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I Have A Weird Problem . . .

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by who am i really 2 views

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I've got a system here that has been getting progressively longer boot times

after first install when new
38 seconds to desktop
now over 5 minutes to desktop

I looked at prefetch and found a files for uninstalled programs
and the layout.ini file is full of references to non-existent locations

ie.
K:\Windows\...
K:\Program Files\...
K:\Documents and Settings\...
etc.

this is absolutely retarded
I've never had the OS / Programs /boot Disk as anything but C:\

from what I've read elsewhere,
deleting or attempting to clean the layout.in file will cause more problems

and once it's recreated it will be full of the same crap anyway

anyone have any ideas what to do about this?

besides the 60+ hours to do a complete reinstall and reconfigure
this is a production system and can't be down more than a few hours

10 replies

by peconet tietokoneet

These two would get your system back to how it should be. But you might need to check with your Admin first. Unless of course you are the Admin.
Ccleaner:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/download/76de99d16ed75990f33b69e760cd9031/

Regcure is a trial version, so you will have to purchase the software if you want it to correct the errors on your system. I have Regcure on my system and it does what it says it will do. If you do purchase it, go into the "settings" section and click on "create a system restore point before repairing problems", so that if anything goes wrong you can go and do a restore.
Regcure:
http://www.regcure.com/

by spc_tcol

You need 60+ hours to reinstall the system?
Do you have the OS on 60 3.5 inch Disks?

Maybe you have a similar computer, that can work as a backup, as long as work on the original system and try to fix the problem.

by oh smeg

To do a new clean install from the Software Disc's.

Not just the OS but all of the Software that this particular computer uses. I know on the odd occasion that I have to do a new clean install on my main system it takes well over 100 hours but I have a lot of software to install that i use in my work. ;)

Col

by spc_tcol

That's why I use clonzilla and backup new systems to spare harddrives.
In the case the system goes down I can plug in the new hardrive, or I can pull a copy of the harddrive.

by who am i really

. . . but it's also the last 8 years of the millions using XP that have gathered a whole pile of System Config. tweaks / adjustments etc.

including Group Policies / Security Policies
Reg. edits etc.
applying your favorite hacks can take a lot of time if you use a bunch of them,

also, it's been 2 years since SP3 released, and there are almost 100 more updates to apply
a clean install today will DL over 70 Updates not including IE or WMP

and I've found that allowing multiple updates to install on a fresh install will almost always guarantee several

"Failed Updates"

which will need to be removed with the ...\spuninst\spuninst.exe
and then re-applied

since I've set the policy here that all updates are to be applied individually
we've have never had to remove & repeat any.

installing individually isn't that much trouble on a regular MS Crash Tuesday
but, it takes a good chunk of time when doing a fresh install
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

clonezilla:
- I use BESR (Backup Exec System Recovery)
and I have every base image taken right from the beginning
but to restore to the fresh install image will take down all my programs & SW activations etc.,
as this system has been up for 3 years now.

I don't mind restoring to a previous image of no more than a month or two old but that won't solve this problem as it's been an ongoing problem getting worse & worse

if I absolutely have to I'd rather do a fresh install than use the first install image for this system as so much of it has been changed since the initial build
including
- SP1 to SP2 to SP3
- Doubling the RAM:
original install 2GB 533MHz DDR2,
currently installed 4GB 800MHz DDR2
- Multiplying the HDD space:
original install 2x 298GB HDD,
currently installed,
1 x 298GB
3 x 933GB
1 x 1397GB

- a PCI-e SATA e-SATA Card
- another card reader
- enabled the integrated NIC
it was disabled from the beginning as no networking was needed at the time but adding a bunch of cheap file storage workstations made it necessary to install the network stack

by dainathomas

I will suggest you to check..
http://www.iyogi.net
and look for the solution.. they have provided solution to many of computer related problems, just just have to find the right solution and follow the simple steps ... or you can even call their Toll free number .. 8772141142

by ron k.

I may screw this whole thing up at anytime. I'd better backup now while it's running like a clean machine.

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