Loading Personal Settings

Hi everyone,

I don't know if this a problem but it seemed significant enough.
When I logon on to my Windows XP Home Edition OEM desktop it takes 5 to 6 seconds for my personal settings to load. Loading Personal Settings takes 5 to 6 seconds to load until the desktop loads. Is this normal with Intel processors??
I know my AMD processor I use to own did not do this. Would this be related to the fact that all AMD processors have built in memory controllers on the die of the cpu chip??? Possibly would load time be effected by this fact about AMD???
I now use an Intel CPU. Take note that this will perform this same behavior on a fresh Windows installation with just basic Windows drivers loaded. However, I know if I boot into Safe Mode there are no "Loading Personal Settings" script going on to indicate that my personal settings are being loaded before the desktop loads. This is weird to me. I have never experienced this my AMD. It was a 5600+ running at a beastly 2.8 GHz with 2 X 1 MB of L2 cache. Here are my Intel system specs:

E6850 Conroe 3.0 GHz frequency; 333MHz FSB with a 9x multiplier
For this CPU I am using Thermal Take Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Thermal Take Tough Power Series 1,000 Watts Power Supply with 84 amps
of output for all connected devices to the motherboard.

P5N32-E SLI PLUS 650I NorthBridge Memory Controller/ 570I SouthBridge Peripheral Controller Revision A2; LPCIO ITE IT8718

For this motherboard I am using BIOS version 0805; Date is 08/27/2007

3 gigs of dual channel RAM; Super Talent Memory Modules; DDR2 800
My memory setup is as follows:

2 X 1G PC26400 (400MHz RAM clock) 800Mhz frequency
Part Number is SUPERTALENT02
Serial Number is FFFFFFFF
Week is 165/165

Timing Table for default settings are:

Frequency 400 MHz
CAS# Latency 5.0
RAS# to CAS# 5
RAS# Precharge 5
tRAS 15
tRC 21
Voltage 1.8 volts

2 X 512 MB PC26400 (400MHz RAM clock) 800Mhz frequency
Part Number SUPERTALENT01
No Serial Number for these modules are listed.
Week is 10/08

Timing Table for default settings are:

Frequency 400 MHz
CAS# Latency 5.0
RAS# to CAS# 5
RAS# Precharge 5
tRAS 15
tRC 21
Voltage 1.8 volts

The above noted memory module and motherboard descriptions are derived from using
CPU-Z version 1.44.2

EVGA 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Part Number is 320-P2-N811-AR
Serial Number is 7088112002357

21 inch ViewSonic Graphics Series G220f CRT Monitor
My current display settings are 1024 x 768 @ 85 Hz

Western Digital Series Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB Hard Drive
Some Quick Drive Specs:

Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
Capacity 250GB
RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 16MB
Average Seek Time 8.9ms
Average Write Time 10.9ms
Average Latency 4.2ms
Form Factor 3.5"

Black Mitsumi 1.44 MB Floppy Drive ( Internal )

Black ASUS QuietTrack 18x DVD-RAM Drive with Lightscribe ( Internal IDE )
Black NEC 16X DVD-RW Drive ( Internal IDE )
Please note that both of these drives are sharing the same cable
My ASUS is set as the primary drive. The slave drive is my NEC drive.

Black Playstation 2 Keyboard

Logitech MX-518 Gaming Grade Mouse

Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker System

Black ThermalTake Armor Series 8000WS Full Tower

I have asked some techs recently what this "problem" could be.
One tech get a faster cpu and fsb, so I did. Still 5 to 6 seconds for Loading Personal Settings to finish.

Another tech I talked to said I should get a raptor drive. I know that a raptor would provide faster file access and file load time. I don't know if it would eliminate those 5 to 6 seconds. I would hate to waste money just to find out it did not solve this "problem." Is there anyone who has experienced a similar "problem"???? I have researched this topic for some time now. No luck.
With that one exception my computer loads quite fast.
Could it be my copy of Windows has scratches on the disc that is causing this mishap?? Does information gets transferred over my possibly scratched disc on to the hard drive to copy information that is not all the way there???
Perhaps I should use a new copy of Windows??? I have been using the same copy of Windows ever since my first computer build which was an AMD.

 

Set a static IP address for your network card and try it again.

Thats one of the slowest processes is obtaining DHCP information, and it happens in XP during "Loading your personal settings".

 

Most of my customers would be more than happy with only 5 or 6 seconds.

No your copy of Windows is still intact, though it sounds as if only just, so make a backup copy smartish for everyday use, and store the original more safely in future.

I'd go with Addy on the network idea. Just try normal boot with the network cable unplugged - is it any quicker?

 

I booted normally with the network cable unplugged. It does not provide any faster windows load up. I will ask Addy for help on configuring a static ip address.
This I hope will improve load up for Windows. I remember when I had my AMD 5600+ it did not display this behavior like it does with Intel. I still am convinced it is the way that AMDs are made. Does anyone agree with my hypothesis????

 

No.

Main reason being I have an AMD dual core and an Intel dual core, and they are comparable in that respect.

 

At this point, here is what I suggest.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Cleanboot, test your speed, report back.

 

Would you be able to walk me through on configuring a static ip address for my network card??? Does it matter what the numbers are on my card???
I am on home network sharing a Comcast Cable internet connection with 2 other computers in the house. This is not a wireless connection. I am one of the client computers. I am not the host computer directly connected to the modem. Perhaps I could find an answer on manually configuring in a static ip address but I would rather gain this valuable information from someone who knows what they are talking about. Would the manual configuration start with the automatic ip address I have now. Just plug in those numbers????

Any help is appreciated and I will wait patiently for an answer.
Oh, there is one funny thing I notice. I did away with the Welcome screen and instead chose to go with classic Windows Logon screen. When I use this mode my background desktop loads right away but then it takes those "5 to 6 seconds" for the start bar, task bar and icons to load. Strange.
I figure with the system specs I have this should be no problem.
Hmmm. Anyways, I will wait for an answer to solve this "problem."

My Gateway 2000 than runs Windows 98 loads like in a snap of my fingers from cold boot or soft system restart. But then it is not so complex like
Windows XP Home Edition. I have seen YouTube videos of people running those solid state drives to load Windows. It loads fast. You don't see the Welcome screen and then "Loading Personal Settings." It blasts right through that into Windows while everything loads almost instantly.
I do wonder if a faster drive would solve this "problem." Do you agree????

 

Ok, sounds good. I will try this one out. I will report back with my results.

 

Dont bother with the static IP. studiot's method showed that to not be the case.


A faster drive could help, but you may simply have a service that is misbehaving. Its easy enough to check. Let me know what you find.

 

Hello. Thank for your advice. I tried the clean boot state method but still the same results. This is rather disappointing. I am a power user who wants to run Windows like it should run; Windows 98 SE is so much faster- no waiting.

You said there is a way to monitor misbehaving services or find out which services may be causing this unexpected slowness I am seeing???
Would I simply fire up the Event Viewer in the Administrative Tools Applet???
From this applet where would I find the offending services if they exist???

Remember any help is appreciated. I am running Service Pack 2.
I was considering to download Service Pack 3. Is this maybe my problem???
Because I am refusing to download the new Service Pack 3 Windows is misbehaving itself??? This is of course is just a wild hypothesis. I don't if Service Pack 3 would solve my "problem." Maybe it just me. Is there a way to record this activity I am seeing and send it as a video file; without using a camera. Perhaps some sort of advanced screen capture utility that runs outside of windows starting from the cold boot state. Otherwise I will have to use a digital camera to record the activity. The lines will show though.

 

Yes, you can monitor it overtime, but its really slow going.

Lets take this one step further.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

report back, please.

 

I tried the File Signature Verification Utility Program. I found four unsigned drivers.
Two of them are for my StepMania program I use to play DDR on my computer.
They are part of the XBCD program. The other two files are nvtcp.sys which is a networking protocol driver and the other one is asushwio.sys which I could not find information on this one. For some reason I am leaning towards the hardware for some reason. You don't believe it could be my board I am using. It runs fine. But it does seem like it is Windows itself. Maybe I should get a new copy??? Or Service Pack 3????
What do you think about this???? Like I said before I never had this problem with AMD 5600+; that is why it is so frustrating to me. Well, I wait an answer.

 

I don't want to make any major system changes or else Windows will complain telling me that I need to reactivate Windows within 3 days or else it will cease to work. Perhaps a new copy of Windows is what I need to rid this problem.
I actually had to reactivate Windows when I followed the Clean Boot State method all the way through. I found that irritating.

 

Ok, I have it figured out. There is nothing wrong about log on time. Windows does a lot of things when it loads up. Load auto-start programs in the system tray, load system services, device drivers and so on. I notice my log in can be reduced if I disable file folder caching. That is any files contained in My Documents for example can be cleared because Windows will look for those files when it logs on to the desktop. It is also good to disable indexing service. Indexing service just has Windows scan your hard drive for all the files on it to make file searching faster. Well, we all know that it finds files quickly if you have a fast computer with lots of ram like me. There is also other services that can be safely disabled too but some are still essential to the process.

I was just curious if anyone out there knows if Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 loads much faster than XP Home Edition because it utilizes two cores if you happen to have a dual core system??? So now I understand that XP tells you it is loading all the services into memory when it displays the notification from logon screen: Loading Personal Settings.
Also does anyone know if there is such an operating system as Windows XP Corporate Edition SP2??? It is a volume license copy of Windows that does not require any activation because it is fully activated, can be used on more than one computer; up to three machines- then you wait 45 days to do it more than three computers- and can be used one machine indefinitely even if you change out hardware??? I always desired to have a copy of Windows that gives me this flexibility. Any other version requires activation. No fun.
Plus I think activation slows down your Windows experience slightly. No fun.

:cool

 

XP Home utilizes dual cores as well.

As for the rest, you are talking about a volume license copy, and any you find for cheap or free is most likely illegal.

 

:-DI still would like the volume license flexibility. More power to the people.
I used to XP Pro. I sold it. Bad mistake. Well, that is ok for now.

 

I understand, but such issues are not allowed for discussion here

 

You are right. I will stick with the subject. I think I have determined my so called problem is just the way Windows XP works. It is too bad it could not be more Windows 98 SE with the NTFS added security and performance. That would be cool. Although an obvious cure to the slight delay before my personal settings load would be removed by installing a solid state drive or better than that an i-RAM module which would provide speed in the thousands of megabytes per second. Would you agree??? I have seen the videos of i-RAM on YouTube. Those are just basic systems utilizing the technology.
This would do wonders on my powerhouse I have already. Ram Drives are the cure.