Re: Windows XP SP2 very slow to boot

Wow, a wealth of information!

Responding somewhat to the last two posts, here's where I am. I will be
proceeding with some of the suggestions that have come in.

1. A. Malware infestation: I downloaded and run the free PCTools Spyware
Doctor. It identified Spyware.Bonzi.buddy and Spyware.known_bad_sites. I
have not removed them as yet, because both were listed as "Low" threads, and
you'd have to pay Spyware Doctor for registration for it to remove them. Not
done there, yet. What are the chances that either of these would cause what
I'm seeing?

1.B. Someone suggested some kind of Trojan Horse might be screwing with DNS
at startup (and, in fact, sometimes shortly after startup I have network
connectivity issues, which I have ascribed to my provider, but ???). The
suggestion was, start the computer with the network cable unplugged. Did
that, no change.

2. Clean boot trials: Yes, I got MS article 310353 and followed it. No
change.

3. Safe Mode: I can start in Safe Mode with or without Networking - the
computer comes right up, no problem.

Additional information:
I am set up for dual boot of either XP or Win2K, and they're on separate
HDDs. EITHER ONE has the problem. So, it's not OS-specific. What does that
leave? Something that's common to both. To my thinking that's the boot
sector, which resides on one of the two disks; or hardware/firmware.

To Anna - you are correct in your inferences. Until a few weeks ago, the
computer had worked quite normally following my upgrade to XP. This seemed
to come out of the blue. I don't think I had changed anything, although I've
done enough support work myself to be highly skeptical of such claims, even
when I make them.

I see I have several more things to try - I'll be back.

Thanks,
Randy457


"Anna" wrote:


"Randy457" <Randy457@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:689A8086-5D87-492F-B3E3-21308A16F677@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This string has nearly died, but let's try to revitalize it. I'm having a
very similar problem. This started with no connection to any system
changes
that I know about.

My XP displays the intial XP screw with the little progress bar for a few
seconds, then the screen goes black for eight minutes. Then the desktop
image appears, but it's another 6-7 minutes before the desktop is
populated
with icons and the task tray fills in. During this last interval, I can
bring up the Task Manager via Ctrl-alt-del and see running processes, but
no
applications are shown as started. The CPU and memory usage seem pretty
normal.

I suspected virus, perhaps interfering with the boot sector. I have run
two
different scanners (ClamWin and AVG); neither one found anything.

If I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it comes right up.

The computer is six years old with an ASUS motherboard and a 1.53 GHz
Intel
chip. I upgraded from Win2K to XP about a year ago.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Randy457


Randy...
Needless to say there are a multitude of possible reasons why you're
experiencing this problem - both hardware/software related.

We'll assume at the outset that at best as you've concluded there's no
malware infestation that's causing whatever problems you're experiencing.
Naturally this *must* be checked out in as thorough a manner as you can.

I'll also assume that you've consulted the MS article 310353 referred to by
Dave and the various processes suggested there haven't resolved your
problem, right?

You're working with a pretty old machine (in "computer-age") so obviously
there's always a sneaking suspicion the problem may be hardware-based. But
you say you went to XP about a year or so. We'll assume you're working with
SP2 or SP3 on that OS, right?

And up to the problem you're now describing the system worked just fine,
right? It booted without incident and properly functioned thereafter. That's
right, isn't it?

So this problem came "out-of-the-blue"? You have no clue as to what caused
it?

Anyway, have you undertaken the "usual" attempted fixes and/or diagnostic
procedures?
1. Have you run the sfc /scannow command?
2. What about chkdsk /r?
3. Have you considered a Repair install of the OS?
5. Have you checked out your HDD with a HDD diagnostic utility from the
disk's manufacturer?
4. What happens if you go to the "Last Known Good Configuration" option?
That doesn't work?
6. And what about just Safe Mode (sans networking)? What happens then?

All the above indicate no problem(s)?
Anna



.

Loading