Hi all.

I’ve asked this questions in other forums and haven’t got a resolution yet. I’m hoping some of the Piriform gurus can shed some light on the subjet.

My PC is taking longer to bootup to the Windows Login Screen. The black and white screen for the device listing is displayed for about 55 seconds. It used to be about 10 seconds. I do not see the HD access light come on while the device list is displayed. Speed of the PC is normal when the bootup continues and PC operation is stable. I have not made any changes to the Bios. The screen I’m referring to is not a BIOS screen. It’s the screen that’s shown right after the Sony logo. It lists the Buss No, Vendor Id, Func Id, Device Class, IRQ’s, and it’s always displayed during initial bootup.

I’ve checked that all cards were seated, defragmented my drive, ran memtest, chkdsk, and sfc /scannow and no problems were reported. My PC specs are listed in my signature and a copy of bootini is below.

[bootloader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition” /fastdetect/Noexecute=OptIn

I do have an external usb drive that I do not usually connect unless I plan to use it. It has no boot sector and its not part of the boot sequence but just for grins, I connected it anyway. Had no effect.

I downloaded and burned a UBCD to consolidate a few diagnostic tools. I haven’t used any of the tools yet but noticed an interesting point about the ubcb. The one I downloaded and burned is ubcb411. I noticed if I have it in my cd/dvd drive but don't boot off it (just let the boot prompt time out), the device list is only displayed for about 10 seconds like it used to be.

Just having the UBCD disc in my cd drive allows me to boot faster.

Leaving the ubcs disc in my drive is no problem for me, but does anyone have any ideas about what’s going on?

Larry, I see the same situation on my 2.4GHZ P4 512MB RAM Western Digital 80GB HD partitioned into 2x40GB running XP Home SP3 system.

All I get is a blinking cursor in the top left of the monitor after the P4S8X-MX motherboard screen goes away.

I just let it do its merry thing while its booting and use my XP Pro system.

Larry please try the static discharge routine first before you do anythinge else.

Unplug you PC completely from the wall, then hold in the power button on the computer for a least 30 seconds.

Now plug computer back into the wall socket and turn your computer on.

Please don't think this is a silly thing to try, believe me, it's cured many a persons problem where the pc seems to get stuck at or after POST and then runs okay.

Worth a try, and costs nothing but a minute of your time.

Is the timeout in your bootini not your problem. That seems awfully long. Timeout=30

I think mine was originally 10, but I changed it to Timeout=4. Four seconds for me is more than enough time to select a different option.



EDIT: I do the static thing Hazel mentions about once a month. It's surprising how much builds up.

Hi Larry,
I always learn something when I research your questions. Either from my own testing or in this case from the other members responses.

No, I don't consider myself a Piriform guru, more of a PC newbie.
I am glad you describe what happens at boot up for your machine because it sure is different from my Dell Dimension 2400. I am sure this is new to many other users and it sure increases our understanding of other manufacturers PCs.

Like on my Dell, you probably have some function key to use at boot time to review all the various settings. It may be that when you created that boot CD you refer to that some of these settings have been changed by the related software. I would check my settings related to Boot Sequence and Fast Boot.

BTW, my boot.ini time is the same as yours.

I used Hazel's once a month reset the other day to eliminate a "power button" startup problem also. I don't find the practice "silly" at all. If it works, do it.

Good luck,
davey

Hi Dennis

My timeout is, and always has been, 0 seconds. I've never had any problems starting my computer. Should I change it? I always thought that option was meant for people who operate two or more systems on their computer - so it would display a list of operating systems available for a choice. I only have Windows XP on my computer, so I didn't think it would be needed.

Hazel and Davey, no I don't think the static discharge is silly at all. Unfortunately, in my case, it didn't work.

As for the timeout, I think Robbie is right. It only kicks in when you have multiple OS's. Its the timeout value before the PC boots to your default OS.

Anyway, after trying multiple boot scenarios, bootable disc in the cd drive, vs non-bootable disc, vs no disc at all, cold bootups vs restart bootups ... well, you get the idea, my PC booted up normally the last time and its in exactly the same configuration it was in when all this started.

It appears there is something intermittent somewhere and until the problem comes and stays, it will be tough to track it down. If I do get it solved, I'll post the solution.

This is my bootini:

[boot loader]
timeout=4
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows="microsoft windows xp home edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
c:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="microsoft windows recovery console" /cmdcons

From the black and white screen I can select two options. Boot normally or go straight to the Recovery Console. Setting a figure in "Timeout" makes the pc pause at that screen with a visible countdown for that length of time.

Not having anything to compare with, I assumed having it set to 30 would instigate a 30 second pause.

If it was my pc, out of curiosity, or just for the hell of it, I would change it anyway. But that's me.

Robbie: If you know you only have one option, you don't need to pause at that screen at all, but just out of curiousity again, do you see that screen at all with it set to zero?

It's interesting that yours is set to Timeout=0, while the others here have a setting of Timeout=30. Just thinking out loud here.

Dennis, my bad.

I forgot to mention I did try it as you said, just to be sure. But no joy.

Thanks for letting me know, shame it did nothing.

So your CD drive just needed a "little" exercise ?
If find that if I don't do the same mine acts and sounds a little strange at tomes.
I know but some users just don't use their CD drives as often as others. Like me for instance.
Good luck, Larry.
Due to Dennis' detailed reply I am finally going to look into the exciting and mysterious areas as regards the Recovery Console. Wooo-oooo-ooo!!!
davey

I don't use my cd drive much either. Two were installed when I bought my PC. A DVD read/write and a DVD read only. I have a sneaky suspicion that this intermittent problem might be caused by the read only drive. Windows recognizes the drive and device manager reorts it as operational, but windows cannot detect a disc in it. My thought is, since the cd drives are in the boot path, that may be what causes the delay sometimes. Why it would only be sometimes, I don't have an explanation since windows never detects a disc in it when the PC is up and running.

To test it, I uninstalled the drive with device manager but windows re-installs it on the next boot up. My next test will be to uninstall it again and physically remove the cabling the next time I get into the case. Since my PC is booting properly now. I'm in no hury to do that.

If anyone is wondering why I don't temporarily remove the cd drives from the boot sequence in BIOS, well, there's a hitch there too. I have a Microsoft Wireless Elite keyboard with the receiver connected via usb. Evidently my BIOS does not recognize it. I can bang on the F2 key like a mad man during bootup, and my PC will will do its normal boot. I have to drag out my old trusty PS2 keyboard everytime I neeed to get into the BIOS. Fortunately, its rare that I play with the BIOS.

Got another suggestion for you Larry, if you haven't already tried it.

You've checked out the Secondary IDE Channels for the PIO/DMA settings, but have you checked out the Hard Drive Primary IDE Channels for the same thing. Hard Drives can revert to, or get stuck in, PIO mode, which ain't very good, and would cause a slow bootup.

Might be worth checking the basic settings for the Hard Drive and your DVD drives in the BIOS. As alls working as it should on my PC, I assume my settings in the BIOS of AUTO for both PIO and DMA are the correct ones for both the Hard Drive and the DVD drives.

Both my primary and secondary are set as
Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode : Use DMA if Available
Curent Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5 (for Primary)
Ultra DMA Mode 2 (for Secondary)

According to what I've researched, the lower UDMA 2 is fast enough for 16x burning, so I'm guessing the currrent settings are OK.

Yep, that all appears good.

Damn, there must be a simple answer to this. I'll keep it in the back of my mind and if I come across anything, I'll of course let you know.