Legit Reviews

I have just built a new pc, specs below, and installed Win XP Pro SP2. I have noticed that the windows boot time is much longer than my previous PC which had a slower CPU and RAM. I have tried to run the Microsoft Bootvis app but it will not let me see the boot activity section even though I check the box before a restart.

On my old pc the blue line would go across about 4 to 5 times before going to the login window. On the new pc it does this about 20 - 25 times. I have two Maxtor SATA 80GB drives and always build windows on the one I am not using. Is it possible that the drive I am using now has a problem and is just slow?

Puter Specs:

Case - Coolermaster Centurion 5 Black/Blue
Mobo - ASUS A8V Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500
Mem - 1GB (2 x 512MB Corsair XMS TWINX XLPT DDR400)
Vid - Nvidia GeForce 6800GT
HD - 2 x Maxtor 80GB SATA 7200 RPM
DVD - Lite On 16x +/- RW Dual Layer
CD - Lite On 52x32x52 CD-RW

Roger,
First:
Run>MSCONFIG>STARTUP
Go in here and uncheck everything you don't absolutely need. Alot of programs insert an entry in here to start themselves up at boot.
Second.
Go to Executive software and download a trial version of Diskeeper Pro. Then go download a trial version of Ace Utilities...both are very good, very safe programs. Ace Utilities first. run it to remove junk programs and bad registry entries. then do a boot time defrag of your hard drive with diskeeper.
Last:
Run Bootvis, the only thing you need to do is go to trace, then optimize system.
Let me know how this goes

SP2 adds a lot of stuff to the boot sequence that MUST start before the majority of the system loads, this included DEP, firewall, and some other things i cant remember. Sadly SP2 will always take longer than SP1 to load. Capper is right though you can help things by not loading what you dont need, i generaly uncheck everything in msconfig, but im extreme, the same is true of me for serviecs. I generaly run the bare minimum of services (around 15 i think) and keep the number of running tasks as low as i can (after boot 19 in task manager)

for service tweaking go here
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

capper5016 wrote:Roger,
First:
Run>MSCONFIG>STARTUP
Go in here and uncheck everything you don't absolutely need. Alot of programs insert an entry in here to start themselves up at boot.
Second.
Go to Executive software and download a trial version of Diskeeper Pro. Then go download a trial version of Ace Utilities...both are very good, very safe programs. Ace Utilities first. run it to remove junk programs and bad registry entries. then do a boot time defrag of your hard drive with diskeeper.
Last:
Run Bootvis, the only thing you need to do is go to trace, then optimize system.
Let me know how this goes

I have already done the MSCONFIG>STARTUP and unchecked as many startup items as I can. I have also used the BlackViper web site to disable as many unwanted services.

I have the registered version of Diskeeper Pro and run the defrag on a regular basis. Not sure what a boot time defrag is that you are talking about. I also run Tuneup Utilities 2004 to clean up the HD and registry. All seems to be clean.

I guess I will just have to live with the extended boot time. Thanks for all your advice though.

We try, you can always build a linux system, if you do a good job striping down the kernel you can get exelent boot times.

Well I just purchased the Executive Software Diskeeper PRo 9.0 version. I have run both the standard defrag and the boot-time defrag. Seems to have helped quite a bit. My boot time has improved by at least 30% to 40%.

I guess when we build new PC's we are never satisfied with its performance and are always seeking to improve.

Onward and upward...

A boot time defrage once every two weeks really helps alot.

you know why i stoped worring about boot time, because i never turn off my compuers. i think at least one of my systems has been on for over 2mths with out a reboot.

A liberal tree hugger wasting electricity??!!! Shame on you!

im not wasting im folding!

Hmm, I looked at your specs and I must say that is a bit unusual. Mine does about 7-10 times and then loads. I have the K8V Asus with a A64 3200 and (1) gig DDR400. I am running raptors as raided on the Promise Controller and also (2) 160 gig SATA on the Via Controller as raid. OS is on the raptors and they are very fast raided. Maybe that is why mine boots fast. I have not ran Bootvis at all either..

didnt anyone thought of just simply uninstaling SP2? when it came out I did install it to try but decided it only slows down everything ,takes up system resources and other than that has no practical use. like for instance who would use microsofts built in firewall? almost anything else is better. so I quickly uninstalled it and thus can use my whole computers potential (of course after lots of reconfiguring and adjustment since as we all know windows is far from perfect

The problem with just uninstalling SP 2 is that M$ is requiring it now. supposedly there is an application in the program which automatically makes it search for and upgrade.
You can always turn off auto updater, but then you end up missing a lot of security patches and fixes.

I never found SP2 to be much of a problem... I slipstreamed it onto my XP disc, minus all the new stuff that loads, and I haven't experienced any change in functionality with it compared to SP1.

capper5016 wrote:The problem with just uninstalling SP 2 is that M$ is requiring it now. supposedly there is an application in the program which automatically makes it search for and upgrade.
You can always turn off auto updater, but then you end up missing a lot of security patches and fixes.

well what Im saying is: If you have a good firewall (zonealarm), a good antivir. (nod32) and a couple of antispy software: spysubtract and xoftspy and arent using IE but instead firefox than you dont need any of the patches that arent stopping any security threats anyway. my internet life is simply free of worries since I have this setup and just running sp1. the biggest security threat is using IE and outlook and nothing you can do about it. nomather how many patches you download. the reason is simple: hackers are mostly trying to exploit IE and outlook counting on the fact that the majority of people are using these. no matter how many patches you download cant feel secure as long as you use IE period. its just a strugle that has no final solution and as a side effect you get a slower computer becouse of SP2 and an ever unsecure system that will always be vulnerable.

i recommend the black viper services guide too
i did it long ago when i was running XP on a slow computer
i could feel the difference that's for sure
since then he updated the guide for SP1 and SP2...
really a great guide

I have just built a machine using an ASUS A8V Deluxe board and an Athlon 64 3200+, and using Win XP Pro with SP2. The boot time for me is very slooooow.
I have used this exact same WinXP installation disk at a few other computers and have never seen it this slow. For me there is a big delay just after the BIOS POST. The screen goes black except for a flashing underline in the upper left. It flashes like this for about 20 seconds before I get the Windows GUI stuff.
I have the RAID stuff disabled and I have a 160G harddive and a single CDROM in the machine and 512M RAM. There must be something strange about this motherboard, don't you think?

sanjosanjo wrote:I have just built a machine using an ASUS A8V Deluxe board and an Athlon 64 3200+, and using Win XP Pro with SP2. The boot time for me is very slooooow.
I have used this exact same WinXP installation disk at a few other computers and have never seen it this slow. For me there is a big delay just after the BIOS POST. The screen goes black except for a flashing underline in the upper left. It flashes like this for about 20 seconds before I get the Windows GUI stuff.
I have the RAID stuff disabled and I have a 160G harddive and a single CDROM in the machine and 512M RAM. There must be something strange about this motherboard, don't you think?

The flashing cursor in the corner is when you bios is waiting for your HDD.

Look for HDD time out or HDD delay or hdd detect in your BIOS - there should be an option to reduce the time - I have a p4p800 mobo (asus also) -> I set it to zero

Something else you may want to consider. Unplug any USB equipment except for your mouse and keyboard. I used to have this problem, and it was caused by my USB card reader

i know this is an old topic but, who knows, there might be other ppl ot there with the same problem.

sanjosanjo wrote:I have just built a machine using an ASUS A8V Deluxe board and an Athlon 64 3200+, and using Win XP Pro with SP2. The boot time for me is very slooooow.
I have used this exact same WinXP installation disk at a few other computers and have never seen it this slow. For me there is a big delay just after the BIOS POST. The screen goes black except for a flashing underline in the upper left. It flashes like this for about 20 seconds before I get the Windows GUI stuff.
I have the RAID stuff disabled and I have a 160G harddive and a single CDROM in the machine and 512M RAM. There must be something strange about this motherboard, don't you think?

i had the same problem, one 120G and 1DVD drive on separate cables
i've tried and tried over and over different methods to resolve the problem until i gived up.

the second day i had to install a new hdd (80G) in my computer, and the cable was too short for both hdd drives (big chieftec case), so i changed the cable with an old but longer one. the problem dissapeared and now i can hardly see the blinking line (< 1 sec).

i have to mention that both cables were 80 pins cables

so kenc51 was right, the hdd was the problem
btw... the mb BIOS does not have/show the HDD delay setting