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XP 8min Bootup Before XP Splash Screen

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Hi all,

When I start up my computer with Windows XP SP2 I get a black screen with the white bar going accross and it stays there for 8+/- minutes. Its the one that appears before the Windows XP Logo Slash Screen.

Yes thats right 8 whole minutes I kid you not.

The screen that appears for 8 mins is shown in the link below.
http://pserd.gallery.netspace.net.au/album01/IMG_0016

When that screen has fully loaded the computer then boots up as normally. All programs work fine and there is no known slowdowns that I can tell. Windows works perfectly except for that initial black screen with the bar going accross.

I have recently done a full format and reinstallation but still the same issue.

I have also deleted the partition and done a full format then reinstall but still the same thing.

I have also went into the Windows Repair console and tried to fix the Boot record by typing in “fixmbr” (going from memory) but still no good.

I have also done a full surface scan using the Seatools program and it comes up with two bad sectors which it re allocated OK.

I also used BootVis but it claims that my computer loads up in 45 secconds and does not show that initial screen.

Before this issue I had a problem with my power supply which needed to be replaced as it wasent supplying a steady 12V and I could hear my HDD spinning up every now and again.

It corrupted my file system. so that is why I had to do the reinstallation. The computer is working OK now with the new power supply.

I am completly stumped on this and any help or suggestions would be greatly appeciated.

Topic

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Well a bit more information would not go astray here.

What size CPU are you running?

How much RAM is installed?

And do you have an all in 1 M’Board with Video Sound and everything else onboard?

If it is the last option you have to remember that the CPU is doing the work of the GPU and that some system RAM is stolen to work as Video RAM. So you’ll have to have a look in BIOS to see how much System Ram is set aside for Video RAM and maybe decrease it dramatically.

The screen that you pictured is a common enough event with the slower CPU’s but should only appear for a very short time with a AMD 450 & 128 MEG of RAM it appears for under 1 second and this is a slow machine.

Since you have had a problem with the PS you may have suffered some damage to the CPU as well which is causing it not to work properly so try downloading The Ultimate Boot CD and run some diagnostics to make sure that every thing is working properly. You can get a copy from here

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Col

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System Specs are:
CPU: AthlonXP 2400+
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-7VA
RAM: 768Mb PC2700 RAM
Graphics: Leadtek 128MB 6600GT
HDD: 60Gb Seagate x2

Ive also tried updating all drivers including VIA 4in1 and NVidia graphics. I also did a windows update still no improvments.

Ill give the Ultimate boot a try as HAL 9000 suggested and post results ASAP.

Any suggestions or comments most welcome im willing to give anything a try. 🙂

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Appears that XP is having trouble loading a basic driver. Could be caused by a flaky device.

Disconnect everything not needed for a normal boot. That includes, but is not limited to, USB devices, printers, scanners, add-in cards, and optical drives. Should be left with boot hard drive, mobo, Ram, and video. No other cards or drives and no external devices except keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

See what happens then. If boot is OK, sequence devices back until you find the culprit.

Dalton

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Hi there,

I’d suggest a memory test of the machine – microsoft have software for running tests – see technet. If you’ve done a fresh install and its still the same, then I’d be looking at the hard disk or memory problem.

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Have you tried booting in safemode ?
If problem is still there, replace your RAM modules.
If all works fine, remove all add-on cards like sound , ethernet,…
I had the same problem with bad RAM some years ago, and last year i had that problem with a bad ethernetcard.

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A couple of other things to consider:
– Check your network configuration, as your computer may be looking for system files on the network first, timing out, then going to the local directory. Disconnecting your network wire prior to booting should isolate this
– Make sure the boot.ini options do not include a bootlog, as logging each completed step in bootup is good for some troubleshooting but slows things down terribly.
– Make sure there are no USB devices attached other than a mouse or keyboard. Thumbdrives and some USB hard drives can cause problems in bootup.
– I had a similar problem but not as severe when I added a new IDE drive to an XP home computer, while keeping the old drive connected. Ultimately had to remove the old drive, reinstall XP on the new drive that had an image of the old drive already on it, and manipulate the registry to allow XP to see the new drive as drive C:.

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I had a similair problem. I upgraded from 256MB RAM to 512MB. Same manufacturer. Same type of RAM. Took about 10 minutes to load, then there were corrupt files. For some reason, they were incompatible. Replaced the RAM with a different manufacturer, now all is well. Might want to change the HDD as bad sectors can cause a multitude of problems also.

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If you have any USB devices try disconnecting them.

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Go into setup and ensure you did not accidentally leave the bootup at “through” instead of “mimimal” for some reason.

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Just another thought to add to the excellent responses already received. Go to your BIOS settings, record everything as shown on all pages, then go to the last menu item and select “Load Bios Defaults” and then “Save BIOS Changes” (wording may be different) and let the machine do a full start, shut down and restart again. The first restart will allow Windows to redetect any changes and write them to the registry. The last restart should give you an idea whether any improvements have been made. If you note improvement, start returning your BIOS settings to what you originally recorded one item at a time to see if you can isolate what caused your problem. Also be on the lookout for incorrect settings, i.e. RAM timing, wrong CPU detected, etc.

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Two things that I would try to start with are;

First; look in the Event Viewer and see if any consistent errors occur. I know you said you did a new installation, but if you have a driver issue, it may be repeating itself. (ATI graphics drivers can be notorious for example).

Second; if no luck with the above, download and burn, or obtain a copy of Knoppix (Linux on a CD) which runs from the CD. Set your BIOS to boot from the CD and see how long it takes. Keep in mind, loading an operating system from a CD will be slower than loading from a hard drive, but still nowhere near eight minutes. If it loads in a sensible time scale, you can probably rule out all of the hardware except the hard drive. However, if Knoppix is slow to load as well, then it is likely you do have hardware damage and it becomes a process of elimination.

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Well the first obvious/best answer I heard was boot into safemode. How about enabling boot logging? This will give you an idea what file is taking so long to load. Good luck!

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Thanks for all the ideas guys but still a no go.

I got desperate and I thought I might try somthing new and buy a new HDD (WD 200gig) and see what happends.

Lo and behold Windows loads up as normal! :D. I cant even see that white bar going across the screen anymore as it just flys past it.

The only thing I can think of is for some reason the boot sector may have been damaged by the PSU not providing a steady 12V power to that old HDD (Seagate 60gig).

But from the Seatools test it the drive was fine with only 2 bad sectors. So mayby those sectors were on the boot record… Unusual, possible, who knows 🙂

Thanks for all your help guys 🙂

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