Understanding Win2k Boot up time?

[chasethis]

Hi guys,

I still need your help!

I've been trying to decrease my boot up time in Win2k. I went from maybe 30 seconds in Win98 to about 3 minutes in Win2k! It'll just hang for about a minute during the splash screen, and not access from HD at all. Then chug merrily along.

Is there a way I can see a log of everything Win2k is doing during bootup, and maybe find out what is causing this hangup? I've tried finding a "Step by step" boot option, but no luck.

Anybody know why this is happening, or where I can look to find out?

Thanks!

.Chase
64mb RAM
450 Celeron
Abit BH6

 

[AndyHui]

64MB of RAM is really not enough for Win2K. Increase the RAM to 128MB or 192MB and you should see a significant increase in performance.

 

[Ladi]

A more complete list of your hardware would be helpful, as well as applications that may start on boot (anything that sits in the tray, for instance). If your boot time increased significantly after installing a particular piece of hardware/software, that should also be taken into account (NICs commonly increase boot time if they're looking for a nonexistent DHCP server, for instance)

Also, keep in mind that 2K uses more resources than 98 and will, by default, generally have longer boot times.

~Ladi

 

[chasethis]

Can you offer any suggestions? I have a stick of 64mb PC100 I believe right now, but whenever I try and find a good upgrade, I get so confused! Should I get PC100 again? Cas2 or Cas3 or generic? Oh, it's so tough

But still, is that really the problem for the long boot up?

 

[chasethis]

I run a pretty barebones computer, which is why I haven't really upgraded in awhile. There are no system tray programs loading up, except for volume. I've disabled almost every service I can in Win2k, as I don't use most of them. I generally have about 17megs of ram being used under the Task Manager estimates.

My hardware is a 450 Celeron, 9gb Maxtor, Us Robotics external 56k, Hercules TNT video card, and a Monster MX300 (I think). Oh yeah, 32 CD, 4-2-24 CDRW too.

Is that helpful?

Thanks somuch

.Chase

 

[MulLa]

Since you didn't mention it I believe that you don't have any external IDE controller cards installed? Or extra on-board IDE controllers? They slow down boot up a fair bit too.

 

[chasethis]

heh, I don't even know what those are, so I'll assume I don't have one.

Hmm... there must be some way to see what Win2k is doing when it's booting up, and figure out on what part its hanging.

.Chase

 

[MuffD]

You definitely need more ram. at least 128. I had Win2k proff on an AMD K6-2 450 w/ 128mb of pc100 and it ran fine.

 

[fluxquantum]

i know that if you have a LAN card installed, it increases the boot up time. i have one and it takes forever to boot.

 

[beer]

128? My bootup time dropped a minute wheen I went from 128 to 256.

DEFINITELY go 256!! ITS WORTH IT!

 

[zision]

My current setup isn't much different from yours, except I have 128MB. I don't think I'm taking any longer than 98. Couldn't hard drive speed be a factor here?

 

[DocDoo]

To answer you question on the memory issue:

Your Celeron CPU only requires PC66, so unless you plan to overclock or upgrade the CPU soon, you won't need the high quality memory (like cas2). If I were you, I would buy generic 128 meg PC-100 for no more than $80 (it should be cas3).

Getting overkill memory like *Cas2 PC-133* for your Celeron (66mhz bus), is not going to hurt anything.... but your wallet But hey, memory is cheap again...

If your only complain is slow boot up time, you should install WinMe. This will exchange 1 problem with a basket of others

 

[chasethis]

Sorry for the double post
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.Chase

 

[chasethis]

Thanks for answering my question! I love Win2k, EXCEPT for the whole boot up thing, which still continues to drive me nuts after 2 months of working with it.

Ah welll...

.Chase

 

[Nessism]

I played around and installed Win2k on an old P100 system I had laying around. Even though this system only had 48MB of ram, everything seems to work just fine. I don't know why everyone says that you MUST have tons of ram for win2k. Sure ram is nice, and Win 2k may waste memory more than other OS's, but it is not as bad as some people say.

I was suprised to find that this system boots faster than my P3 700@933 system with a Promise ATA66 controler card installed. With this card installed, the system seems to sit idle for a full 25 seconds during boot up. Removing the card speeds up the boot process significantly. I have read that Win2k does not like these cards and that their is no fix. You might want to play around with your hardware devices and try to see if your slow boot is hardware related. Good luck.

 

[KouklatheCat]

Yes more memory is a must have. All my W2K machines run great. My W2K Advanced server machine even runs fine on 128Mb but it definately likes 256 better.

 

[chasethis]

That seems to be exactly my problem! That the system appears to just sit by for awhile during the boot up screen. The thing is, I don't have a Promise card, or any other hard drive controller card (as far as I know!).

*sigh*

 

[MulLa]

Well you may not have a card but it might be an "extra" on board chip built into your motherboard. Like I have an ATA66 controller on my BX board. When I use the controller it does sit idle for a while on the splash screen before the status bar moves forward and harddisk gets a heart attack

 

[DocDoo]

MulLa... while your BX-133 has it onboard, chasethis is using the circa '98 BH board... it does not have an on-board controller.

In it's day, that BH was top dog an overclockers wet-dream

 

[Superunknown]

Guys he does have a CELERON 450, which means its an overclocked 300..they dont make celeron 450's...so he should get PC100 ram..whether it be cas2 or 3...and yes the BH6 did have an onboard IDE controller..it wasnt ata66, but was ata33...I thought all motherboards had ide controllers? You could disable your secondary channels on your ide controller though to speed up boots, if they arent being used.

 

[IsOs]

Have you tried moving the sound card into another slot?

 

[chasethis]

Yes, my CPU is overclocked, so I guess PC100 would be the way to go....

I haven't moved the sound card around ever, it hasn't really occured to me. I'll see what I can do, and if it helps


Thanks!

.Chase

 

[IsOs]

Also try timing the bootup if it's only at 300MHz.

 

[setaanbomb]

Win2k should take longer to boot up. Win2k does so much more before boot than windows 98. Start with the fact that Win2k loads only 32bit kernel support. If your hard drive is slow then your boot will be slow. If you upgraded from win98 to win2k then your boot will be slower.

 

[Celstar]

I disabled my network card since I'm no longer connected to a network and there was a noticeable decrease in boot times.

Although Im not sure whether we can improve on boot times very much, I still wonder what windows is doing during those times it is perceived to be idled. Is it really idle? Hmmm... inquiring minds want to know.