W2K Takes 14 minutes to go from power-on to useable screen?

[captmikey]

I'm running W2K Pro in a IBM Thinkpad T-21 with 512 Megs of ram and a
1 Gig P3 CPU. I'm using AVG as well as Zone Alarm Pro, and it seems
that ever since I installed SP4... the boot process is getting slower
and slower. I now get a couple of error pop-ups during the process as
well. If needed, I could write down the error text, but I'm wondering
if anyone has any ideas what might be bogging down my machine?

I know that my desktop refuses to run with SP4, regardless of how I
install it. It's on a home network (Cable/dsl router) and I tried
installing SP4 as the administrator, as a user with administrative
access, then even in safe mode... nothing works. All I get is the
blue screen of death.

But my trusty notebook has usually been rock solid, and now it's
having some problems. Every time I boot it I get that black screen
telling me that there's some inconsistency in my disk. I've defragged
2-3 times, even run the disk cleanup. I was wondering if there was a
way to just get Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk on the machine
without using the whole suite? I have Norton Systemworks 2002 still
in the package and don't remember if you can install just specific
modules.

Anyone have any good advice for me other than reformatting my HDD?

Mike

 

[Sean Dwyer[MSFT]]

Hi Mike:

First and foremost if you're seeing warnings about disk inconsistency you
need to run a different tool other than disk defragmenter. You need to
schedule a CHKDSK to run on the machine. This toll will validate the
integrity of the file system on your machine. If the file system is a
damaged, it could lead to slow boot times like what you're seeing. If there
was something so severely wrong with the drive that you had to format it?
You wouldn't be able to boot into the OS - promise.

Read through this article, make sure you have an up to date backup of your
data and then schedule a run of CHKDSK to run on the next reboot.
314835 An Explanation of the New /C and /I Switches That Are Available to
Use
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314835

To get CHKDSK to be scheduled, do the following:
Click Start, then run, then type in CMD and then click OK
type in CHKDSK /F /R C:
You should see the following error message when you hit enter:

"The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)"
Type in a Y and then hit enter.

Then close the CMD window and restart your laptop normally.
During the reboot you will a full run of chkdsk take place and it will scan
your drive and file system for damage.
MAKE NOTE if you see chkdsk say that it's 'fixing' this , or 'recovering'
that. That information will be helpful if you have to post here again about
this problem.

As for the Norton program - I imagine if they designed in such a way as to
offer a custom install option you should be able to pick and choose what you
want installed (i.e. MS Office)

Also - just in case you have this installed - I wanted to point that a
certain version of a CD burning tool used to make Windows 2000 boot slow.
Take a look at this and see if it applies to you Mike.
298583 Slow Boot or Error Messages in Windows 2000 After Installing Roxio
Easy
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=298583

Let us know how things turn out after following these suggestions Mike


--
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: I'm running W2K Pro in a IBM Thinkpad T-21 with 512 Megs of ram and a
: 1 Gig P3 CPU. I'm using AVG as well as Zone Alarm Pro, and it seems
: that ever since I installed SP4... the boot process is getting slower
: and slower. I now get a couple of error pop-ups during the process as
: well. If needed, I could write down the error text, but I'm wondering
: if anyone has any ideas what might be bogging down my machine?
:
: I know that my desktop refuses to run with SP4, regardless of how I
: install it. It's on a home network (Cable/dsl router) and I tried
: installing SP4 as the administrator, as a user with administrative
: access, then even in safe mode... nothing works. All I get is the
: blue screen of death.
:
: But my trusty notebook has usually been rock solid, and now it's
: having some problems. Every time I boot it I get that black screen
: telling me that there's some inconsistency in my disk. I've defragged
: 2-3 times, even run the disk cleanup. I was wondering if there was a
: way to just get Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk on the machine
: without using the whole suite? I have Norton Systemworks 2002 still
: in the package and don't remember if you can install just specific
: modules.
:
: Anyone have any good advice for me other than reformatting my HDD?
:
: Mike