(NOTE: I am using the term 'forever' in this post in its literal sense, not the hyperbolic sense.)
A few days ago my < 1 year old P8Z68 gaming rig began to take a long time to shut down, maybe 10 minutes or so. Then it started taking just as long to start up. These startup/shutdown times began to increase until it was taking at LEAST an HOUR to load up Windows. It would simply stall at the "Starting Windows" screen animation for an hour or more. I usually just lose patience after that long and try to tweak something.
Right before the startup time became so long I made a clone of my C drive and reinstalled Windows 7 fresh to try to fix it. The initial startup after that installation was the last time I have been in Windows on that machine since yesterday. It now takes an indefinite amount of time to load windows (an hour is the longest I have waited for it.)
So I restarted and tried to use startup repair but THAT takes forever too. Then I tried to install Windows again and even THAT stalls for forever at the "Starting Windows" screen. Its like my system has become sentient and now has a deep hatred for all things Windows.
I am baffled by this, and the only significant change in my system that I can think of before this happened was updating my WLAN card drivers. The system runs through POST and initial startup just as fast as normal, and as far as I can tell there are no hardware problems. It seems to be Windows.
While I wait for help I am going to try using a linux live CD to see if that will start. Sorry for the long post =S
A few days ago my < 1 year old P8Z68 gaming rig began to take a long time to shut down, maybe 10 minutes or so. Then it started taking just as long to start up. These startup/shutdown times began to increase until it was taking at LEAST an HOUR to load up Windows. It would simply stall at the "Starting Windows" screen animation for an hour or more. I usually just lose patience after that long and try to tweak something.
Right before the startup time became so long I made a clone of my C drive and reinstalled Windows 7 fresh to try to fix it. The initial startup after that installation was the last time I have been in Windows on that machine since yesterday. It now takes an indefinite amount of time to load windows (an hour is the longest I have waited for it.)
So I restarted and tried to use startup repair but THAT takes forever too. Then I tried to install Windows again and even THAT stalls for forever at the "Starting Windows" screen. Its like my system has become sentient and now has a deep hatred for all things Windows.
I am baffled by this, and the only significant change in my system that I can think of before this happened was updating my WLAN card drivers. The system runs through POST and initial startup just as fast as normal, and as far as I can tell there are no hardware problems. It seems to be Windows.
While I wait for help I am going to try using a linux live CD to see if that will start. Sorry for the long post =S