 Slow Start Up And Hang Time, Scans found nothing, RAM??? |
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 Dec 31 2007, 02:29 PM
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 Member  Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214  |
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Dec 31 2007, 02:59 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 402 Joined: 23-December 07 From: Wanganui, Aotearoa NZ Member No.: 178,459 |
Hi Siren1234,
There are many things that windows could be doing to slow your computer on startup. You can look Here for more info. Heres some stuff you can try: 1. Defrag your hard drive. Use the built in XP defragmenter (dfrg.msc). It's the only one that properly optimizes your system's prefetching to speed up boot time. 2. Go to Microsoft's website and download BootVis.exe. It will optimize your prefetching even further than the built in defragmenter. Use both to get the best results: dfrg.msc first, then BootVis.exe->Tools menu->Optimize. Also, you can use it to benchmark your boot time before and after system tweaks and software installations. 3. Go to Start->Run... and type or paste "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks". This will start a built in optimization routine that runs in the System Idle Process and shows up as "rundll32.exe" in task manager. It normally runs automatically every 3 days. It will run for 15 mins to half an hour, so don't try to do anything too intensive while its running. If you get sick of it running, you should probably log off or restart to be safe, rather than killing the process. 4. Delete anything that you don't need in the Start->Programs->Startup folder, and in the Registry under HKLM->Software->Microsoft->Windows->Run and HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Windows->Run. 5. Go to Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services or go to Start->Run... and type "services.msc" to display services running on your machine. About 1/3 should be automatic, 1/3 should be manual, and 1/3 should be disabled, IMHO. If you don't know which to change, search google for "XP services" and read one of the many webpages that describe each service. 6. If you have a secondary hard drive put the page file on that, not the boot drive. Set its size to about 2.5 times the amount of physical RAM you have. You can do this by right-clicking my computer and selecting Properties->Advanced tab->Performance section->Settings button->Advanced tab again->Virtual Memory section->Change button. Whew! They don't make that one easy to get to. Just don't completely remove your swap file, cause your system might not boot after that, unless you have a lot of physical RAM.  7. Repeat steps 1-3. Ideally, XP on a clean install should boot in about 12 seconds from the time that you see the XP logo to useable (can open a program). With all my device drivers and third-party utilities, the best I can acheive so far is 18 seconds on my Dell. Don't use Norton SpeedDisk!--It may slow your XP system boot time by about 6 seconds.   You can also try enabling verbose logon messages which will show you each file being loaded. If there is one particular file or a string of them taking a long time to load, then google them to see if they are viruses.  Another thing... Have you ever cleared things like your user cache etc.? If not then you need to get CCleaner Here. Its a rather rough cleaner going for absolutely every unneeded file. Be careful what you delete and use the built in registry backup when using this tool. Tweaks... There are many tweaks to speed up your computer like stopping core services from paged to disk and disabling last time access stamp and networked detection (for stand-alone PC). And there are various tools that claim to speed up your PC incredibly, but XP Smoker or TweakXP are good tools. Always remember to create a System restore before doing anything with them. -------------------- L&P, World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago!  Avast! Antivirus : Spybot S&D : Trend Micro Housecall : Hosts file : HiJack This Don't be too open minded - your brains will fall out |
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Dec 31 2007, 03:01 PM
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Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 7,460 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Does anyone run chkdsk...or defrag the system? Running CHKDSK - http://www.1securitycenter.com/windows_xp_faq/chkdsk.html
Anyone check Event Viewer for possible clues? What is the Event Viewer, and Should I Care - Ask Leo! - http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_event_viewe...uld_i_care.html Any actual error messages flash onscreen? How long is a "slow" startup, how long is a "regular" startup? Anyone check the system thoroughly for malware of all kinds? Louis |
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Dec 31 2007, 06:15 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
QUOTE(hamluis @ Dec 31 2007, 04:01 PM)  Does anyone run chkdsk...or defrag the system? Running CHKDSK - http://www.1securitycenter.com/windows_xp_faq/chkdsk.html Anyone check Event Viewer for possible clues? What is the Event Viewer, and Should I Care - Ask Leo! - http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_event_viewe...uld_i_care.html Any actual error messages flash onscreen? How long is a "slow" startup, how long is a "regular" startup? Anyone check the system thoroughly for malware of all kinds? Louis Yes I defrag once a month, checked event viewer and there was nothing around the time this happened. No errors on screen. It takes about 8 minutes to fully load. I have with a bunch of programs for malware and virus's. I am going to do all of the above and re-post with results. Won't be for the next few days, wife will get angry if I am on the puter all night tonight, lmao. |
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Dec 31 2007, 08:24 PM
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Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 7,460 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Understood, Happy New Year
 !Someone will be here to help next year .Louis |
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Jan 1 2008, 02:38 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!
OK, did everything and nothing has changed. I am running Microsoft Memory Diagnostic right now and there are no errors, it has been running for 2.5 hours on standard and now on extended. I am also going to run memtest86 in a couple of hours. I had a single beep yesterday from the board and from the beep codes that means memory refresh failure possible cause bad memory. Should I just get new RAM test it and see what happens?? Or should I test another HDD first and see what happens? Thanks. |
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Jan 1 2008, 04:02 PM
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Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 7,460 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Before spending money, I always try the cheap (sometimes implausible) stuff
.I would remove the memory, blow the dimms clean with compressed air, and then reseat/reinsert the memory modules, boot, and see what happens. And I would run chkdsk /r or the equivalent: How To Run CHKDSK In XP - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q315265 Follow the guidelines for running it from My Computer, putting check marks in both boxes which appear. Louis |
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Jan 1 2008, 04:11 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
QUOTE(hamluis @ Jan 1 2008, 05:02 PM) Before spending money, I always try the cheap (sometimes implausible) stuff .I would remove the memory, blow the dimms clean with compressed air, and then reseat/reinsert the memory modules, boot, and see what happens. And I would run chkdsk /r or the equivalent: How To Run CHKDSK In XP - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q315265 Follow the guidelines for running it from My Computer, putting check marks in both boxes which appear. Louis I took all the memory out already and did that, I even put them back in one at a time to see the results and it was still slow almost the same with just one 512MB in then with all 1.28GB in. I will run chkdsk when the memory scans are done. I have an extra 200GB HDD I think I will load XP and some drivers after all the scans and see what happens. Thanks for the help. |
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Jan 2 2008, 03:15 AM
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 Bleepin' Cynic Group: BC Advisor Posts: 5,697 Joined: 11-November 06 Member No.: 94,959 |
When you say your CPU use is all over the place, what process(es) are using up all the CPU?
-------------------- Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.
—Richard Lamm |
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Jan 2 2008, 04:48 PM
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#10
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
OK, no errors on disk or on memory scans. I was watching the processes and it seems that when system idle is using CPU it isn't freeing any up. That sounds like a problem to me. What could be the cause of that?
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Jan 2 2008, 05:20 PM
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Bleepin' Cynic Group: BC Advisor Posts: 5,697 Joined: 11-November 06 Member No.: 94,959 |
If the System Idle Process is using all your CPU that is a good thing. The System Idle Process is just a count of the processing power that is not in use.
-------------------- Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.
—Richard Lamm |
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Jan 2 2008, 05:25 PM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
QUOTE(Budapest @ Jan 2 2008, 05:20 PM) If the System Idle Process is using all your CPU that is a good thing. The System Idle Process is just a count of the processing power that is not in use. Ya, but the CPU stays high, it doesn't come down, the puter stays slow. If the S I P was at 50% and nothing else running then the CPU should be @ 50%, thats not the case, it stays at 100%. |
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Jan 2 2008, 05:31 PM
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#13
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Bleepin' Cynic Group: BC Advisor Posts: 5,697 Joined: 11-November 06 Member No.: 94,959 |
What else is using high CPU besides SIP?
-------------------- Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.
—Richard Lamm |
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Jan 3 2008, 02:54 PM
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#14
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Member Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 1-October 07 Member No.: 160,214 |
OK, tried another HDD and puter is fine. It is quick reads everything, what can I do?? I really don't want to load everything into the other HDD. This means that memory and board are ok, it is the HDD, right?
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Jan 3 2008, 03:48 PM
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#15
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Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 7,460 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Before I wrote the hard drive off, I would run a manufacturer's disk diagnostic on it. Long test.
As to whether another hard drive solves your situation, only you can tell that. If you no longer experience previous symtoms and the system is running well...that's about all one cans ask for. Louis |
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