fartlewhit
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Boot up issues on new Win7 install
It all started just fine for an new install. But then in the short time it has been up and running, issues began to build.
The system is unstable: At times it boots seemingly fine, but boot time has progressively lengthened. Presently, the system boots up and at the welcome panel it will spend two to three minutes before opening to the desk top. Repetitve boots don't resolve the issue.
I have had a few difficulties when setting preferences and settings. In "personalize" (right click desktop) I have had the system freeze up. With a little experimentation I found the system to work "alright" when I worked with system available resources for personalizing the desktop. I"m thinking now about the internet connection. The system will freeze up when selecting one of microsoft's online personalizing options. However, I haven't seen much issue (yet) working in Firefox.
Here's the skinny on the internet connection: I had a D-Link DGE-530TX ethernet card installed and the Windows 7 system refused to install a driver from any of the available sources (cd-rom, file on disk, MS auto search). Eventually, I plugged the e-net cable into the LAN port on the I/O panel of the motherboard, ran setup software from the motherboard disk and connection was made. Then the wife, at one point, had problems with her connection. When I unplugged the cable from my machine, her problem disappeared. Coinsidence? Maybe.
Here's a run down of the physical system
Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD EVO (Brand new)
AMD Phenom II 1090T CPU
Ram: 8GB Corsair 1600Mhz (set in BIOS)
60GB SSD disk
USB 3.0 enabled
I'm not sure if more info is needed. Let me know. I'm working on an older XP machine to type this so I'm not stranded.
Would a repair install resolve any of this?Thanks.
The system is unstable: At times it boots seemingly fine, but boot time has progressively lengthened. Presently, the system boots up and at the welcome panel it will spend two to three minutes before opening to the desk top. Repetitve boots don't resolve the issue.
I have had a few difficulties when setting preferences and settings. In "personalize" (right click desktop) I have had the system freeze up. With a little experimentation I found the system to work "alright" when I worked with system available resources for personalizing the desktop. I"m thinking now about the internet connection. The system will freeze up when selecting one of microsoft's online personalizing options. However, I haven't seen much issue (yet) working in Firefox.
Here's the skinny on the internet connection: I had a D-Link DGE-530TX ethernet card installed and the Windows 7 system refused to install a driver from any of the available sources (cd-rom, file on disk, MS auto search). Eventually, I plugged the e-net cable into the LAN port on the I/O panel of the motherboard, ran setup software from the motherboard disk and connection was made. Then the wife, at one point, had problems with her connection. When I unplugged the cable from my machine, her problem disappeared. Coinsidence? Maybe.
Here's a run down of the physical system
Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD EVO (Brand new)
AMD Phenom II 1090T CPU
Ram: 8GB Corsair 1600Mhz (set in BIOS)
60GB SSD disk
USB 3.0 enabled
I'm not sure if more info is needed. Let me know. I'm working on an older XP machine to type this so I'm not stranded.
Would a repair install resolve any of this?Thanks.
could be an overheating issue. Ensure that the CPU fan is connected and spinning and that you have applied thermal paste.
Are you gettig any BSODs at all, and if so, what is the error message. Also, if you just boot the system up and let it sit, how long does it take to freeze/crash? And is the timing consistant?
ASKER
Standard amd cpu heatsink. However, the case is wide open and I haven't seriously loaded the system with demanding applications. cpu temp is well within acceptable range.
I haven't gotten any BSODs. It hasn't been allowed to just sit to see if it freezes. I don't understand the timing question.
I haven't gotten any BSODs. It hasn't been allowed to just sit to see if it freezes. I don't understand the timing question.
Ok, let me make sure we are on the same page.
Your computer freezes (screen images do not change) and nothing be it the mouse, caps lock / num lock / keyboard / etc resond. At no time during this freeze does it ever BSOD, it just locks.
When I asked about the timing issue, I was trying to determine if it is always occuring say 30 minutes after boot. Was their a consistant pattern or predictability to the pattern.
Also you mention that at one point she had problems (freezing?) and when you unplugged your network connection (a different computer?) the problem went away. Does the problem always clear under these circumstances?
Honesty this is a bit of a tough one as several things you have said lead me in completely different directions as far as a resolution. If I was starting from scratch in troubleshooting, I think I would start by unplugging the ethernet from the affected system and seeing if it ever developes any issues while not connected. If the issues still develope, I would disable the network adapter in device manager and test again. At least through these two steps we can confirm or eliminate the network side of things from the issue and move on to other possible resolutions.
Hope this helps.
Your computer freezes (screen images do not change) and nothing be it the mouse, caps lock / num lock / keyboard / etc resond. At no time during this freeze does it ever BSOD, it just locks.
When I asked about the timing issue, I was trying to determine if it is always occuring say 30 minutes after boot. Was their a consistant pattern or predictability to the pattern.
Also you mention that at one point she had problems (freezing?) and when you unplugged your network connection (a different computer?) the problem went away. Does the problem always clear under these circumstances?
Honesty this is a bit of a tough one as several things you have said lead me in completely different directions as far as a resolution. If I was starting from scratch in troubleshooting, I think I would start by unplugging the ethernet from the affected system and seeing if it ever developes any issues while not connected. If the issues still develope, I would disable the network adapter in device manager and test again. At least through these two steps we can confirm or eliminate the network side of things from the issue and move on to other possible resolutions.
Hope this helps.
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One more place to look at is Eventvwr and look at any Errors, or Warnings in the System and Applications logs.
You could also open control panel and search for Troublshooting and then Performance and look at some of the reports/options there. Sorry, not in front of my system at the moment so exact names may not be correct.
You could also open control panel and search for Troublshooting and then Performance and look at some of the reports/options there. Sorry, not in front of my system at the moment so exact names may not be correct.
you have a failing component.. try running the memory check and see if it might be your memory.. that or your ssd may be faulty.. trim the ssd and see if it improves things.
@ ve3ofa TRIM in Windows 7 is by default turned on with SSD's unless the SSD Firmware does not support it for some reason. My article, linked below, explains how to check and test TRIM. I am Agreed with the failing component, sounds like a video card still to me though. Have you updated you video card drivers lately? Checked for BIOS updates, SSD firmware updates?
I do have a couple extra of ideas/thoughts to throw out for you on this one here though:
Always make sure your SSD is not full or having a ton of writes by moving your library folders to another mechanical spinning hard drive.
In fact I wrote an article here at Experts-Exchange about SDD performance tips here: https://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Misc/A_2516-Solid-State-Drive-Performance-Tips.html
Basically the idea is move all of your libraries to another HDD and to move your internet browser temp directories and Windows Temp files all do a different area on another drive. This is because SSD's wear out over the process of lots of writes/deletes . So by moving all the libraries you end up keeping your SSD chips running good for a much longer time.
Check to see if you have a huge Pagefile set. You mentioned that you have 8 GB RAM I bet you have an enormous pagefile.sys sittign on your SSD probably something like 12.5 GB if left to default...lol
You need to go manually set your pagefile to something quite a bit smaller than that. With 8 GB you really don't need much at all perhaps setting it to 1024 Minimum and 2048 Max would be pretty decent. Hibernate.sys also sits on the OS in a hidden file, disable hibernation if it is on. This can be a huge several GB file on your SSD.
A tune up utility will also help you quit quite a bit for Windows boot speed. On that I have used and bought for several years straight is Tune-Up Utilities. It really does everything you could want out of a Tune Up program. It has a great start-up program manager, registry cleaner, registry defrag, Disk Checker (chkdsk) and tons more very useful tools and tips. there is a full 15-30-day unlimited trial available to download and you can check it out here: http://www.tune-up.com
I highly recommend that you do all of the things I have said in the SSD guide and run Tune-Up. you may be surprised...
Hope this helps you!
-Tribus
I do have a couple extra of ideas/thoughts to throw out for you on this one here though:
Always make sure your SSD is not full or having a ton of writes by moving your library folders to another mechanical spinning hard drive.
In fact I wrote an article here at Experts-Exchange about SDD performance tips here: https://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Misc/A_2516-Solid-State-Drive-Performance-Tips.html
Basically the idea is move all of your libraries to another HDD and to move your internet browser temp directories and Windows Temp files all do a different area on another drive. This is because SSD's wear out over the process of lots of writes/deletes . So by moving all the libraries you end up keeping your SSD chips running good for a much longer time.
Check to see if you have a huge Pagefile set. You mentioned that you have 8 GB RAM I bet you have an enormous pagefile.sys sittign on your SSD probably something like 12.5 GB if left to default...lol
You need to go manually set your pagefile to something quite a bit smaller than that. With 8 GB you really don't need much at all perhaps setting it to 1024 Minimum and 2048 Max would be pretty decent. Hibernate.sys also sits on the OS in a hidden file, disable hibernation if it is on. This can be a huge several GB file on your SSD.
A tune up utility will also help you quit quite a bit for Windows boot speed. On that I have used and bought for several years straight is Tune-Up Utilities. It really does everything you could want out of a Tune Up program. It has a great start-up program manager, registry cleaner, registry defrag, Disk Checker (chkdsk) and tons more very useful tools and tips. there is a full 15-30-day unlimited trial available to download and you can check it out here: http://www.tune-up.com
I highly recommend that you do all of the things I have said in the SSD guide and run Tune-Up. you may be surprised...
Hope this helps you!
-Tribus
ASKER
All of your responses are certainly valuable. It will take me some time to go through them. I am very grateful for your responses and time spent. So now I need to go to work on this and see what comes of it. I'll leave this thread open and get back to you all. Thanks again for the help.
ASKER
This is experience talking. I would have never guessed the video card. Change it I did and everything, well almost everything, smoothed out. Thanks Tribus, nice work!