Slow Startup

[Linda Antonsson]

Hi,

Lately (the last weeks or so), my computer (running XP Home) has been
behaving oddly at startup.

It gets to the point where I see my desktop (or rather, the Explorer
window, as I always have it open) and a few of the autostart programs
load fine. However, at some point during the startup sequence, it hangs
for a while before the rest of them load up.

During this time, the pointer is normal if I keep it over the regular
window area, but turns into an hourglass if I move it to the taskbar.
And if I try to access the internet during this period (I have a DSL
connection), I can't. So, it seems the network hasn't managed to load.
Eventually, it does continue loading programs, but one thing it never
manages to load is the activity field icon for the volume control. The
network, however, does work once its done loading stuff.

The only time in the last weeks that the computer has started up
normally was after I did a System Restore. Then everything loaded
smoothly, and the volume icon showed up too. It seems things may have
been done in a different sequence then, or maybe things just loaded in
the background since the atcual restore does make it take longer before
you get to the point where you see the desktop.

Any thoughts on what the program (or programs) that causes the delay
might be? I have checked for viruses and spyware and found nothing such.

Linda

 

[Peter Magenheimer]

Since you say your problem seemed to resolve itself when you ran System
Restore, I'm guessing it has something to do with a program you've installed
on your computer in the last few weeks. Many programs have background
components that start up at the same time as Windows, and most likely, you
installed a program that is causing some sort of conflict which is causing
the
delay.

I recommend you run msconfig, a tool which allows you to select which
programs and background processes you want to load at startup.

Click on the Start menu, and select 'Run...'. Type 'msconfig' (minus the
quotes) and hit enter. Click on the 'Startup' tab in the new window, and
look
over the list that you see. This is a list of all programs that load at
startup.
From there, you can disable and enable programs to pinpoint the problem.
Try deselecting a couple of these (try to look for programs being run from
the directory of new applications you've installed, for example: if you
install
QuickTime, you will probably see a listing named 'qttask' from the directory
'C:\Program Files\QuickTime\') and restarting. You can kind of narrow it
down there.

Reply here or e-mail me if you need further help.

-Peter Magenheimer

 

[Linda Antonsson]

No, sorry, I wasn't clear enough. It resolved itself on the first starup
after the System Restore, but at the next startup, it was back again,
and I had made no changes at all. So I think the reason it worked that
one time was that System Restore made the boot sequence different, or
just allowed things to work more in the background while it was doing
the actual restoring (since, after a restore, you tend to be stuck at
the blue welcome screen for much longer than usual).

I have tried using msconfig to disable any programs not needed, but I
still get the delay, so it doesn't seem to be one of the programs listed
in msconfig. I did think it could have been qttask in particular, but
disabling that one didn't help.

Linda

Since you say your problem seemed to resolve itself when you ran System
Restore, I'm guessing it has something to do with a program you've installed
on your computer in the last few weeks. Many programs have background
components that start up at the same time as Windows, and most likely, you
installed a program that is causing some sort of conflict which is causing
the
delay.

I recommend you run msconfig, a tool which allows you to select which
programs and background processes you want to load at startup.

Click on the Start menu, and select 'Run...'. Type 'msconfig' (minus the
quotes) and hit enter. Click on the 'Startup' tab in the new window, and
look
over the list that you see. This is a list of all programs that load at
startup.
From there, you can disable and enable programs to pinpoint the problem.
Try deselecting a couple of these (try to look for programs being run from
the directory of new applications you've installed, for example: if you
install
QuickTime, you will probably see a listing named 'qttask' from the directory
'C:\Program Files\QuickTime\') and restarting. You can kind of narrow it
down there.

Reply here or e-mail me if you need further help.

-Peter Magenheimer

--
http://www.westeros.org/ -- The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
**********
Blackadder: "Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?"
Baldrick: "Yeah! It's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron."
Blackadder III, Amy and Amiability

 

[Guest]

Hi Both, I got similar problem starting last Thurs...That happened suddenly as the startup was normal on last Wed. Anyone can help us to resolve? Thanks.

----- Linda Antonsson wrote: -----

No, sorry, I wasn't clear enough. It resolved itself on the first starup
after the System Restore, but at the next startup, it was back again,
and I had made no changes at all. So I think the reason it worked that
one time was that System Restore made the boot sequence different, or
just allowed things to work more in the background while it was doing
the actual restoring (since, after a restore, you tend to be stuck at
the blue welcome screen for much longer than usual).

I have tried using msconfig to disable any programs not needed, but I
still get the delay, so it doesn't seem to be one of the programs listed
in msconfig. I did think it could have been qttask in particular, but
disabling that one didn't help.

Linda

Since you say your problem seemed to resolve itself when you ran System
Restore, I'm guessing it has something to do with a program you've installed
on your computer in the last few weeks. Many programs have background
components that start up at the same time as Windows, and most likely, you
installed a program that is causing some sort of conflict which is causing
the
delay.
programs and background processes you want to load at startup.
quotes) and hit enter. Click on the 'Startup' tab in the new window, and
look
over the list that you see. This is a list of all programs that load at
startup.
From there, you can disable and enable programs to pinpoint the problem.
Try deselecting a couple of these (try to look for programs being run from
the directory of new applications you've installed, for example: if you
install
QuickTime, you will probably see a listing named 'qttask' from the directory
'C:\Program Files\QuickTime\') and restarting. You can kind of narrow it
down there.

--
http://www.westeros.org/ -- The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
**********
Blackadder: "Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?"
Baldrick: "Yeah! It's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron."
Blackadder III, Amy and Amiability