[adams0423]

Greetings all,
I have a system that is stumping me. It was booting very slowly (by slowly I mean 20-30 minutes on the XP "Welcome" screen) so I tried MSCONFIG. I stopped all startup apps and all services that weren't Windows related and get the same results. Once it finally loads (after 20-30 minutes) the system speed seems normal.

Zone Alarm is among the services and apps I disabled, but it made no difference.

If I boot into Safe Mode I get a message "Limited Virtual Memory: Your system has no paging file or the paging file is too small" with notes on how to alter the size of my paging file. When I attempt to alter the page file I see an additional error stating: "Windows created a temporary paging file on your computer because of a problem that occurred with your paging file configuration when you started your computer."

I have tried setting this to a Custom Size and I have tried "System Managed." Either way I boot and get the same results.

I have tried disk defragmenter and I have run a Check Disk.

I attempted to do a Windows repair, but it will prompt me for the Administrator password. When I enter in the Administrator password, it tells me that it is incorrect. HOWEVER, when I boot into Safe Mode and log into the admin account, I use the same password.

Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

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Hello adams0423

How much memory does your computer say you have?

[anzenketh]

Hello adams0423

How much memory does your computer say you have?

[adams0423]

768MB, which is accurate with what is physically installed.

Hello adams0423

How much memory does your computer say you have?

[anzenketh]

You might want to think about upgrading your memory.

Go ahead and download HDtune in my signature. Give it a run on the slow scan.

Report back with the results.

[adams0423]

Running it now. It looks like it will run well into the night, so I will post the results around 6am EST tomorrow. Thanks for the tips!

You might want to think about upgrading your memory.

Go ahead and download HDtune in my signature. Give it a run on the slow scan.

Report back with the results.

[adams0423]

The error scan page was all green, 0% errors.

Health screen showed:

HD Tune: ST380021A Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 73 63 34 176928180 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 71 70 0 0 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 20 3 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 100 100 36 14 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 78 60 30 75111217 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 96 96 0 3640 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 97 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 98 98 20 2539 Ok
(C2) Temperature 42 55 0 42 Ok
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered 73 63 0 176928180 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 100 253 0 0 Ok
(CA) TA Counter Increased 100 253 0 0 Ok

Power On Time : 3640
Health Status : Ok


Info Screen:
HD Tune: ST380021A Information

Firmware version : 3.10
Serial number : 3HV0NR8M
Capacity : 74.5 GB (~80.0 GB)
Buffer size : 2048 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-5
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)

S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : no
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: yes
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : yes
Firmware Upgradable : yes

Partition : 1
Drive letter :
Label :
Capacity : 31 MB
Usage : 0.00%
Type : unknown (DEh)
Bootable : No

Partition : 2
Drive letter : C:\
Label :
Capacity : 76285 MB
Usage : 10.65%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes

[adams0423]

I rebooted this morning and it came up in normal mode much more quickly, but it did error that the Paging File was still missing. I tried setting the paging file manually once again, and rebooted, then it:

The system booted to the Welcome screen, and I heard it beep, but nothing came on the screen. It appeared that it was stuck again. BUT, then I did an Alt+Tab and it brought the Paging File error to the front again. As soon as I clicked OK to the Paging File error it booted normally past the Welcome screen.

Maybe I could have used this alt+tab all along to speed the boot. I had heard the 'system beep' before but never thought to see if there was a pop-under message.

NOW, the question is how do I repair my paging file? Any suggestions?

[adams0423]

Any suggestions on fixing my paging file? I don't understand why it won't keep its settings.

[anzenketh]

adams0423,

Try following the steps in MS KB 315270