[PaulCleek]

Hi,

I've got a Dell Insperion 6000 that has always started up a bit slowly. Recently it became worse so I ran a number of spyware/optimization programs (PC Tools; AVG; CCleaner and others).

After starting up the computer will sometimes just sit there showing the hourgalss when the cursor is brought to the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and then just the cursor when brought above this - during this time the indicator light shows the HD is working. Sometimes it just sits there doing this and will take no other commands.

Sometimes it goes through the boot process and actually begins working; then for no reason locks up, again with the HD indicator light on.

I've disabled much of the "start up" stuff; and run a lot of diagnostics including Hijak This; I'm writing this from my office computer but will be home in a couple of hours (I live in Houston and the city is shutting down in honor of Ike). If posting the Hijak This log will be of help let me know and I'll do it ASAP.

Any other suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

[Advertisements]

Can you boot to Safe Mode? Try pressing F8 repeatedly at the startup and then select "Safe Mode" from the Advanced Startup Options.

[jt1990]

Can you boot to Safe Mode? Try pressing F8 repeatedly at the startup and then select "Safe Mode" from the Advanced Startup Options.

[PaulCleek]

Hi,

Yes, I can boot in safe mode; once that's done what should I do?

Currently, I'm on the Dell. It's working fine at this moment, but this has happened before and the it freezes for no reason.

Thanks,
Paul

[iman74]

Hi,

Yes, I can boot in safe mode; once that's done what should I do?

Currently, I'm on the Dell. It's working fine at this moment, but this has happened before and the it freezes for no reason.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul,
Such problems aren't an exact science hence why I have this job. The person suggesting to go into Safe Mode. Great advice, but now what as you said?

Look majority of the time slowness is caused by spyware and [bleep] BUT it's not always the case either. Sometimes the PC is just slow, fragmented, HDD kicking the bucket and so on. Slow and lockups is not enough input to help you from this manner.

History. Break it down from the day you bought it to more details of today. Is there any pattern? Pay strict attention to details. The better the details the more we can help you. I will check on you tomorrow...yes tomorrow for I have a life and it's a TV set.

Later.

[123Runner]

As indicated, there could be many reasons why its freezing and slow boot. We need to just whittle away at them 1 at a time.

Any new software?
Any new hardware?
Look in device manager for any ? or ! of missing drivers or issues.
Look in the event viewer for any errors.

[happyrock]

your malware tools...if so which ones and what did they find...what AV is installed
have you run chkdsk /r
have you tested your ram...
if you can run for hours in safe mode and not crash...its probably a driver causing it...

[iman74]

As HR said too, could also be hardware.

Hey, how do you guys go about testing RAM? Just curious.

[happyrock]

get memtest 86+ here ...this will test your memory...let it run for at least 2 hours...if you get any errors then the ram is bad and will have to be replaced...no errors after 2 hours.......then its probably good and we can try other things..
it will run until you press the escape key
the how to is here..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....

[iman74]

OH yeah I forgot about that one. I need to add that to my collection. Going to forward this info to my work account for future archiving. Thanks.

[PaulCleek]

Thanks for the assistance; I'll follow up with the suggestions and see if my situation improves.

Current status is that the Dell (I'm on it now) is working a bit better; still not a speed demon on start-up but neither has it frozen up in the last 3 starts. I went in and disabled some start-up programs and put others on manual which seems to have helped.

I do notice that some of my spyware/malware programs seem to hog a lot of resources on start-up. I'm wondering if I have too much of a good thing? Currently I have the following programs:

Registry Mechanic
Spyware Doctor
CCleaner
AVG 8.0
HijackThis
Smitfraud Fix
Ad-Aware

Seems that Spyware DR and AVG are the biggest hogs. Any comments on these programs or how to control the amount of resources they use on start-up?

Thanks,
Paul

[happyrock]

what version of AVG are you using...if its 8.0...disable Spyware Doctor and just use it as a "on demand" program

[PaulCleek]

OK, Thanks I'll do that.

Paul