Pistoleer

Hi guys, Well I have tried my best to read up and solve this myself, but i am stumped and would value your advice please.

The almighty 'Search' button and a bit of patience tends to reveal possible answers already heh. So ive tried a few of the suggested courses of action and run boot-vis (the last one option will of course be a reinstall :/ )

In brief summary of my issue -


My problem is - hair pullingly long Windows load times between post to desktop. Nearly 2 min 30 secs of it.

1. i had xp pro installed on my Raptor.
2. I built an entirely new rig.
3. Windows freaks out due to new system and demands a reactivation
4. My copy of Win is on the middle of the Atlantic atm (aiii :P)
5. I was deperate to get box going so reinstalled Win XP home on top of current install *gulp* :/ (yeah i had bad vibes about the wisdom of such a move but as i said i really needed to get access of some kind)
6. Oops...all my Apps are buggered! Im reinstalling them as i go.

It doesnt appear to make a diff if i remove the OC'ing or not. I reset clock back to 2.4Ghz and still had same issue. From POST to Windows Desktop appearing is taking almost 2 mins...when on my old system i booted up within 30secs.

My guess (and what ill try tonight is a range of windows tweaks and checks) is the old install affecting the new or some people mention networking, so ill have a think about that. I kinda had thought that a new Win install would erase all traces of the old though. I have done a reg cleanup removing about 700 entries relating to the old install :/ but it didnt help speedup this issue.

I have the latest BIOS, latest gfx driver (non beta); auto voltages etc Clock speeds or OC'd doesnt appear to make a diff. I had tightened the RAM timings but have lowered them again a bit atm.
Nothing in my drivers list has an issue. Doesnt appear to be a prob with networking.

One last note - i cant get my dvd drive to pick up. My 1 IDE drive is picked up but the dvd drive isnt for some reason, dont know if that is effecting things?

Rig in question:

Antec P180,
620W Corsair HX Mod PSU, +3.3V(24A), +5V(30A), +12V1(18A), +12V2(18A),
+12V3(18A)
eVGA S775 nForce 680i,
Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.6Ghz (stock cooler atm till i get my BT fan back)
(between 40-60oC)
2Gb Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 800,
MSI 7800GT, @ 450 + 1100
WD Raptor 74Gb, 2x Seagate 7200.10 320Gb SA, WD 250Gb KS, Seagate
7200.7 200Gb
Creative SB X-Fi Elite Pro, Audio-Technica ATH-A900 Art 'phones &
Zalman ZM-MIC1, 22" Iiyama PLE2200WS, Logitech G15 & G5
Win XP Home SP2

I notice in the boot-vis, there is no activity for 43 seconds...
then another 30 seconds before drivers start to load...
then another 72 seconds before drivers are finished..

:O

Ive used guides for fine tuning boot times, for me however, i feel there is something very wrong with whats going on here.

The crux of it is that i have a C2D E6600 @ 3.65Ghz, 2GB RAM and a Raptor 10k HD for my OS. All this amounts to me having 140 seconds before my drivers are all loaded....

My old 2000XP loaded XP in half that time. *scratch*

im thinking - a drive issue on my board and its timing out or something?

I bet this is really simple to someone out there, so any ideas to stop me pulling the last of my hair out? :P

Ive post a few screenies which may help. Thanks very much in advance!

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Malaziel

Your registry is probably FUBAR. I honestly suggest that you format your harddrive and reinstall. It should fix the problem. The long load time is probably caused by numerous glitches in your registry and driver conflicts. Wait to see if someone else has some suggestions before doing this.

__________________
Linux is only free, if your time has no value.

"I have no fear of death. It just means dreaming in silence. A dream that lasts for eternity."
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g8m3rtag

i agree with malaziel, but before formatting wait for a couple more opinions

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Pistoleer

cheers guys, yer quick responses are greatly appreciated , yeah ill wait out tonight (about to hit the sack over here) and see if anyone can suggest anything else, then it will have to go the reformat option :/ 53 gigs though *shudder*

Out of interest, anyone with a similar setup or anyone else know, what kind of load time i SHOULD have with my Conroe 6600@3.65Ghz ? I was kind of expecting 25 secs or so tbh.

Also, is it usual to see no activity for so long before drivers are loaded, in Boot-vis ?

g8m3rtag

well ive got a 6400 at 3.4ghz and it from post to login screen i would say 30 - 40 seconds. i know the windows boot screen bar only goes across 3.5 times

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Bitemarks and bloodstains

yep when switching mobos it is advisable to reformat due to chipset driver errors

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jcbzhnsr1

reformat. The registry is F####ed... Good luck, After a fresh reinstall, I went from 39 seconds from button push to 14 seconds from button push to dissapearance of hour glass...

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Malaziel

Should be somewhere in that range. Probably lower if you optimize your system for a light start-up. I know some people on here have theirs down into the 15 second range with a similar set up.

__________________
Linux is only free, if your time has no value.

"I have no fear of death. It just means dreaming in silence. A dream that lasts for eternity."
Vincent Volaju

Pistoleer

Arighty then, thanks for yer thoughts and info, guys. You have helped me realise a reformat is the only way. So i throw the towel in, cheers for holdin my hand though guys *g*

I'll start backing up my data now and reformat tomorrow! WOOT! :o

Pistoleer

Well! Ill still reformat just because it will help a lot and ill try and keep good file management practice this time (again! :P)

However, i wanted to share what i just found, in case it helps someone in the future.

I had a final double check at my drives and i should have followed my gut last night when i wondered about the dvd drive not being picked up...

Turns out that i had forgotten that i had set my dvd drive as a master (i only had that drive in on its own. But, i had earlier taken it out and swapped in both my old IDE HD's which i had left on cable select.. then i ended up with the DVD and 1 IDE... duh, one on cable select and one as master = what a plonker.

Long story short - setting the DVD drive to cable select as well as the HD = 40 seconds saved on my boot time lol

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