# Slow XP Boot TIme **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706 "2004-03-11T15:22:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/1 "2004-03-11T15:22:37Z")
Until about four weeks ago, my 2-gig, 512-Meg RAM Dell was fine. Lately, it’s been booting up very slowly, meaning that when the PC first boots up, I get a black screen for about 30 seconds, followed by the “Windows XP” screen (with moving green progress bar) for about 2 minutes (used to be about 10 seconds), then a 10-second black screen, and finally the blue sign-in screen. I’ve run the latest and greatest of SpyBot, AdAware & AVG. If I’ve changed something on the PC, I can’t think of what. Here is the loaded software: Microsoft Word Supplemental Templates and Wizards 1.0.0.0 DIGReqEx 9.0.0917.2 MSN Encarta Plus Support Files 9.0.0801 WebFldrs XP 9.50.6513 Microsoft Picture It! Express 9 9.0.0912 Microsoft Money 2003 System Pack 11.0.80 Microsoft Streets and Trips 2002 9.00.17.0200 Dell Support 2.00.0000 Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003 2003 Nero - Burning Rom 5.5.5.1 Paint Shop Pro 7 7.05.0000 DAO 3.50 Easy CD Creator 5 Basic 5.3.4.21 Banctec Service Agreement 1.00.0004 Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1 Premium 9.00.9327 Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1 Disc 2 9.00.9327 DVDSentry 1.00.0001 Dell Solution Center 1.00.0000 Dell Picture Studio - Dell Image Expert 3.4.1 Microsoft .NET Framework (English) 1.0.3705 BACS 3.26.0000 Microsoft Picture It! Library 9 9.0.0912 Works Suite OS Pack 3.0.0.0000 MSN Messenger 6.1 6.1.0207 Microsoft Money 2003 11.0.50 Microsoft Works Suite Add-in for Microsoft Word 2.0.0.0000 Microsoft Picture It! Photo 7.0 7.0.0.0000 Help and Support Customization 1.00.0000 ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/2 "2004-03-11T15:23:53Z")
Whoops, bumped the send button… :rolleyes: In short, I’m at a total loss of what’s wrong, but this sucka is slower than molasses on Mars. Any ideas??? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/3 "2004-03-11T15:49:42Z")
Sounds like a driver initialization problem. I have a PC that started having the same problem, and it wasn’t until I noticed that the same thing happened on FreeBSD that I clued in that it might a hardware issue. Try booting in logged mode (tap the F8 key a few times immediately after the POST [motherboard boot screen] appears, and select logged boot from the menu). If you notice the long pause with a particular driver name as the last displayed line, that might help you identify the component that’s having trouble. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/4 "2004-03-11T15:50:54Z")
To isolate this kind of problem, you need to do a [Clean Boot of Windows XP](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310353). This will determine if the problem is in the System.ini file, the Win.ini file, or the Startup Items (it is probably not in the startup items, since the delay appears to be well before that part of the boot is executed) Once you know which .ini file has the problem, you can go in and disable half the entries in that file and restart; if the problem recurs, then you know the error is in the other half. Keep disabling the entries by halves until you isolate the offending entry. This may indicate what needs to be reinstalled, or you can just uncheck it, and see how things run without it. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/5 "2004-03-11T21:52:19Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > To isolate this kind of problem, you need to do a [Clean Boot of Windows XP](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310353). This will determine if the problem is in the System.ini file, the Win.ini file, or the Startup Items (it is probably not in the startup items, since the delay appears to be well before that part of the boot is executed) Once you know which .ini file has the problem, you can go in and disable half the entries in that file and restart; if the problem recurs, then you know the error is in the other half. Keep disabling the entries by halves until you isolate the offending entry. This may indicate what needs to be reinstalled, or you can just uncheck it, and see how things run without it. THe only thing I recall is that I started to have problems with my CD player at about the same time. Even today, I simply cannot get the darn thing to work. I’ve reinstalled the driver, but no dice. (The DVD player works fine, but the CD player blinks and the readout on Windows Media Player 9 says something like, “drive busy.” Whatever) Does that information help any, especially in light of **Cerowyn’s** advice? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-xp-boot-time/233706/6 "2004-03-11T22:37:38Z")
If you’ve had problems with hardware and have tried reinstalling some device several times, it’s possible that you have a bunch of inactive (and invisible) entries in the device manager. I had slow boot times a while back after problems with an intermittently-working device that kept being detected as new - this worked for me (use with caution): Click Start/Run/CMD At the prompt type: SET DEVMGR\_SHOW\_NONPRESENT\_DEVICES=1 START DEVMGMT.MSC When Device manager loads - click View/Show hidden devices - you may see a bunch of duplicate entries for your CD drive (some of which may be greyed out and may be named ‘copy 2’ etc) - Delete/uninstall these, plus the first/original copy of the cd device too - reboot and let Windows install the driver again.