Lock ups

[Gotmilkman]

Hello,
So for about a day now I've been having issues with my computer. I recently had my old power supply crash on me and I replaced it. I also replaced my graphic cards as well. After replacing these components I was getting no problems what's so ever.
But just recently I have been getting some odd lock ups. And by lock ups I mean. It sitting at my splash screen for 2 or 3 minutes and ghen going to the windows start up screen and it sitting for 2 to 3 minutes.. maybe even longer. And once it fully loads the desktop it becomes laggy. Clicking on something results in waiting 2 to 3 minutes.
Is this a virus or a hardware problem? Its hard for me to tell because usually a virus wont mess with your computer until it actually tries to boot your os. I get issues as soon as I hit my splash screen.
here are my specs.
p55 sli
pc power & cooling silencer Mk II 950 wat
asus 590 gtx
i5 750

Nothing is overclocked.
oh and one more thing, I unplugged everything for about 4 hours yesterday and it booted up no problem, but the first restart I did I had issues again.

 

[sewalk]

What you;re describing is not a lock-up. Locking-up refers to a computer that has completely stopped responding to input and must be restarted to overcome the problem. You're just seeing a slow performance issue.

Which splash screen are you taling about? A pre-post image from your computer manufacturer or a Windows splash screen? If it's the latter, the OS has started and any performance loss is likely software-related or an impending hard disk failure.

 

[Gotmilkman]

I didn't really need a description of a lockup, I later stated it was lag. Anyways, the splash screen I'm talking about is the "P55 SLI" screen.

 

[Gotmilkman]

Sometimes it goes and I have no problems, other times it lags, and 2, 3 minutes of lag.

 

[sewalk]

If it stays on the Asus splash screen longer sometimes than it does at other times, that indicates either something like an extended test option for memory or a problem completing POST (Power-On Self Test). Double check your BIOS settings for extended test options and disable them. If it's a problem encountered during POST, try burning a MemTest86+ CD or flash drive and booting from it to run an extended RAM test. If your memory checks out OK after a couple of complete passes, check for other hardware problems. Check the SMART status of your hard drives and remove any superfluous hardware to see if the problem can be isolated.

Once you've eliminated hardware as a source, you're down to OS performance issues. Doing a malware scan, uninstalling bloatware you don't use, and doing a full defragmentation of your boot drive would be among the first things there to test.