My PC has suddenly become very slow to boot and though I suspect that Windows XP may be the culprit, I have run MSCONFIG booting with no Startup pograms and that made no difference so I now think that it may be a hardware problem. Once booted to OS it appears to be working normally. The boot-period times are thus: Switch-on to Windows XP splash through BIOS is about normal. 4 to 5 minutes later (watching the black screen) I get the Windows XP WELCOME SCREEN. 1 minute after that I get the blank desktop and I can then access the performance panel (Ctl/Alt/Del) so I know XP is running. The desktop stays blank for 4 more minutes and then is populated. During the blank desktop period (4 minutes) the Commit Charge is 166/1247 peaking at 252. PF usage is only 166MB. 33 processes running. CPU usage is minimal. Total boot time then is 10 minutes. YES 10 minutes. I built my PC 2 months ago. SP2 installed from MS CD days ago but I have taken back to a restore point when it was running normally with SP2 loaded and it is still taking the same 10 minutes to boot using that configuration. I must next check memory but if that is dodgy then why does the PC function normally once booted? System details are: Operating System _ Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 OS Service Pack_ Service Pack 1 Internet Explorer_ 6.0.2800.1106 (IE 6.0 SP1) DirectX_ 4.09.00.0902 (DirectX 9.0b) Motherboard: CPU Type_ AMD Athlon XP-A, 1833 MHz (11 x 167) 2500+ Motherboard Name_ Gigabyte GA-7N400E-L (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 DIMM, Audio, LAN) Motherboard Chipset_ nVIDIA nForce2 400 System Memory_ 512 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM) BIOS Type_ Award Modular (06/16/04) Display: Video Adapter_ RADEON 9600 SERIES - Secondary (128 MB) Video Adapter_ RADEON 9600 SERIES (128 MB) 3D Accelerator_ ATI Radeon 9600 SE (RV360) Monitor_ LG F700P [17" CRT] (1420111566) Multimedia: Audio Adapter_ nVIDIA MCP2 - Audio Codec Interface Storage: IDE Controller_ NVIDIA NForce 2(tm) SPP/IGP ATA Controller SCSI/RAID Controller_ Adaptec AIC-7850 PCI SCSI Controller Floppy Drive_ Floppy disk drive Disk Drive_ MAXTOR 4K040H2 (40 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100) Disk Drive_ WDC WD400BB-00DEA0 (36 GB, IDE) Disk Drive_ ExcelStor Technology J340 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100) Disk Drive_ Generic USB Storage-SMC USB Device Optical Drive_ HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4081B (DVD+RW:8x/4x, DVD-RW:4x/2x, DVD-RAM:3x, DVD-ROM:12x, CD:24x/16x/32x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM) Optical Drive_ SONY CD-RW CRX145S SCSI CdRom Device (10x/4x/32x CD-RW) SMART Hard Disks Status_ Unknown Partitions: C: (NTFS)_ 6400 MB (2529 MB free) D: (NTFS)_ 1576 MB (1565 MB free) E: (NTFS)_ 11005 MB (7094 MB free) F: (NTFS)_ 22003 MB (9544 MB free) G: (NTFS)_ 6997 MB (2692 MB free) H: (NTFS)_ 1302 MB (1281 MB free) I: (NTFS)_ 1066 MB (859 MB free) J: (NTFS)_ 20967 MB (16191 MB free) K: (NTFS)_ 8385 MB (3775 MB free) L: (NTFS)_ 5239 MB (4650 MB free) M: (NTFS)_ 2008 MB (1994 MB free) N: (NTFS)_ 16959 MB (16893 MB free) Q: (FAT32)_ 11284 MB (10737 MB free) Input: Keyboard_ Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard Mouse_ PS/2 Compatible Mouse Game Controller_ Microsoft PC-joystick driver Network: Network Adapter_ WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface (217.134.222.80) Modem_ SupraExpress 56i __________________

Dam dude why would anyone have THAT many partitions!!!! There really are too many thing to list what it could be on this occasion I suspect a virus (normally I don't). Like I've said before, why dont you just reinstall. With practice you can do it in like 2 hours, which I bet is less time than it takes you to solve this problem by other means...

it doesn't sound like a virus, have you check in regedit under hkey local machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run how many things do you have starting up? having a lot of even programs starting up can cause a machine to boot up slower also do you have more than one antivirus installed on your machine, i have seen that as well aslo, what is the need for the partitions because i beleive that is probably what is causing you issues as well, your computer has to check each partion everytime you startup, and i also noticed one fat32 partition? why? you can get rid of partion by right clicking my computer and going to manage, and then clicking disk management Complete Computer Service, Inc. NW Indiana

The Startup group has only 5 of which NAV and Outpost are 2, IN-CD is another. My original post listed the number of processes as 33. The rest of those 33 are almost exclusively Win XP. Both memory take-up and PF use are very low. CPU load is hardly measurable when all these processes are running. You must remember that I have been operating the same devices and software for a long time on W98 and for 2 months on WIN XP installed on a new-build PC and WITH NORMAL BOOT TIMES. The only thing that changed was the time taken to boot and that happened today. I have good news however. I used MaxPower and Lifeguard to check my Maxtor and Western Digital disks. They both passed the in depth test. I then followed a normal WIN XP boot and it took less than 2 minutes. So the problem has just as curiously removed itself whatever it was. The FAT 32 format was advised as it houses a copy of my WIN XP installation CD. Booting to a FDD, loading smartdrv.exe I can install from that drive. I could not do that were it NTFS formatted - or maybe I'm mistaken? If an installation can be done from an NTFS HDD partition after booting from CD ROM, then I'd love to be corrected. It has defeated my attemtps to do so after booting from the Windows XP CD. In general, I have my partitions so arranged as it suits my operations and keeps things tidy. I have been practising this philosophy thanks to several incarnations of Partition Magic though now of course I used Disk Management to do the same thing when I set this machine up. It has never been a problem and boot times have never been an issue until today's glitch. I hope that I am in the clear now but guess that it will resurface sooner or later. After 2 months of XP running on our two PC's (both licensed CD's), I have concluded that XP is pretty brittle. I am aware of the conflict issues but have so far never even seen a "designed for Windows XP" logo on the recent purchases I have made. If it was a washing machine, the equivalent health warnings would tell us that we must only wash whites in it or risk crashing the process! I want to use my PC as a tool and not constantly have to be nursing it along. I mislead you I regret to say. The master disk on IDE 1 is the Western Digital one. It is now 24 hours since the confounded machine fixed its own fault and it boots up normally still. One thing has struck me with XP in that it seems to be self-healing in a way. For example, my wife's machine will start booting and then the monitor cuts to standby and the process halts. Hitting the reset button kicks it off again and the same happens. On the third attempt it boots fully and functions fine. On my own machine I have the frequently reported "Explorer disappearing act" when simply opening Explorer.exe causes a fault, blank desktop followed by repopulation. Other times just waving the mouse over a file stimulates the same phenomenon. If I carry on regardless, Explorer settle down and works in a stable fashion. No one seems to have an explanation for that one though reports abound on V Dr. have now done a full repair from the installation disk. Effectively it seems to me that I then had a hybrid installation and in any case, one which was no longer SP2 modified. So I reinstalled SP2 and so far it does seem to be running OK and the boot process is as swift as it used to be. The only odd feature of the fresh boot now is that the desktop always has an Explorer window displaying Norton System Works folder? Where will I be able to find the "open" command that is giving that on a fresh boot? I've looked in the obvious places but can't find anything to turn it off. It is easily closed of course but I'd rather it didn't open spontaneously on boot __________________ __________________

I have just solved an almost identical problem. It will be a USB device causing the problem. I have a Belkin USB wireless network adapter and when I unplug it my PC boots up in about 45 seconds. When it is connected it takes as long as yours, in the same pattern. Hope this helps

I have just used another USB slot and it seems okay at the moment.