Windows XP SP2 very slow to boot

[Guest]

My PC is very slow to boot, and it appears to be related to SP2 of Windows XP.

A new install of Windows XP (without service pack) onto a newly formatted C
partition will boot in less than a minute. Applying SP2 results in the system
taking 5 minutes to boot. When SP2 is removed, the boot time is less than a
minute again.

Installing Windows XP SP2 onto a newly formatted C partition results in a
very slow boot.

Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X
HDD: Maxtor 80 GB drive with 3 partitions - recovery partition (FAT32, 2.44
GB), C: (System, NTFS, 30 GB), D: (NTFS, 43.88 GB)
NIC: Netgear GA302T Gigabit adaptor
Graphics: Matrox G450 Dual Head

BIOS and motherboard drivers have been updated, and all current critical
Windows updates have been applied, all to no effect.

BootVis suggests that boot is complete after about 45 seconds, but at this
stage, the PC is displaying a progress bar, and the log-on screen isn't
displayed for another 4+ minutes.

This PC has just been rebuilt prior to being transferred to another user. It
has worked fine until now.

I'd be grateful fo any suggestions as to what the problem may be.

 

[Paul Smith]

Have you tried defragmenting the drive? SP2 after the first few boots was
slower until I ran the defragmenter.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Paul. That did the trick: boot now takes less than a minute.

However, I'm amazed that a 'clean' Windows install is so badly organised on
the disk that it would cause such boot problems.

 

[Paul Smith]

However, I'm amazed that a 'clean' Windows install is so badly organised
on
the disk that it would cause such boot problems.

Applying Service Pack 2 is pretty dramatic, there's barely a file it doesn't
change.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*

 

[Guest]

But the problem exists when installing WIndows XP including SP2, not just
applying SP2 following a Windows XP installation. And that was from a
Microsoft-supplied disk.

 

[AFPilot04]

I am having the same problem. I was using Windows Vista Home Basic, but had
too many application compatability issues, so I went back to XP pro. After
Service Pack 2, before I even get the windows loading screen, The screen goes
all black with a white block loading bar at the bottom. It takes this screen
5-10 minutes to load before I even get the XP pro loading screen. I have
tried, defragging, running registry mechanic, made sure all my drivers and
windows updates were up to date, and I also formatted my entire hard drive
trying to fix this problem. My system specs are as follows:

AMD Athlon 64X2 6000 (3.15ghz) Dual Core Processor
Asus M2R32 MVP Motherboard
2x ATI Radeon 2900HD Video Cards (Crossfired)
1 320 GB HD with 1 Partition

Someone told me before it may be a hardware issue, but I have also tried
removing parts I didn't need like the second video card and I still cannot
get the black and white loading screen to go away.

 

[Randy457]

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm having a
very similar problem. This started with no connection to any system changes
that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a few
seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the desktop
image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the desktop is populated
with icons and the task tray fills in. During this last interval, I can
bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del and see running processes, but no
applications are shown as started. The CPU and memory usage seem pretty
normal.

I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have run two
different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found anything.

If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.

The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz Intel
chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Randy457

 

[Daave]

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm
having a
very similar problem. This started with no connection to any system
changes
that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a
few
seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the
desktop
image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the desktop is
populated
with icons and the task tray fills in. During this last interval, I
can
bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del and see running processes,
but no
applications are shown as started. The CPU and memory usage seem
pretty
normal.

I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have
run two
different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found anything.

If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.

The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz
Intel
chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.

Any ideas would be welcome.

You really have to rule out a malware infection first:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

If you are free of malware, configure a clean boot and then use process
of elimination to identify the culprit:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

 

[Kayman]

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm having a
very similar problem. This started with no connection to any system changes
that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a few
seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the desktop
image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the desktop is populated
with icons and the task tray fills in. During this last interval, I can
bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del and see running processes, but no
applications are shown as started. The CPU and memory usage seem pretty
normal.
I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have run two
different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found anything.
If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.
The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz Intel
chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.
Any ideas would be welcome.

1.Clear the (IE) temporary Internet files and the history cache.
Click Start==>Run... then type (or copy/paste) "inetcpl.cpl" (w/out
quotation marks) into the box, then click the 'OK' button.
In Internet Properties panel 'General' tab, under 'Browsing history', click
'Delete...'button, in 'Delete Browsing History' panel, click the 'Delete
all...'button then place a checkmark into the box beside 'Also delete files
and settings stored by add-ons', Click 'Yes' and exit the Internet
Properties panel by clicking the 'OK' button.

2.Clean HDD
Click Start==>Run... then type (or copy/paste) "cleanmgr" (w/out quotation
marks into the box, then click the 'OK' button. Select your drive
(presumably WinXP (C and click OK.

3.Download/execute:
Malwarebytes© Corporation - Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe
--and--
Kaspersky® AVPTool
http://avptool.virusinfo.info/en/
Direct:
http://downloads5.kaspersky-labs.com/devbuilds/AVPTool/
--and--
Dr.Web CureIt!® Utility - FREE
http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/
--and--
SuperAntispyware - Free
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

NOTE:
Kaspersky® Virus Removal Tool, Dr.Web CureIt!® and the free version of
Malwarebytes© and SuperAntispyware are not capable for real-time protection
of your computer.
Kaspersky® AVPTool, Dr.Web CureIt!® have no update feature (so they don't
turn into full blown scanners). As soon as your computer is cleaned you are
supposed to remove these tools from your operating system.
Re: K/AVPTool; To uninstall/move this program 'enable self-defense' must be
unchecked!

The free version of Malwarebytes© and SuperAntispyware have an update
feature, keep them installed in addtion to your resident AV/A-S
applications and scan frequently.

4.Download and execute HiJack This! (HJT)
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis

Please, do not post HJT logs to this newsgroup.
Fora where you can get expert advice for HiJack This! (HJT) logs.

http://www.thespykiller.co.uk/index.php?board=3.0
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.php?showforum=27
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum22.html
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showforum=7
http://www.5starsupport.com/ipboard/index.php?showforum=18
http://www.theeldergeek.com/forum/index.php?s=2e9ea4e19d3289dd877ab75a8220bff6&showforum=29

NOTE:
Registration is required in any of the above mentioned fora before posting
a HJT log and read the 'stickies' (instructions/guidelines) for the
respective HJT forum.

5.Routinely practice Safe-Hex.
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html

Good luck

 

[Anna]

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm having a
very similar problem. This started with no connection to any system
changes
that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a few
seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the desktop
image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the desktop is
populated
with icons and the task tray fills in. During this last interval, I can
bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del and see running processes, but
no
applications are shown as started. The CPU and memory usage seem pretty
normal.

I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have run
two
different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found anything.

If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.

The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz
Intel
chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Randy457

Randy...
Needless to say there are a multitude of possible reasons why you're
experiencing this problem - both hardware/software related.

We'll assume at the outset that at best as you've concluded there's no
malware infestation that's causing whatever problems you're experiencing.
Naturally this *must* be checked out in as thorough a manner as you can.

I'll also assume that you've consulted the MS article 310353 referred to by
Dave and the various processes suggested there haven't resolved your
problem, right?

You're working with a pretty old machine (in "computer-age") so obviously
there's always a sneaking suspicion the problem may be hardware-based. But
you say you went to XP about a year or so. We'll assume you're working with
SP2 or SP3 on that OS, right?

And up to the problem you're now describing the system worked just fine,
right? It booted without incident and properly functioned thereafter. That's
right, isn't it?

So this problem came "out-of-the-blue"? You have no clue as to what caused
it?

Anyway, have you undertaken the "usual" attempted fixes and/or diagnostic
procedures?
1. Have you run the sfc /scannow command?
2. What about chkdsk /r?
3. Have you considered a Repair install of the OS?
5. Have you checked out your HDD with a HDD diagnostic utility from the
disk's manufacturer?
4. What happens if you go to the "Last Known Good Configuration" option?
That doesn't work?
6. And what about just Safe Mode (sans networking)? What happens then?

All the above indicate no problem(s)?
Anna

 

[Randy457]

Wow, a wealth of information!

Responding somewhat to the last two posts, here's where I am. I will be
proceeding with some of the suggestions that have come in.

1. A. Malware infestation: I downloaded and run the free PCTools Spyware
Doctor. It identified Spyware.Bonzi.buddy and Spyware.known_bad_sites. I
have not removed them as yet, because both were listed as "Low" threads, and
you'd have to pay Spyware Doctor for registration for it to remove them. Not
done there, yet. What are the chances that either of these would cause what
I'm seeing?

1.B. Someone suggested some kind of Trojan Horse might be screwing with DNS
at startup (and, in fact, sometimes shortly after startup I have network
connectivity issues, which I have ascribed to my provider, but ???). The
suggestion was, start the computer with the network cable unplugged. Did
that, no change.

2. Clean boot trials: Yes, I got MS article 310353 and followed it. No
change.

3. Safe Mode: I can start in Safe Mode with or without Networking - the
computer comes right up, no problem.

Additional information:
I am set up for dual boot of either XP or Win2K, and they're on separate
HDDs. EITHER ONE has the problem. So, it's not OS-specific. What does that
leave? Something that's common to both. To my thinking that's the boot
sector, which resides on one of the two disks; or hardware/firmware.

To Anna - you are correct in your inferences. Until a few weeks ago, the
computer had worked quite normally following my upgrade to XP. This seemed
to come out of the blue. I don't think I had changed anything, although I've
done enough support work myself to be highly skeptical of such claims, even
when I make them.

I see I have several more things to try - I'll be back.

Thanks,
Randy457

 

[HeyBub]

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm
having a very similar problem. This started with no connection to
any system changes that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a
few seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the
desktop image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the
desktop is populated with icons and the task tray fills in. During
this last interval, I can bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del
and see running processes, but no applications are shown as started.
The CPU and memory usage seem pretty normal.

I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have
run two different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found
anything.

If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.

The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz
Intel chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Humongous wait times often indicate some process is trying to communicate
with another computer or network but is unable to do so. The extended period
of seeming inactivity is merely wait time for the process to confirm that
its attempted communition is not being answered.

You might have a firewall that is blocking a bizarre port that a bit of
malware is trying to use to contact the mother ship.

 

[Daave]

Wow, a wealth of information!

Responding somewhat to the last two posts, here's where I am. I will
be
proceeding with some of the suggestions that have come in.

1. A. Malware infestation: I downloaded and run the free PCTools
Spyware
Doctor. It identified Spyware.Bonzi.buddy and
Spyware.known_bad_sites. I
have not removed them as yet, because both were listed as "Low"
threads, and
you'd have to pay Spyware Doctor for registration for it to remove
them. Not
done there, yet. What are the chances that either of these would
cause what
I'm seeing?

1.B. Someone suggested some kind of Trojan Horse might be screwing
with DNS
at startup (and, in fact, sometimes shortly after startup I have
network
connectivity issues, which I have ascribed to my provider, but ???).
The
suggestion was, start the computer with the network cable unplugged.
Did
that, no change.

2. Clean boot trials: Yes, I got MS article 310353 and followed it.
No
change.

3. Safe Mode: I can start in Safe Mode with or without Networking -
the
computer comes right up, no problem.

Additional information:
I am set up for dual boot of either XP or Win2K, and they're on
separate
HDDs. EITHER ONE has the problem. So, it's not OS-specific. What
does that
leave? Something that's common to both. To my thinking that's the
boot
sector, which resides on one of the two disks; or hardware/firmware.

To Anna - you are correct in your inferences. Until a few weeks ago,
the
computer had worked quite normally following my upgrade to XP. This
seemed
to come out of the blue. I don't think I had changed anything,
although I've
done enough support work myself to be highly skeptical of such claims,
even
when I make them.

I see I have several more things to try - I'll be back.

Thanks,
Randy457

What do you mean by your "upgrade to XP"? What was your setup before
this upgrade? You currently have a dual boot with XP on one hard drive
and 2000 on the other, correct? Did the drive that currently has XP on
it have Windows 98 or ME on it? When you upgraded, was it an in-place
upgrade?

How long did your XP installation work normally for you? Jog your memory
as best as you can to try to remember what you may have done a few weeks
ago that might have caused this problem. Perhaps it was something as
simple as an update from Windows Update. Is your XP at SP3 yet? If so,
when did the upgrade occur? Did you use Windows Update for hardware
drivers? If so, that's a no-no! Go the manufacturer's Web site and
download the correct drivers an install them.

What puzzles me is you have the same issues with your other OS on your
other hard drive. That's weird! Disconnect all peripheral devices. Just
have the mouse, keyboard, and monitor connected to the PC. Remove mapped
drives.

Also have a look at this page for info on repairing the master boot
record:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/483/xp_repair_fix_master_boot_record_recovery_console/

Just for yucks, you may even want to physically remove the hard drive
with XP and get rid of the dual boot option (if nothing else works).

 

[Randy457]

I'm still working on the last couple of posters' suggestions. What I have
so far is:
1. Scans by a couple of different tools have not found any operating malware.
2. sfc /scannow apparently found no problems - I say apparently because it
finished when I was out of the room and went away. Is there a log somewhere?
3. chkdsk also reported no problems - also 'apparently' for the same reason.

Moving on to the newest input...

What do you mean by your "upgrade to XP"? What was your setup before
this upgrade? You currently have a dual boot with XP on one hard drive
and 2000 on the other, correct? Did the drive that currently has XP on
it have Windows 98 or ME on it? When you upgraded, was it an in-place
upgrade?

I'm not sure how much history to bore you with. Short version - originally
single HDD with Win2K. Added 2nd HDD from identical computer, just for space
and backup. Upgraded 2nd (D: drive) to XP, made it the primary device but
kept the dual boot. I couldn't swear to it, but I suspect the MBR is on the
C: drive because of how all this came about.

How long did your XP installation work normally for you?

It worked fine for about a year.

Jog your memory

as best as you can to try to remember what you may have done a few weeks
ago that might have caused this problem. Perhaps it was something as
simple as an update from Windows Update.

Could be. I get windows update notification all the time. I eventually let
them install, although I don't fully trust MS, and I never know what changes
the updates are going to make. I also get automatic updates from Mozilla,
Java, and some other apps. I don't consciously associate any of those with
the beginning of this issue, but I wouldn't swear to anything.

Is your XP at SP3 yet? If so,
when did the upgrade occur?

Yes, it's at SP3. I don't remember when that happened. It's been a while.

Did you use Windows Update for hardware
drivers? If so, that's a no-no! Go the manufacturer's Web site and
download the correct drivers an install them.

No, I try to use manufacturer's drivers whenever possible.

What puzzles me is you have the same issues with your other OS on your
other hard drive. That's weird!

Maybe it's weird. I'm more inclined to see it as a clue. The problem is
something the two OSes have in common. I think that narrows the list of
possibilities quite a bit - MBR and hardware. Did I miss anything?

Disconnect all peripheral devices. Just
have the mouse, keyboard, and monitor connected to the PC. Remove mapped
drives.

Did that earlier - no effect.

Also have a look at this page for info on repairing the master boot
record:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/483/xp_repair_fix_master_boot_record_recovery_console/

I looked at this. I admit, it makes me nervous, although the MBR is in the
list of suspects.

Just for yucks, you may even want to physically remove the hard drive
with XP and get rid of the dual boot option (if nothing else works).

Yes, that might be something to try.

Thanks for all the thoughts,
Randy457

 

[Randy457]

Humongous wait times often indicate some process is trying to communicate
with another computer or network but is unable to do so. The extended period
of seeming inactivity is merely wait time for the process to confirm that
its attempted communition is not being answered.

You might have a firewall that is blocking a bizarre port that a bit of
malware is trying to use to contact the mother ship.

Good thought. I have had networking problems in the past that were caused
by interaction of the firewall (ZoneAlarm) and some Windows change. So, I
went and checked my ZA logs - nothing logged since 12/12.

Your idea of some communication process spinning waiting for a response
makes some sense, especially given that the HDD is quiescent during that
time. But I can't tell what process that would be. This is very early in
the boot process.

Thanks,
Randy457

 

[HeyBub]

Good thought. I have had networking problems in the past that were
caused by interaction of the firewall (ZoneAlarm) and some Windows
change. So, I went and checked my ZA logs - nothing logged since
12/12.

Your idea of some communication process spinning waiting for a
response makes some sense, especially given that the HDD is quiescent
during that time. But I can't tell what process that would be. This
is very early in the boot process.

Remote boot turned on?

 

[Daave]

"Daave" wrote:

I'm still working on the last couple of posters' suggestions. What I
have
so far is:
1. Scans by a couple of different tools have not found any operating
malware.
2. sfc /scannow apparently found no problems - I say apparently
because it
finished when I was out of the room and went away. Is there a log
somewhere?
3. chkdsk also reported no problems - also 'apparently' for the same
reason.

Moving on to the newest input...


I'm not sure how much history to bore you with. Short version -
originally
single HDD with Win2K. Added 2nd HDD from identical computer, just
for space
and backup. Upgraded 2nd (D: drive) to XP, made it the primary device
but
kept the dual boot. I couldn't swear to it, but I suspect the MBR is
on the
C: drive because of how all this came about.

Still not following. Was the second drive a clone of the first, with
Win2K? And is *that* what was upgraded to XP? I take it you have XP Pro.
If you did upgrade, was it an in-place upgrade or a clean install
upgrade?

It worked fine for about a year.

Jog your memory

Could be. I get windows update notification all the time. I
eventually let
them install, although I don't fully trust MS, and I never know what
changes
the updates are going to make. I also get automatic updates from
Mozilla,
Java, and some other apps. I don't consciously associate any of those
with
the beginning of this issue, but I wouldn't swear to anything.


Yes, it's at SP3. I don't remember when that happened. It's been a
while.


No, I try to use manufacturer's drivers whenever possible.


Maybe it's weird. I'm more inclined to see it as a clue. The problem
is
something the two OSes have in common. I think that narrows the list
of
possibilities quite a bit - MBR and hardware. Did I miss anything?


Did that earlier - no effect.


I looked at this. I admit, it makes me nervous, although the MBR is
in the
list of suspects.

There is no need at all to be nervous if you image the C: drive (as long
as the MBR is on that drive). If you run into a boot problem, simply
restore the image. Do you have imaging software such as Acronis True
Image?

Actually, you should always have a reliable backup strategy, anyway. The
two best methods are imaging and cloning.

Yes, that might be something to try.

Thanks for all the thoughts,
Randy457

YW. Please let us know what you discover!

 

[Randy457]

Responding to Daave, and also in general...

Still not following. Was the second drive a clone of the first, with
Win2K? And is *that* what was upgraded to XP? I take it you have XP Pro.
If you did upgrade, was it an in-place upgrade or a clean install
upgrade?


There is no need at all to be nervous if you image the C: drive (as long
as the MBR is on that drive). If you run into a boot problem, simply
restore the image. Do you have imaging software such as Acronis True
Image?

Actually, you should always have a reliable backup strategy, anyway. The
two best methods are imaging and cloning.

I have extra drives of similar capacity available to do one or the other -
what's the difference, which would you recommend, and why? If I create a
drive image, won't I bring along whatever infection I may have?

This last suggestion was made earlier - I finally tried it. I installed a
HDD with a newly installed XP system - it booted right up. This eliminates a
whole host of possible hardware influences, and despite the negative scan
results, I would have to say points to some kind of infection, probably of
the boot sector or Master Boot Record.

Now, my system, unfortunately, is weird. The dual boot config is on one
drive (C, but when I select XP from my OS selection list, it boots the D:
drive, and that's the home drive. This might almost be a whole different
discussion, but when I tried to boot the third disk (the new XP install) with
the D: drive as a slave, it wouldn't boot. Almost seems like it might be a
BIOS issue. I'd like to do that so I can access what's currently my main
drive, without it being booted up. Or so I can get to all my personal files
if I screw something up trying to fix the MBR.

Any advice on that score?

The motherboard, BTW, is an ASUS P4B533.

Thanks,
Randy457

 

[Daave]

Responding to Daave, and also in general...



I have extra drives of similar capacity available to do one or the
other -
what's the difference, which would you recommend, and why? If I
create a
drive image, won't I bring along whatever infection I may have?

That is correct. That is why it is important to be infection-free. ;-)

In case it wasn't posted before, this page has very useful information
and links with regard to malware:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

If your goal is to have an exact copy -- down to the hardware -- then
you may clone. Unless you have a motherboard that supports eSATA hard
drives, you would need to physically swap the hard drives so that you
can boot off the newly installed (cloned) drive. But once you have done
so, your PC will boot off the new hard drive as it is an exact clone. I
prefer to image my drive regularly. The image archives reside on an
external hard drive. In the unlinkely event I need to restore the most
recent image, I use Acronis True Image. With this program, you can even
boot off a CD to get the job done. For someone who hast just performed a
clean install, installed all the hardware drivers, installed all the
Windows updates, installed all the software, and configured the settings
to his or her liking, imaging the hard drive at that point in time
provides an excellent baseline for a working system. You can also
manually image the drive before any major undertaking such as a Repair
Install, upgrading to the latest Service pack, etc. With a program like
Acronis, you can also automate incremental imaging.

As long as you don't mind restoring the image, imaging is the way to go
IMO. Cloning has its benefits if you can't spare the fifteen minutes or
so it takes to restore the image (say if you are a day trader) and you
can boot off the cloned drive because it is an eSATA one that is already
connected. There is another poster who named Anna who prefers cloning
(she swears by a program called Caspar, which allowos incremental
cloning). It's a matter of preference. I'm pretty sure most of the
regulars here prefer imaging.

This last suggestion was made earlier - I finally tried it. I
installed a
HDD with a newly installed XP system - it booted right up. This
eliminates a
whole host of possible hardware influences, and despite the negative
scan
results, I would have to say points to some kind of infection,
probably of
the boot sector or Master Boot Record.

I am not sure I would reach the same conclusion. Perhaps there is simply
a conflict or misconfiguration.

Now, my system, unfortunately, is weird. The dual boot config is on
one
drive (C, but when I select XP from my OS selection list, it boots
the D:
drive, and that's the home drive. This might almost be a whole
different
discussion, but when I tried to boot the third disk (the new XP
install) with
the D: drive as a slave, it wouldn't boot. Almost seems like it might
be a
BIOS issue. I'd like to do that so I can access what's currently my
main
drive, without it being booted up. Or so I can get to all my personal
files
if I screw something up trying to fix the MBR.

Any advice on that score?

You'll need to spell that out for me further! Please tell me what
exactly is on both hard drives (and on all the partitions). My
understanding is that your original dual boot utitlized two physical
hard drives. And I still don't know what you meant in your earlier post
by the phrase "upgraded to XP." And now that you have two hard drives
once more, does XP still take a long time boot? (Do you have more than
one XP installation?)

Normally, it's not good form to start a new thread, but in your case,
starting a new one with a single focus of "How do I configure a dual
boot?" is probably warranted.

 

[Randy457]

Getting back to all those who helped me with this...

I was gone 4-5 days over Christmas. When I got home, the computer booted up
normally - no delays. And has continued to work fine ever since.

Anyone ever heard of such a thing? Maybe it's an infection with an
expiration date. Maybe it'll start up again.

The urgency of the situation went way down, but I am still going down the
path of getting a disk image/backup created and tested. Then I may just wipe
my disk and start again.

Many thanks to all who responded.

Randy457