slow startup Win XP ("bad block"?)

[Guest]

Hi,

My win xp pro starts up slower than before since a few days. It has nothing
to do with SP2 (installed already weeks ago) or, startup programs or viruses
(Norton updated and running).
It especially lingers a while on the win xp startup screen (the one with
the blue little blocks running from left to right, left to right, left to ...
you know)
Anyway, the event viewer shows two errors who have come up a lot since this
slowdown:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.
(source ATAPI, type ERROR, category NONE, EventID 9)
and
The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block (source DISK, type ERROR,
category NONE, EventID 7).

I don't feel like going through the torture of reinstalling everything, so
any help whatsoever is welcome!

regards,
Del

 

[Guest]

I would run error checking. Need help? Open help and support and search for
"error checking".

Note if chkdsk(error checking) find bad blocks, I would download my hard
disk manufactors's dianostic Utility and run all tests except write test.

Need help identify your hard disk manufacturer? Open help and support and
search for "Using device manager" Select properties on your hard drive, open
tab details. That's your hard drive name. Then search internet with that name
and look for diagnostic utility for your hard drive.

I'm not saying you have a serious problem, but I think its a good idea to
have your manufactor's diagnostic utility before you have a problem.