Help - boot up time in XP is almost two minutes. How to speed up?

[spartacuskzm]

So I put together a shuttle SK41G for a friend of mine. The specs are as follows:

Athlon 1600+
GF3 Ti200
512 MB PC2100 DDR
IBM Travelstar 40GB, 7200 RPM
DVD Rom

I know the specs aren't stellar, but I reused a few pieces I had laying around (well, everything besides the DVD Rom and the Shuttle Box/Mobo). Nevertheless, that load time is unbearable.

I realize the system isn't new, and the HD has a fair amount of stuff still on it. I don't want to reinstall (that's an absoloute last resort), so instead would like some suggestions on how to clean the drive up. I defragged, ran Regcleaner and deleted a ton of applications (that are still in the start Menu mind you - how do I get rid of that?) as well as uninstalling everything that isn't necessary and all the old drivers.

Any suggestions (or follow questions to get to questions) are much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[spartacuskzm]

BTW, I am open to purchasing disk-cleaning utilities.

 

[magomago]

That sounds about right. My system takes about the same time (see sig) and I have ethernet and all that stuff disabled....or so I think

 

[JBT]

thats sounds about right sucks huh, get a wd raptor to speed things up =)

 

[spartacuskzm]

Nooooo!!!

When it was new it took about 25 seconds...but I guess that was w/ no programs installed.

 

[Lyfer]

search for speed tweak. There's a registry tweak I d/led here a whileback, my comp only takes 1 bar to boot instead of the usual 6.

 

[Packin]

TweakXP.com

 

[MrPickins]

Download BootVis. It' is a program from microsoft that traces and analyzes your boot up, then moves files around to help load times...

BootVis offers a graphical view of your PC's boot performance and shows you why booting your system takes so long. After you download from BootVis, create a folder named 'ptools' and install the utility into that folder. Launch the program and choose Trace, Next Boot + Driver Delays. When the dialog box appears, choose four repetitions and then go grab a cup of coffee. Don't interrupt the process, even if your PC seems to be frozen--BootVis takes its sweet time. The program watches the boot process and figures out how to load drivers, DLLs, and other components simultaneously. It also determines how to start loading some drivers before others have finished, and it identifies the files that no longer need to load.

Once BootVis is done, select Trace, Optimize. The program shuffles drivers and their load order based on what it has learned, making for faster boots. BootVis provides the details you need to find the problems that are slowing the boot process. For instance, my system stalled when trying to connect to a nonexistent networked PC; removing this item from Network Neighborhood helped speed up my machine's boot process.

(from this PCWorld article)


I used this, and both my XP pc's boot in under 30 sec.

 

[spartacuskzm]

Thanks everybody - great tips.

Any good disk scrubbing type utilities that can really go after remants of previously uninstalled programs?

 

[Adul]

now that sounds liek a handy program

 

[0roo0roo]

sounds like somethings hanging during boot. theres no way itwould take that long. my 650mhz p3laptop boots in seconds

 

[sharkeeper]

I don't know about anyone else, but I find that bootvis does nothing to improve boot up times. I run it, do a trace, then optimise system. Reboot and still takes as long. It's pretty neat seeing all the i/o that a fast SCSI disk system is capable of. No way to get rid of the SCSI device driver delays, however.

-DAK-

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
I don't know about anyone else, but I find that bootvis does nothing to improve boot up times. I run it, do a trace, then optimise system. Reboot and still takes as long. It's pretty neat seeing all the i/o that a fast SCSI disk system is capable of. No way to get rid of the SCSI device driver delays, however.

-DAK-

I only shaved about 5-10 seconds off my startup, but it was pretty fast to begin with. In this case, I think it will help target whatever is hanging in his system.

 

[bigpow]

most likely you'll be able to speed it up if you assign static ip to your nic(s).
you must know what you're doing and make sure it'll still work with your router/switch/etc