How To Speed-up Booting Process

[bonsaimax]

Just got infected with a couple of trojan(s)/virus(es) which required a complete reformat of drive C. After re-installing all the drivers back, I have noticed a considerable delay in the booting process. It also seems much slower now in launching programs like games and windows explorer.

Is there anything I can do to speed it up? And how do you select ahich programs you want to load during start-up? Any ideas?

Cheers!

[Mighty Mouse]

I use an excellent freeware program called "Startup Inspector."

It's quick and easy.

[bonsaimax]

Thanks, Mighty Mouse! I'll give it a go and see if it works.

Tried it Mighty Mouse, same same. Still takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up. thanks anyway. Anymore ideas???

or could it be CPU temperature? According to the BIOS CPU temp. 57 degrees Celsius and Mobo temperature 37 degrees celsius.

[Tywais]

or could it be CPU temperature? According to the BIOS CPU temp. 57 degrees Celsius and Mobo temperature 37 degrees celsius.

That is high but shouldn't cause a slow down. Crash, hang yes but don't see it slowing it down. Check your CPU fan or your BIOS reading of fan RPM to see if they are ok. Just remembered that some newer systems do throttle the CPU back if it gets too hot. What MB/CPU do you have?

[bonsaimax]

What MB/CPU do you have?

AsRock 775 P4 2.66GHz

[bonsaimax]

Everything now is 10 times slower. Just copying a 2 MB file on to another folder takes 3 minutes. Could it be that I havent totally gotten rid of the spyware/trojan despite reformatting drive c?

[Tywais]

Everything now is 10 times slower. Just copying a 2 MB file on to another folder takes 3 minutes. Could it be that I havent totally gotten rid of the spyware/trojan despite reformatting drive c?

No, formatting will remove everything. Try booting up in safe mode (hit F8 when the system reboots and select "Safe mode" from the menu). Then see how the file transfer works. Possibly flakey driver somewhere. Also, are you sure your XP installation CD is clean. Not unheard of to pick up something from the CD (if you got it from alternate sources).

Also, that MB/CPU will not have load speed throttle so not that. Last thing is just a bad drive.

Edited March 7, 2006 by tywais

[bonsaimax]

Also, are you sure your XP installation CD is clean. Not unheard of to pick up something from the CD (if you got it from alternate sources).

This XP CD I have been using for the past 2 years. Never had a problem with it. Could it be the CPU or RAM. I have a total of 1.024G of RAM. Is there a way of knowing if the RAM is being used at optimum level?

CLicking on icons and opening webpages takes longer than normal. Very annoying considering that the C drive barely contains any programs, aside from the antivirus and MS Office 2003 which have already been installed.

I don't see any reason why it slow down to a crawl. Doesnt make sense. I also have 2 SATA drives which used to go quite fast.

I'm stumped!!!

[Tywais]

I'm stumped!!!

So now eliminated the CD. You really should do as I mentioned and start up in SAFE MODE. A faulty driver can cause these symptoms also. Starting up in safe mode only loads the standard system drivers so any that you installed later will be disabled. One step at a time.

Are you running the SATA drives in standard mode or RAID? Make sure your bios is supporting the correct mode if it supports RAID or disabled if not being used in that mode.

Not much you can do about the memory in terms of optimizing so wouldn't worry about that. You can also turn on full memory check in your BIOS which will give them a work out to verify no bad bits. It's called "Quick Boot" and just disable it to let the memory test run when you boot.

Also, your temperature (CPU) is within reason. One last item, if you have a network connection - disconnect it in case you have a jaberer (won't try to explain that term)

Edited March 7, 2006 by tywais

[bonsaimax]

start up in SAFE MODE. A faulty driver can cause these symptoms also. Starting up in safe mode only loads the standard system drivers so any that you installed later will be disabled.

Already started up in safe mode, but just as slow. Tried transfering files from folder to folder 10MB in 8 minutes. REalllly slow!

Are you running the SATA drives in standard mode or RAID?

Two SATA drives in standard mode.

if you have a network connection - disconnect it in case you have a jaberer

No, I don't have a network connection.

Just remembered that some newer systems do throttle the CPU back if it gets too hot.

Just checked BIOS throttle set at 70 degrees and 50 % -- whatever that means.

Thanks!!! More thanks if I could sort this out soon. )

[griser]

One of the big reasons for a slow boot (i'm assuming you mean once you get to the Windows XP loading window) is a overly large or fragmented registry. go get a registry defragger like norton or Tune-up utilites to get that registry size down. Also, how many fonts you got loaded?

Greg

[Petch01]

1: Do you use a virus program which starts at Windows start-up? If so disable it and see what's happening.

2: Defragment your system disk.

Petch01

Edited March 7, 2006 by Petch01

[Tywais]

Just checked BIOS throttle set at 70 degrees and 50 % -- whatever that means.

Thanks!!! More thanks if I could sort this out soon. )

That means that at 70 degrees the speed of the CPU will be reduced enough to consume only 50% of the normal power to it. That could be a big hit if that isn't working correctly. If you have ASUSProbe, bring it up and track the temperature history. You also might disable throttling (temporary) and see what happens to speed.

Let's try one more thing. Hit ctrl-alt-del to bring up the task manager. Check the CPU Usage, Page File Usage, Available memory, threads, processes. Need to see if anything abnormal is peaking the system out. Then under processes, sort the CPU column (highest usage first) and see if System Idle Process is in the 90% range (no other programs running). Then sort by Mem Usage and see if anything out of the ordinary there.

To check the CPU speed click Start, click Run, type Msinfo32, and then click OK. Click System Summary. CPU speed is displayed in the Processor line. Microsoft support

Edited March 8, 2006 by tywais

[Mighty Mouse]

Assuming you have installed the latest chipset drivers correctly and assuming that your hard drive is not too old and performing properly, you might like to run the Bootvis utility.

You can find info here:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?art...id=1590&page=30

[Carmine6]

Thanks, Mighty Mouse! I'll give it a go and see if it works.

Tried it Mighty Mouse, same same. Still takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up. thanks anyway. Anymore ideas???

or could it be CPU temperature? According to the BIOS CPU temp. 57 degrees Celsius and Mobo temperature 37 degrees celsius.

P4 and some PIII chips have a built in safety feature where they slow down if they overheat. Watch the video at this site to see what happens when they pull the heat sink off Pentium chips and AMD chips. The video link is all the way at the bottom of the page.

Or just see page 3 for this quote:

"The Pentium 4 core comes equipped with a thermal monitoring unit that permanently checks the temperature. As soon as the core temperature has reached a certain trigger value, the thermal unit throttles down the clock of Pentium 4 until a safe temperature has been reached."

http://www.tomshardware.com/2001/09/17/hot_spot/page6.html

Your heat sink may be loose, or the fan may be dead.

Edited March 8, 2006 by Carmine6

[bonsaimax]

did everything as you gents suggested. No improvement. I even deleted most of the fonts and uninstalled spybot. Also defragged all drives, etc.

I believe the problem is with the RAM, because transferring files from one drive to another is painfully slow. How will I know if both my 512 MB 133 Ghz of RAM are functioning properly?

[francois]

Thanks, Mighty Mouse! I'll give it a go and see if it works.

Tried it Mighty Mouse, same same. Still takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up. thanks anyway. Anymore ideas???

or could it be CPU temperature? According to the BIOS CPU temp. 57 degrees Celsius and Mobo temperature 37 degrees celsius.

hi'

57°c is far too high, mine a P4E(prescott) 3.2ghz OC to 3.6 runs at 34 idle and at max load at 49°, my mb is at 24°c ...

you have a serious problem of temp in there, any fan to blow some fresh air in and some to take some out?

what heatsink for the cpu do you use? the stock one?

what psu do you use? enough voltage in there?

I see throttling in here, cpu or disk or ram or all too hot

francois

[Tywais]

hi'

57°c is far too high, mine a P4E(prescott) 3.2ghz OC to 3.6 runs at 34 idle and at max load at 49°, my mb is at 24°c ...

you have a serious problem of temp in there, any fan to blow some fresh air in and some to take some out?

You obviously are running in an air conditioned enviornment to get 24°c MB temp unless that is a typo and you mean 34°c. His temperature however is not out of spec, not ideal for sure but within stable region. An additional case fan would help (IN and exhaust).

I also have a 2.6GHz P4 and it is running at 55°c and MB at 40°c at the moment due to no air-con and no stability problems. But that is due to being a bad case choice on my part. I'm not happy with that temperature range but am upgrading my system soon and will be using a much more efficient cooling system. Same setup in my office (with air) and it runs around 42°c and 32°c respectively.

Also 70°c is the default throttle back point in his BIOS. But still waiting to see if he has disabled the CPU throttle and tell us how it behaves. As to the OPs question about memory, you could pull one stick out and see how it runs then switch sticks to check the 2nd one.

Also you could do as Francois suggests and open the side cover and put a large fan on it in case there is some other component over heating (video card for example).

Edited March 8, 2006 by tywais

[bonsaimax]

57°c is far too high, mine a P4E(prescott) 3.2ghz OC to 3.6 runs at 34 idle and at max load at 49°, my mb is at 24°c ...

you have a serious problem of temp in there, any fan to blow some fresh air in and some to take some out?

what heatsink for the cpu do you use? the stock one?

what psu do you use? enough voltage in there?

I see throttling in here, cpu or disk or ram or all too hot

There are two big fans on my case cover. Intake with air duct blowing directly to the CPU, and another exhaust fan. 5 fans altogether including the one for the CPU, using stock heatsink. Taking the cover off would mean disconnecting the fans. But i'll give it a shot anyway and have a fan blow at it. If things don't improve, I might have to take the PC back to the A/C room and see if things change.

Also 70°c is the default throttle back point in his BIOS. But still waiting to see if he has disabled the CPU throttle and tell us how it behaves. As to the OPs question about memory, you could pull one stick out and see how it runs then switch sticks to check the 2nd one.

Also you could do as Francois suggests and open the side cover and put a large fan on it in case there is some other component over heating (video card for example).

Thanks tywais! I'll do as you suggest and let you know what happens.

[Mighty Mouse]

I'm probably stating the obvious here but sometimes it's the little things that cause big problems.

Have you checked to see that all your devices are loaded properly?

Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Devices

There should be no red or yellow exclamation marks.

Is your anti-virus program running in the back ground?

If so disable it completely and try booting again.

In your BIOS there could be a setting to "allow quick boot."

If so, try it.

Disable unused IDE channel settings.

Set boot order to start with your main HDD first.

Make sure the BIOS is not searching for a non-existant drive.

Have you re-installed Microsoft Service Pack 2 ?

If not, re-install it.

There might be a hardware error on the boot drive.

Run chkdsk/f at next bootup.

Check your C: drive. Properties/Tools/Check for errors.

Did you download the latest chipset drivers from the web or did you take them off your XP disk?

If off the disk, check the web for faster/better drivers.

Check your connection to your ISP for a currupt setting.

Ensure there is no build up of dust etc. in the case.

If all this, and the other advice given in this thread fails to increase boot-up time, I suggest your next port of call should be your friendly local computer repair shop.

[bonsaimax]

I'm probably stating the obvious here but sometimes it's the little things that cause big problems.

Have you checked to see that all your devices are loaded properly?

Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Devices

There should be no red or yellow exclamation marks.

Is your anti-virus program running in the back ground?

If so disable it completely and try booting again.

In your BIOS there could be a setting to "allow quick boot."

If so, try it.

Disable unused IDE channel settings.

Set boot order to start with your main HDD first.

Make sure the BIOS is not searching for a non-existant drive.

Have you re-installed Microsoft Service Pack 2 ?

If not, re-install it.

There might be a hardware error on the boot drive.

Run chkdsk/f at next bootup.

Check your C: drive. Properties/Tools/Check for errors.

Did you download the latest chipset drivers from the web or did you take them off your XP disk?

If off the disk, check the web for faster/better drivers.

Check your connection to your ISP for a currupt setting.

Ensure there is no build up of dust etc. in the case.

If all this, and the other advice given in this thread fails to increase boot-up time, I suggest your next port of call should be your friendly local computer repair shop.

thanks for the checklist Mighty Mouse. Did everything already. I'll try and take the case cover off when I get back from work today. Hopefully, speeds would improve.

Cheers!

[bonsaimax]

boot-up seems to have improved, but starting up programs and opening web pages still is slow.

I'm contemplating on doing a reformat again. Last option.

[francois]

hi'

57°c is far too high, mine a P4E(prescott) 3.2ghz OC to 3.6 runs at 34 idle and at max load at 49°, my mb is at 24°c ...

you have a serious problem of temp in there, any fan to blow some fresh air in and some to take some out?

You obviously are running in an air conditioned enviornment to get 24°c MB temp unless that is a typo and you mean 34°c. His temperature however is not out of spec, not ideal for sure but within stable region. An additional case fan would help (IN and exhaust).

I also have a 2.6GHz P4 and it is running at 55°c and MB at 40°c at the moment due to no air-con and no stability problems. But that is due to being a bad case choice on my part. I'm not happy with that temperature range but am upgrading my system soon and will be using a much more efficient cooling system. Same setup in my office (with air) and it runs around 42°c and 32°c respectively.

Also 70°c is the default throttle back point in his BIOS. But still waiting to see if he has disabled the CPU throttle and tell us how it behaves. As to the OPs question about memory, you could pull one stick out and see how it runs then switch sticks to check the 2nd one.

Also you could do as Francois suggests and open the side cover and put a large fan on it in case there is some other component over heating (video card for example).

hi'

no air cond, well natural one, winter in europe

room temp 20/21°c

it might get a little hotter in summer but I have a 120mm fan ready to put on the side blow-hole

francois

boot-up seems to have improved, but starting up programs and opening web pages still is slow.

I'm contemplating on doing a reformat again. Last option.

hi'

back it up first

it sounds like a dying hdd to me

might have run too hot for too long ...

or a dying psu

you may look for a small program called speedfan, it will give you the temp of the hdd the cpu and some voltage too.

here ; speedfan download page it's version 4.28 now

francois

[h5n1]

man, half you guys should not be allowed admin rights on your own computers.

ok - hopefully, you have not messed w/ the bios.

next - if your cd rom is connected to the same ribbon as the hdd this will overall sloooow the machine. but youll need another slot to take that off the share.

ok - you did a reformat, so i assume you reinstalled all the os, drivers, virus... so this rules out infection for the most part. also your registry should be fine as you reinstalled the os.

clear out anything in 'start up' folder in menu

YOU WANT virus to scan a: on boot (will slow down the boot though)

you want to look up at the progs when you boot there are many tweakprograms that will allow this - BE CAREFUL. DO NOT TURN OFF ANYTHING RELATED TO OS. turn off shit like adobe acrobat, quiktime, messengers, chats - all notorious for loading into the boot.

high # of fonts may slow it down.

program conflict

irq conflicts

dirty/fragged/corrupt registry suee!

huge culprit is chats, messengers, toolbars loading also... anti virus ALSO.... you loading to advanced s/w on old machine. you want most advanced but still able to run ok on the system

also - ram and lots of it!!!

also...fast hard drive!

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR REGISTRY, IT IS CLEAN AND YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!!!

TWEAKING THE MACHINE

u can call if you just cant sort it dude - 09-403-0530

dude now you are talking about transferiing files????!!!?!?!?!

I believe the problem is with the RAM, because transferring files from one drive to another is painfully slow. How will I know if both my 512 MB 133 Ghz of RAM are functioning properly?

it also appears you have an older machine if EITHER ram is sd133 and/or and esp if your cpu is running at 133. if that is the case -cpu @ 133, that thing is a PII dinosaur!! it will never perform well.

if your ram is 133 that is fine but 512 ismore than enuff for good file transf barring issues like ram sharing w/ video and other progs hogging resources.

ps: i have seen computers run well in the worst conditions, id bet it has NOTHING to do with the fan (pps i actually have been paid in it industry and can make the claim on the merit).

good luck!

Edited March 11, 2006 by h5n1

[Tywais]

man, half you guys should not be allowed admin rights on your own computers.

It's a pretty good idea to actually read the posts before jumping on posters.

AsRock 775 P4 2.66GHz

I have a total of 1.024G of RAM.

Also it would seem before the re-format the machine behaved normally which indicates his hardware configuration performed fine before. I have a 2.6GHz P4 with 512MB DDR400 and it takes less then a second or two to transfer a 2MB file from one disk to another including a USB flash drive.

Remote trouble shooting is a little more complex then having the machine sitting in front of you. Questions have to continually be asked to get enough details and one has to second guess the OP sometimes. As for 'messing with the bios' it is sometimes necessary in order to isolate a problem. The CDROM on the same IDE channel as the HD is not an issue unless you are transferring between the two.

An overheated system, especially the 'chip set' which controls the I/O process can cause this problem and is why fan (cooling) has been mentioned and rightly so.

[francois]

hi'

man, half you guys should not be allowed admin rights on your own computers.

hmm, who? names names!!

seriously, the first thing you should do is scandisk and this before the boot process, and check it all, you might have surprise

also, when talk about temp, it's because so many forget that a cpu or a video card runs hot(not talking about the psu...), si if one of them has a deffective fan, you are in trouble ...

did you check the fan of your video card?

also, ram can be the main culprit!

do a memory test ; you say "1gb of ram, so I think must be 2x512.

take one off and boot, and see, do the same with the other one, one at a time,

like this you may see if one of your ram stick is running bad.

did you move any card inside, ex; sound card one slot different or lan card changing slot which could cause hardware conflict ?

francois

[h5n1]

tywais thanks but i dont need the lecture, have made my money working in it as im sure you have -incl desktop, sun/pc support 1st/2nd tier, over the phone (no citrix or remote support) -confused as the guy first notes boot issues and then discusses file transf.

you are correct about the bois but if this guy does not know the bios from his arse then hel_l only get into trouble. bios these days can be complicated as well - he may indeed have flicked off a bank of ram or used STANDARD CONFIG (default) and that is his problem so i hope he was not in the bios. can be as bead as people messing w/ registry.

as for the fan - as this seems to be a ok machine and yes its running fast @ 2.66. assuming hes using it in a non a/c environment - maybe its the fan. but like you said - it was working????

worked fine before. also shutting it down to cool would dx that issue just fine. ive had old bangers running in cambodia years ago in ngos with no heat issues - outside, in the monsoon. not saying it CANT be just saying its not where i would take it.

actually francois they have stix o' ram 1gb now - who woulda thunk it eh? amazing. i recall 4 meg strips in 256k chips was WOW.

anyway - im not solving anything by hackin on you tywais...

if the issue is file transfer - and files are moving painfully slow NOT booting... what is the file size? where are the files being transf to/from? if the cd rom is involved it should be on its own cable. it is very possible after reload that you did not get right drivers for cdrom if involved. did you do a format? did inadvertyently chg anything related to the drive config and/or bios? maybe you reset the bios to standard but needs tweaking. maybe you did something to the hdd config? were you in the bios?

if it worked before and now it does not id say its less than 1% hardware issue - it is possible, not likely.

dude - my 2 baht - dont touch anything in your pc incl taking stuff out unless you know whats up. you might zap a chip and then youre screwed.

teh op has to define 'slow' first of all an dwhere the files are going to/from.

[h5n1]

ps: the guy is in europe - its winter in europe, fan is non issue.

also he asked if ram was bad how would he know - machine would beep in post and not boot. pull out the bad ram assuming more than 1 stick and it will boot.

finally, it could be a bad drive, format - how did you format? format c OR within the os? if you tried to formatted the disk while you were in the operating system by using drop down and format from menu - that is a bit crazy. i assume you formatted from C:

good luck

[h5n1]

its not the fan - hes in europe

its not the hardware as you stated it worked fine before

tiny possibility the drive is going bad and all this messing about made it worse

how was the format done, did he mess with the bios, are the proper drivers loaded, where and what size is the file being copied and what is 'slow'.

spent 3 years it support on phones no citrix no nuttin - in addition to other hack jobs.

good luck dude

[bonsaimax]

Also it would seem before the re-format the machine behaved normally which indicates his hardware configuration performed fine before.

This is correct. The machine was running normally before the reformat. This PC is only 7 months old. It's a relatively "new" machine -- not top of the line. But all I wish for is to be it's normal self, before the trojan infection which required me to reformat.

also, when talk about temp, it's because so many forget that a cpu or a video card runs hot(not talking about the psu...), si if one of them has a deffective fan, you are in trouble ...

did you check the fan of your video card?

also, ram can be the main culprit!

do a memory test ; you say "1gb of ram, so I think must be 2x512.

take one off and boot, and see, do the same with the other one, one at a time,

like this you may see if one of your ram stick is running bad.

did you move any card inside, ex; sound card one slot different or lan card changing slot which could cause hardware conflict ?

All fans working perfrctly, but according to Windows Task Manager, CPU running at 98-100%, and I'm only transferring 3 MB to another physical drive. This used to take just a couple of seconds, which now takes at least 5 minutes, usually more.

I also have 2 Seagate 7200RPM SATA HDDs which I transfer files to and from. Aside from the reformat, I did not touch anything else.

An overheated system, especially the 'chip set' which controls the I/O process can cause this problem and is why fan (cooling) has been mentioned and rightly so.

How will I know if the system has overheated, and if so, how can this be remedied?

Again, thank you all for your patience and advice.