slow startup

[twite]

hi, recently my computer has been very slow to startup, i takes about 2-3 minutes to detect ide drives, and about 2-3 minutes to boot windows. Before, i took anly 2-3 minutes to boot completly. Any suggestions?-thanks

 

[Tedster]

Check your computer for viri, adware, and trojans. Please go to the security forum and read the stickies there for more info.

 

[twite]

The problem went away for about 3 days and now it is back. I followed the instructions in the security forum so i dont think spyware,malware,ect is the problem.

 

[N3051M]

have you ran a defrag and a chkdsk /f recently? also have a look through your startup programs/processes under [start>run] msconfig

how is your power? is your psu giving enough juice to fire up those hdds properly and other devices?

 

[altheman]

i takes about 2-3 minutes to detect ide drives, and about 2-3 minutes to boot windows. Before, i took anly 2-3 minutes to boot completly. Any suggestions?-thanks

did you change the settings in the bios to auto detect your drives everytime?? if so, change the settings manually so that they are not autodetected.

 

[twite]

i have run a defrag, i have run a chkdsk, i have managed my startup programs,i havent made any changes to bios..so the last option is power. I have a 450 W generic power supply so that is probly my problem. If you check my specs you can see that i am running water cooling, and a pretty power hungry 7800gs.

Generic power supplies like mine i think are usually 70% effiecent so that means its only supplying about 375 watts. I guess its time to upgrade to a 600W

 

[WinDoWsMoNoPoLy]

Lol, no man. If your power supply wasn't big enough something wouldn't boot and the computer would most likely fail to start.

 

[twite]

its ok..good way to force my mom to buy me a new power supply.

 

[N3051M]

not to be rude, but dude.. go search this forum for generic power supplies... they cause nearly half the problem on pcs and are a headache in the other half.... twite is correct in giving estimate to 70% efficiency on the generic type psu, but also that a psu gives off signs that it's either dieing or not producing enough power etc by simply by observing your pc and how its running, and using a bit of maths. In his case, the pc is slower.. other cases components failing/not performing correctly etc.. the pc failing to start would mean that it died already or on its last legs..

although 600w maybe overboard.. unless you got the cash or plan to do big upgrades to your rig... get an estimate: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp and add some headroom of +50w or +100w depending if you want to upgrade later on etc.. since good brand psu will give roughly 80-90%...

although the psu could be your culprit, we wont know for sure untill you;ve unplugged stuff from its power or get a better one....

remember, prevention is better than a cure...

 

[mikescorpio81]

have you checked the jumer settings on your HDD's? Bios usually takes a while to detect drives when there is a master jumper setting on more than 1 device. Re-set your jumper settings to "Cable Select" & you might find it boots up alot quicker!

Cheers :grinthumb

 

[twite]

I have checked my bios and everything is how it should be. What leaves me wondering is that fact that for about 2 or 3 days it went from slow to regular, and now its slow again.

 

[twite]

problem is still here...any ideas

 

[N3051M]

did you manage to get a new psu?

try this test: unplug all extra devices so you only have the 1 hdd, 1 optical drive, mobo/cpu/ram and video/audio set to onboard if possible.. boot up and see how long it takes (dont install the onboard drivers if you still plan to use your external audio/video cards.. less problems..)

if it boots normaly, then power is your consern.

other than that, if it still lags, then its time to go into detail on your hardware. inspect your motherboard for any stains, smells, unnatural looking components - especialy capacitors blown, etc.. and start swapping stuff like IDE cables, jumper cables (if used), power splitter/connectors etc.... run memtest on your ram, as well as a hdd diagnostic program from your hdd manufacturer's website.

 

[twite]

i figured it out..it was a bad dvd drive

 

[N3051M]

good to hear its solved

Have fun!
N3051M