PC is slow to boot....

Dell laptop; XP MCE SP2; 2gb DDR2; 60gb HD 40% full. This PC is booting slow. Like REALLY slow. Once the desktop loads, everything runs great, it's only the boot up that is slow. I have defragged, cleaned junk files, streamlined the msconfig (which really has nothing to do with slow boot times), ran a HD diagnostic, etc etc. I just now completed a repair install thinking that it might help (it couldn't hurt) and it did speed it up a little, but it's still much slower than it should be. During the repair install, I got a few errors referring to ngen.exe which turns out to be a Windows component that helps the PC run faster (imagine that LOL ). I should have written down exactly what the errors were, but I didn't -duh :-o rolleyes So, who got some wisdom on speeding up the boot on this laptop?

Thanks.

 

:confused Ummmm....

Oh... the laptop is malware free and rootkit free according to the 4 or 5 scans that I ran on it.... Tim, if you're referring to things being loaded at startup, there isn't much: AVG8 (which I uninstalled to see if made a difference, it didn't so I reinstalled); Intel's ProMon or ProSet wifi software (also disabled to see if it made a difference, it didn't), some standard Windows stuff (ctfmon, Defender), and that's about all I can remember. It know it wasn't much. I also uninstalled some useless stuff from Add/Remove Programs like a bunch of extra Java Updates, an expired Norton 2005, Office 2000 (he also had 2003 installed), Yahoo Toolbar, drivers for printers that are no longer being used. As I mentioned earlier, I have run the gamut of maintenance (CCleaner on reg and HD, defrag, etc).....

Thanks! :-D

 

I had a slow start up thread in Hardware :-D

I have solved my problem, I simply formatted my HDD and re-installed my OS. Simple but dam it worked well :cool

I know that the process is a long one but it's worth it, 6hours from format to ready for gaming. I had tried everything I could before that like you, defrag, optimised HDD all sorts.

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

Problem solved. I think. It was taking about 5 minutes to get to a desktop with icons, but now takes only 35 seconds. Maybe it was coincidence, but uninstalling IE7 really helped, and installing updated chipset software and video drivers really helped too.... thanks for your input guys!