windows xp home edition taking ages to boot up

[Guest]

Just lately my pc has been taking nearly 20 minutes to load which is
ridiculous. It was running absolutely fine after a recent format......done
due to the fact that windows just didn't boot up at all. I would have used
the repair option but it didn't give me the option to do it and believe me, I
could have done without losing all my stuff (why is it you never back up when
you really need to doh!) I've used diagnostics to check my hard drive and
that doesn't seem to be showing any problems......surely it can't be a
software problem???

When the pc didn't boot up at all I didn't get any error messages or
anything, it was just a blank screen.

I have an anti virus package, firewall, cleaner, spyware tool and I defrag
regularly. Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System
and Application logs for the last boot and post copies.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, and
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click
on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties. Hardware,
Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

Try Start, Run, type "sigverif.exe" without quotes and hit OK. What drivers
are listed as unsigned? Disregard those which are not checked.



--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[q_q_anonymous]

Just lately my pc has been taking nearly 20 minutes to load <snip>

http://greatis.com/utilities/bootlogxp/

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that Gerry. I had a look in the event viewer and this is what I
got :

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Dhcp
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1002
Date: 06/02/2006
Time: 08:41:30
User: N/A
Computer: SUMMER
Description:
The IP address lease 192.168.2.2 for the Network Card with network address
0010DCC41E41 has been denied by the DHCP server 192.168.2.1 (The DHCP Server
sent a DHCPNACK message).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

No idea what that means......anyway, I also checked my device manager and
there were no yellow ticks, everythings ok there. I also checked the
"sigverif.exe" and found I have 2 files danim.dll and ntvdmd.dll which aren't
digitally signed. What do I do with those now?

Something else I found to......during a look at help and support I tried to
open the systems configuration utility but my Mcafee popped up telling me it
had found a supicious script so I chose to block it.....it does that
everytime I try to open the systems configuration utility by the way.

Is any of this making sense? oh bugger.....heeelppppp lol

 

[Guest]

Oops sorry, forgot to mention that the Mcafee popped up the following :

c:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\helpctr.exe contains suspicious
scripting activity and has been stopped.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Is this a laptop or a desktop computer?

The attached Article refers to the Event:
Live Communications Server Service Does Not Start When You Restart the
Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830525/en-us

I would expect the two dll files to be signed. Are all the latest Windows
Updates installed?

Try Start, Run, type "sfc /scannow" without quotes and hit Enter.

Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System
File Checker (Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310747

After doing this reboot the computer,

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

First off Mcafee has a very bad reputation for slowing down computers. There
are plenty of free programs that you could use instead. Get a good
antivirus, antispyware and firewall. Alternatives below.

Next you say you reformated because windows failed to boot. I would look at
the programs you have that start with windows, as you might have conflicts
between software. Start by disabling them all. Goto start | run | type
"msconfig" no quotes. Goto the startup tab and disable all programs, reboot
and see what difference there is. Personally I would get rid of mcafee first
then do this bit.

Also open control panel, system hardware tab and look in device manager see
if there is any yellow or red marks by any hardware.

I never use mcafee but a lot of AV programs warn when running any scripts.
It doesn't mean they are bad it just means they are scripts. If you run
upto date AV and antispyware and find no problems you can normally run
progrms without too much worry. I don't know why helpctr would contain
scripts though so make sure your system is clean by running AV and
antispyware. If in doubt delete the file and extrat a known good one f rom
your install media. You could just be getting false positives from Mcafee.

I think I've covered most things, repost if you need more info and if you
find the problem.

Microsoft Antispyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Adaware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Spybot S&E
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

AVG Antivirus
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Avast AntiVirus
http://www.avast.com/

ZoneAlarm Firewall
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please repost if you find the fault

Glen P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Its a desktop computer Gerry although I do have a Belkin router so my
daughter can access the net on her laptop.......would that make a difference?
I don't know! I don't understand what that article means.

I've done the sfc scan and I'm about to reboot so if all is not well, I may
be some time grrrrr! Much obliged for all the help by the way x

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Glen. I did use all the free good stuff before I tried
the McAfee and I never had a problem with the free stuff. I still use ad
aware, ccleaner and microsoft beta along with the McAfee firewall and anti
virus package. I'll give the msconfig a bash too, cheers!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

The reason for my question about whether your computer is a
Desktop or a Laptop is that with a Laptop it can become confused
the IP address. It is clear that there is confusion over the IP address
and this will cause the computer to have an overlong boot time. It tries
to resolve the IP address until it finally gives up.

You need to recheck your router settings
http://www.belkin.com/support/#

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

Spanner are you using the Live Comunications Server 2005? There are a number
of things that will cause event ID 1002, not sure why Live Com Server 05 was
pointed to unless I've missed something.

Is your router a wireless modem\router that you use to connect to the
internet as well as giving network access to your daughter. I'm guessing
that in network connections you have 1 local area connection is that right.

To see if your network is causing the slowdown disable it. Right click Local
Area Connections in network connections and reboot. See if you still have
the slowdown. Use disabling LAN alongside msconfig\startup as in my previous
post. You should be able to narrow down where the slowdown is. Then we can
help you fix it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please repost if you find the fault

Glen P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Glen I don't know what the Live Communication Server 2005 is let alone how to
check for it?????????? It is a wireless router that my desktop pc is
configured to and my daughters wireless laptop yes. In my network connections
I have 1394 connection and my local area connection. I can also get a usb
connection in there if I use my cable modem with a usb lead other than the
ethernet lead but I prefer the ethernet as it seems more stable and
faster........that could just be my imagination though I dunno! Apart from
that I can't use the router off a usb lead anyway.

When I first connected the router, after configuring it when I tried to
access the net on the laptop my pc popped up with a windows message telling
there was an ip conflict. I've no idea what that meant because the laptop
accessed no problem. Since then my pc has had a format so I've had to put the
router back on.....this time it automatically took the settings itself and
both the pc and laptop work fine. I don't get any error messages about ip
addresses or anything now. I'm afraid I tend to stumble on solutions and
sometimes don't know how I've done it which is a nightmare really, I like to
know how things work lol

The strange thing is, after I did what Gerry recommended in his posts and
used the msconfig that you recommended I was able to eliminate whatever was
the problem. I say strange because its booting up within 5 to 10 seconds now
(WOWEEEEEEEEE) but I still have all the start up items that were already
there because while trying them one by one none of them were actually
preventing the boot up to be slow anymore. Something resolved it, I'm afraid
I missed whatever it was which is pretty frustrating after all the messing
about. Can't thank you both enough though, cheers because something worked.
xXx

 

[Glen]

Well at least you seem to have it working. thats the main thing.

--

Please repost if you find the fault

Glen P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~