Why is Windows XP taking forever to start?

[thoughtpolice]

Hello!

This is my first time posting here but I have been a long time reader of the forums.

Lately I have been having this problem of Windows XP taking a good 5-15 minutes of starting up. When i get on my desktop it then tends to freeze a lot! If it goes to sleep the screen generally just freezes. Keyboard and mouse still works but everything else is just frozen.

I reformatted my hard drive because of this problem but i still get the same results.

I am beginning to think it's faulty RAM. I have 2 sticks (4gb in total) and i even took one out to test to see if it is just one stick. It seem to worked for a little while but even then i got the same problem. I got annoyed and put both sticks in and to my short luck it worked.... for a little while but same results.

I'm back to 1 stick of RAM and still having the same problem.

My Rig:
Biostar TA790GXE 128M
4GB of RAM
AMD Phenom II x4 955 (black edition)
WD Green 500gb hard drive
512mb Nvidia 9800GT
Ultra LS 600W Power Supply

 

[aford10]

What kind of PSU do you have?

 

[thoughtpolice]

Ultra LS 600W Power Supply

 

[aford10]

Try running a chkdsk.
start-->run-->chkdsk /r

If you haven't already, running memtest is a good idea.

 

[thoughtpolice]

now with memtest all u do is burn the iso to a cd and boot to it right?

 

[aford10]

Yep

 

[thoughtpolice]

i think there is a problem with chkdsk cause it shouldn't take 16 hours. When i left my house for work it was at 85 percent, when i came back later it went down to 73 percent at the same stage. if my comp restarts does chkdsk run all over again?

 

[aford10]

Yes, if it restarts, it will resume.

Are you sure it was on the same stage? There are 5 stages. The first 3 normally run pretty quick, but 4 and 5 can take hours. When using the /r switch, it will try to repair any damage it finds. That is the main reason it takes longer than a normal chkdsk scan. As long as it is still moving, you should let it do its thing.

 

[thoughtpolice]

it actually finished its job, it was just when i restarted my computer it started up again.

However, after the chkdsk /r everything went alright with the computer running smoothly etc. until now.... So i did chkdsk /r again and its back to sticking on the windows loading screen for a good 10-15 minutes. The computer still just randomly freezes. It can be when the PC goes to sleep and all i get is a black screen and my cursor or possibly when running any application like a game or even firefox.....

 

[aford10]

If you have a windows disc, try doing a windows repair. It won't effect any of your personal data, it will just repair all of your system files. Here's a good guide.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm

 

[thoughtpolice]

Alright, so I ran a repair and i still encounter the same problems. It takes 10 minutes to fully start up and then my desktop freezes at just random times. This is getting really annoying.

 

[SevenVirtues]

Have you run a memtest yet?

If not do that, a quick google search will get the program and a how to guide.

It will run indefinitely until you stop it though, so after a few passes stop the test.

 

[aford10]

You want it to run more than a couple passes. Memtest should be ran for 5 or 6 hours. It's best to just let it run overnight.

Check the event viewer to see if it's logging any system or application errors.

What Antivirus are you using?

 

[thoughtpolice]

Alright i just completed memtest. and i got 6 passes 0 errors.

I am currently running AVG Free.

 

[SevenVirtues]

To be honest your start time is normal if you have a lot running.

If you're worried about a virus causing this run a trail scan with NOD32.

 

[aford10]

10 minutes isn't normal to start up windows.

Boot into safe mode with networking (F8 on startup). Download, install, and update malwarebytes. Do a full system scan.
www.malwarebytes.org/

 

[SevenVirtues]

5 minutes is though, if it's clogged up with alsorts of software.

 

[rattman169]

yeah, my windows Xp machines take less the a minute each, removed unnecessary services and programs from startup and this will greatly improve speed ( the PC with SATA HDD takes 35 seconds to start XP, the other 2 systems have IDE/PATA HDD and max is about 56 Seconds to start, and that's from click power button to Anti-virus up and running and can fully use PC)

 

[thoughtpolice]

the thing i had this problem before so i reformatted. and still the same problem. I dont have that many programs really. i put nothing for my start up, just sound. HOWEVER the PC works fine a few days and goes back into this normal slump. Yesterday and the day before, after i ran a memtest it ran fine. no problems at all. Now, im back to my old state of a sluggish PC.

It wouldn't hurt to boot in safe mode and do a scan.

 

[rattman169]

this would indicate an issue with the hard drive boot sector, you may want to buy a new drive and use the current as a backup, but again, go into services in administration tools and disable the following (alerter, messenger, remote registry, secondary registry and Wireless 802.xx service if using a desktop) this will also greatly improve start up time, after run msconfig and click start up tab, how many things are actually starting? java updates? probably a few things, remove all but sound and anti-virus, once this is done restart PC, does this help? then run a disk defrag after all is said and done, reboot PC again, did this help? you should at this point have an improvement on start up.

 

[aford10]

The safe mode with networking scan with malwarebytes is a good idea. You may also want to try running Combofix while you're at it.

Check the event viewer. Do you see any errors (red X) in the system or application sections?

 

[soundguruman]

click my computer
click control panel
click add remove software
look at the list of installed programs
tell us what programs are installed, list them here

click my computer
click control panel
click system
tell us what memory and CPU is shown in the properties display

download and install CPU ID, what are the voltage readings? Are any of the voltage readings wrong? What is the 3.3 volt buss reading?

From what you describe, a bad motherboard possible, or other hardware failure

 

[thoughtpolice]

I ran malwarebytes in safe mode and it ran perfect after a few days. The boot times were normal and the freezing was minimal. Now, im back where i started with the long boot time and the long freezes. at this point i hope its a bad hard drive and nothing else.

is there anything that causes these slow and freezing slumps?

i will attempt the combofix and i have CPUID installed on my PC so i will check the voltages on that.

 

[soundguruman]

You might try Panda internet security, that blocks the spyware and malware from being planted in the first place. Malware bytes (free version) will get rid of things after they are planted.
One works automatically as the crap enters, the other one works manually after it enters.
There in is the difference.
slow and freezing slumps in your case seem to be caused by spyware cookies, malware. That is not unusual. These things get in the system and eat the system resources, leaving you little resources to run the actual computer.
You used malware bytes, got rid of the crap, the system worked again.
After a few days more crap came in and slowed the system down again.
What you need is to stop the crap from entering automatically, every day.
Empty the cookies folder. Do you know how to do that?
click my computer
click control panel
click internet options
click general tab
click delete cookies
click the advanced tab
scroll down the list to security
check the box that says: empty temporary internet files folder when browser is closed.
click apply, click OK

click my computer
click local disk C
click documents and settings
click the folder with your user name on it
click the cookies folder
delete all the cookies except "index"

 

[thoughtpolice]

aight these are my voltages http://img683.imageshack.us/i/voltage.jpg/

i deleted the cookies but i dont think that it is spyware/malware because i reformatted my computer because of these problems and yet i still get this slump even after the reformat. After my memtest diagnosis it went well for a while and after the malwarebytes run it ran well for a while.