Re: XP Suddenly Slow to Boot [Long/Detailed]

From: Patty MacDuffie (pattymacduffie_at_sendspamhere.comcast.net)
Date: 11/20/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 09:13:32 -0800

Just a suggestion. Check Dell's site to see if there are any updates for
the machine, particularly any that they suggest are for SP2. Also might
check for BIOS upgrade. 

-- 
Patty MacDuffie
www.computerhaven.info
"Bill" <Bill@no.invalid> wrote in message 
news:TtGdnSTFC5D76gLcRVn-pw@comcast.com...
> Specs:
>
> PC - Dell XPS
> OS - Windows XP (SP2) Fully updated.
> CPU - P4 (3.0GHz)
> HDD - 120GB (80% free)
> RAM - 1GB
> Internet Connection - Cable
> Network - Problem machine plays "host" to one other machine.
> Router - Linksys
> XP Firewall - On
>
> Problem:
>
> This machine used to take less than 30 seconds from Power-Up, to ready to 
> use.  It now takes over three minutes.  This occurs from either a cold 
> boot, or a restart.  No new programs have been recently installed, and SP2 
> has been running flawlessly for a couple months.
>
> Sequence:
>
> Dell splash comes up as usual.  Goes right into loading Windows, and the 
> (default) opening music plays as the welcome screen appears.  Also as 
> usual.
>
> Now it get's strange.
>
> The welcome screen hangs for 30-35 seconds, then drops out of sight 
> revealing my desktop with no task bar, no icons, and no start button. 
> About 2 and a half minutes later, everything comes up and the machine 
> functions normally.  (Or at least I haven't noticed anything unusual about 
> it's performance.)
>
> What Happened RIGHT BEFORE the problem Occured:
>
> Only programs open were OE and AIM.  I was IMing with a friend, when 
> suddenly I heard a 'pop' from my spekaers, and my sound cut out.  So I 
> finished my converstion in "silence", sent and received a few more emails, 
> and decided to just reboot and see if the sound situation would return to 
> normal.  The machine was working perfectly other than the sound, so I 
> figured it was just "one of those things", and a simple reboot would solve 
> the problem.  Which it did, sorta.  The sound came back, but that's when 
> the boot problem first appeared, and it's been this way ever since.  A 
> couple other things of note;
>
> - After that first reboot?  The system32 folder would appear on my desktop 
> informing me that "These Files Are Hidden".  A problem I resolved by 
> searching the web, and disabling /L:ENG (whatever that is) in Start-Up, 
> via msconfig.  That had never happened before.
>
> - One of the first things I tried to do in attempt to resolve this issue 
> was to do a System Restore.  Imagine my surprise when I got there to find 
> that all of my previous restore points were gone?!  (The machine usually 
> lets me go back at least a week, and nobody had messed with the settings.) 
> I'm the only one who uses this machine, and for the past four days, it's 
> been once again setting restore points automatically.  So that's odd too.
>
> What I've Done To Try and Diagnose and Resolve the Issue:
>
> - Cracked the case and reseated the sound card (SB-Audigy 2)
>
> - Uninstalled and reinstalled the sound card drivers.
>
> - Ran chkdsk and sfc.  (All Ok)
>
> - Ran fully updated versions of Spybot, Ad-Aware, HijackThis, Stinger, and 
> AVG. (All OK)
>
> - Ran "Housecall" by Trend-Micro. (All OK)
>
> - Ran the Disk Cleanup utility and defragged.  The defragmenter took 
> forever to open and close.  It seemed to run OK though.  By "open and 
> close" I mean it took a while from the time I clicked on it, to the time 
> it finally appeared on my desktop.  Probably 20 seconds or so.  Then it 
> ran normally, but when it was done, it took another 20 seconds from the 
> time I clicked the 'x' to close it, to the time it actually went away. 
> Don't know if that's helpful or not, but I thought I'd mention it just in 
> case.
>
> - Went to the Black Viper site and looked for any services that shouldn't 
> be running. (OK)
>
> - Used msconfig to check for anything unusual in the start-up list.  (OK)
>
> - Unplugged my cable modem and rebooted. (No Joy)
>
> - Shut down the 'client' machine and rebooted.  (No Joy)
>
> So now, as I've already informed Doug Knox, (who suggested I post here) 
> I'm really at my wits end with this.  I've been Googling around for days 
> trying to resolve this issue.  And though I've seen a lot of folks 
> reporting the same problem as me?  I've yet to come across a "solution" 
> that doesn't require a format and reinstall.  The bottom line is, I can 
> live with the slow boot.  Unlike a lot of other folks who have this same 
> issue, the performance of my machine isn't suffering.  I'd just love to 
> know what happened, and if anyone has a 'fix' other than a format.   I'll 
> be happy to try any suggestions you may have and post back with my 
> results.
>
> IF somebody hear can sort it out?  I'm sure it would make a lot of people 
> very happy.
>
> Thanks for your consideration,
> Bill
>
>