Really slow boot time.... on a fast PC...?!

I have windows 7 RC installed. The boot time to the desktop is about 2 minutes 30 seconds... that is a ridiculously long boot time.

As you can see from my specs (in my signature) this computer should boot quickly.

It has been scanned for viruses, disabled all startup programs, disabled almost all startup services, defragged, registry cleaned, etc...

Any ideas before I just reformat?

 

I believe you might have issues with viruses and trojans. Did you do a virus scan lately? Have you updated your BIOS and other drivers? I suggest you do this ASAP mate!

 

hmm I did a scan with Avira antivir... found a bunch but my boot performance did not improve... maybe ill run a long scan overnight... but I honestly don't think that is the issue...

 

You found a bunch of viruses on your computer and you think this is not an issue? I certainly think it is an issue mate! One virus is one virus too many my friend! I suggest a full format and reinstall!

Alternatively you should goto msconfig and shut down everything useless! Also, goto advanced boot settings and set the maximum processor you have to hopefully speed bootup! Good luck man!

 

Just to check, did you download this RC from Microsoft?

 

Do you have a hardware conflict on your computer?

 

Per this article, you could try enabling boot logging and looking at the boot log to see what errors (if any) occurred. I assume this works on Win7.

Cheers...

 

having funky card readers and such in the pc? my vista took 2.5min to boot. i've took out the card readers and usb-front connctions and all that. after that, boot time 30sec.

so it may be a driver that hangs.

but get rid of your viruses anyways.

 

For Vista try disabling Superfetch in services and clearing C:\Windows\Prefetch
It worked for me I think Superfetch fetches a little too much at boot slowing the BOOT time (Counting running bars)
If it doesn't work you can always re enable.

 

nope, it was just the hw. superfetch is always on, it gives about 10-15sec faster boots.

i've tested different things. but the main thing was:

a fresh installed vista had 2.5min boot time.

a fresh installed vista on all other pc's around me where 40-50sec, maybe a minute.

and this was a system with two ssds in raid0, 4gb ram, and a quadcore. so it should be way faster.

visible was, that the hdd light was not constantly on, but off for about 2 minutes.

crying around, hating the new, expensive pc and the ssds, and vista, i opened the box, plugged out all cables from the mainboard except the required ones (ssdraid,powercoord,gpu,screen,keyboardmouse) and starting up again, and i had a 30sec boot.

so it was the hw (or more, it was, i guess the drivers of those components).


edit: win7 relevant

the boot process of win7 has changed a bit. drivers now start up in parallel when possible. this gives faster boots. but still, if an individual driver hangs for 2 min, the boot process will be 2min (on vista, it will be more, as the other drivers have to load in sequence, before, or afterwards).

so even while win7 improved, stupid drivers can kill everything. and this was a typical in-our-shops pc. so those crappy hw configurations you find in shop may very well the reason for the "slowness" of the systems. not the os.

 

Yes the computer has been cleaned of viruses. Its not really a slow boot time. The slow time is the login which can take about 1-2 minutes with the "welcome" screen. I did obtain this RC from Microsoft directly. So since its login then does that mean it's not a "hanging driver"? If so then what else can I test. I don't see anything that catches my eye in the system log.

 

Well, do you by any chance run Firefox 3.5? If so, try this.

Cheers...