Opus said:Jerry,
You might just try a simple defrag of your hard drive to see how that
changes things. It can be very surprising how much change something as
simple as that can make.
Some antivirus software can substantially delay the startup process
especially when boot time scans are enabled. There are other programs too
that can delay the startup process including malware. You should consider
anything that you have recently installed and do a malware check as well if
you have not already.
The actual cause in your case depends on where the delay is coming
in--during BIOS screen, black screen, Windows logo screen, blue screen, or
post login. To test for post black screen causes, run MSCONFIG
(Start/Run/msconfig) and select Diagnostic Startup. Hit OK and then Restart.
After login, your system will look different because Windows themes were not
loaded. If this changes your experience, then this eliminates BIOS and black
screen causes. You are looking for changes in the time from when the Windows
XP logo first appears and the final come to rest after login. If the
diagnostic startup exhibits some change in behavior, then the problem is with
something that is being loaded during startup, and you can use the Services
and Startup tabs of MSCONFIG to determine what this might be. (Note: Device
driver problems may slow down the boot process, and they will not show up in
MSCONFIG.) (Be sure to change MSCONFIG back to Normal Startup and restart.)
With the Services and Startup tabs, you can selectively disable individual
startup items to determine whether any one of them is the cause, but it is
very important that you do not make any changes in the Services tab unless
you know what you are doing.
Here is the breakdown of possible causes at each phase of the boot process:
**BIOS screen--Low level device initialization. Delays here could indicate
device degredation, failure, or loss of signal. Note: Having a disk in the
CD/DVD drive can introduce a delay here while the system spins up the drive
and checks for bootable media.
**Black screen--O/S boot. This should always be pretty quick. A repeated
substantial delay here could indicate an impending failure of a hard disk
drive though malware can also introduce a delay here.
**Windows logo screen--Device driver startup. Delays here could indicate
that a device driver is the problem. Consider if you have recently installed
new hardware or updated device drivers.
**Blue screen--Windows services startup. Delays here could indicate a
problem with a Windows service. These are listed on the Services tab of
MSCONFIG and in Windows Services (Start/Control Panel/Administrative
Tools/Services). I do not recommend disabling services for testing purposes
unless you really know what you are doing. If there are any services that
you recognize as associated with your antivirus program, you could disable
them by unchecking them in the Services tab of MSCONFIG, but you must be very
careful not to disable anything that you do not know what it is. You can
protect yourself a bit by checking the box to hide Microsoft services, but
you should still be careful.
**Post login--Startup software load, user profile load, and user interface
and theme load. Delays here could indicate a problem with startup programs
that appear in the Startup tab of MSCONFIG.
Kind regards,
Opus
Hi,
When I logged in into Windows it takes about 3 mins until the system
is ready to be used. What can I do in order to improve the starting
of my system ?
Regards,
Jerry
When I logged in into Windows it takes about 3 mins until the system
is ready to be used. What can I do in order to improve the starting
of my system ?
Opus said:Jerry,
You might just try a simple defrag of your hard drive to see how that
changes things. It can be very surprising how much change something as
simple as that can make.
Some antivirus software can substantially delay the startup process
especially when boot time scans are enabled. There are other programs too
that can delay the startup process including malware. You should consider
anything that you have recently installed and do a malware check as well
if
you have not already.
The actual cause in your case depends on where the delay is coming
in--during BIOS screen, black screen, Windows logo screen, blue screen, or
post login. To test for post black screen causes, run MSCONFIG
(Start/Run/msconfig) and select Diagnostic Startup. Hit OK and then
Restart.
After login, your system will look different because Windows themes were
not
loaded. If this changes your experience, then this eliminates BIOS and
black
screen causes. You are looking for changes in the time from when the
Windows
XP logo first appears and the final come to rest after login. If the
diagnostic startup exhibits some change in behavior, then the problem is
with
something that is being loaded during startup, and you can use the
Services
and Startup tabs of MSCONFIG to determine what this might be. (Note:
Device
driver problems may slow down the boot process, and they will not show up
in
MSCONFIG.) (Be sure to change MSCONFIG back to Normal Startup and
restart.)
With the Services and Startup tabs, you can selectively disable individual
startup items to determine whether any one of them is the cause, but it is
very important that you do not make any changes in the Services tab unless
you know what you are doing.
Here is the breakdown of possible causes at each phase of the boot
process:
**BIOS screen--Low level device initialization. Delays here could
indicate
device degredation, failure, or loss of signal. Note: Having a disk in
the
CD/DVD drive can introduce a delay here while the system spins up the
drive
and checks for bootable media.
**Black screen--O/S boot. This should always be pretty quick. A repeated
substantial delay here could indicate an impending failure of a hard disk
drive though malware can also introduce a delay here.
**Windows logo screen--Device driver startup. Delays here could indicate
that a device driver is the problem. Consider if you have recently
installed
new hardware or updated device drivers.
**Blue screen--Windows services startup. Delays here could indicate a
problem with a Windows service. These are listed on the Services tab of
MSCONFIG and in Windows Services (Start/Control Panel/Administrative
Tools/Services). I do not recommend disabling services for testing
purposes
unless you really know what you are doing. If there are any services that
you recognize as associated with your antivirus program, you could disable
them by unchecking them in the Services tab of MSCONFIG, but you must be
very
careful not to disable anything that you do not know what it is. You can
protect yourself a bit by checking the box to hide Microsoft services, but
you should still be careful.
**Post login--Startup software load, user profile load, and user interface
and theme load. Delays here could indicate a problem with startup
programs
that appear in the Startup tab of MSCONFIG.
Hi,
When I logged in into Windows it takes about 3 mins until the system is
ready to be used. What can I do in order to improve the starting of my
system