Slower start-up - blue progress bar

[pcgerard]

I am noticing that my pc is starting up slower within the last few weeks.
Normally, when I get to the screen which has the blue progress bar at the
bottom, the bar travels about twice before I get to my desktop and shortcuts.
Now it travels 8-10 times. Is there some way I can optimize my system so
that it starts up quicker? I was told to delete/empty out the prefetch
folder, but that didn't help. Would disk clean up help? I ran disk
defragmenter, but it told me I didn't need to defragment the disk.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

 

[Paradoxdb3]

Make sure you do not have a disconnected device which Windows is trying to
load, like a network card or a digital camera card reader for example.
Take any removable media out of their drives such as CDs/DVDs, SD cards,
ect. while Windows loads.
From the start menu, go to run and type MSCONFIG and uncheck everything you
don't need/want Windows to load (from the startup tab). Although I believe
this may only load the desktop faster, and not cut down the Windows loading
time.
Hope some of that will help.
By the way, the progress bar making only two passes before the desktop loads
is pretty good! I thought my computer loaded fast!

 

[Gerry]

Have you tried this approach?
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

Also look for Error Reports in the System log in Event Viewer.
Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

I think I may have found the problem. I ran chkdsk and got this message:

After it said Warming: F paramenter not specified, Running chkdsk in
read-ionly mode, it said:
Deleting an index entry from index $o of file 25.
Deleting an index entry from index $0 of file 25.

Index verification completed.

Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

What should I do next

 

[pcgerard]

I think I may have found the problem. I ran chkdsk and got this error
message:

Deleting an index entry from index $0 of file 25.
Deleting an index entry from index $0 of file 25.

Index verification completed.

Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read only mode.

What should I do now?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gerry]

Is your hard drive formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?

Run Disk CleanUp before chkdsk and the use chkdsk /f /r

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

It is formatted NTFS. Does that make a difference? And when I run Disk
Cleanup, what options should I choose?

 

[Gerry]

It is formatted NTFS. Does that make a difference?

Probably none but it's nice to know.

And when I run

Disk Cleanup, what options should I choose?

All.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

Even the one that says "Compress old files?" Won't I be deleting system files
or other important files? I'm just a little worried I might mess things up.

Thanks!

 

[Gerry]

Disk CleanUp is a tried and tested tool. It is rare for it to make
matters worse. Go ahead and use it so that you can then run chkdsk in an
improved environment.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

I ran chkdsk during the boot phase and everything seemed to go ok. Then I ran
chkdsk in read-only mode and got two error messages:

Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system.

When I ran chkdsk in boot phase, it was with the /f /r options, as you
advised.

Do I need to run it again? Is this something to be concerned about? I'm an
old Norton/Symantec Utilities user, so I'm wondering if there is a third
party software that can fix this problem if Win XP Pro can't.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gerry]

Try Start, Run, type cmd and hit ENTER. Type cd\ and hit ENTER. Type
chkdsk C: and hit ENTER and you should get a Report on Disk Usage.
Please copy it in a further post. Type exit and hit ENTER to return to
the Desktop.

How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814594/en-us

I suggest you download and run cCleaner (freeware)
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. To be safe you
should create a restore point before using cCleaner. cCleaner also
offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking Autocomplete Form
History under Internet Explorer. You do get a warning but this one has
irritating consequences. You may need to restore your system's
recollection of passwords after use so keep a record off computer so
that they can easily be re-entered.

Leave the Scan for Issues option alone.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

Okay, I ran the chkdsk but I don't know how to "copy the results to a further
post." can you help me on that? Sorry ....

 

[pcgerard]

Also, I'd like to correspond using the Agent newsgroup reader program. Can
you tell me what the full name of this newsgroup is? It must be "alt."
something, but I can't seem to find it.

Thanks!

 

[Gerry]

When chkdsk has finished right click and select Mark. Drag the cursor
over the part to be copied and this area will gain a white background.
Open the message to be sent and place cursor in message, right click and
select paste.

It is a little disconcerting but after highlighting the area to be
copied you do not need to select the Copy command as highlighting after
selecting Mark seems to put the text onto the clipboard.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

This is a Microsoft Public Newsgroup not an Alt newsgroup.

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

The server address is:
msnews.microsoft.com

By Agent do you mean Forte Agent?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[pcgerard]

Ok, I followed you instructions and here's what I got:


C:\>chkdsk c:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Hard Disk.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Deleting index entry 30e7_Updater_eventcritlog.rpt in index $I30 of file
14742.
Deleting index entry 30e7_Updater_eventlog.rpt in index $I30 of file 14742.
Deleting index entry 30E7_U~1.RPT in index $I30 of file 14742.
Deleting index entry 30E7_U~2.RPT in index $I30 of file 14742.
Index verification completed.

Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

Hope this sheds some light....

Chris

 

[Gerry]

Try HD Tune(freeware) as you can see the SMART
information relating to the drive etc.

Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Make sure you do a full
surface scan with HD Tune.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[cgerard]

Ok, I downloaded and installed HD Tune and here's what I got:


HD Tune: NVIDIA STRIPE 139.73G Information

Firmware version :
Serial number :
Capacity : 139.7 GB (~150.0 GB)
Buffer size : 0 KB
Standard :
Supported mode :
Current mode :

S.M.A.R.T : no
48-bit Address : no
Read Look-Ahead : no
Write Cache : no
Host Protected Area : no
Device Configuration Overlay : no
Automatic Acoustic Management: no
Power Management : no
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : no
Firmware Upgradable : no

Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label : Hard Disk
Capacity : 143086 MB
Usage : 44.43%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes

and this, too:

HD Tune: NVIDIA STRIPE 139.73G Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status

Power On Time : n/a
Health Status : n/a

I don't know if the second batch of info helps you. I did download
and install CCleaner. Should that be my next step?

Thanks!

 

[cgerard]

Also, I forgot to tell you, I did a disk scan with HD and there were
no problems.

Chris