Slow bootup times on XP Pro

[Karoo]

I used to use an ECS board and the XP loading bar only cycled about 3.5 times before entering the login screen. That's only a couple seconds of load time. After buying a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R R1.1, I first switched out the mobo without reformatting my C partition. It then took 6-14 cycles to load up. A friend told me to reformat the C partition and reinstall windows, so I did that, but it has not fixed the slowness. Currently, it takes around 7-16 cycles. I'm using only one SATA HDD and a SATA DVD Burner.

 

[Maziar]

What are the specs of your HDD ?

 

[johnyeah]

6-14 cycles and 7-16 cycles are really not that big of a difference. I'd say it's more a psychological effect than anything (of course, unless ur hdd is dying).

 

[Onus]

I dropped from 8 cycles down to about 2 when I installed a Velociraptor.
Windows may be infukted with pooh-ware and/or starting unnecessary services. Adobe, Nero, Microsquishy, Apple (e.g. Quicktime) and even Open Office (including Java) install some of these. MSCONFIG and/or Regedit can make a first pass through these to remove unneeded ones. Google is your friend; there are some online guides to Startup applications. This site has good configuration information, and links to more: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm.

 

[bilbat]

Yeah - we gotta, somehow, start a public service/'threaten the vendors' campaign to bring a screeching halt to this; every single godforsaken thing you install these days wants a chunk of itself to run at start-up - it requires constant vigilance to be able to reserve at least a few CPU cycles for stuff you actually want to run. The worst part is that some of these multiple offenders are ill-written (probably by the Elbonians) interrupt hogging boat anchors (esp: Nero, Apple's 'portable device monitor', any 'photo-downloader', and on and on and on, ad nauseam...) that really drag things down, not just waste time at startup. There are several monitors; I've found QuickStartup from GlarySoft:
http://www.glarysoft.com/quick-startup/
to work well under Xp...

 

[Karoo]

I doubt my HDD is dying, it's fast enough that it only needed 3.5 cycles on my previous mobo. The idea that programs are unnecessarily being loaded at the WinXP loading screen is probably true.. I tried BootVis and after tracing a bootup, selected the optimize button. Would that work?

Also, could it be my new motherboard? Maybe there's something wrong with it, or the new dvd writer I got along with it.. Currently it's at 8-9 cycles. I don't know what I did, but it's a bit faster now. It's still not good enough and I still have that urge to know the reason why it's still 5 cycles more than before, especially since the previous mobo was really bad.. I wouldn't have this urge if I never had that 3.5 cycle load in the first place. It was loading fine until I switched mobos btw. But a quick reformat and reinstall should've fixed that..

 

[bilbat]

I have no experience with BootVis, but if you post a list, I can advise on useless/resource hog startup programs...

 

[Karoo]

Startup List report created on 2/20/2009 by Startup Manager


Name: NvCplDaemon
Path: RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: nwiz
Path: nwiz.exe /install
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: GEST
Path: =
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: JMB36X IDE Setup
Path: C:\WINDOWS\RaidTool\xInsIDE.exe
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: 36X Raid Configurer
Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\xRaidSetup.exe boot
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: AVP
Path: "C:\Program Files\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Internet Security 2009\avp.exe"
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: IMJPMIG8.1
Path: "C:\WINDOWS\IME\imjp8_1\IMJPMIG.EXE" /Spoil /RemAdvDef /Migration32
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: PHIME2002ASync
Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /SYNC
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: PHIME2002A
Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /IMEName
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: NvMediaCenter
Path: RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: RTHDCPL
Path: RTHDCPL.EXE
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Alcmtr
Path: ALCMTR.EXE
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: AdobeCS4ServiceManager
Path: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\CS4ServiceManager\CS4ServiceManager.exe" -launchedbylogin
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher
Path: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrobat_sl.exe"
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Acrobat Assistant 8.0
Path: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrotray.exe"
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: QuickTime Task
Path: "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: iTunesHelper
Path: "D:\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Aim6
Path: "C:\Program Files\AIM6\aim6.exe" /d locale=en-US ee://aol/imApp /HIDEBL
Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: ctfmon.exe
Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: RocketDock
Path: "C:\Program Files\RocketDock\RocketDock.exe"
Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: uTorrent
Path: "C:\Program Files\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe"
Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: DAEMON Tools Lite
Path: "C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -autorun
Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: D-Link AirPlus
Path: C:\PROGRA~1\D-LINK~1\AIRPLUS.EXE
Location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Rainlendar
Path: C:\PROGRA~1\RAINLE~1\RAINLE~1.EXE
Location: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
Status: Enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 24 Items

 

[roadrunner197069]

Obviously your old mobo didnd have as many onboard devices ie.... PCI, dual ethernet?, more usb, ext.. it takes time for everything to load up.


Get a fast hard drive, problem solved.

Way to much start up crap also.

 

[bilbat]

MY HOLY GOD!!! This is, probably, the most appalling testament to the incompetent Elbonian programmers demanding a 'chunk' of their crap run at startup that I've EVER seen! I will certainly keep this one as an example for my rants about this subject FOREVER!

"Slow bootup times?" It's a testament to Windoze that it'll bootup at all, much less let you run anything more taxing than, say, 'hearts'!

Obviously, this will take a little while to comment on individually, but I will get it done this afternoon, as I intend to be down for a couple of days - I have my own problems - DisKeeper 'lunched' a 'boot time optimization', and ate a license file required by all four OSs - gotta reinstall from bare drives, & figure it's a good time to 'touch up' a couple other minor glitches...

 

[Karoo]

My god, roadrunner, you could be right.. the old mobo barely had any extra stuff, but then again, I used the same kind of mobo on my friend's comp and his started up in 1.5 cycles. His HDD was just as good as mine I think.. Mine is a Samsung HD103UJ SATA spinning at 7200rpm. I mean I could get a Velociraptor but seriously? Also, you said onboard devices.. I have the same amount of devices connected to the motherboard as the previous, why would the OS load empty device slots? It's not like they're plugnplay.

Bilbat lol, is it really that amazing? I've never done these tests before, but I think my old mobo and OS had the same startup programs, possibly even more. But please I'd like to see your comments.
Some of these startup programs are not really regarded as "immensely slowing down the computer." Most of em are actually useful or standard in most bootup. Quick Start Up only regarded the itunes and apple programs to actually be much of a useless startup program. What I'm basically trying to say overall is that someone shouldn't have to go through all this work to get a bootup time that they used to have..

 

[bilbat]

NvCplDaemon - Initializes the clock and memory settings on nVidia based Vidcards. Need to keep only if you overclock your card...

Nwiz - supposedly improves nVidia desktop layouts by setting preferences and optimizations, not necessary for the operation of your system - out!

NvMediaCentre - Vidcard system tray control panel icon/app - keep it 'till you're happy with your video settings, then - out!

RTHDCPL - RealTek audio system tray control panel icon/app - as above, keep it 'till you're happy with your audio settings, then - out!

Alcmtr - Realtek AC97 audio event Monitor. "Spyware" file used surreptitiously monitor one's actions. It is not a sinister one, like remote control programs, but it is being used by Realtek to gather data about customers, and their habits. If you delete this file, then you will not be able to properly update your drivers in the future - recommended that you disable the startup.

Acrobat Assistant 8.0 - useful only if you use (often) Adobe's internet based PDF writer - even if you do use it, you can launch it from the start menu - deep six it!

DAEMON Tools Lite - only needed when you're 'mounting' as ISO image to emulate an install CD/DVD that, for some reason, you can't (or don't want to, for just one use) burn to disk - again, you can launch it from the start menu - out!

Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher - this one is useful, if (like most people) you look at a lot of PDFs - it 'pre-loads' the core of Adobe's reader s'ware - probably, keep it...

JMB36X IDE Setup, 36X Raid Configurer - only need if you actually have a RAID pair on your jMicron SATAs (purple pair) - else, out!

PHIME2002ASync, PHIME2002A, IMJPMIG8.1, TINTSETP.EXE - pieces of Microsoft's Input Message Editor (IME) for translating Japanese/Chinese/Korean text in IE, Outlook and Word - if you don't, out!

QuickTime Task, iTunesHelper - bloated crap - out!

Aim6 - instant messaging crap (oh boy, IM to a cell phone!) - out!

RocketDock - application launcher - resource hog - use the built-in QuickLaunch ToolBar, and get rid of it! Uninstall from program management...

AdobeCS4ServiceManager - required for Adobe Drive and some other online web-based functions - if you don't use them - out!

GEST - Dynamic energy management utility for Gigabyte motherboards - if you aren't overclocking, and have EIST enabled in your BIOS for 'green' savings by downclocking your system when idle or lightly loaded, keep it - otherwise - out!

Rainlendar - calendar/reminder app - you installed it - if you're actually using it & like it - go for it... Otherwise, uninstall the whole app from program management...

Kaspersky AVP - needed by your antivirus/firewall... Keep it.

ctfmon.exe - probably keep - see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282599

D-Link AirPlus - look here, & decide:
http://www.computergripes.com/dlink.wifi.g.card.html
this may be the major cause of your slowdown...

uTorrent - this one takes a little discussion, and this is just opinion (well, this all has been, basically, but you asked...) I don't know how much you know about 'torrents', so bear with me (most of this is from wikipedia); BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used to distribute large amounts of data. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, and by some estimates it accounts for about 35% of all traffic on the entire Internet. The protocol works initially when a file provider makes his file (or group of files) the first seed, which allows others, named peers, to download his data. Each peer who downloads the data also uploads it to other peers and are encouraged to continue making their data available after their download has completed, becoming additional seeds. Because of this ability to grap from several simultaneous sources, BitTorrent is extremely efficient. One seed is needed to begin spreading files between many users (peers). The additions of more seeds increases the likelihood of a successful connection exponentially. Relative to standard Internet hosting, this provides a significant reduction in the original distributor's hardware and bandwidth resource costs. It also provides redundancy against system problems and reduces dependence on the original distributor, but you're effectively using your machine to act as a web-host for whatever you've got 'seeded', and opening your firewall for it; in my experience, it's a major band-width killer. The other problem is that torrents are the hackers' favorite way of, not only trading 'cracks' and source-code, but 'worming' their way into your system with spyware/malware/rootkits/what-have-you kinds of covert crap. For this reason, I stay with BitTorrent itself, and won't try to retrieve anything that BT won't download, and don't just 'let it run', I run it when it's the only way to get a particular file. Now, that said, uTorrent appears to be reputable, and claims to be 'light weight' (i.e., easy on system resources); also claims to be "The World's most popular BitTorrent client", which I find hard to believe - but it's up to you - just be aware what's really going on when you're part of the 'torrent' internet... Be very wary of any file that requires it's own 'torrent version', and won't BT - I simply won't dl such files, no matter what they are (or purport to be)...

BTW - Velociraptors are worth every penny; I've got four in two RAID0 arrays (alternating system/swaps) and you can't believe the speed... ;=)










.

 

[knotknut]

Nice Job bilbat.
What a bunch of Junk.

Paste this in RUN it will do a boot sector defrag
Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

and docs to confirm the process.
http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/WinXP/microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain/2006-05/msg00297.html

 

[Karoo]

Thanks Bilbat, uTorrent is fine with me, been running it at startup for years.. most other programs I chose to run at startup simply for quick use. I'm fine with those and I doubt they really damper the loading the times. I disabled a couple of em like you said but that lead me to a question. If I uninstalled Quick Startup, would the programs I disabled re-enable themselves?

I wrote Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks in RUN but nothing popped up. The computer appeared to be working on something.. I think I could faintly hear the HDD writing, not sure. Those docs are also way too messy for me to really understand..

 

[Onus]

If you uninstall or disable something, and it turns itself back on, it is by definition malware, whose writer (upon conviction) should face execution, after hearing a loud buzzer and "GAME OVER."

 

[bilbat]

I think the same punishment ('course, they're mostly Elbonians - we could sentence them to the "tank 'o mud weasels") is due anyone whose install doesn't include a checkbox to deselect "have a big, resource hogging chunk of this crap load itself at startup"...