[rxnet]

whenever I reboot my computer I get a flashing curso that lasts about 5-6 minutes before windows will start up. I know this isn't normal but I can't seem to do anything to fix the problem. Anyone with knowledge on how to fix this problem.

thanks!!

rxnet

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a couple of things you can try ..Chkdsk and also lets see if the drive reverted from DMA to PIO mode
Right click on my computer...then properties..

Click on the ...Hardware tab then the ...Device Manager... click the + beside IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers .... right click on each Primary and Secondary IDE channel choose ...Properties... click...Advanced Settings... tab. and list what you find as the Current Transfer Mode. for each device listed for each channel...
if any are in PIO mode...
EXAMPLE ..the Primary IDE channel shows its in PIO mode

Right click on the Primary IDE channel and choose ...Uninstall.......Accept the change...then reboot let Windows reinstall the channel and the devices assigned to it ...IMPORTANT.. then reboot again


Should the channel go back to the PIO setting again in the future it indicates a problem with your hard drive. You must keep your backups current ... I highly recommend keeping FREQUENT backups anyway...just in case your hard drive fails....

Using Chkdsk

Chkdsk is a utility designed to check the integrity of the data on a computer's hard disk drive as well as find and fix errors which could corrupt such data.

Running chkdsk on your Windows XP or 2000 system can repair minor Windows problems

There are several different methods that can be used to run chkdsk
start with this one.....

1. Click the Start button then... Run
2. In the Run window's Open box... type in ... cmd
3. Click OK and an MS-DOS-style black screen will appear in a new window
4. Run chkdsk by typing one of the the following commands where the cursor is blinking...
chkdsk c: /r and then press ...ENTER...

typing chkdsk /r will both fix errors and recover lost data. Running chkdsk /r options can often take a considerable amount of time depending upon the size of your hard drive and the amount of data stored on it

OR
chkdsk c: /f and then press ...ENTER...

Typing chkdsk c: /f will only fix errors that are encountered but its much faster


5. With either command, a message will appear that says...chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? <y/n>"
6. Type y (for "yes") and then press ...ENTER...
7. A message will appear that will say...This volume will be checked the next time the system restarts
8. Type exit and then press ...ENTER...
9. Reboot the computer as you normally would and chkdsk will automatically begin running after your reboot... While chkdsk is running you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage.
there are 5 stages...do not shut down your computer or reboot while chkdsk is running or you can have severe problems...it may hang at a certain percent for a hour or more and then it will continue..it may even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot your computer.

Edited by happyrock, 04 April 2009 - 09:26 AM.

[happyrock]

a couple of things you can try ..Chkdsk and also lets see if the drive reverted from DMA to PIO mode
Right click on my computer...then properties..

Click on the ...Hardware tab then the ...Device Manager... click the + beside IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers .... right click on each Primary and Secondary IDE channel choose ...Properties... click...Advanced Settings... tab. and list what you find as the Current Transfer Mode. for each device listed for each channel...
if any are in PIO mode...
EXAMPLE ..the Primary IDE channel shows its in PIO mode

Right click on the Primary IDE channel and choose ...Uninstall.......Accept the change...then reboot let Windows reinstall the channel and the devices assigned to it ...IMPORTANT.. then reboot again


Should the channel go back to the PIO setting again in the future it indicates a problem with your hard drive. You must keep your backups current ... I highly recommend keeping FREQUENT backups anyway...just in case your hard drive fails....

Using Chkdsk

Chkdsk is a utility designed to check the integrity of the data on a computer's hard disk drive as well as find and fix errors which could corrupt such data.

Running chkdsk on your Windows XP or 2000 system can repair minor Windows problems

There are several different methods that can be used to run chkdsk
start with this one.....

1. Click the Start button then... Run
2. In the Run window's Open box... type in ... cmd
3. Click OK and an MS-DOS-style black screen will appear in a new window
4. Run chkdsk by typing one of the the following commands where the cursor is blinking...
chkdsk c: /r and then press ...ENTER...

typing chkdsk /r will both fix errors and recover lost data. Running chkdsk /r options can often take a considerable amount of time depending upon the size of your hard drive and the amount of data stored on it

OR
chkdsk c: /f and then press ...ENTER...

Typing chkdsk c: /f will only fix errors that are encountered but its much faster


5. With either command, a message will appear that says...chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? <y/n>"
6. Type y (for "yes") and then press ...ENTER...
7. A message will appear that will say...This volume will be checked the next time the system restarts
8. Type exit and then press ...ENTER...
9. Reboot the computer as you normally would and chkdsk will automatically begin running after your reboot... While chkdsk is running you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage.
there are 5 stages...do not shut down your computer or reboot while chkdsk is running or you can have severe problems...it may hang at a certain percent for a hour or more and then it will continue..it may even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot your computer.

Edited by happyrock, 04 April 2009 - 09:26 AM.

[rxnet]

step 1 results:

Primary IDE: Devive 0 : transfer mode- DMA if available
current transfer mode- Ultra DMA Mode 5

Device 1 : transfer mode- DMA if available
current transfer mode-DMA if available

Secondary IDE: Device 0 : transfer mode- DMA if available
current transfer mode- Ultra DMA mode 2

Device 1: same as device 0 for secondary IDE


another queston..is there a program or report that can be generated that will show me where most of memory is being used up. i am near capacity and thought I could delete some items/programs if need be..just wasn't sure if there was such an animal. Also considering adding this: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
your thoughts?

Edited by rxnet, 04 April 2009 - 03:26 PM.

[happyrock]

DID YOU RUN CHKDSK YET...

to see whats using the ram up...
right click on my computer...properties...processes...tap cpu several times to bring the processes to the top that are using the most ram... drag the window longer to get it all showing and then get a screenshot for me ...should look like mine

Edited by happyrock, 04 April 2009 - 04:57 PM.

[usasma]

Once in Task Manager...Processes tab, click on the View menu item, then on Select columns.
Select the items for I/O Reads and I/O Other. These will tell you what's going on with your hard drive. If you open it at startup, you should be able to see what's got high readings when the cursor freezes.

Delays like this, especially during boot, usually reflect a program that's trying to initialize - and the CPU/Memory/I/O stuff will give you an idea of what's holding things up.

I/O Reads is a straightforward representation of what's being read from your hard drive. I/O Writes is what's being written to your hard drive (and it's not usually significant in this context - so we leave it out). I find that I/O Other will occasionally tell us a bit about what Windows is doing behind the scenes with the disk.

[rxnet]

tried chkdsk but didn't run when rebooted..will try again



Is it normal for system32 file to open on startup?

heres the screenshots


thanks

Edited by rxnet, 04 April 2009 - 10:35 PM.

[rxnet]

CPU screenshot

Edited by rxnet, 04 April 2009 - 10:34 PM.

[rxnet]

I/O screenshot

Edited by rxnet, 04 April 2009 - 10:35 PM.

[The Skeptic]

Your "CPU" screenshot indicates that Spywareguard or Spywareblaster or both are installed on your computer, taking 50% of CPU resources. This can be a momentary condition but should be looked at. I would uninstall both and see if it makes any difference. If not, you can easily reinstall them.

If that doesn't help switch off your router/modem and click Start > Run. Type msconfig , check Selective mode, click Startup and uncheck everything. Reboot, check the note that shows up and see if there is any difference. If there is, start rechecking items 3-4 at a time. If the slow boot returns narrow your search to the last checked group until you pinpoint the problem. Do not switch-on your router until the antivirus is enabled.

If still no good boot in safe mode and report if there is any improvement.

[Anthony19]

Hello rxnet

Try The Skeptic's suggestion , if no luck...

Give this a go...

Goto msconfig as stated , start > run > msconfig > select boot.ini tab and check box /NOGUIBOOT

Reboot and check performance

Best of luck !

Anthony19

PS: if no improvement , uncheck the noguiboot

disables the GUI boot screen on startup , if you are not happy with it just un-check the box , no harm in trying

[usasma]

Other problems that will slow down your system are the amount of I/O Reads for the AOL stuff and your AVG.
I'd suggest uninstalling your AOL software and seeing if that helps.

If it does help, then download and install a fresh copy (making sure to opt out of any anti-virus they may offer).

If the problem returns after the above, then download a fresh copy of AVG.
Then uninstall the current AVG and reboot.
As soon as the reboot is completed, install the new AVG and update it.

If you mean that a window opens to the System32 folder on your desktop, this is usually a leftover from an incomplete virus removal. I'd suggest getting a checkup in the Malware forums.

[happyrock]

uninstall Spywareguard...it has caused many problems like you are experiencing ...leave it off...
same for all the AOL stuff
leave Spywareblaster...

you really should run chkdsk

the next thing we are going to do is turn off indexing ....its a resource hog and if you aren't
searching for things on your computer 10 times a day it will only slow down your system....

click on start...my computer...right click on C: drive....properties...on the general tab..uncheck...allow indexing on this drive..

if you do not have the box on your system...
then START...RUN...type in SERVICES.MSC...then OK...scroll down until you find INDEXING SERVICE...
click on it and in the general tab set it to DISABLED...then exit....

then go to START..RUN...type in MSCONFIG...then click on OK or press ENTER..
click on START UP TAB..if its a toweruncheck everything EXCEPT your AV and firewall

if its a laptop you have to be careful about what you uncheck
or your touch pad and wireless and things like that will not function for you..
google each start up item to decide if you need it to load with windows...unchecking them does not
remove them ..they are still available to use...they just won't load when you start up windows


To clean your temp folder, recycle bin, index.dat etc..please download this free tool...
CCleaner

Don't install any Toolbars, or other programs, should it ask you...Just
uncheck the option of installing the Yahoo toolbar....if you get
the slim version it does not have the toolbar
thats the one I recommend...
It will put a shortcut on your Desktop.

Click on CCleaner to start it....
Before first use...
Select Options then Advanced.
UNCHECK "Only delete files in Windows Temp folder older than 48 hours"
The rest of the standard settings are fine...

Then click "Run Cleaner"
DO NOT USE ANY OF THE OTHER TOOLS...RUNNING THEM MAY CAUSE OTHER PROBLEMS


next get diskeeper lite here
you do not have to defrag in safe mode with diskeeper lite and its 10 times faster than the defragger
that comes with windows


if you are not networked with other computers like at work...
Open Windows Explorer, go to Tools, Folder Options, click on the View tab and [b]uncheck
Automatically search for network folders and printers-and ...reboot...
you will have a pop up window on the desktop saying you have changed the way windows starts yada yada...
put a tick in the don't show this again...then close the popup..
see if you feel the speed again

Edited by happyrock, 05 April 2009 - 07:43 AM.

[rxnet]

tried chkdsk again and it never comes up on reboot...there is a space between c: and \f ?

here's my results on Diskeeper Lite:

Findings on C:

Diskeeper has completed analysis of this volume and found 4954 fragmented files and/or directories and 467927 excess fragments.

The average number of fragments per file is 3.92.

This volume is somewhat fragmented, with 0% of the total volume space available for defragmentation. This level of free space is so low that performance is suffering from that fact alone. Indeed, fragmentation is the least of your worries under these conditions. Clear some files off this volume to achieve a minimum of 20% free space for acceptable performance. You should schedule Diskeeper to run at least once a day (if you haven't already done so) to keep fragmentation at a low level.


Wasn't sure if I should run it to defragment all my files ? Computer is running quite fast for so little memory available...reboot still takes 5 minutes

[Anthony19]

Hello rxnet

did you complete happyrock's step as described below ?

To clean your temp folder, recycle bin, index.dat etc..please download this free tool...
CCleaner

Don't install any Toolbars, or other programs, should it ask you...Just
uncheck the option of installing the Yahoo toolbar....if you get
the slim version it does not have the toolbar
thats the one I recommend...
It will put a shortcut on your Desktop.

Click on CCleaner to start it....
Before first use...
Select Options then Advanced.
UNCHECK "Only delete files in Windows Temp folder older than 48 hours"
The rest of the standard settings are fine...

Then click "Run Cleaner"
DO NOT USE ANY OF THE OTHER TOOLS...RUNNING THEM MAY CAUSE OTHER PROBLEMS

Anthony19

[rxnet]

is ccleaner like ATF cleaner?