[jnovocaine]

I'm having issues with bootup time. It's taking just over 3 minutes to boot-up or reboot my machine. In addition some applications take an abnormal time to launch. I initially thought malware was to blame, so I took the necessary steps to clean up my system.
I defrag my drive almost daily and run the normal system tools to optimize my machine. I keep my Norton Antivirus 2006 virus definitions updated and run scans frequently. I also run Ad-aware and Spybot Search/Destroy weekly.
I followed the HijackThis instructions and ran Spybot, Ad-aware, MS Antispyware Beta 2, Ewido Antimalware 3.5, Panda Active Scan, Trend Micro's PC Cillan, Killbox, and ATF Cleaner. All programs found problems and fixed everything (but a few infected cookies).

In terms of computer specs, I'm running Windows XP with SP2 installed. HP Pavilion a350n with P4 processor 2.8 ghz, 1 gb RAM, 160 gb hdd with 27% free space. (I'm in the process of deleting files to improve storage capacity).

I followed the instructions from a similar thread posted below.
I deleted "prefetch" files, ran disc clean up, and ran defrag (again). I didn't understand "sfc /scannow" instructions. I can't seem to find my XP CD. In addition, I've been attempting to download the Tune-Up 2006 trial, but the Tune-Up website is not loading.

Please advise.

John

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

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Ok, I successfully downloaded Tune-Up 2006 and ran the program.
My reboot time has improved by ~30 seconds. Essentially, it takes 2:45 seconds now to reboot.
I never figured out the "sfc /scannow" instructions. Let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Thanks, John

[jnovocaine]

Ok, I successfully downloaded Tune-Up 2006 and ran the program.
My reboot time has improved by ~30 seconds. Essentially, it takes 2:45 seconds now to reboot.
I never figured out the "sfc /scannow" instructions. Let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Thanks, John

[Retired Tech]

You can run sfc /scannow without the disc to see if it asks for it

Does Norton scan at start up?

[doire]

Have you looked in msconfig????

[jnovocaine]

You can run sfc /scannow without the disc to see if it asks for it

Does Norton scan at start up?

I typed "sfc /scannow" and hit Enter. Something popped up and quickly dissapeared. It looked like a dos prompt or something. Is there a way to verify if it did anything or not?
I'm not sure what Norton does when booting up. I'd assume the default is to scan the basics quickly, but I don't see anything that would indicate that.

Have you looked in msconfig????

Historically, I've gone into msconfig many times to tweak the start-up.

To date, I have disabled almost everything. I'm wondering if I disabled something that shouldn't be disabled. Is their a way to post msconfig settings?


Overall, my system is still sluggish. Something is not right. My system is clean of malware. This is a bit frustrating.

Edited by jnovocaine, 03 April 2006 - 03:00 PM.

[Retired Tech]

Open NAV and look through all the options for scan at boot up

Click start, all programmes, accessories, command prompt, type sfc /scannow

[jnovocaine]

Open NAV and look through all the options for scan at boot up

Click start, all programmes, accessories, command prompt, type sfc /scannow

I believe NAV scans at boot, so I unistalled it. I also ran "sfc /scannow".
There is no change. It's still taking 2 mins 50 seconds to 3 mins 30 sec to reboot.

I've been following the thread: http://www.geekstogo...AG-t106225.html
and wanted to know more about checking hardware. What are the basics to check in checking HW and how do you check them?
I did open up my tower and thoroughly cleaned it.

A friend suggested I reformat my drive and re-install xp to factory settings. I'd like to explore all options before doing that though.

[jnovocaine]

I hate bumping my own thread, but I'm at a loss with the reboot time as well as slow application response time.
In addition to this, my disc jockey software isn't burning cd's (even after re-installing the sw).

Please advise.

[Retired Tech]

Sorry for the delay, some of the notifiers have gone everywhere but my inbox

If you are comfortable with opening the case, use the off switch on the tower if it has one and unplg it from the mains, check for dust, check any fans spin freely, check everything is seated in to the motherboard

Have you checked for a firmware update for the CD Writer

Click start, right click my computer, click properties, advanced, settings for performance, advanced, change for virtual memory, put the dot in system managed, click set, reboot

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for the next boot, press enter then reboot. This can take ages so only run it when you have other things to do, but do not disturb this It will react by showing progress on the monitor, or the screen will remain blank until it gets to the desktop

Download and run memtest, you may need to use another PC if your CD Writer won't run

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

You should run this for as long as possible, overnight is usual

[jnovocaine]

- I opened the tower and cleaned it thoroughly.
- I clicked on "update driver" button (for the cd writer and a few other hw devices) and they are all fine.
- I put a dot in "system managed"
- I ran "chkdsk /f /r" overnight twice.
- I ran the memtest86 program overnight and it ran for almost 7 hours. No errors were found.

In addition, I deleted another 5 GB of data to free up disk space. My drive is about 30% free. I continue to defrag every couple days and run all of the normal malware utilities.

It's still sluggish and rebooting slowly. grrr...

[Retired Tech]

Run through Tune Up now you have updated things

[jnovocaine]

I did that and still no improvement.

[Retired Tech]

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to boot the PC and keep tapping the delete key until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need the product key to complete this

XP Repair Install

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[jnovocaine]

My problem has been SOLVED!!!!

Initially, I thought the issue was malware and to some extent, it contributed to the sluggishness and perhaps the slow reboot time. However, what prompted me to investigate this was the fact that I couldn't burn any cd's.

The solution had to do with DMA! After carefully following instructions on how to enable DMA, I realized the best solution was to enter the hardware profiles for IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and delete the Intel Storage controller. I was nervous about doing this, but read that my PC would automatically re-install this device to it's default settings during reboot. Magically this worked!

My bootup time is fast and I've burned a dozen cd's already.

Thank you for investigating this and hopefully I won't be back anytime soon.

[Retired Tech]

Thank You for letting me know