Win XP startup delay

[andylister]

I have a strange glitch in my rebuilt PC.
When I start the machine, Windows XP boots up, I get to the log on screen, click my username and the desktop loads, along with the few items that I have in my system tray. If I then try to run an application or game, having double clicked the icon, the mouse cursor changes to the egg timer briefly, then nothing happens for the best part of a minute, when finally, the games/apps splash or start screen loads and off we go.
If, when I start up, I wait at the log on screen for a minute or so before clicking on my user name, then once in windows, ever app / game starts as it should - i.e. straight away.
During the “mini-hang” there appears to be no HDD activity.
This glitch doesn’t happen with all apps / programs. I haven’t checked everything, but as an example I’ve found that Hidden And Dangerous 2, and 3Dark2001se hang, command prompt, Word2000, and Excel2000 don’t.

My system is set up as follows:
DFI Lanpart Ultra B mobo, Athlon XP 3200+, 1GB Kingston HyperX PC3500 DDRAM, 2x Striped WD 74GB SATA Raptors(using SIL 3114 RAID controller), 2x Seagate 160GB SATA Barracudas, Asus Radeon 9800XT 256MB graphics, Lite-on CD/DVD combo, Sony DVD rewriter.
I’ve disabled both onboard LAN ports and installed a D-Link Wireless network card, which I’ve had disabled whilst I look into this problem.

Before the rebuild, my setup comprised all as above, except: Asus A7N8X Delux mobo, only the two Barracudas, mirrored on the SIL 3112A RAID controller, Hercules Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB graphics, both LAN’s disabled, and the D-Link Wireless LAN installed and active.

I’ve updated the BIOS and have updated the Catalyst drivers for the graphics card, and I’ve also made sure that I‘ve got the latest RAID drivers, none of these changes had solved the problem.

Any clues anybody?

[Bill in SD, CA]

It may be that all your services haven't fully loaded when you log on immediately and hence the delay.

Bill

[Fr4gm4n]

Try using Bootvis...this helped me in determining what was slowing my boot process down.


Steve.

[DoctorReno]

FRgn4n,
For those like me, elaborate on what bootvis is, and how to access it.
Thanks

[Fr4gm4n]

Oops sorry.....download from http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/...-1.shtmlhere..
Install it and run it..it logs everything that is loaded during the boot and gives you a graphical diplay on each item...drivers, services etc..and how long each one takes.
Very useful I found. Sorry 'bout that....should have posted link before :/

Steve

[musictoad]

Howzt,

I dont know but this seems weird, my friend has the same dam problem, he runs a Celeron 2.4 anyways his mouse doesnt move too smooth when just started and windows has just loaded up. You have to wait about 1 minute or 2 before you can actually use the machine nicely with the mouse moving nicely also.

IF you ask me Computers and the software are such a dam pain that even I have hassles, sorry I can not really help you with this one.

I doubt you have hardware problems? i dont know, you stuff is new right? Maybe just test you ram with : http://www.memtest86.com/

Try you machine with minimal config setup i.e. only with GFX card; forget about the on-board sound or separate sound card and external devices.

ANyways, good luck
Regards

[andylister]

Morning everyone, thanks for your help.

I installed the bootvis app - and ran into a brick wall with it. Each and every time that I attempted to reboot with Bootvis running, my boot hung, generally when the "Windows XP Pro" splash page was displayed, the progress indicator simply stopped, all disk activity ended. Had to power off to get anywhere. After powering down and rebooting, the only way of getting my o/s to load was by choosing the "Last known good...." option - even the various safe modes wouldn't load whilst Bootvis was still running.
XP is up to date from Microsoft - as of Sunday afternoon...
My plan for this evening is to check the event logs and take off the two Barracuda SATA drives as a starter for 10.
Watch this space....

[Patrick]

You might try deselecting "Automatically search for network folders and printers" in control panel-folder options-view. Some people have said this helps.

[andylister]

Morning all,

Got to the crux of my problem last night - checked the system event log and found that the WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) service was hanging at every boot. I disabled it, rebooted and my problem disappeared. Luckily my scanner doesn't need this service to run.

Still cannot get the bootvis app to run (my task scheduler service is running fine), but this is less important now...

I'd still like to know why the WIA service doesn't run properly, and why Bootvis doesn't run, but for now my system seems fast and stable, so I'll worry about the other later.

Thanks for all your help.

[Fr4gm4n]

Originally posted by Patrick
You might try deselecting "Automatically search for network folders and printers" in control panel-folder options-view. Some people have said this helps.

Thanks for this...it worked for me too

Steve.