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[DJ_Tet]

I need some help.

This PC got his hard with the blaster worm 18 months or so. Eventually I put Linux on it for a computer class (about which I remember nothing). Anyway, I had to put Win XP back on this machine, and ever since then, it takes literally 2 and a half minutes to boot.

Here are some specifics, 1.8 gHz P4, 512 meg RAM, and I've tried both Win XP Home and Win XP Pro, both of which have the same boot-up problems. Once the PC is up and running, it works great. Both installations were done on a freshly formatted partition, and I've got plenty of HD space.

The only thing I can figure is the CMOS or BIOS or Boot Sector. How should I SAFELY try and diagnose this problem? Did the BIOS have to be flashed when I put Linux on? Does Linux have anything to do with this equation? Could I have a boot sector virus?

I'm also running Nortons Internet Security 2005, SP2, and my system is spyware free. I need some suggestions from the GAF PC Brain Trust/Geek Squad.

 

[DJ_Tet]

Bump for the late-night crowd

 

[DJ_Tet]

Hmm, perhaps I should have put Linux in the title...perhaps a mod could...mod...my title...

 

[rc213]

Check WinXP's event viewer for any errors being reported. Since u say it works normally once it's fully loaded XP it could be anything. A program that set to boot at startup or a bad/corrupt driver. See if u can disable Norton from loading at startup and see if the slow bootup continues.

 

[golem]

i guess its possible that something with the bootsector is slowing you down, but you should be ok... where does it seem to take the longest to boot? before or after the logo, etc?

most likely it is some kind of driver issue

see this page
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/bootvis/

 

[DJ_Tet]

Well the Win XP logo comes up fine, it's the green bars that move very slowly.

I'll check out the link you left, thanks.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

funny thing happened to me last night when I restarted my computer - for some reason it started to burn a cd-rw upon start-up! I have no idea what happened. It actually killed the start-up and I had to hit restart and eject the disc.