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Startup and shutdown is slow


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#1
jtroop

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Hello. My Dell laptop Inspiron 6000 has been taking a longer than normal amount of time to start up. I had a bout with malware and Kahdah helped me tremendously. Here is the thread:

http://www.geekstogo...o....html&st=15

Now starting in post # 26, I asked Kahdah about the slow startup problem and was given some advice to which I followed. However, nothing worked. Kahdah then referred me to this forum. I don't know if you want to read from post 26 on to see what has been done?

When I bootup, the windows loading screen takes almost five minutes. Then another five to get programs to load. then another couple of minutes before i can get online.

Any help you can give me is appreciated. I am tired of waiting 10 minutes from power up until I can get online.

Edited by jtroop, 10 April 2008 - 09:14 AM.

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#2
The Skeptic

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These are standard steps that I take when trying to speed-up a computer. In your case few lengthy steps are unnecessary because you have already done them. Please uninstall AOL then follow the list of instructions except for steps 3 and 4.

1: Click Start > run. Type msconfig. Go to the "startup" tab and uncheck everything which is not essential to run in the background. Leave only antimalware programs running. (if you change your mind latter you can reactivate those programs). Confirm and reboot. Upon rebooting a message will show up. Please check it and continue. For laptop users: do not uncheck items that clearly relate to the operation of the computer.

2: Download and install CCleaner. Do not install the Yahoo toolbar that comes packed with the program. In addition to items checked by default please check "Old Prefetch Data". Run the "cleaner" and "registry" options a number of times until nothing is left to be cleaned. Use the backup option (in "registry") when prompted to do so.

3: Run a thorough scan with updated antimalware programs. Use the link in my signature to the malware forum and follow all the preliminary steps. Run full system scans (all files), preferably in safe mode. Run the programs one at a time,

4: Run disk defragmantation. For this operation I use and recommend Auslogic Disk Defrag. Alternatively you can run Microsoft's defragmenter.

5: Download and run PageDefrag. This program defrags registry and page files which are not defragged by other means. Set it to work upon next boot and reboot.

6: Press ctr+alt+del to enter task manager. Under Performance tab look for "physical memory". Please report Total and Available.

7: Enter "My Computer", right-click drive C: -> Properties. Please report Capacity and Free Space of your hard disk (each partition, if you have more then one).

8: Go to Device Manager, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, Double click IDE Primary Channel, click Advanced Settings and write down what you see in Current Transfer Mode. Repeat the procedure for Secondary IDE Channel.
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#3
jtroop

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The Skeptic, I have done all requested. I went here: http://www.sysinfo.o...p?filter=ctfmon

in order to figure out what to uncheck in msconfig. Now everytime I startup the computer, I get that message box warning me that msconfig is not set to normal (it says something along those lines).

I ran Pagedefrag. It didn't take but a few seconds and was finished. Is that normal?

Task manager, physical memory: total is 1039740, available is 607216.

Hard drive, capacity: 69.8 GB, Free space: 49.9 GB

Device manager, IDE Primary Channel, current transfer mode: PIO mode.
IDE Sec Chan, CTM: Ultra DMA mode 2

Edited by jtroop, 12 April 2008 - 01:14 PM.

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#4
The Skeptic

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The problem in the computer is the transfer mode of IDE primary channel. Presently it is PIO but it should be DMA 5 or so. Please go back to device manager right click the primary channel and choose to uninstall it. Reboot the computer and let windows load the driver afresh. That is done automatically.

Regarding msconfig, you probably disabled some items that needs to be reactivated, probably related to the operation of the computer. Try to enable one or two items at a time and see if the error message returns.

Regarding PageDefrag, that's how it normally run. It only defrags page and registry files which take little space but fragmantation of these files can affect computer's performance significantly.
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#5
jtroop

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Any idea how the IDE primary channel got set to PIO?
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#6
happyrock

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about this...

Now everytime I startup the computer, I get that message box warning me that msconfig is not set to normal (it says something along those lines).

just put a check in the lower left side of the error window saying don't show this again...

if windows detects read write errors it will start dropping from udma 5 down to udma 4 and so on until you get to pio mode...you should run chkdsk /f/r and also backup any data you can't live without...just in case the drive is on its way out

Edited by happyrck, 15 April 2008 - 09:20 AM.

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#7
The Skeptic

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Have you tried what I suggested? If yes, what happened.

If you wish to learn about the problem read this link.
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#8
jtroop

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yes, I tried it and it worked. It is at udma 5. The computer seems to be a little faster now. Thanks for the help!
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#9
The Skeptic

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You are welcome.
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