Very Slow XP Boot up.

[Guest]

Recently my boot up time has extended to up to 30 minutes and applications
keep hanging when opening. To try to solve the problem I backed up all files
and used the recovery disc supplied to restore factory settings. This has
improved time slightly but XP and applications are still very slow. System
restore would not work for some reason. I have up to date Mcafee vrus scan
programme in place. I have used MSCONFIG to limit number of running
programmes. HD size is 70GB with 60 unsued. Is this a XP problem or computor
hardware problem?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Could be a hardware fault. I'd start by checking the ram. A stick may have
gone bad or is faulty. If you want to check the memory, there are free
programs here:

http://www.simmtester.com/page/products/doc/download.asp
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[R. McCarty]

30-Minute Boot up ? -

The way to test a System State is with Safe Mode. If your computer
boots in a reasonable time using Safe Mode then it is not a hardware
issue. (A Safe-Mode boot should complete in 25-35 Seconds)

You are likely infested with Malware/Spyware & all the other things
that can cause a PC to run badly. A Virus scanner/Real-Time product
is only a minimal amount of protection these days.

Removal is possible - but time intensive. You're going to need a whole
complement of tools: AdAware, Spybot, CW Shredder, MS - Anti
Spyware and numerous on-line scanners for Virus/Trojans/Spyware
.......

A 30-Minute boot time is at the threshold for a clean install. If you
aren't savvy on removal/prevention you might be better served to back
up your personal data, use the System Recovery (Full) and then install
preventative measures such as a 3rd-party Firewall and the tools
listed above.

 

[Larry Samuels]

This sound more like a hardware fault.
The most likely cause is memory or processor, but it could also be heat
related.

--
Larry Samuels MS-MVP (Windows-Shell/User)
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm

 

[S.Sengupta]

Defrag your HD.

regards,
ssg MS-MVP

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 08:26:35 -0400, "Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers"

Could be a hardware fault. I'd start by checking the ram. A stick may have
gone bad or is faulty. If you want to check the memory, there are free
programs here:

http://www.simmtester.com/page/products/doc/download.asp
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Negative, Captain - RAM always crashes at full speed, it's a failing
HD that bogs down retrying the same sector if it detects errors.

As this eats installations and data, the victim should see this as a
wake-up call and proceed as per...

http://cquirke.mvps.org/pccrisis.htm

....especially if there are pauses that stop mouse pointer movement
while the HD LED stays permanently on.

------------------------ ---- --- -- - - - -

Forget http://cquirke.blogspot.com and check out a
better one at http://topicdrift.blogspot.com instead!

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Defrag your HD.

That's about the worst possible advice you can give to someone with a
failing HD, or bad RAM for that matter.

Think about what defrag does; reads potentially everything off the HD
into RAM, then writes it back to the HD again.

Does that sound like something you want to do with RAM that corrupts
what passes through it, or a failing HD?

------------------------ ---- --- -- - - - -

Forget http://cquirke.blogspot.com and check out a
better one at http://topicdrift.blogspot.com instead!