Hard drive thrashign...Incredibly Slow Boot....How do I diagnose the problem? How do I use Bootvis?

[ridergroov]

HI there folks,

I guess about a month ago I started noticing that my XP Pro box takes
forever to boot up. Once at the logon screen, its' about 3 minutes of
the hard drive thrashing like crazy until it stops. I downloaded
bootvis and did a reboot and look at the results but they didn't really
tell me anything. I didnt' know how to read what it is saying. Is
there another program I can use to find out what is making my hard
drive thrash like that and holding up my boot time? Any help would be
appreciated. Thank you.

 

[typical computer geek]

How does it perform once the machine has booted? You may have a registry
problem or a vius/spyware issue.

 

[Danny Sanders]

Find out the manufacturer of your hard drive, go to their website and check
to see if they have diagnostic software for your hard drive.


hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE

 

[typical computer geek]

it could also be that your pc has auto indexing turned on or that you have
a crapload of tmp files that are slowing things down. perhaps you need to
defrag the drive.

 

[Malke]

HI there folks,

I guess about a month ago I started noticing that my XP Pro box takes
forever to boot up. Once at the logon screen, its' about 3 minutes of
the hard drive thrashing like crazy until it stops. I downloaded
bootvis and did a reboot and look at the results but they didn't
really
tell me anything. I didnt' know how to read what it is saying. Is
there another program I can use to find out what is making my hard
drive thrash like that and holding up my boot time? Any help would be
appreciated. Thank you.

Do the normal troubleshooting for malware to insure the machine is
clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If the machine is completely virus/malware-free, do clean-boot
troubleshooting:

Clean Boot - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310353
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Also check Event Viewer for any clues.
Start>Run>eventvwr.msc [enter]

Try disabling the Indexing Service:
Start>Run>services.msc [enter]

Do all troubleshooting methodically, only making one change at a time
and testing after each change before going onto the next thing.

Malke

 

[ridergroov]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the all the responses with everything. I have done all the
normal stuff and i don't have any malware or viruses. I am your
typical computer geek with a degree so I have the main stuff done
already. I'm really trying to look a little more specific on WHAT is
causing the hangup and trying to find a way to figure that out. I
thought bootvis would be the way but that program isn't very user
friendly and doesn't tell me crap about WHAT is causing the hangup,
it's just not specific enough. Any ideas along the lines of Bootvis?

 

[R. McCarty]

First thing to do is actually test the drive's performance ratings.
I use a little tool called DiskSpeed32. You would want to test
and note it's Access time, Burst and sustained throughput.
I would check Device Manager, IDE controller and make sure
the operating mode of the channel/tap hasn't stepped back to a
slower operating mode. If those things check out then I would
use FileMon from SysInternals to watch actual disk activity.

 

[Rock]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the all the responses with everything. I have done all the
normal stuff and i don't have any malware or viruses. I am your
typical computer geek with a degree so I have the main stuff done
already. I'm really trying to look a little more specific on WHAT is
causing the hangup and trying to find a way to figure that out. I
thought bootvis would be the way but that program isn't very user
friendly and doesn't tell me crap about WHAT is causing the hangup,
it's just not specific enough. Any ideas along the lines of Bootvis?

Does it happen in safe mode or just in a normal boot up? Try some clean
boot troubleshooting:

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316434

 

[Jonny]

Mine does the same thing, except I don't term it as thrashing. Was faster
boot prior to SP2 and subsequent critical updates, less time before the ide
led stopped. I consider the boot complete when the led indicator stops
flashing. Takes over two minutes from cold boot till ide led stops
flashing.

Know its not hardware oriented as I've restored a previous image of XP SP1
install. Again, the complete boot time is reduced by almost a minute. Same
3rd party software installed. My system is virus, malware, keylogger clean.
No temp crap except critical update stuff sitting there taking up space.

Anyhoo, I just let XP do its thing until the ide led is done, then login.
Works fine. So, to me, there's nothing to fix. The lengthier complete boot
time, by my observation, is SP2 and the subsequent critical updates.

 

[Alias]

Mine does the same thing, except I don't term it as thrashing. Was faster
boot prior to SP2 and subsequent critical updates, less time before the ide
led stopped. I consider the boot complete when the led indicator stops
flashing. Takes over two minutes from cold boot till ide led stops
flashing.

Know its not hardware oriented as I've restored a previous image of XP SP1
install. Again, the complete boot time is reduced by almost a minute. Same
3rd party software installed. My system is virus, malware, keylogger clean.
No temp crap except critical update stuff sitting there taking up space.

Anyhoo, I just let XP do its thing until the ide led is done, then login.
Works fine. So, to me, there's nothing to fix. The lengthier complete boot
time, by my observation, is SP2 and the subsequent critical updates.

Funny, my computer takes 36 seconds to reboot and it has SP2. When was
the last time you defragged? When was the last time you did a real clean
up with a tool like CCleaner? Have you checked MSCONFIG to see what's
loading up at start up?

Alias

 

[ridergroov]

I clean and scan every part of my computer and defrag and cleanup on a
regular basis. I cancelled all the startup options with MSCONFIG and
still have the same problem. Probably going to try a safe boot next.
I did tests on my hard drives and both are error free. After it is
done its 5 minute boot up, works like a charm. I just don't see how a
P4 3.0GHZ with 2GB of RAM should take that long. Something messed it
up. Probably just do a clean install at the beginning of the year.
It's about that time anyway. I didn't always do this.

 

[Ron Martell]

I clean and scan every part of my computer and defrag and cleanup on a
regular basis. I cancelled all the startup options with MSCONFIG and
still have the same problem. Probably going to try a safe boot next.
I did tests on my hard drives and both are error free. After it is
done its 5 minute boot up, works like a charm. I just don't see how a
P4 3.0GHZ with 2GB of RAM should take that long. Something messed it
up. Probably just do a clean install at the beginning of the year.
It's about that time anyway. I didn't always do this.

You should not have to do a clean install. There is a solution to
the slow startup, it will just take a bit of detective work to
identify it.

Here is a link to a boot logging utility for Windows XP that may help
you to identify the culprit.

http://greatis.com/utilities/bootlogxp/


Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

 

[Jonny]

Guess you missed it. Have the same 3rd party software installed in both
examples.
Defrag with Diskeeper once a week or after any critical update.
And, yes, the boot time is a function of what is booting up as shown by
msconfig as part of that. So is ALL the hardware used on the PC. So, is if
the hardware is playing well with each other or competing for use. So, is
any fruitless search of the boot for something that may not exist as another
example. So, comparative total boot time analogies without this data mean
absolutely nothing.

 

[ridergroov]

The answer to my problem was.............Symantec Antivirus Corporate
Edition 9. Cleaned that out and all is fast again. Going to AVG.

 

[Guest]

OK, I have the same problem discussed here, and also have tried the defrag
options and removing the temp files on my computer. As with the others I get
no problems once booted, but a boot time of over 5 minutes. I too thought
that my anti-virus software was causing the problems, and switching the
anti-viral software worked for some time and then the same problem
re-occured...

I have extensively scanned for viruses, malware and any problems with my
hard drives but to no avail.

HELP, HELP, HELP.........

 

[R. McCarty]

Take a look at your System Event log and scan it for Error(s) -
Red Icons. Five Minutes to complete boot is too long. To view
System Events:
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

Best to clear the log and & Reboot and check log with a recent
full boot cycle shown.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System
and Application logs for the last boot and post copies.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, 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/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

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. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into 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?

Try Start, Run, type "sigverif.exe" without quotes and hit OK. What drivers
are listed as unsigned? Disregard those which are not checked.



--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~