Startup Problem on PC

cayenne

I'm fixing a friends computer and every time you turn it on it takes and eternity to load up. The loading bar which runs along the bottom of the screen takes a good few minutes to build up and disappear and then the whole OS seems to be sluggish when I finally get in. I have reinstalled XP etc. but the same problem seems to exist. Any ideas what the problem might be or how to solve it

RoyalMarine

when you re-installed xp did you format / fdisk the harddrive?

also, do you have loads of programs running on the machine?
if you do then that might be some of the problem.

was it always running slow?
is there any problems in device manager in the control panel?
and yellow ? or !.

did you change any of the bios settings?

cayenne

formatted the hard drive and then re-installed. Very few programs on the computer as its not used that much by all accounts. Haven't checked device manager yet. Apparently the computer had been online just before the computer started to go very slow (anti-virus not upto date)

KdjaCL

What are the specs of the pc? It may only have 128 ram or something.


kdjac

RoyalMarine

last case scenario, wipe it again. re-install but dont connect to the internet.
unplug ur ethernet cable or something...

before you do it, download the updates for the anti virus, / firewall and something like adaware and defender.

then once they are installed, then connect the net.
should fix the problem unless its hardware issue, or you dont have much ram in the computer.

zerodown

RoyalMarineComm wrote:

last case scenario, wipe it again. re-install but dont connect to the internet.
unplug ur ethernet cable or something...

before you do it, download the updates for the anti virus, / firewall and something like adaware and defender.

then once they are installed, then connect the net.
should fix the problem unless its hardware issue, or you dont have much ram in the computer.

Correct method but this could be a problem with IDE or SATA drivers. What is the specs? Also your better of to use AVG for anti Virus as Norton will chew up your ram on a non-high spec machine. Usually if your having trouble before the logon screen its got to do with either:

A: Boot.ini or win.ini file. CHeck this by typing msconfig in run (Advanced Only)

B: Possible damaged HD or IDE/SATA driver that is conflicting with the system causing the long delay in loading. If you hear alot of clicking from HD when its trying to load up or a unusual amount of load on the ram its either the disk or insuffienct ram

Ruu_Old

Think we need a few more details on the system first, ram being important, like Kdjac said.