New XPS M1530 - Slow on startup! :/

Hi everyone,

Just got my M1530 a few days ago and I'm fairly happy with it; the screen is fine, the keyboard is great and the design is awesome. But what I've noticed is that on startup-- that is, after I type in my password and log into Windows -- the computer runs slowly for a few minutes. It takes 20-30 seconds before it goes from "Welcome" to my actual desktop, and then about two minutes before all the system tray icons show up. And this is on a new machine. I thought McAfee was the problem so I uninstalled that (it was getting on my nerves a bit anyway) but even now it takes a while to startup. What is the culprit and how can I speed up the machine? While these programs load at startup the whole OS is less responsive and slow, but once they're open the system is basically fine.

I don't want to reformat a brand-new machine even though it has so-called bloatware on it; this just shouldn't be this slow on startup for a new machine.

Thanks in advance!
dt_

Specs: 2.0 GHz T5750, 3 GB 667MHz RAM, 128MB Nvidia Geforce 8400M graphics card, 1440x900 LCD non LED. 5400 RPM 250GB HDD.

Btw, how do I find out the type of trackpad I have?

 

I recommend not reformatting it. Im currently in the process of doing it and it is really messed up. Specifying 207 GB for partition in drive C and installing windows results in drive C having only 23GB whereas 207GB is on Drive D... It kills space X_X

 

did you try your machine prior to reformatting? did it run slowly after startup? I dont plan on reformatting.

 

Has it always been like this, maybe you are trying to start up way to many programs on start up.

 

Can you run HijackThis and show the running processes of your background? I would like to see what kind of stuff gets loaded before and after startup. A notepad log file should appear after the scan. Post the entire log file here.

http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

Thanks.

 

i'll restart the computer, not close any apps, and then do the hijackthis. is that okay? also, is any private information compromised by posting the logfile on a forum? thanks

 

Yeah, I've got it all calculated out. Its actually VERY FAST without reformatting. Still in process of trying to figure out appropriate partition size, then will test startup speed from there.

 

Here's the HijackThis logfile.
Attached

 

Looks like you have a couple of extra feature that could be turned off to reduce startup times. Go to control panel: programs:turn features on/off, also system/maintainess-administrative task: configuration to edit the start up files. Try doing everything in the vista tweak guide and search online for vista service tweaks to emulate their setup.

My 1530 took about a minute to load when i just got it, now it takes like 15 seconds. I had to turn off alot of useless features and services to get there.

 

I just hijacked my own computer and the list of processes is the same as yours. I get 34 seconds startup time last time I checked a few hours ago with a stopwatch.

 

Forget about hijackThis, completely unnecessary to bother with. Reload any of your drivers and do Windows Vista updates.

Driver issues usually cause problems such as yours. You can reinstall windows without formatting as well.

 

I highly recommend doing all the Vista updates as well as NewDelly mentioned. They did increase my startup speeds.

 

Well it's already done a bunch of updates, including SP1 for Vista but I guess I'll look at it more closely

I also turned off a bunch of startup programs using msconfig and that cut down the startup time -- it's still slower than my (Dell) desktop in startup but it's much more bearable now. I'll try some of the other stuff later .. I'll keep you updated. Thanks everyone!

 

Hmm yeah checks out, your hijackthis log looks clean. It's the same as what I have and boots in 28 secs flat. Don't bother with the Hijackthis now... You have a clean startup. Leave it alone for the time being. However you can reduce alot of the stuff at the background still.

And yes, update, update, update, your vista. Couldn't have said better. I noticed a huge performance increase when you do all updates and even better when I updated my 1720 to SP1.

EDIT: LOL Looks like we posted together at the same time.

 

Is there a way to update to SP1 using windows update? I cant seem to find the option to do so when I check for updates through computer...

 

No you'll have to download it manually... I don't know about 1530, is it true that there's some sort of sound driver problem when SP1 is installed?

Anyway for my case it was flawless, I installed the drivers before even SP1, and yeah everything seems to be working well for my 1720.

The SP1 download is here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...6D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en

 

Anyone with a M1530 upgrade to Sp1 without any problems? (Usagewise)

 

While i agree with driver isses and windows itself, but,

Hijachthis is the art of knowing what is running at your background and the crapware that is bring processed at start ups. It has helped aparently alot of folks out there to diagnose ther startup problems and i to think of it, its worth doing a thorough check then to ignore them completely.

 

I am using Ultimate x64 SP1 just fine.

 

Well I don't know if this pertains to your problem but I also noticed really slow boot times after the password screen. The problem was my gadgets on vista. When windows would load, it would try to load the gadgets first. Some widgets such as a weather gadget I had needed an internet connection before it would load so the computer would wait until I was connected to the wi fi signal in my house before it would load the gadgets. During this time my mouse would be very choppy and my programs wouldn't load. I fixed the problem by doing this:

1. Click 'Winkey' + R to get the 'Run' window;
2. Type 'services.msc' and hit enter;
3. Scroll to one of the final entries which is 'Workstation'
4. Double click to open and disable it; and
5. Reboot and Voila!!

This cut my boottime by atleast 10-15 seconds.