Long delay on boot up(screen that shows motherboard when graphics kick in)

swampy1979 · Jul 22, 2008

Forgive my ignourance for not knowing what the screen is called, I beleive its just after post bios.

I have 3 hard drives on my system and the screen used to display for 20 sec's max now it shows for over a minute each time.

please please can someone help speed my system up again its driving me mad

DavidGP · Jul 22, 2008

Hi

Would it be the Windows splash screen with the scrolling bars in either blue or green ( dependent on Windows version used )?

Please tell us your Windows version used, including what Service Pack your upto?

What security programs have you got installed? as having too many of the same type can cause a slow booting PC.

Its very likely that now you have more software installed and as many add their own little startup to the boot process, you may have many applications in your System Tray or hidden ones in the registries run hive? having many applications start at boot can slow a PC down no end.

So do some basic maintanence steps first.. and a guide his HERE

Run some malware scans as outside chance of malware is a cause for long boots to the Windows GUI.

Once the above is done, and as you will have CCleaner installed, click Tools > Startup and either take a screenshot or type out the names of the applications you have as many are not needed to start at boot ( most are updaters and the applications they update are somethimes far and few between, others you may not even use, well until you really want to, but do they need to be their at boot... NO ) and we should be able to advise you on what ones are safe to disable as CCleaner now has a great Startup Manager included.

swampy1979 · Jul 23, 2008

Hi, its windows xp professional sp3 x86, AMD AM2+ 6000 processor, 4Gb DDR2 800Mhz, 2 x Nvidia GT8500, & M3A32-MVP Deluxe motherboard
I have a seagate maxtor 300Gb SATA (as main C drive my XP)
500Gb IDE Hitachi (for storage of programs and back ups etc) & WDC80Gb IDE with SATA converter (with another copy of XP that I let my girlfriend use so she doesn't mess my XP up!)
The screen I am referring to is before XP starts loading, when the PC boots you get the text appearing post bios I think, Then theres a graphical screen that shows what motherboard you have where you press F8 or Del for bios setup or boot options, its this screen that I am referring to, it used to show for about 20 seconds max, now it shows for about 80 seconds before I get either bios options pressing F8 or XP starts loading if I dont press anything. its driving me absolutely crazy as my PC should be very quick:banghead

dlb · Jul 23, 2008

The first thing I'd do is check the BIOS and make sure you have 'Quick Boot' enabled if it's an option. Also, change the boot order so it boots to the C: drive first; it may be trying to boot to the CD/DVD and/or the floppy drive before drive C: and that can slow things down. Also, failing hard drives and faulty memory can cause slow start up. Run full diagnostics on all your hard drives, and run extended in-depth tests on your RAM. Bootable memory diagnostics are better than Windows based tests IMO as they have exclusive access to your memory w/o Windows getting in the way. I like this RAM diagnostic:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html
It allows you to create a bootable floppy or an ISO image that you burn to CD. Then boot to it and press T for the extended tests. Run at least 3 or 4 passes.... Download the hard drive diagnostic from your hard drive maker's web site, or see if it's available here at Major Geeks http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads8.html

Good luck!

[dlb]
:major

Log in or Sign up

Long delay on boot up(screen that shows motherboard when graphics kick in)

swampy1979 Private E-2

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

swampy1979 Private E-2

dlb MajorGeek