Slow boot

[Rogue]

Starting around October 11th or so, I noticed my computer was starting
to boot slower than normal. It really hasn't bothered me until now.
Not only is it booting slower, but programs are taking a little longer
than normal to load. When I first turn on my computer is when it is
slow to boot. If I restart my computer a couple of times after the
initial boot, it will boot quicker and programs load faster. Before I
started having this problem boot time was a little over a minute,
never really timed it. Now it will take almost five minutes or more to
boot. Let me clarify something: I should have stated that all this
slowness happens when the desktop appears after logon. My drive is
defragmented automatically everyday, I use Diskeeper. I have no
viruses, trojans, spyware, maleware or any other nasties, I check
every other day. I run chkdsk once a week, no problems. Have all the
updates for Windows and all my other programs. I have unloaded
everything from the startup tab in msconfig except for my security
related programs, and still no luck. I checked the event viewer and
found the following:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7026
Date: 10/11/2005
Time: 8:50:20 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ROGUE2
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
black

I did some Googling on the last line and could not find anything
helpful. This error appears from the 11th right through until today,
and only when the computer is first turned on.

I also checked the boot.ini, on the advice of a friend, and I have a
question about this line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Should: NoExecute=OptIn be in this line? Not sure if this is normal or
not. I've never really looked at the boot.ini until now.

System specs:

XP Home Edition SP2
P4 3.2ghz w/ HT
1gb DDR ram (Two 512's)
OS on a partitioned 75gb Hitachi SATA drive. OS partition is 44gb with
plenty of room.
ASUS P4P800 motherboard
MB temp never above 40 degrees C
CPU temp between 65-80 degrees C (depending on load)
OS HDD in Vantec cooler with temps usually never more than 35 degrees
C (depending on season and usage)

Any help is welcomed and appreciated.

TIA,

Rogue

 

[M.Meels]

Rogue,

Did you recently change one of the following XP features:
- Upgrading to SP2 (Service Pack 2 has its nasty security add-ons) ?
- Windows File Protection (look at %winroot\System32\Dllcache) ?
- Windows Prefetching (look at %winroot\Prefetch) ?
- System restore (give XP some 300 MB to work with, more keeps it busy
...) ?

In my experience:
1. Norton Systemworks Pro 2003 is a shit-application
to remove and to reinstall: turns out that Symantec bundled
several third-party applications that use 'Windows Script 5.6'
for LiveUpdate (one mishap and Norton with Antivirus will
de-stabilize the complete desktop - SLOWING IT DOWN that is).

Guess what:
First, go to microsoft.com and try installing that add-on
'Windows Script 5.6' for Win2k and WinXP.

Then, do a normal remove of Norton and look at the maps/dirs
%rootdrive\Program files\Common files\Symantec\ and
%rootdrive\Documents and
Settings\<install-user>\Administrator\Application Data\Symantec\.
Anything there ERASE and afterwards use a Registry-cleaner
before trying to reinstall Norton
(re-installing Norton from time-to-time can be handy, only you
should install Norton BEFORE SP2 is applied ?!?)

Go to Symantec.com for issues regarding SP2: this isn't easy
(reinstalling XP is NOT an option: it simply has to work and can
be fixed - got It right just now under XP Pro and had the same
problem with Norton under Win2K Pro a year ago - Norton
Antivirus got into a loop at boottime !!!)

2. Windows File Protection can sometimes be polluted, so at bootime
the damn system keeps checking its DLLCACHE to verify that all
registered DLL are authentic (3.362 objects with 540 Mb under XP
right now on this configuration - cleaned it up last week !)

If you know what your doing, then use XTec to rebuild the
DLLCACHE (put your original XP-CDrom in the primary CD-ROM,
that's the one that is connected to mainboard).
My dual boot PC under Win2k only uses a DLLCACHE of 1.201
objects with 157 Mb - try securing your online banking under
Win2k (speed under Win2K, security under XP - having fun !)

Every time you install or update software, your DLLCACHE is
changed and every DLL or systemfile should correspond to a
registry-entry
(unfortunately if you uninstall, most applications DO NOT
'cleanup' their mess).

Every time 'Windows Update' has access to your XP-implementation
it is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to 'shut down' and 'close' all programs
and applications (I only keep Sygate Firewall running, works !).

I never let 'Windows Update' access my system automatically:
use the alternative for 'messaging that updates are available
and only download the lot'.
Then kill all programs and applications exept the firewall -
YES, even your ANTIVIRUS - AND THEN AND ONLY THEN let Windows
Update install.

Turns out that 'Windows Update' changes the registered and
authenticated DLLCACHE, imagin' what happens if certain
systemcomponent are in use ... !!!

Mr. Microsoft does not know how to handle 'user-error' - can be
somewhat difficult for MS-programmers to 'roll-back' and give
the user a simple warning on screen !

Keep me posted if this helps (keep it simple is a sound motto ...).

Marc
(knowing what you're doin' when the damn thing does not do what YOU want
is all the fun - in the game since 1982 !)

 

[Rogue]

Rogue,

Did you recently change one of the following XP features:
- Upgrading to SP2 (Service Pack 2 has its nasty security add-ons) ?
- Windows File Protection (look at %winroot\System32\Dllcache) ?
- Windows Prefetching (look at %winroot\Prefetch) ?
- System restore (give XP some 300 MB to work with, more keeps it busy
...) ?

In my experience:
1. Norton Systemworks Pro 2003 is a shit-application
to remove and to reinstall: turns out that Symantec bundled
several third-party applications that use 'Windows Script 5.6'
for LiveUpdate (one mishap and Norton with Antivirus will
de-stabilize the complete desktop - SLOWING IT DOWN that is).

Guess what:
First, go to microsoft.com and try installing that add-on
'Windows Script 5.6' for Win2k and WinXP.

Then, do a normal remove of Norton and look at the maps/dirs
%rootdrive\Program files\Common files\Symantec\ and
%rootdrive\Documents and
Settings\<install-user>\Administrator\Application Data\Symantec\.
Anything there ERASE and afterwards use a Registry-cleaner
before trying to reinstall Norton
(re-installing Norton from time-to-time can be handy, only you
should install Norton BEFORE SP2 is applied ?!?)

Go to Symantec.com for issues regarding SP2: this isn't easy
(reinstalling XP is NOT an option: it simply has to work and can
be fixed - got It right just now under XP Pro and had the same
problem with Norton under Win2K Pro a year ago - Norton
Antivirus got into a loop at boottime !!!)

2. Windows File Protection can sometimes be polluted, so at bootime
the damn system keeps checking its DLLCACHE to verify that all
registered DLL are authentic (3.362 objects with 540 Mb under XP
right now on this configuration - cleaned it up last week !)

If you know what your doing, then use XTec to rebuild the
DLLCACHE (put your original XP-CDrom in the primary CD-ROM,
that's the one that is connected to mainboard).
My dual boot PC under Win2k only uses a DLLCACHE of 1.201
objects with 157 Mb - try securing your online banking under
Win2k (speed under Win2K, security under XP - having fun !)

Every time you install or update software, your DLLCACHE is
changed and every DLL or systemfile should correspond to a
registry-entry
(unfortunately if you uninstall, most applications DO NOT
'cleanup' their mess).

Every time 'Windows Update' has access to your XP-implementation
it is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to 'shut down' and 'close' all programs
and applications (I only keep Sygate Firewall running, works !).

I never let 'Windows Update' access my system automatically:
use the alternative for 'messaging that updates are available
and only download the lot'.
Then kill all programs and applications exept the firewall -
YES, even your ANTIVIRUS - AND THEN AND ONLY THEN let Windows
Update install.

Turns out that 'Windows Update' changes the registered and
authenticated DLLCACHE, imagin' what happens if certain
systemcomponent are in use ... !!!

Mr. Microsoft does not know how to handle 'user-error' - can be
somewhat difficult for MS-programmers to 'roll-back' and give
the user a simple warning on screen !

Keep me posted if this helps (keep it simple is a sound motto ...).

Marc
(knowing what you're doin' when the damn thing does not do what YOU want
is all the fun - in the game since 1982 !)

Marc,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I've been busy with work.
I did upgrade to SP 2, but that was almost six months ago. And I did
not change any of the other things you mention. I'm still having the
same problems as described above. I'm going to take a little more time
later on to go through everything again. I wondering if a Windows
reinstall will help. Not a format, just the OS.

Thanks again,

Rogue