Computer wizards????

[f5fstop]

My new laptop is suddenly taking forever to boot up. What I mean to boot up is the Windows XP startup screen stays on now for up to four minutes, versus the less than one minute it was on when first purchased.
I have run a complete Norton Virus Scan, Adware SE, PC Spy Doctor Scans and Trojan Removal scan and no viruses, trojans or any spyware (other than the standard tracking types) were shown and removed.
What could suddenly cause this problem.
I really hate to call HP customer service since I have a hard time speaking Indian.:D

[ree]

I'm not a wizard but...have you tried booting into safe mode yet and seeing if it's just as slow? You typically need to press and hold F8 as the machine is starting to get to the boot menu that allows you to choose the boot options.

These articles are hardly good tutorials but they'll explain how to boot with as little as possible enabled and then reboot with more options/drivers enabled. Keep doing this until you see where the big slowdown occurs.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434

This article is more of a tutorial:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1643

I once had a motherboard NIC on a desktop system go bad and when network was "started" everything went to hell and the PC started crawling. The network worked well, but had lots of failures and required a lot of packet resending.

[BlueTJCO]

command prompt

msconfig

go to start up tab.......

uncheck what you dont need at startup.....


Could also be your HDD is failing......spyware is a possibility but prob not if you have run spybot s&d and adaware se..................

[alldunn]

A format and clean install is a good idea every now and then, IMHO.

[BlueTJCO]

A format and clean install is a good idea every now and then, IMHO.

why? There is no need to format the drive and do a clean install unless he has exhausted every other option IMHO...................

do you work for geek squad?:p ;) :D

[ree]

A format and clean install is a good idea every now and then, IMHO.
That's BS. Care and nurturing can keep a windows box going without a reinstall for a loooong time. Of course, you have to know what you're doing.

[BlueTJCO]

That's BS. Care and nurturing can keep a windows box going without a reinstall for a loooong time. Of course, you have to know what you're doing.

thank you.....

[alldunn]

why? There is no need to format the drive and do a clean install unless he has exhausted every other option IMHO...................

Guarantee you I can reformat a machine and reimage it faster that you can figure out what the h3ll is going on with it (in some cases). I'm not saying reformat becasue the f'ing thing won't print. But for our workstations, most of the time that is the quickest solution...we are using Citrix, so really not installing any software.

do you work for geek squad?:p ;) :D
doubt they pay enough to buy the gas for my H2.:rolleyes:

[ree]

Guarantee you I can reformat a machine and reimage it faster that you can figure out what the h3ll is going on with it (in some cases).
If f5fstop is referring to a corporate laptop, then you might have a weak argument. It sounds like his system is a personal one.

Even if it were corporate, I guarantee you can't reformat, reimage, and then have a happy user with all of his non-IT managed apps installed and configured the same way as before. Plus the added cost of having the user do all the post-reimage work and not getting any other work done in the mean time is way steeper than most IT staffers ever seem to appreciate.

[alldunn]

Even if it were corporate, I guarantee you can't reformat, reimage, and then have a happy user with all of his non-IT managed apps installed and configured the same way as before.

That's the beauty of Citrix, no software is installed on the local machine. It's all housed and run from a server farm. Now that is a bit off subject and I realize his laptop is probably not a corporate machine. I don't regularly format my personal computers either, but was humbly offering my opinion that that sometimes is a good idea. Frankly I don't care if you agree or disagree.

[ree]

Frankly I don't care if you agree or disagree. :D

[evldave]

Is this your new Compaq? If so, check to see what sort of pre-installed software came with it. When I got mine, I immediately wiped and started w/a fresh install from the re-image disks. I didn't install all the 'add-ons' and that helped a lot.

Follow the other instructions as indicated here on eliminating startup apps. If you've done both (re-image and removal of all non-essential startup apps), you'll likely have to deal with it - more memory or HD won't likely help much on faster startup (defrag regularly if you edit files a lot).

I've got a ton of essential software running on mine at startup, so now I never shut it down - I have it hibernate, which kicks it right back up - takes no more than 1 minute to re-start in the same place as I left when shutting it off. If your laptop is like mine, you should be able to set up the 'power' button to actually be the hibernate button.

[MovinH2]

Could be a virus/adware/spyware too. Run a scan to be safe.

[Lucifer]

Make sure you have only 1 virus program installed. What was the last thing you installed before it started running slow? Does it slow down when only when its not plugged into the wall? Some laptops have settings that slow the processor down when not plugged in. PM me and I can give you a call and walk through checking a few things to see whats up.

As for reformatting the HDD, thats fine for a corporate peon with a standard image. On a personal PC, it would take many hours to reload all the crap, and you would probably reload the same program that was causing the problem in the first place. Once you graduated from the help desk you may learn that someday.

[ree]

f5fstop,
If it's before you get to log in, i.e. before windows has started where you have, then I'm convinced is drivers that are having trouble being started and not just adware or anything like that. Most of the recommendations to uninstall things, and to disable startup services are only really going to be effective if the problematic applications are ones that get started after the windows shell starts and the user is given an opportunity to log in.

[Klaus]

Check your Event Logs.

[PARAGON]

Check your Event Logs.what if they have half-chewed peanuts in them?

[Klaus]

what if they have half-chewed peanuts in them?

:eek: :D

[DennisAJC]

what if they have half-chewed peanuts in them?

I just threw up in my mouth.:D

[f5fstop]

Thanks to all, but it did take a backup, format, reinstall to get the bugger working correctly. Two nights ago, I was on the phone with the HP (Seattle, not India) help and we tried everything, looked at everything from software to hardware. For some reason, all they could figure out was the files for booting somehow got messed up.
We, HP and I, are wondering if it was a problem with the uninstall of IE7, Beta 2, with the install of the IE7, Beta 3 upgrade. :D So, just to make sure, I'll stay with IE6 until the final IE7 is released.
So, last night did a reinstall and everything is working great. Two hours for a format, another 1.5 to install the standard software with the machine. Now, I'm slowly installing all the additional software I use.
If it happens again, they say they will just replace, but hopefully, it won't happen.

[ree]

Well that's a shame it came to that. And that's certainly not an endorsement for IE 7 being "separate from the OS."

One thing I forgot to mention that's actually saved me a couple times is XP's System Restore. It will monitor for changes to "sensitive" files that sometimes get updated during product installs and create system restore points. If you remember this when you first notice your system behaving oddly, sometimes you can restore to the most recent restore point and thing's will start working again. It doesn't work all of the time, but it's worth trying.

[Agriv8r]

unplug it, count to 30 and buy a new one. This has worked for me in the past and will work on just about everything:cool:

actually I just got off the phone with dell, ask for the john wayne line (no indians:D :D ) they walked me through my issues and sounded very cowboy.

good luck

[PARAGON]

unplug it, count to 30 and buy a new one. This has worked for me in the past and will work on just about everything:cool:

actually I just got off the phone with dell, ask for the john wayne line (no indians:D :D ) they walked me through my issues and sounded very cowboy.

good luckwhat if I can't count to 30..... pilgrim.

[Agriv8r]

the counting part is really just for effect, this will work without counting:D

[f5fstop]

Well that's a shame it came to that. And that's certainly not an endorsement for IE 7 being "separate from the OS."



Could be they were Beta copies. I'll wait for the final; no more testing for me.:D

[LoLo]

Two nights ago, I was on the phone with the HP (Seattle, not India) help and we tried everything...

You lucked out -- I always get the ESL candidates! :cool:

[f5fstop]

You lucked out -- I always get the ESL candidates! :cool:

I have their second tier support number, which is direct to seattle.:D

[deserth3]

How many icons do you have in the systray. The bottom right of the screen next to the clock.

I would also try uninstalling all adware, trojan, ect removal tools. they may be conflicting.