boot issues and bootvis.exe

[Jacob]

i have suddenly had really slow boots. i haven't added
any hardware, etc. i have defraged, clean disk, stopped
services, stopped startup programs, and still slow. I'm
running xp w/ 256mb ram, 30gig hd, 1.8gig processer.
everything is fine and speedy once i'm into windows, but
it takes about 3 minutes to boot, where it used to be 30
seconds.

i have used bootvis but all i have are the charts, which
i can't read. the optimizer in it won't work. i get an
error to defrag, and when i do, it doesn't fix the
problem.

i've implemented all sorts of suggestions, but nothing
seems to be working. any help you could offer would be
appreciated. i'd be happy to email you my file from
bootvis if you'd like to see it. it looks like
Logon+Serv and then Shell are taking the most time (about
45 seconds and 50 seconds, respectively). anyway, i
don't know what any of that info means. thanks again for
your help.

jake

 

[~A_Sammy]

Hi Jake,

I've wasted more time trying to chase down things like this than it takes to
reformat the drive and reinstall the OS. Just a thought.

Sammy

 

[Guest]

i think i'm about at that point too. is there any way
for me to do it w/out losing all my info? i don't have
an external HD and don't have the money for one right
now. any suggestions?

 

[Bob Dietz]

How much personal data is on your HD?

No CD-R?

Got a friend with a large HD or CD-R?
If so, 2 Nics and a cross-over cable.

 

[Alex Nichol]

i think i'm about at that point too. is there any way
for me to do it w/out losing all my info? i don't have
an external HD and don't have the money for one right
now. any suggestions?

Try a repair reinstall - Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard disk, then
boot the XP CD, start Setup (do not take 'Repair' at this stage), then
after the license agreement take 'Repair Installation'. This will
retain your existing software installations and most settings. But
Updates will have to be run again, especially SP1;
It is important to activate the basic XP Firewall before you ever
connect to the net to get the patches, so as to be protected against
things like the BLAST worm.

Always back up essential data before doing any major system operation
like this, if you are still in a position to do so