Computer very slow to boot

Hi
My compaq computer (P4 3.06 GHz, 1GB Ram, xp home) had some major problems and would not boot at all.

After spending hours copying missing files, running chkdsk, repairing boot etc all to no avail, I decided to format and start again.

However all I have is a recovery partition H: no physical cd.

I used the xp home which came with my laptop just to get up and runing so I could access the recovery partition.

I got worried when it had taken 20 mins or so and was still on 1% while formatting, so I left it and went to work. It did it in the end and I now have a shiny new xp installation.

The problem is it takes an age to boot up, the black and white progress bar moves accross very slowly periodically stopping.

It starts eventually but when I click on recovery partition it comes up with a wireless setup network wizard error message saying that the wizard cannot automatically configure settings.

When I right click and explore the recovery partition there are 2 folders, Recovery and SMRTNTKY, and 3 files Autorun, batch.old and setupSNK. The recovery folder appears empty (even showing hidden files). The SMRTNTKY has files related to wireless settings.

Before I reinstalled typing dir for the H:i386 folder in recovery console (as it wouldn't even see C: in recovery console) it showed i386 and all its contents.

Now I'm totally stumped if there isn't anything in recovery how can I recover? And why is it taking so long to boot?

Please help before I go insane :cry

 

if there isn't anything on there that you need. i'd either try to do a recovery again, or wipe the h/d clean (or get another h/d), and reinstall the os from your cd (using your key, not the laptop key), if your able to (sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't). if your able to use your laptop cd, you might not have some software that came bundled with your comp.

i'm too lazy to type this all again. read my response in the thread (link below).

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=161209

should you need recovery disks for your comp, i'd contact hp/compaq. i've ordered disks from them, and got them between $20-25 or so (i forget). should you go this route, i'd use darik's boot and nuke, then reload your os. anyway, g/l - sos

edit - if you had a spare h/d, you could eliminate your h/d being bad.

 

Thanks for your reply sosman.

Unfortunately I don't have a recovery CD just the partition. When I did the reinstall it did'nt ask for a licence key. So I presume it has auto activation built into the HP laptop xp CD or something. As it is not asking for activation.

I have stupidly offered to help a technophobe friend out with this problem, as, also stupidly, I enjoy the challenge, and the possibility of more knowledge, of trying to sort out problems. But this one is now doing my head in :confused

If it were mine I would spend the £25.90 for the recovery cd, but I will have to see if they are willing to.

As for the slow boot time, do you think it could be the hard drive failing, or something else?

 

Hi
When I switched the computer on this morning it made 3 sort of clunking noises (kind of like when the hard drive normally starts but slightly louder and not normal sounding) then came up with reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot disk.

I rebooted and it started but it took almost 10 minutes for the progress bar to go along the bottom of the screen.

My friend is going to order the recovery CD from HP, but I am not sure if they should get a new SATA hard drive too, or if the slow boot is something else?

 

I would get a new drive ASAP.
I believe your problem is strictly mechanical.

 

yeh, it does sound like the h/d. have you taken the side panel off, and tried to pinpoint the noise? if you know the h/d manufacturer, you could try running some diagnostics on it, but if it's making noise, then there's no point. g/l, sos

http://majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_d4981.html <-- Ultimate Boot CD For Windows 3.13 (has alot of tools on there)

 

Hi
Thanks for all your help so far.
Switched computer on this morning and it now says another file is missing.
I am now waiting for delivery of new HD and recovery discs from compaq.
I'll let you know if these work and cure the problems.