Vexed by Really Slow Startup
Vexed by Really Slow Startup
Posted 02/17/2010 at 12:00pm
| by The Maximum PC Staff
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I built a new Core 2 Quad Q9400 machine on an Asus P5Q Deluxe board with 4GB of Corsair DDR2, a 74GB Raptor, and a GeForce GTX 260. The problem is that it starts up really slowly. The rig will POST and go through hardware boot but right before the Windows XP logo comes up, I get a black screen for seven to eight minutes. On occasion it will start up right away, but about 80 percent of the time, it has the delay. It also takes five minutes to shut down even after using a registry hack to kill apps faster.
—Adam Sorich
Slow startups in Windows XP are difficult to diagnose without more information, but there are a few things you should look at: First, download the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your motherboard from Asus’s website and install them. If that doesn’t fix the problem, remove all of your USB devices (except keyboard and mouse) and see if you can replicate the issue. Perform a chkdsk of the drive to see if drive corruption is causing the issue. Also, check your machine for malware, which could be slowing you down. Install and run Windows Defender. We also recommend Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (http://malwarebytes.org), Super Antispyware (http://superantispyware.com), and A2 Free from (www.emsisoft.com). All of the above apps have freeware options. If all else fails, you’re probably going to have to back up your data, and do a clean install of Windows.
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niccy4513
January 05, 2011 at 11:01am
If your printer hangs on some print jobs, as mine did, go to the HP website and download the March 2010 version of the firmware (or a more recent version if available). The new firmware seems to have solved this problem. Also, it's now possible to buy 3rd party, refilled cartridges. On two occasions, I have bought the cheapest cartridge I could find on the Internet, and both have worked fine, with quality indistinguishable from HP's expensive cartridges. Finally, since I never print graphics, my comments apply to text-only printing. Acer Aspire Timeline
Mederlock007
February 23, 2010 at 3:51pm
Another thing to check is your disk drive. I don't know why, but whenever I had certain discs in the drive (Crysis is one that comes to mind), my start-up would take forever. Just another thing to check for.
bikerbub
April 03, 2010 at 3:31pm
if he has "start form CD/DVD ROM" as an option before the main boot drive. Same goes for a flash drive/portable HDD if "Boot form USB" is before the main drive.
tkddan87
February 23, 2010 at 7:52am
Also make sure the option for Quick Boot is enabled in the BIOS.
i really do not think the hard drive transfer speed is your issue, ive run xp, vista, and 7 off of the same WD Raptor 150gb also running on sata 1 with nothing but success. also coinsodentaly on an asus board, albeit a P5K, with 5GB(2GBx2, 512MBx2) Kingston ValuRam DDR2. XFX 260(216core).
Check the manual for compatibility issues, the P5K has an issue where it cant take ram sticks with ram chips consisting of 128KB chips, perhaps theres an issue for you and your slow down.. check the heatsync on the proc too on BIOS startup everything in the computer runs at full power for a short time, perhaps your proc is automatically throttling back .
Lhot
February 17, 2010 at 4:14pm
You're running a SATA I HDD on a board that can take a SATA II HDD.
The WD 36GB and 74GB Drives are 1.5Gb/s and your mobo supports a 3Gb/s HDD. I'm not saying this is your only issue, but it is definitely ONE issue. Oh, and when I had this same problem with my WD 74Gb....I even called WD and asked if there was a firmware update to convert it to SATA II or 3Gb/s....they are probably still laughing :)
You can get a WD Caviar Black 1Tb 3.0Gb/s HDD for $99 at Best Buy or Newegg.com...or for a little more dinero a WD Velociraptor 150Gb or 300Gb...which are all SATA II HDD's.
The "CLOUD" is the biggest mistake this country has made...EVER !
tkddan87
February 23, 2010 at 8:02am
idk man im running the 150gb version of the raptor with sata 1 and it still boots faster/runs faster than other ppl with the sata 2 connection
Pressten
February 17, 2010 at 2:19pm
ASUS motherboards are tricky as heck. If you have a printer connected, or a card reader (or both together), unplug or turn that off and try it. Mine will not go into Windows if my HP all-in-one is powered on; it just hangs on startup forever. If it’s off, it goes like normal.
UncleRon
February 17, 2010 at 12:49pm
Before you reinstall Windows try to disabling your startup programs. Type msconfig at the Run prompt...
Click the General tab, and click Selective startup .
1. Under Selective startup uncheck Load startup items .
2. Click the Services tab, check the Hide all Microsoft services box, and then click Disable all .
3. Click the Apply , then OK , and then Restart .
After finishing restart, enable half of the services and reboot again to see if the problem return. If problem return, continue disable services to one by one to determine the service causing the problem.
bellamy1
February 25, 2010 at 12:46pm
This would be the first thing that I would check. Some services/scheduled programs can definitely cause a slow startup
magnetizer
February 17, 2010 at 12:13pm
Have you checked whether the HDD is working okay and operating it in the right mode. Under IDE channels in the control panel check whether the HDD is in UDMA (normal, fast) or PIO (slow!!) transfer mode. If it's in PIO, then it's indicative of a problem with the drive; I've seen drives slip into PIO mode after repeated CRC errors.
As for slow boot-times with a healthy system...something like this utility would be quite cool I think..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ft8dbyMVWw
Unfortunately, it seems to be only for OEMs at the moment.
Bamboo
February 27, 2010 at 1:08pm
I 2nd the mode check. I had that happen a couple of times when I was on XP, and I couldn't figure out why it was all of a sudden taking so long. After days of searching for answers I found a thread that said to check the mode it was running under the IDE section of the Device Manager. Sure enough, it had somehow dropped into PIO. I followed some directions to get it back to UDMA Mode 5, and I was back to normal.
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