XP Taking FOREVER (20 mins) To Boot Up

[MAME]

Installed Quickbooks 2007 (2005 was already on the system) and now Windows XP takes literally 20 minutes to boot up. It stays at a blank screen white a white cursor blinking nearly 20 minutes before finally getting in to Windows.

The computer is something a 1.5 year old Dell (~2.4 P4, 512 megs, WinXP). I've removed everything from the startup via msconfig, so it's not that it's just loading too much crap on startup.

A Quickbooks rep said the the install was successful and said the computer just needed more memory (not sure if the rep is stupid or if they just want to try to confuse/lie to the owner of the computer)

I can't think of anything that changed besides Quickbooks...Any ideas?

 

[MrChad]

Have you tried uninstalling Quickbooks?

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Have you tried uninstalling Quickbooks?

This would be my first move also...

1 Running fine.
2. Install XX App.
3. Runs like crap.
4. Uninstall App.
5. Running fine as in step 1.

This will usually result in a return of the system to normal. Most of the time.

pcgeek11

 

[ForumMaster]

besides removing the app (which is probablly the problem) i suggest you use TuneXP to defragment the boot files and to tweak windows to run faster.

 

[Nothinman]

i suggest you use TuneXP to defragment the boot files and to tweak windows to run faster.

That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

[MAME]

Thanks for the info. I suggested uninstalling Quickbooks, but I fear that it'll slow down again once it's reinstalled shortly after the uninstall

 

[kobymu]

The few other options I can think of that can cause something like this after installing an application (besides the application itself being bad) is either you are running low on disk space, or a bad anti-piracy component (which in certain cases isn?t uninstalled when you uninstall the application it comes with).

 

[Dooyas]

Try this...

Go to your Device Manager

Go to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

Uninstall Primary IDE channel.

When it is finished let the system reboot and sit for a few mins to reinstal the channel.

Reboot again and see how long it takes. If it does not cut down the time, run a HD check to make sure your HD is not failing.

 

[thegorx]

20 minutes is likely more than a software issue
it sounds more like hardware or a corrupt registry or format

any other problems ? Power outages ? freezing ? shutdowns ? smells coming out of the powersupply ? Leaking capacitors on the motherboard ? Optical drives not responding like they use to ? Have you tried a boot cd like a live linux disk to see if it has problems as well ?

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: Dooyas
Try this...

Go to your Device Manager

Go to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

Uninstall Primary IDE channel.

When it is finished let the system reboot and sit for a few mins to reinstal the channel.

Reboot again and see how long it takes. If it does not cut down the time, run a HD check to make sure your HD is not failing.

Definitely do this. It will allow the drive a chance to transfer with DMA if it has accidentally reverted to PIO.

 

[Nothinman]

Definitely do this. It will allow the drive a chance to transfer with DMA if it has accidentally reverted to PIO.

If it reverted to PIO once that means there's a problem anyway and it'll end up reverting eventually again. It would be smarter to just look at it and see if it's in PIO instead of just removing the device and hoping for the best.

But even so, PIO won't cause the system to take 20m to boot up, even a Windows system.

 

[John]

How long does it take to boot to safe mode?

I'd run hard drive diags on it. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows will test non-WD drives if you use the windows version.

Report back and we'll go from there.

 

[Dooyas]

We get about 5-10 systems in a week where this is the problem. Basically the PIO mode makes accessing the hard drive super slow and doing the uninstall and reinstall clears it up.

Today was the 1st day we have actually seen a repeat case of it on the same computer.

To be honest, I do not know why the systems suddenly revert to the PIO mode, and if anyone can figure it out that would be great, but it ranges on systems from being 2-3 days out of the box to others that have been fine for 6mo - 1yr.

Of course, if he doesnt want to try it that is fine, I am just going by my experiance and wish him the best.

 

[Nothinman]

We get about 5-10 systems in a week where this is the problem. Basically the PIO mode makes accessing the hard drive super slow and doing the uninstall and reinstall clears it up.

That's amazing, PIO mode is slow but it shouldn't be 20m-bootup slow. I guess that's just another one of Windows amazing feats.

To be honest, I do not know why the systems suddenly revert to the PIO mode, and if anyone can figure it out that would be great, but it ranges on systems from being 2-3 days out of the box to others that have been fine for 6mo - 1yr.

Well since Windows logging sucks so bad I'm not surprised you can't see the root cause, but the only real reason that it should downgrade to PIO is if there was a problem transferring data, a few CRC mismatchs or something. Usually that's indicative of a hardware problem, cabling or the drive itself. Sometimes bad discs can cause a DVD/CD to do that and I guess if they're on the same channel it might drop the hard disk too.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
But even so, PIO won't cause the system to take 20m to boot up, even a Windows system.

QFT

Even on old Win98 pc's that I service once in a while the HDD might be stuck in PIO mode and it only adds an extra minute or so compared to DMA mode.

 

[TheVrolok]

Marked for future reference. Good info.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: Dooyas
We get about 5-10 systems in a week where this is the problem. Basically the PIO mode makes accessing the hard drive super slow and doing the uninstall and reinstall clears it up.

Today was the 1st day we have actually seen a repeat case of it on the same computer.

To be honest, I do not know why the systems suddenly revert to the PIO mode, and if anyone can figure it out that would be great, but it ranges on systems from being 2-3 days out of the box to others that have been fine for 6mo - 1yr.

Of course, if he doesnt want to try it that is fine, I am just going by my experiance and wish him the best.

Same with me. I've seen only one repeat case as well out of probably 20 to 30 I've fixed in this manner. The boot time doesn't hit 20 minutes, but I've definitely seen 10.

And I'd also like to know what causes this. One definite clue that this is the problem is that audio plays in a stuttered manner and the Windows login sound does not play smoothly after the boot.