Re: Slow XP Boot

From: Carl lackey (clackey3_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 01/19/05 

Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 00:59:11 -0500
To: John Blaustein <no@spam.com>

John Blaustein wrote:

> Bill,
>
> I'm no expert, just an end-user, so forgive me if none of this applies....
>
> 1) I have a firewire external card reader. When it is plugged into my XP
> Home PC, Windows takes an extra minute or two to shut down. At first, I
> thought the system had frozen because it just sat there. I discovered that
> if the firewire device was unplugged, XP shutdown very quickly. Now, I
> leave the reader unplugged. (I don't remember if the card reader had an
> effect on startup time.)
>
> 2) I recently switched from DSL to cable. The DSL used fixed IP addresses.
> Cable uses dynamic IP addresses. I may be imagining this, but it seems like
> XP now takes longer to load -- stopping longer on the logo screen with the
> progress bar -- now that my network needs to assign an IP address every time
> I boot up.
>
> 3) Again, this may be my imagination, but when I boot with one of my Epson
> USB printers turned on, booting seems to take longer (than if I boot with
> the printers turned off.)
>
> I'd certainly try null's suggestion of updating all device drivers. Since
> you already have SP2, it sounds like Windows is in good shape.
>
> John
>
>
>
> "Bill Maxwell" <sam@nodamnspam.com> wrote in message
> news:%23iu%23qSY$EHA.1904@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> I've run every spyware program (spybot, adaware, MS Antispyware). I've
>> scaned with Norton and Trendmicro's housecall. And came up with nothhing.
>> I've formated my machine about 2 months ago and that didn't solve the
>> problem. The only thing running on startup is Norton Antivirus.
>>
>> "John Blaustein" <no@spam.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23n72miX$EHA.2580@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>>> Carl,
>>>
>>> Have you tried running the new MS AntiSpyware (BETA)? Here's the link:
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>> "Carl lackey" <clackey3@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>> news:%23kBFBBX$EHA.3616@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>>>> Bill Maxwell wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> When windows is loading the little scroll bar starts out at a normal
>>>>> speed but about 6 seconds into loading it slows down to a crawl. I can
>>>>> hit any keyboard key once, sometimes twice and then I goes right back
>>>>> to normal and loads the GUI within 2 secs. If I don't press anything it
>>>>> takes almost 90 more seconds to fully load. I've gone as far as
>>>>> reloading XP and loading service pack two with all current updates. Any
>>>>> ideas would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>> Note: All three hard drives are 7200 rpm with 8mb cache. Windows drive
>>>>> is 120gb, slave 180gb, secondary master 200gb. With 2 512mb memory
>>>>> sticks which I have tried replacing.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If booted the XP CD to "Repair" your system, it is most likely that any
>>>> ad-ware, spyware or trojan you have is still there. The registry is
>>>> still interacts and when the trojan starts up.
>>>>
>>>> Three of 4 machines brought to me in the last week have been infected,
>>>> and in each case, one of the following exists:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Adware removal tool found it and said it was removed, but a re-scan
>>>> finds it still there.
>>>>
>>>> 2. Adware removal tools and anti-virus do NOT find it.
>>>>
>>>> 3. Trojan has more than one component that "watches" each other, and if
>>>> one gets killed or removed, the other ones restart it. These are really
>>>> tough to handle.
>>>>
>>>> Carl
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
John,
Where did you get the idea DSL has a fixed IP? That is an extra cost
service.

I was on DSL 5 years, and now on cable. Here is what I have learned:

If you have a router,
or not on a router and leave your PC on all the time

your dynamic IP will not change except for unusual circumstances. It
has nothing to do with Cable or DSL.

Firewire affecting shutdown times means the Firewire driver does not
respond to the Windows Shutdown command, so Windows waits for it to time
out (usually 60 seconds) before Windows goes on to process the next
device. Driver defect.

> ...about 6 seconds into loading it slows down to a crawl.

Sounds like a hardware problem... something is sending Windows spurious
service requests. Most likely guess would be mouse, then keyboard.
Swap out is best way to test.

Another thing that affects startup time is how many:
- objects you have on your desktop.
- How many FILES you saved to the desktop. Files need to be saved in a
folder that is not on the desktop. (My Documents is the obvious choice).
Did you know that My Documents can easily be moved to another drive?
RMB on My Documents and pick the Move button.

Windows spends a LOT of horsepower rebuilding your desktop.

If none of those fix you up, I am still betting on a process starting
up. Programs do NOT have to show up in your Task List. For example,
you don't see services in the processes list. A programmer chooses to
allow or deny visibility when he creates a module. Default is to show it.

Carl