20 Minutes To Boot Up!!!! HELP.

Did this problem start after installing any particular software or hardware? You could try going into System Restore and loading a restore point from a day before the problem began.

I am sure you know the cooling fan on the card is not for Aestethics. The problem should not be caused by the fan since it started @ least three weeks before the fan went out,unless you are not sure when your fan went out. I would recommend a couple of things to isolate the issue. Open the tower and leave the side cover off. Run a harddrive diagnostic test on your HDD...(not chkdsk)

Go Here. Check your PC. It may give you some clues.

Go to http://www.pcpitstop.com On the left of the page, run the Full Tests which hopefully may offer a clue as to what the problem is. My guess is you have a faulty hardware device or hardware that is not xp compatable. Being that your graphics card has run into a problem, I would try borrowing a card from a friend to see if that is the problem. Also, have you tried removing the graphics card drivers and re-installing updated drivers? LL

i would try reformatting and reinstalling windows

These are tips from others & my own experiences . Run msconfig in the 'Diagnostic startup' mode . If that speeds it up , start restoring services and startup programs in batches till you can identify the offending service/process . ==================================== Correcting System Hang at Startup http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/cgi-bin/performance/index.cgi?answer=1036282950&id=1036282433 http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/services-3.shtml http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/index.shtml http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/wfp/index.shtml If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't work for me. Here's what you do: Click on Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools then Services. Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service. Disable it, apply the changes & reboot. Or if you don't want to disable it . Background Intelligent Transfer Service. Uses idle network bandwidth to transfer data. For the majority of Users this feature should be of little use & as such I’d recommend setting it to Manual. Those on highly active Networks may benefit from having this set to Automatic, although it may be worth testing out to see if it does. ================================ Right-click 'My Computer' select 'Manage' , open Services & Applications . Select 'Services' . Set 'Windows Management Instrumentation' to manual (default is Automatic). This service starts up automatically , even if set to manual , but solves slow booting of my PC - might work 4 u !! Also known as WMI . =============================== http://rogier.xszone.nl/windows/wintricks.html http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=32 A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on. • Defragment boot files The boot defragment option is usually enabled by default, but it may be disabled, or not properly enabled. If it's not working, XP may boot dog-slow. # Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction # Select Enable from the list on the right. # Right on it and select Modify. # Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable. # Reboot your computer. ==================================== Boot XP faster http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/cgi-bin/performance/index.cgi?answer=1036284053&id=1036282433 1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\ 2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc". 3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window. 4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open". 5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit. 6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc". 7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" 8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties". 9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK". 10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9. 11. Reboot your computer. ===================================== Resources for Troubleshooting Startup Problems in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308041 ====================================== Run msconfig in the 'Diagnostic startup' mode . If that speeds it up , start restoring services and startup programs in batches till you can identify the offending service/process . ==================================== http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/services-3.shtml http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/index.shtml http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/wfp/index.shtml If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't work for me. Here's what you do: Click on Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools then Services. Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service. Disable it, apply the changes & reboot. Or if you don't want to disable it . Background Intelligent Transfer Service. Uses idle network bandwidth to transfer data. For the majority of Users this feature should be of little use & as such I’d recommend setting it to Manual. Those on highly active Networks may benefit from having this set to Automatic, although it may be worth testing out to see if it does. ================================ Right-click 'My Computer' select 'Manage' , open Services & Applications . Select 'Services' . Set 'Windows Management Instrumentation' to manual (default is Automatic). This service starts up automatically , even if set to manual , but solves slow booting of my PC - might work 4 u !! Also known as WMI . =============================== http://rogier.xszone.nl/windows/wintricks.html http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=32 A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on. • Defragment boot files The boot defragment option is usually enabled by default, but it may be disabled, or not properly enabled. If it's not working, XP may boot dog-slow. # Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction # Select Enable from the list on the right. # Right on it and select Modify. # Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable. # Reboot your computer. ==================================== Boot XP faster http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/cgi-bin/performance/index.cgi?answer=1036284053&id=1036282433 1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\ 2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc". 3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window. 4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open". 5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit. 6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc". 7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" 8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties". 9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK". 10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9. 11. Reboot your computer. ===================================== Resources for Troubleshooting Startup Problems in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308041 ====================================== Curing Sloooooooow Restarts http://www.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/08.htm http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-10.htm http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-13.htm ===================================== Disable the Windows XP Prefetcher http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/troub-07.html http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/winstartupnew/ ======================================== Application Slow-Downs in Windows XP http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/47.htm Control Panel > Network Connections > Right-click your main network connection , choose Properties > Double-click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" > Click Advanced button > Select WINS tab . The solution I've seen recommended and posted in various places is to remove the check mark beside "Enable LMHOSTS lookup" on the WINS tab and/or "Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP." People report that the application slow-downs go away . ====================================== Not networking , this will help . 1) Control Panel -> Internet Options 2) Connections tab 3) LAN Settings 4) Uncheck "Automatically Detect Settings" ========================================== Slow start-up when using Norton Internet Security 2002 http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/cgi-bin/performance/index.cgi?answer=1036282936&id=1036282433 If you are using Norton Internet Security 2002, and are experiencing slow start-up of XP. i.e. you can see the desktop with icons etc. but it takes 30-60sec before you can start using the computer. 1. Click on start buttom. 2. Select control panel 3. Open “Network Connections” 4. Under “LAN and High-Speed Internet”, right-click on your “Local Area Connection” and select “Properties” 5. Under “General” tab, select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and select “Properties. 6. Select “Use the following IP address:” 7. Under “IP address” enter following : 192.168.0.1 8. Under “Subnet Mask:” enter following : 255.255.255.0 9. Click “Ok” ==================================== Slow start-up when using Norton Internet Security 2002 http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/cgi-bin/performance/index.cgi?answer=1036282936&id=1036282433 If you are using Norton Internet Security 2002, and are experiencing slow start-up of XP. i.e. you can see the desktop with icons etc. but it takes 30-60sec before you can start using the computer. 1. Click on start buttom. 2. Select control panel 3. Open “Network Connections” 4. Under “LAN and High-Speed Internet”, right-click on your “Local Area Connection” and select “Properties” 5. Under “General” tab, select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and select “Properties. 6. Select “Use the following IP address:” 7. Under “IP address” enter following : 192.168.0.1 8. Under “Subnet Mask:” enter following : 255.255.255.0 9. Click “Ok” ==================================== How to Disable the Find Fast Indexer http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q158705 8. THE TRUTH ABOUT FIND FAST http://www.remainsecure.com/whitepapers/hacking/mshidden.htm ======================================== Solution for Index.dat files dilemma http://www.markusjansson.net/eienbid.html