure you understand everything you're turning off!  And make a backup before you begin.  I like to go by the philosophy of, "If I'm not sure, let's leave it alone."  I've tweaked an older system using his methods and it was blazing...until something stopped working and I really had to dig to find out what.

Second, if you're not a power user (and by the end of all this fiddling, assimilator, I think you will be ;) ), you might start here:
<a href="http://www.pcpitstop.com/">http://www.pcpitstop.com/</a>
I've been using it for a while and it's become a nice way to benchmark and troubleshoot simple performance problems, and even learn something new about my system.  What I do is run their "full PC tune up" (click on the yellow car-key icon), then look it over.  It has to download an ActiveX control to do this, but I haven't come across any malware/bad reactions from using their utility.  You can test anonymously or create an account.  The latter keeps track of your machines and your past results.

You can also handle specific things that come up by searching for them here:
<a href="http://www.annoyances.org/">http://www.annoyances.org</a>.  This place is great, and I've got the all the pre-XP "Annoyances" books put out by <a href="http://www.ora.com/">O'Reilly</a>

Third, if you're one of those lucky folks that's rebuilding the machine (reformatting/installing), the best method I've come across to make things go smoothly is to put your machine together in this order:

1 - OS
2 - patches/updates
3 - drivers
4 - security (firewall/antivirus)
5 - programs

This requires you to have CDs--of everything you can get--handy because until I have the security layer up, I don't connect to the Internet.  I learned this the hard way by having a new machine get infected in the 15 minutes it took to update patches and virus definitions.  Microsoft will send you free security CDs, if you know where on their site to ask for them:

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/stkintro.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/stkintro.mspx</a>
and
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx</a>

OK, the last tip I have for you (all) for now:  if everything seems to be running fine, but your startup just started taking forever one day, you should know a little bit about how your machine boots up.  As your operating system loads, antivirus software kind of sits *beneath* it.  What that means is, the OS starts to load, loads in the A/V, then continues with the boot process, loading drivers and the OS kernel (short explanation of a kernel is, that's the part the user interacts with) after that.  It may not look like that because your A/V tray icon doesn't show up until later, but here's the reason I mention it.  I've noticed sometimes that after an update (A/V *or* OS), when my machine boots and it gets to this step, the network tries to set itself up *at the same time* as the A/V is working on getting itself situated.  The two then proceed to "butt heads" together, causing everything to come to a crawl and adding a lot of time to boot-up.  When this happens, I try to re-run the update that caused the problem.  Or I re-install my A/V software, which kind of "refreshes" its start-up routine.  Some A/V software may let you do a "repair" of the installation, but I haven't had a chance to try it.

assimilator, you mentioned that you have a wireless network.  If you run into dropouts or slow network performance, consider switching your network to another channel - sometimes things like cordless phones, microwaves, or the neighbor's wireless network!, can mess with your signal.  You can find out more about wireless networks here:

<a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wireless-network.htm">http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wireless-network.htm</a>

and get more specific as to how to change them here:
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/wlan_client_configuring_concept.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/wlan_client_configuring_concept.mspx</a>

and here:
<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,107849,00.asp">http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,107849,00.asp</a>

and, possibly, here:
<a href="http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12207005~mode=flat">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12207005~mode=flat</a>

I'm hoping you and anyone else who's running across this problem, finds the information helpful.

Best wishes (as opposed to "good luck!"),

Pyanfar Chanur

Sorry it buggered my URLs - I don't see a "preview" function or I'd be able to check that...

I cannot say much here ...
But if I were you, I would start this way ...

Start Computer with minumum possible hardware ...If you have any add-on cards ... take em out ...
USB mouse ... yes , it may seem innocent ... but I have seen many a cases say upto 70% where usb device was culprit
I recommend using a normal serial/ps2 mouse ...  This will rule out hardware compatiblity issues if any

Secondly, Disable installed application services
  ie is services installed by applications you installed like oralce etc

Thirdly,equally important - remove any startup programs that includes firewalls/anti viruses

Fourth, Scan computer for any known viruses/worms etc

Fifth,In Networking remove any modules/protocols not being used ... better disable all

Sixth , Run Defrag ... minor issue but could become a big one.

Seventh , Are your computers networked,if yes ... have you selected Reconnect drives the next time you logon ?

More , but see it helps if at all ...

Um...have you increased the paging file size?? (ie. system control panel/advanced/performance settings/advanced/change virtual memory settings...
 to something like 500 for minimum and 1500 for maximum? You can also increase performance by going into:
ystem control panel/advanced/environemental variables.. and getting your user temp directories to match your system temp directories.

I have noticed that in the bios you you dont have cacheing on that the pc boots real slow also make sure your not overclocking inproperly sometimes that will also do it but turn on all cacheing that should and usually will solve any slow booting you may have.

I will have a look at these lastest suggestions and see how I get on...I must admit I am not to keen on the overclocking thing as I dont understand it very well and dont know if it would kill my machine.

Yes assimilator... I have been 'clocked' before. I little too geeky to me ..LOL. the caching or paging as it is called now could help quite a little bit. You never mentioned how much ram you actually have on the newer machine.  

Also the best way to make sure you boot fast is go to run type msconfig take everything out of the statr up unless it says like norton or mcafee or hp

My XP pro SP2 computer boots up in less then 30seconds
Its an AMD 1.2mhz Athlon
512mb sdram
20gig hard drive with lots of software on it
I disabled and switched to manual alot of the services that run on bootup
Got the list off eldergeek.com and have never had a problem or bsod
Similar list on black viper website.
It was fast booting after XP installation until I installed virus program then took 2-3 minutes
After tweaking the services that run on startup ... 30 seconds

assimilator at least I am still here trying to help. It appears that what you hoped would be the answer, wasn't the answer. But yet you are not providing any more feedback. We can't help unless you let us know what is going on. I am going to request with CS that this Q be deleted since that stated desire has not been met.

I had a similar problem with Windows 2k Professional.
I was adviced that this might be due the ethernet card.
I the computer checks and wait to connect to the network and since it is a Home Pc with no networking it waits a longer time to respond.
Try disabling the ethernet card and it will boot faster.

I appreiciate all your comments including Crazyone's...who I have to admit has been helpful.
I have obtained another XP O/S as the computer was not responding very well to anything.
A complete fomat of the hard drive and new O/S has been put on the system and it now runs very well.
I am no longer going to update the machine with hotfix's as this has been suggested to contribute to problems rather than solve in some cases.

I will no longer need any further assistance with this topic and ask this question to now be deleted

hmmmm you are again asking to delete..... seems you have a general idea that questions get deleted when you want to finish them :)
this doesn't happen..... when you accept an answer and award points...... questions get closed.... and becomes PAQ, means Previously Asked Questions
they dont get deleted..... and remain in EE database for viewing in future....... and when they remain there....... anyone who will view it..... can post in there.... and as you are the asker..... you will get a notification for the added comment..... :)

for deleting a question...... you need to post a request in Support area explaining the reason you want to delete it...... mod will review your question and then will decide to delete it! :)
you should read our Help page for once to get the general idea of how Questions and Answers work >> http://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp
cheers ^_^

I know the topic is over, but did anyone think of using Hijack This to determine want was running at startup and how many BHO's are runningin IE?

GeorgiaBoy44:

Can you elaborate?  (I've not heard of this, but I'm curious)

Assimilator:

I know this question has some baggage attached to it, but I'd like to suggest that you not request Experts-Exchange to delete it.  I'm hoping the information here can be helpful to some other people who come across this problem.  I'm sorry to hear you had to blow everything away (hey, when all else fails...), but even that can be useful to somebody who's weighing whether their problem is like yours in that it's not worth the trouble to resolve.  I don't know if EE expects you to award points to close the case (I'm new at this), but I'd like to see the question kept regardless.

Thanks for letting us know what you ended up doing, though.

Do not remove this thread/question!!!

I have just found stuff I needed here. Well, not for me personally but for a friend who knows jack about computers and was tearing his hair out...and always asks me cos I'm a VB coder...you know how it is!

Looking at the dates involved (ie yestereday) and the fact that I've already found stuff of use here says a lot about its potential. Some of the threads on this site have saved people's jobs, I'm not joking.

Take it easy
Iain

It is very often spyware programs that can be fixed by AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy or utilizing HijackThis
(all can be found on download.com by searching for the names I've given) and per suggestions folks have offered above.

I've also seen instances where an incorrect driver (like an HP Scanner driver that was brought over from an old install and no longer works correctly for the current USB connection) so be sure and clean disconnect all the external devices as someone mentioned earlier to see if this is the problem.

There is one other "critical" item that is often overlooked for a
"Faster Startup on Networked Computers"

By default, a Windows XP machine connecting to a network will search for scheduled tasks or enabled printers
on the network/remote computers.
Two sub-keys control this behavior. Deleting them will speed up browsing on the remote computer.
It's my standard practice on any new XP-Pro install to delete these keys!

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Navigate to Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
RemoteComputer\NameSpace
Delete the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.

Disable Scheduled Task Checking
Value Name: {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Delete the sub-key in the left pane of Registry Editor

Disable Printer Checking
Value Name: {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Delete the sub-key in the left pane of Registry Editor

Exit Registry and Reboot
---------------------
For those of in a "Domain" environment. There is also the need to make your DNS Server, the primary DNS server for the workstation and enable forwarder on the DNS server but that should probably be another thread/discussion if anyone needs elaboration.

Umm SheharyaarSaahil I would suggest asking that this question, point wise, be refunded to you. Obviousiously the ACCEPTED comment DID NOT answer you Question. I don't care about the points. What I care about is getting you with the help of all of us the desired result. We are here to help you.

I don't want to beat a dead horse by any means, I know this has a whole lot of "garbage" in it, it's also got very good information in it.  I haven't seen mention at any time as to see if the machine had been trying to find a Domain to login to or anything.  That's an interesting question, but since he reloaded the OS  I don't think we'll know.  I know that would definately cause a very long load time...IE 120 seconds is default time out.  What about that potential theory?

Agree with acrtanet - I discuss some network issues in my 12/30 post (starting at "OK, the last tip I have for you (all) for now:"), but I'm not a network guy.  This may be for another thread, but the place where I work has had issues in the past where performance all came down to the network's interaction with the OS at bootup.

You may want to check C:\Windows\Prefetch as well.  Sometimes this gets clogged with 100's of files that Pre-load on Windows startup.  I have a batch file that executes at startup to delete my prefetch files.  Give this a shot.  Also try a simple defrag as well...

Steve

Looks like the problem is in and with the hard disk. Try a new and better one, with more RPM.

I am no expert. But just wonder whether fixing the registry might help with the problem. For me, I use a commercial software called Vcom or Registry mechanics. At least,it seems to allow a reasonable boot up time for me.

Hello;
Some of the boot time annoyances I have seen include lots of little programs like AIM, MSN, Print Monitor, adware, antivirus program that monitors every virtual orifice of the system, etc.  I would have to know what is in the startup folder, and sys tray.  The task manager will show if any processes are using, CPU cycles while idle.  If you have a static DNS number, release it and refresh the entry again.  What is the boot time when you boot with safe mode?
Cheers;
J^(k

btw: are these systems networked somehow, and what devices connect the computers together or to the internet?
J^(k

Try disabling drivers for ancient, unused device ports (COM & LPT) (if u use usb printers) and if you have separate cards for A/V/Network turn off the internal A/V/Network drivers (if exist).  Use only one essential DVD-R or CD-R do you really need more than one? In other words-simplify your resources. You can also try to disable unnessary services. Try www.blackviper.com for various configs-very useful-but with any of these suggestions, make only one change at a time and then test. Don't change too many things at once and then reboot-cause' if a problem occurs you will have a hard time trying to find the problem and  "undoing " what you did.

I was reading this thread for a little while - I was also plaqued with a terribly slow boot - up -- Later after much head scratching and fiddling -- I TURNED OFF
DMA -- and all is well.  Worth a shot -- KIS (Keep it simple) is still a good mantra for computers

I agree with checking the msconfig utility and unchecking any unneccasary programs from the startup tab.  Another consideration is that the antivirus you are using maybe checking for updates each time the computer boots which can slow things down while it completes its update check.  Needless to say that is probably not something you would want to turn off so make sure your not unchecking anything for your av software in startup tab of msconfig.

Download and run microsoft antispy ware.

Use the advanced tools within the above app and check what programs are running on startup. My Xp start-up was slowed down by a peice of spyware pretending to be userinit.exe, there should be only one instance of this running under the shell key within the registory.

If the computer is joined to a domain, check your DNS settings.

Try disconnecting the network cable while it boots up.  See if it loads faster.  If so, then it is something network related.  I have the same problem with my Dell laptop, so I have simply learned not to plug the network cable in while it boots. Not a real solution but a possible workaround.

There are many factors which affects the boot up time, Not only the clock speed.
We can try to decrease the bootup time as well as the performance of the system. Please send me the following details.
1. Your both the systems are branded or assembled.
2. If branded give me model no. & brand. and RAM installed, If something in the Hardware changed to standard let me know.
3. If assembled can you tell me the AMD CPU NOs. The motherboard manufacturer and model no. You can get it by going Accesories>System tools>System Information.
4. If assembled the Amount of RAM installed the brand of RAM single strip or two or more strips installed. 100mhz or 133mhz.
5. HDD cable whether it is 40 conductor or 80 conductor. HDD speed & total space, Partition details.
6. HDD master/slave with CDrom or not.
7. Services Automatically Enabled, STARTED and not STARTED.
8. Services Manually  Enabled, STARTED.
9. No of LAN cards installed Any devices installed in Parallel port & other external ports.
10. Protocol installed & enabled under Network Connections.
11. Check if Obtain IP address is Selected under TCP/IP Properties.
12. Software installed.
13. Startup items inabled.
14. IDE ATA controllers Under Device manager check what driver installed for IDE controllers.
15. Service Pack installed, Hotfix installed in both machines.
16. Connected directly to internet or through any other computer.
17. firewall installed with definitions dated.
18. Antivirus installed with definitions dated.

Your problem will be solved immediatly if these problems are related to softwres.

If its possible invite me for Assstance

Re: cyberteach comments
See my camatz1 comments re: "Faster Startup on Networked Computers"
Should fix your unplug network cable issue!

-snip-
By default, a Windows XP machine connecting to a network will search for scheduled tasks or enabled printers
on the network/remote computers.
Two sub-keys control this behavior. Deleting them will speed up browsing on the remote computer.
-snip-

To Disable Scheduled Task Checking and Disable Printer Checking

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Delete the Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Delete the Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Exit Registry and Reboot

I was reading this thread to hopefully learn something... It was great and informative until about half way through when CrazyOne's amazingly huge ego completely turned me off the entire thread. Its very unfortunate that someone could single-handedly, while claiming they're only here to help, disinterest myself (and I'm sure many others too) from this post. I commend SheharyaarSaahil for the effort he put forth and diligence he showed while solving this issue.

If CrazyOne were truly as bright as he proclaims himself to be, he wouldn't need to toot his own horn about his intelligence, or the amount of points he COULD have amassed, nor would he have failed to recognize that SheharyaarSaahil and Assimilator were going through a troubleshooting session together. Someone who asks for a piece of information OBVIOUSLY so he can provide some kind of assistance, does NOT deserve to be blasted by someone who wasn't even part of the conversation. Hopefully you have matured a little bit over the last 5 months and are able to provide the type of assistance that I have come to expect here at EE. It isn't about the points for many, many people here... and even if it WAS... the people who need a question answered right NOW, do not care if the expert cares about points, or if the expert simply wishes to help. As long as the question is resolved in one way or another (I'm sure anyone who has had an urgent question before will agree) the asker could care less about giving away points to someone who wants them. After all, that is what this site was founded on. Rewarding someone for their assistance. If you don't care about the points or take offense to someone else wanting to earn them... take your "expert" advice to another forum, so I can focus my time here on learning and helping people with their problems.

Thanks,
Lance

Safemode is a diagnostic mode which doesn't load external and extra devices and their drivers...... it doesn't load the extra and third party services.... it doesn't load any background application...... just the BASIC drivers and services! :)

So you can guess that in normal mode,,,, (Safe Mode: http://www.softwaretohardware.com/archive/index.php/t-3087.html ) all devices and services and applications are trying to load and taking too much time in it...... and in your case either you are running too much extra services and applciations or may be its Norton which is causing this...... and it can be an incompatible device also..... which is taking hard time to load its drivers :)
can you have a look in your Start>Run>msconfig>Startup list that if all those junk and unwanted programs are starting ??

A) One thing that everyone has overlooked is that having large "Recycle" folders will slow down WinXP.
B) Removing non-present devices.  (must first add the "DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1" to environment and reboot)
C) removal of "%windir%\LastGood(.Tmp)" & "%windir%\System32\ReinstallBackups"
D) Emptying the contents of "%windir%\System32\DLLCache" via "SFC /PurgeCache" command.
***Before you purge the SFC cache OR Delete the above mentioned directories, it is best that you understand just what they are for.***


* "ReinstallBackups" are previous backups of older driver installations that allow you to use the "Roll Back Driver" feature of Device Manager.
See the following key for more detail:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Reinstall]

* "LastGood(.Tmp)" stores the first recorded successful boot while employing WHQL certified display drivers and is an integral part in using the "Last Known Good Configuration" option on the F8 boot loader menu.

* Windows will slowly rebuild the SFCCache/DLLCache. Windows will begin to rebuild the "LastGood" & "ReinstallBackups" directories with the next driver update and/or install.


Something annoying about Windows... "Windows File Protection" seems to have three different names and acronymns... "SFC-System File Cache", "WFC-Windows File Cache" & "WFP-Windows File Protection" .... and then they store it's files under a directory named "DLLCache" ?  

"PageFile.Sys" differences can also change the speed at which WinXP boots.
If you're including the time in which it takes for all programs to complete loading, you'll of course want to clear "%SystemRoot%\Prefetch".
Something EVERYONE should know before disabling PREFETCH, (Task Scheduler & PREFETCH...)  http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=81&threadid=51679&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=
Also clear "%SystemRoot%\LogFiles" and "%SystemRoot%\MiniDump".
Check the "Boot.Ini" file to see if there are any differences between the parameters used when starting WinXP.

If you find that DMA access is the culprit, check your IDE cables but also, (GUIDE: Getting DMA access back..) http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=81&threadid=42423&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

If you know how to track down aliases, keep backups and generally, what not to touch, clear out old entries for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices"

Also try checking your BIOS to enable more of the enhanced features for you
Motherboard, or check the faster machine to see if it has some non-default
options enabled.  That might also explain the difference in speed.

hi

do u have any other OS in your PC.

In case you have linux its a possibility to be the reason.

I had the same problem

There is some very intersting reading on this topic at http://www.blackviper.com ,basically he recommends shutting down all but the 6 necesary services for quick boot and quicker running of XP.

Sorry, The site has changed

Dear assimilator
Are u accessing this page. there is no comment since long time. if your problem solved 100% tell us please. or I will give you one tip when you purchase your new system.

So that you dont have to worried about the fast & slow.

Regards

Can you give me these details

There are many factors which affects the boot up time, Not only the clock speed.
We can try to decrease the bootup time as well as the performance of the system. Please send me the following details.
1. Your both the systems are branded or assembled.
2. If branded give me model no. & brand. and RAM installed, If something in the Hardware changed to standard let me know.
3. If assembled can you tell me the AMD CPU NOs. The motherboard manufacturer and model no. You can get it by going Accesories>System tools>System Information.
4. If assembled the Amount of RAM installed the brand of RAM single strip or two or more strips installed. 100mhz or 133mhz.
5. HDD cable whether it is 40 conductor or 80 conductor. HDD speed & total space, Partition details.
6. HDD master/slave with CDrom or not.
7. Services Automatically Enabled, STARTED and not STARTED.
8. Services Manually  Enabled, STARTED.
9. No of LAN cards installed Any devices installed in Parallel port & other external ports.
10. Protocol installed & enabled under Network Connections.
11. Check if Obtain IP address is Selected under TCP/IP Properties.
12. Software installed.
13. Startup items inabled.
14. IDE ATA controllers Under Device manager check what driver installed for IDE controllers.
15. Service Pack installed, Hotfix installed in both machines.
16. Connected directly to internet or through any other computer.
17. firewall installed with definitions dated.
18. Antivirus installed with definitions dated.

Your problem will be solved immediatly if these problems are related to softwres.

If its possible invite me for Assstance
I will make your computer fastest. in that computer category.

try using ram booster , it assigns ur ram to all high priority tasks and suspends less priority tasks temporarily

JUST A NOTE:  assimilator RESOLVED THE ISSUE BY FORMATTING AND INSTALLING A NEW OS LONG AGO(date 1/10/2005), did you notice?  (understood that many of the comments after 1/10/2005 were internal)

it could be one of sevral things one he could have a virus any way if he downloaded something it could have had a virus so try a virus scan two mayby he has too much memory taken up by programs or three it could be that he has too many unused programs on his computer so delete anything that is unimportaint and is unused

Also check which drive boots first.

I too am encountering this problem, except my system hangs on Windows is Starting Up screen.  I disabled almost all of the startup things, is there anything else I can do.

Hi,

If all else fails.

have u recently checked your pc for spyware, if not.

get a freind to download Linux SUSE 9.1 Live cd evaluation edition ISO from www.linuxiso.org
and burn the **.ISO file to a  Cd and insert it into your computer, boot using linux and do a spyware scan, hopefully that helps you

bye the way, please visit www.walte-an.co.nr for free Game downloads

Cya,

Andrew

This has become a really useful thread for a lot of people.

I'd like to suggest a price of admission, though:  if someone wants to contriubute, please be sure and read this thread before typing everything you know.  I'm seeing lots of repeat links to Black Viper, people re-posting their messages, etc.  The thread doesn't belong to me, but I'd like to call for us keeping it simple, and adding something only if it's not already discussed here.

Along those lines, I ran into yet another slow start-up problem.  When booting up, my machine got really slow, and then reached a point where it would randomly freeze.  Booting up with a minimum of devices (already suggested here) didn't seem to fix it.  In the end, the PC's behavior and my research led me to guess that it might be the Hardware Abstraction Layer (or "HAL").  This layer of the OS is something that can become corrupted, and suddenly produce freezes and slowdowns, yet not show any problems in XP's Device Manager, or any diagnostic tools like DXDiag.

I ended up having to reinstall XP - a full format, and not just a Repair.

Does anyone know more about the HAL, or a way it can be repaired without a full reinstall?  I'd love anyone's input if they have something to add.

Thanks,

PyanfarChanur

My personal favorite "tool" is Winternals' ERD Commander.
You can download a full-featured 5day trial at:
http://winternals.com/Products/ERDCommander/
Software even allows you to boot a dead XP system, do a System Restore from a restore point,
System File Repair, Service and Driver Manager, and has a Hotfix Uninstall Wizard

Hey Pyanfarchanur,

Sorry, I don't know anything about HAL, but please have a look at www.computing.net its another forum site that you can view posts without registration.
I use it alot its really usefull,

Give it a shot, if it doesn't work, come back to this forum and ask more people.

Enjoy,

Bye,

Andrew W

walte-an@hotmail.com

On the Title of this forum page it says that you have a 750Mhz pc and a 1.1Mhz, DO you mean 1.1Mhz, 110Mhz, 101Mhz, or 1.1Ghz??

I got lost at the title.

Bye

Andrew W

walte-an@hotmail.com

Thank you Camatz1:  that's a good tool, and I'm going to keep it handy for when (not if) a machine of mine gets bogged down again.  Trialware's always the way to go - I like to support people who right this stuff, but it's good to have a chance to make sure it's the right tool for the job first ;)

PyanfarChanur

I tried many of the useful ideas and solutions suggested in this thread but the suggestion that solved my 2min 35sec bootime problem was, unplugging all USB devices, checking bootime, then by a process of elimination finding the problem device,

It was ultimately my scanner and I now boot again in 37seconds