XP taking longer and longer to boot!! Why?!

1RyanRs · 06-26-2007, 05:17 AM

I have a slight problem with xp taking forever to boot.. I recently installed a fresh copy of XP home, installed the basics like MSN 7.5, AVG Free, QT, WMP11 etc etc, it booted nice, say 1 min tops to load.. i then take the computer from my house to my car and set it up..

Straight away, its loading slower... and it seems the more times i boot it over the past 2 weeks that its been in there, its got slower and slower!

Its once the bios screen has dissipeared, there is a good 1-2 minute pause before you get the white progress bar that appears at the bottom of the screen, Before you get the XP logo.. and sometimes after the XP logo has gone, there is another pause before the Logon screen apears..

I have also noticed that my USB wireless keyboard , mouse and touch screen work all work immediatly when the PC is turned on, but soon as it gets past the bios screen, they do not function, not until XP has loaded up.. Basically meaning that if i wanted the Boot options menu, i cant get it as the keyboard does'nt work! it almost seems that the USB ports get switched off while booting.

1 last thing.. My pci WIFI card, was working fine.. then stoped working -sourced the problem, the card was not in properly.. So, i put the card in correctly and the computer will not boot?! But... Remove the card, and it boots fine!!

Can anyone help!!

-Btw, its a VIA motherboard 800mhz cpu , 256mb ram (iirc -poss 512mb) 60gb hdd.

DarquePervert · 06-26-2007, 05:46 AM

First assessment would be either some screwy BIOS setting that's mucking things up or a possibly failing motherboard.

1RyanRs · 06-26-2007, 07:47 AM

ok ill check the BIOS. surely if the motherboard is failing, XP would not function correctly?? as once its loaded, it appears ok...

one thing i have noticed occasionally, sometimes you can hear the hard drive Clicking, kind of like its trying to move the actuator arm past its limit.. ??

tn6478 · 06-26-2007, 07:53 AM

is this a new HD. if so the clicking sound, sounds like the HD is going out. Check out on the HD

1RyanRs · 06-26-2007, 07:57 AM

no, i got the computer second hand.. how could i check the HDD? what shall i do? i assume by 'Going out' you mean 'Dying' :P ?

1RyanRs · 06-28-2007, 09:38 AM

Ok.. now the problem has progressed and i am getting error messages..

now, after the XP logo booting screen, there is a blank screen pause, then the blue 'Windows is starting up' screen loads -And then i get plagued with error messages..

the majority saying 'Windows - Delay write failed' then the message : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file 'C:' the data has been lost. this error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try save the file elsewhere.

i also got the message:

Iscss.exe - System Error. : An I/O operation initiated by the registry failed unrecoverably. The registry could not read in, write out or flush one of the files that contain the Systems image of the Reg.

the computer will then reboot. I tried Safe mode, restore config etc etc, but to no avail.

I am assuming my hard disk has died?

psyrex · 06-28-2007, 12:15 PM

I'd place my bet with the hard drive.

Grimoire · 06-28-2007, 03:35 PM

I think that the HDD is loosing power at critical moments. Ive seen this most when I unplug a HDD before its all the way powered down. You can test this. Run your computer, and just unplug the HDD. Granted, this is a very bad thing for the computer and youll loose some info, but hey, its already happening and youll probably get the same error. Get another HDD and test it out. It may be as simple as a bad cable. With me, it was a bad IDE slot.

1RyanRs · 06-28-2007, 04:54 PM

ok, i have removed the HDD (which is 2.5" btw) rigged up my spare 3.5" PC IDE HDD, which has a copy of windows installed, and its now all working fine.. boots from 'ON' to login screen in 45sec ish..

the IDE cable has STD size and 2.5" drive connectors on it, so i used the same cable. i have rigged up the ****y 2.5" drive as a slave, and i can access the data fine.. but swap it back to being the bootable master drive and the problems return..

Grimoire · 06-28-2007, 05:24 PM

Well then, sounds like your HDD is kaput. Save what you can while you can. Sorry to hear that, you know why it happened?

1RyanRs · 06-30-2007, 10:00 AM

not sure why its happened to be honest.. may just be old, the assembly date on it is 2003.. maybe its been dropped or bumped a few times in its life??

ill try copy the boot sector over to a new disk and the data soon as i get a replacement.

thanx for the help peeps

long.1 · 06-30-2007, 11:17 AM

Hi 1RyanRs,

Glad to hear your on top of your issues.

From what you've written above, it sounds like your troubles started once the PC was setup in the car. Perhaps you should check how solidly the PC is mounted in the car, and also consider how well the hard disk is mounted in the PC. The last thing you'll want is to encounter the same issues with your replacement hard disk.

It may not be a factor, but I thought I'd mention it.

Cheers,

Long.1