Laptop taking 30 minutes to boot

[AndyD2k]

I'm quite perplexed at the moment. I can understand if it didn't turn on at all but the fact that it turned on much later puzzles me. It's not hibernation because I just shut down the pc and tried turning it on again - back to just sitting there lifeless

Any reason why this may be occurring?

EDIT: It even gets stuck during a reboot. It'll eventually boot but just hangs for whatever reason

 

[Pantlegz]

could be a HDD issue. is it any less responsive after it's booted? Does it take a lot of time to open programs or open/save files?

 

[AndyD2k]

Seemed just fine after it finally booted

 

[Athena]

I would back up the files, wipe the disk, then reinstall the OS. If it still takes a long time to boot with a fresh OS, I'd start looking for a new disk.

 

[AndyD2k]

But I don't even see the computer booting at all. I don't see anything about windows booting up till much later

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

do a disk check, and have it check for system file errors and bad sectors AFTER you've cleaned everything and did a defrag

 

[Laputa]

You can try booting from the install CD. Just don't try to install or change anything; just a test. If it boots fine, you are likely having bad hard drive. If not, it's likely something else.

 

[TheStu]

Do you have anything hooked up over USB, like say.... an ipod or an external drive? The laptop might be looking for an OS on there and getting hung up.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Do you have anything hooked up over USB, like say.... an ipod or an external drive? The laptop might be looking for an OS on there and getting hung up.

This! :thumbsup: I have had it happen. The fix is to keep such things OFF until after it is booted and loaded.

 

[AndyD2k]

Guys - I don't even see Post for a while. I don't think it's the OS. And I don't have anything connected.

 

[TheStu]

It wouldn't be your installed OS, but rather the system thinking that there is an OS on teh external device.

However, since you have nothing external on there... then answer this.

How old is this laptop, who is the manufacturer, and can you think of anything that you may have installed before all this started?

 

[AndyD2k]

I reinstalled Vista but my sister was having similar issues before that. It's even worse now

Dell 1501 and I think a year old (out of warranty)

 

[Athena]

What is the boot sequence? Is it configured to allow booting from an external drive?

Did you try Laputa's suggestion of booting from the OS install disk?

When you reinstalled Vista, did you wipe the disk or just install over what was there?

 

[AndyD2k]

Someone else had taken a look at it and reformatted the drive. It was still having issues with booting up and wifi card coming in / out of the device manager so I reformatted and reinstalled using the reinstall discs from Dell

Booting from an external device or cd doesn't help as the laptop takes a long time to Post. I did try booting from the reinstall disc and had the same wait time

I ran Dell's diagnostic tool - no problems found. I switched out the memory before running the test as well and didn't help things.

So I'm thinking it's either the hard drive or the motherboard though I would think the former would still let the laptop Post. Right? I would think

 

[AndyD2k]

Tried it without the hard drive - still don't see Post

 

[Matt1970]

A laptop taking forever to post might be a power problem. Pop out the battery and hold the power button down for 30 seconds. Put the battery back in and see what it does. If it still does the same thing, try running it on just the ac adaptor with the battery out.

 

[AndyD2k]

I actually have been running the laptop without the battery. Same thing

 

[AndyD2k]

So anyone think that it might be something else besides the motherboard? I'm closing to buying a board off of ebay but I'm very hesitant to spend $150 just to find out that it didn't help

 

[TheStu]

Try pulling one of the RAM sticks and see what happens, if the problem persists, pull the other and put the first one back in. If it still persists, put one then the other into each RAM slot.

I don't necessarily think that it is the RAM, but that is an easy thing to check you know? It really does feel like a bad mobo to me, but checking the RAM only takes a little while, and is free!

 

[AndyD2k]

I actually switched out the pair of RAM that was already installed and tried a different pair. I think it probably is the motherboard. I'll probably take the chance and buy the motherboard. Gives me a little bit of experience dealing with laptops.

 

[Rottie]

I dont know anything about Dell but did you call Dell tech support even it is out of warranty? or check out at Notebook Reviews Dell discussion forum and see if they have same problems as yours.

 

[Athena]

Dell Technical Support only deals with out of warranty machines came with a minimal 3-year service contract initially.

If the machine doesn't qualify, the Dell forums are a good place to look for help.

Athena