Slow to start machine

[Tony D]

I have an XP-Home machine (Compaq Pasario V5000, AMD Turon @ 1,79 GHz) in here that is taking a long time to start: 7:40 in Normal mode even with all the Norton/Symantec Startup and Services disabled. It takes 2:40 in Safe Mode to boot.

 

I ran ATF Cleaner, SAS, MB, esat scan per the Malware removal instructions and posted a HJT log in that forum. The only items found were Tracking Cookies.

 

Other problems: This machine has 3 ea, 256 MB RAM sticks as observed by the scanner at Crucial.com and Belarc Advisor. However System Properties reports only 384 MB. Could 128 MB be used for video RAM on this laptop?

 

When I inserted a CD with my tools, everything was showing up with Internet Explorer icons, single files and folder all looked like IE files.

 

Customer said this was not sudden - a gradual problem.

 

After it gets going, it responds slow but not too bad and Internet access isn't that bad either.

 

Any thoughts? I'm about ready to image the hard drive to another disk. However, I did run chkdsk which showed no problems.

[AdvancedSetup]

One or more RAM chips is probably either not for the unit or has gone bad.

Try removing, swapping them around.

 

Hard drive is probably going bad. Look in the Event Viewer for details on what is going on with the system and what errors.

[Tony D]

Hey AS, Thanks for that.

 

I checked the BIOS and video memory was set to 128 MB - so that explains why Windows is only seeing 384 MB. I had run chkdsk, which didn't report any problems. Tomorrow, I'll image the drive and try the image on another drive to see if it makes a difference.

 

I can bring up the Event Viewer, but if I click on Application, Security, System, Internet Explorer, I get "The Interface is unknown".

[Seth]

Good info Kelly.

 

When all else is ruled out in such an instance, expect as AS has suggested. That is, the motor on the hard drive has weakened which chkdsk can't determine.

[petef]

I have an XP-Home machine (Compaq Pasario V5000, AMD Turon @ 1,79 GHz) in here that is taking a long time to start: 7:40 in Normal mode even with all the Norton/Symantec Startup and Services disabled. It takes 2:40 in Safe Mode to boot.

 

 

Kelly, I'm frequently fixing "slow" computers these days by removing the

Norton/Symantec software. I'm finding that disabling all symantec items

using MSCONFIG, SERVICES & STARTUP, is not good enough and the

computer still runs slow, but once I totally remove all Norton/Symantec

software, the computer comes back to life.

 

It's an absolute crime that people are paying big money for security

software that cripples their computer just as bad as the malware they

are trying to protect against.

 

For people with older computers runnng WinXP and less than 1GB RAM,

the 4 programs I warn them NOT to install are AOL, NORTON, McAfee,

and MS Office 2007. Those 4 programs have potential to slow the

computer.

 

---pete---

[AdvancedSetup]

You can't disable the kernel mode drivers with MSCONFIG ;)

 

Kelley

 

Take a look here. It sounds like the Event Viewer service has been disabled.

 

Can not start Event Viewer logs

 

See if you can re-enable it and then do a couple of boot ups and see what you get. I would also set the logs to "overwrite events as needed"

 

Then let us know what results you get.

[Tony D]

Wolfey - thank for the tip - that worked. The Event Viewer is working.

 

However, the problem turned out to be the hard drive itself. I imaged the original drive to a spare and this machine now boots easily within 2 minutes in stead of 7.5 minutes.

 

Thanks to all for pitchin' in to help. Now on to the other machine that is giving me a headache.

[AdvancedSetup]

Did Wolfey PM you with a fix?

[Tony D]

AS - please excuse me. My mistake. My remark about fixing the Event Viewer was meant for you. I used the link you sent to get the Event Viewer working and now it's working as it should. I didn't see anything in there that I thought related to the problem.

 

No, I didn't get any PM's to help fix this problem. When I didn't see anything in the Event Viewer, I just went to my next step which was to image the drive and replace it with another. That's what fixed the problem.

 

Sorry for the confustion.