Windows 2000 startup time - how to tweak???

[chasethis]

Hi guys,

My system was super speedy at starting up in Windows 98SE, and unlike everybody else I've heard, it's nearly 3 times as slow when booting Win2k. When the bitmap loading screen comes up, it freezes for about 20 seconds in the middle of the blue bar loading. Any ideas on how to tweak this?

Also, I'm *not on a network*. Just a regular ole computer, not hooked up to anything, and I'm using Windows 2000 Professional. Is there a simple way to deactivate all the memory hogging network management that goes on????

Thanks!


.chase

 

[paulip88]

It may not be networking stuff. Win2K often stalls for a while if you have a third party mass strorage controller installed (like onboard ATA100, a Promise card, or SCSI).

 

[chasethis]

Hmm... I don't have any interesting storage things going on in my comp, just an aging Maxtor 6gb.

Could it be something else? For some reason, I have a hunch that it's trying to connect to a network, and stalling when it realizes its getting nowhere with it. But thats just a guess.

Thanks thanks thanks for your help!

 

[Dulanic]

Go into administative tools then services..... all the services you wont use.... set them to manual.... There is a tweak site that lists what each service is..... some of them youd think you need but you dont.... and DONT turn workstation to manual or you wont get on the net at all

 

[DocDoo]

Eliminating some of the default services that are on "automatic" is a good idea, especially if you have no need for some of them.

Go to this web site for more help. It may not make your Win2K boot up faster, but it's a step in the right direction.

BTW: when you say "slower," be specific (51 seconds)? Are you on FAT or NTFS?
FWIW: my Win2K (NTFS) boots faster than my Win98SE system (Even with the ATA-100 controller).

 

[StuckMojo]

make sure you dont have TCP/IP installed and set to DHCP. assuming you at least have a network card, you may be trying to DHCP an address during boot.

probably not, but maybe

 

[chasethis]

Thank you, I will try your suggestions!

My disk drive is FAT32. I got scared away from the other option during install, as it made it sound extremely dangerous. Should I think about converting? (if that's even possible?)

I will time my boot time tonight and get back to you,


THANKS AGAIN, you guys don't know how helpful this is!!!


.chase

 

[Dulanic]

Yes just use the convert command at the command prompt. It works great, much better file system than FAT 32.

 

[StuckMojo]

as long as you're not dual booting

 

[MechEngineer]

I was running a dual boot with win2k and 98.
The win2k was my master drive and was NTFS. My 98 drive was a slave drive and was fat32. I had a tweaked boot floppy that could be inserted if you wanted to boot 98. Otherwise win2k booted normally.

 

[chasethis]

Okay,

I convert to NTFS, which doesn't change the boot time at all.

My start up time, from the time I enter my BIOS password, to when I can click on a icon to open it, is rougly 3 minutes 15 seconds. Seems a LOT longer than my 1.5 minute Win98 SE boot.

Again, Win2k just sort of hangs for a minute when booting, at the bitmap with the blue bar at the bottom.

*sigh*

 

[Rifter]

thats a LONG time, when i was running win2k i was using it for webserving, FTP, DNS, MAIL, Database, Proxy, and a game server. And it only took about a min and a bit to get from power button pused into windows desktop and able to open programs.

 

[Quickfingerz]

My win2k boots realy slow as well, but after unplugging my ata100 controller it's super fast.

 

[DocDoo]

chasethis... Yes, I will agree with you, over 3 minutes is slow (but not unheard of).

Next time you boot up, push "F8" and choose "step by step" and make a note at what point you start to hang....

You mentioned you are not on a "network," but do you have a NIC for the modem (cable/dsl). If so, what NIC do you have.

Also, try to boot in "safe-mode" and see if it's any faster.

It's a process of elimination

Quickfingerz... What brand ATA-100 were you using. I have the Promise Ultra ATA-100, no problems with slow boot-ups here....

 

[Tetsuo316]

my solution. if you're using the asus a7v, do this. make sure you don't have your drives connected on that ata100 bus first though.

 

[billw]

here's another solution.... set you computer up to hibernate in the control panel/power options area.