Takes 20minutes to boot

dent

Hey
I'm posting this for a friend. His PC has had a sudden drop in performance and takes 20 minutes to load windows.

The last thing he can remember doing was playing medievil total war.

His hard drive isn't making any strange noises.

He has broadband is it possible he has being infected by a worm.

Its hard to do anything on his PC as its now so slow.

I've told him to update his virus definitions and run a defrag. Which I guess was going to take all night.

What else should he do?
Again I'm not sure weather its a hardware or software issue.

Thanks for any help

Redrocket

the way i have my iol ZyXEL broadband modem setup, i had 3 windows 2k machines running fully UN patched for a few months with no problems. hopefully all broadband modems provide this protection as defualt. if so its not a worm

Mac daddy

What about safe mode how long does that take-

Added hardware/software recently if yes remove it and see how it takes without it-

What kind of hard drive- check manufacturer site for diagnostic tools?

Sleipnir

OS?

dent

I'll get all that information from him and post back

Champ

If it's a 9x OS make sure it ain't in DOS compatibility mode.
Check under System -> Peformance.
If it isn't in "Optimal Performance" mode than something needs fixing.
A boot sector virus might have flipped it into DOS compatibility mode (from exp)..:rolleyes:

Zakalwe

If you're running 2k or Xp then go in to Administration and Services. Check to make sure that a service isn't listed as "starting" or "failed". A service having problems starting can hang the machine for quite a while on bootup.

savemejebus

something similar happened to a colleague. It turned out that they had downloaded a windows update and that had messed up their install. The update tried to install upon restart, entered a loop and proceeded to use 98% or the processing power on the machine, leaving 2% for everything else, hence the slowness. They ended up doing a fresh install

It might be an idea to boot with the install disk and then go to the repair installation option

dangerman

I had a similar problem with a very long boot up time.

Solved by disabling a network card that wasn't being used - if there's anything unused [eg. a normal dialup modem] just disable it. Other than that, I think the other suggestions cover all my ideas.

dent

Thanks for all the replys.

He is using Windows Millenium.

I have given him a list of your suggestions. Will let you know how he gets on and give you his feedback.

Thanks again

Zakalwe

What else should he do? To be honest I'd recommend ditching Windows Me as soon as possible. Get a bit of cash together and buy XP Home.

dent

Ok safe mode would fine. It runs at normal speed.
He has looked in the event viewer and said there are a host of service errors.

He is mailing me the log and I'll post it up.

Mac daddy

Originally posted by dent
Ok safe mode would fine. It runs at normal speed.
He has looked in the event viewer and said there are a host of service errors.

It is probally

event id - 7000
Your running Crappy windows ME get rid of it- update to better version.

Bytes words
00000002222
00002455622


heheheheh

dent

I run Windows XP Pro. I'll pass on your advice.

savemejebus

if he's running win me its probably an old pc and xp might clog it up. Maybe win2k would be a better choice

Redrocket

screw xp, buy a copy of win 2K pro