suddenly slow startup

Hi everyone

A small problem... My laptop suddenly starts up very slowly. I log in, Windows XP loads my personal settings, and then I see only my desktop wallpaper for a minute or so, before the start button and taskbar and clock and desktop become active. This used to be maybe 10 seconds or so.

I didn't change any settings. No new programs. Nothing else that is strange. In fact everything works perfectly fine once the computer becomes responsive. So I thought about a virus maybe, did scans with anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, but found nothing. Then I posted about this in the malware forum and they helped me establish there is no malware on my laptop. See http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=198271.

They advised me to post here for further assistance.

Does anyone have an idea about what could cause the suddenly slow startup and what I could do about it?

Thank you very much in advance for any help

dvae

 

Check in Device Manager > IDE controllers > on the Primary and Secondary controllers, double-click and under Advanced settings, ensure that Transfer mode DMA is enabled.

 

Thank you satrow

I checked these settings and they were enabled. See attached screenshot. The problem persists, would you have any further ideas?

Many thanks

dvae

 

Perhaps some time spent reviewing your System logs will show something? Right-click (My) Computer > Manage > System tools > Event Viewer > System

 

Re: suddenly slow startup - SOLVED

Many thanks, that was exactly the push in the right direction I needed.

I found that for the last 2 weeks "The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service hung on starting." It was set to start automatically and I changed this to manual. Now startup is back to normal again.

Thank you very much for your help!



dvae