Slow Booting

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:17:09 -0400, Ricky Jimenez
wrote:

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:13:51 -0400, Paul wrote:

Run HDTune, and look at the SMART tab. That will give info
about your hard drive. If there is a hard drive health
problem, tell us what you see (not all the "yellow marks"
in there are valid ones). And if you're getting "error 5"
when using HDTune, then the program needs to be
run as administrator (elevated), to gain access
to hardware.

Ia m not familiar with the program Paul and I didn't see a Smart tab
although a S.M.A.R.T. feature is listed on the Info tab. Nothing came
up on the Health tab after running the benchmark. But here is what I
got on the benchmark tab to the right of the graph.

HD Tune: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 44.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 136.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 101.5 MB/sec
Access Time : 16.5 ms
Burst Rate : 119.0 MB/sec
CPU Usage : -1.0%

I downloaded the trial version of HD Tune Pro 5.5 and got this:

HD Tune Pro: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Benchmark

Test capacity: full

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 54.6 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum : 136.1 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average : 102.3 MB/s
Access Time : 16.9 ms
Burst Rate : 156.3 MB/s
CPU Usage : 26.9%


HD Tune Pro: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 200 51 0 ok
(03) Spin Up Time 171 170 21 4408 ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 99 99 0 1678 ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 100 253 0 0 ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 84 84 0 11709 ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 0 0 ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 100 0 0 ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 99 99 0 1668 ok
(C0) Unsafe Shutdown Count 200 200 0 25 ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 200 200 0 1652 ok
(C2) Temperature 108 102 0 39 ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 200 200 0 0 ok
(C7) Interface CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 200 200 0 0 ok
(F0) Head Flying Hours 85 85 0 11387 ok
(F1) Unknown Attribute 200 200 0 53309123953
ok
(F2) Unknown Attribute 200 200 0 98787959083
ok

Health Status : ok

Ricky Jimenez wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:17:09 -0400, Ricky Jimenez
wrote:

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:13:51 -0400, Paul wrote:

Run HDTune, and look at the SMART tab. That will give info
about your hard drive. If there is a hard drive health
problem, tell us what you see (not all the "yellow marks"
in there are valid ones). And if you're getting "error 5"
when using HDTune, then the program needs to be
run as administrator (elevated), to gain access
to hardware.
Ia m not familiar with the program Paul and I didn't see a Smart tab
although a S.M.A.R.T. feature is listed on the Info tab. Nothing came
up on the Health tab after running the benchmark. But here is what I
got on the benchmark tab to the right of the graph.

HD Tune: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 44.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 136.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 101.5 MB/sec
Access Time : 16.5 ms
Burst Rate : 119.0 MB/sec
CPU Usage : -1.0%

I downloaded the trial version of HD Tune Pro 5.5 and got this:

HD Tune Pro: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Benchmark

Test capacity: full

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 54.6 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum : 136.1 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average : 102.3 MB/s
Access Time : 16.9 ms
Burst Rate : 156.3 MB/s
CPU Usage : 26.9%


HD Tune Pro: WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 200 51 0 ok
(03) Spin Up Time 171 170 21 4408 ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 99 99 0 1678 ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 100 253 0 0 ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 84 84 0 11709 ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 0 0 ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 100 0 0 ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 99 99 0 1668 ok
(C0) Unsafe Shutdown Count 200 200 0 25 ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 200 200 0 1652 ok
(C2) Temperature 108 102 0 39 ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 200 200 0 0 ok
(C7) Interface CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 200 200 0 0 ok
(F0) Head Flying Hours 85 85 0 11387 ok
(F1) Unknown Attribute 200 200 0 53309123953
ok
(F2) Unknown Attribute 200 200 0 98787959083
ok

Health Status : ok

That part looks fine. SMART looks good.

A benchmark of your drive, is shown here.

http://obrazki.elektroda.net/19_1289733876.jpg

The blue line has:

1) Classical stair-step behavior. The platter has a "zoned" layout.
2) Slowdown as a function of platter circumference versus track number.
That's why the curve has the general form that it does.
3) Sample plot has no wide downward spikes. If you see downward spikes
that last for a significant distance, that means there is a bad spot
in the disk, where the spike shows up. Tiny spikes are benchmark
anomalies. The sample plot has no anomalies to speak of.
4) You can see a few seek time dots, fall outside the general
trend area, but I don't consider that to be an issue. I don't
think I have any drive here, that's completely clean that way.

So some other piece of hardware, is delaying the startup. Or
some other activity that is happening in parallel. I would try to
find any log that records driver installation, to see if something
like that is happening on each and every boot. (Like, hardware
enum got deleted, and hardware needs to be rediscovered on each boot.)

Make a thorough inventory of hardware in the computer. USB memory card
reader ? TV Tuner card ? Anything which is out of the ordinary.

It's also possible (but unlikely), that some card has an interrupt
storm problem. I have a RealTek based network card here. When I run
it under Linux now, Linux reports an interrupt storm. That would
cause excessive time wastage, clearing the interrupts. Effectively
reducing the available CPU speed for other things. My network
card is based on RTL8169SC. Since getting that report from Linux,
I pulled the card (it was left there from some benchmarking
I was doing).

You could run a Linux LiveCD, fire up a Terminal and run

dmesg

and check the startup log to see if any anomalous behavior
is detected by the Linux drivers as they start up. The
"dmesg" log is a relatively verbose log, compared to what
Windows would offer you. I've discovered a few things that way.

Windows has the Performance Monitor, which displays counters
the OS keeps. (Available from Win2K onwards.) I think there is
at least one counter, which gives an overall interrupt count
per second. If that was over 10,000 per second, then there would
be a serious hardware problem. You can have a fair number of
interrupts per second, if you alt-tab out of a game, and the
game keeps conversing with the video card. But it won't get
to the 10,000 per second level that way.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/...onitor/1046916

Paul

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:56:22 -0400, AlDrake
wrote:

On 4/20/2013 5:08 PM, Mellowed wrote:
On 4/20/2013 1:06 PM, AlDrake wrote:
On 4/20/2013 12:05 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:15:28 -0400, Yousuf Khan
wrote:

On 19/04/2013 9:38 PM, AlDrake wrote:
IMHO it's time for a reinstall. The time you can spend trying to
get
it back to where is was isn't worth the trouble. From my experience I
keep a spare SSD ready to slide in and start over. Feels good to
have it
so fast again.

Rather lazy, as this will happen again, so it's better to understand
why
it's happened in the first place.


Ditto! A very strong ditto!

Ya, RIIIIIGtt. Let's see just how long it takes to talk about this and
eventually fix it. I would have the OS reinstalled many times over by
now, fixed and have moved on. Get over yourself.

I have far better things to do than spend any time taking out the
trash. Do any of you actually think a business would spend any time
playing kids games? Time is money.
??? This isn't about Al. Most of us would like to understand a
problem. Time is not money here. You should just take the computer to
a shop then pick it up when fixed so that you could make the best of
your time. Your time is obviously more valuable then getting to
understand a computer.


I offered a solution that is far more efficient than spending
countless hours fixing something that could have been avoided from the
start is proper care had been taken. I stand by my solution even if it's
unpopular.

Your point is valid. I can usually fix all problems but if it is going
to take too much time to fix a complex problem then I might reinstall
the system as you suggested.

My customers don't like high repair bills, so for me it is whatever is
the fasted way to get the job done (properly) and keep my customers
happy. I can't spend too many hours on a job or it doesn't pay, gotta
get it fixed and out the door! Time is indeed money! A lot of people
get seperation anxiety when the don't have their computers so there is
often some pressure to get the job done.

Jimmy L

On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:16:46 -0700, Krypto wrote:

Download and install Malwarebytes & Superantispyware from
http://ninite.com/ and scan the computer. First Malwarebytes then
Superantispyware or the other way around just not both at once. :-)

Why download from a third party site like ninite.com? SUPERAntispyware
Free can be downloaded from

http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE

and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware can be downloaded he

http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

--
s|b

On 4/21/2013 3:23 AM, Jim wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:56:22 -0400, AlDrake
wrote:

On 4/20/2013 5:08 PM, Mellowed wrote:
On 4/20/2013 1:06 PM, AlDrake wrote:
On 4/20/2013 12:05 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:15:28 -0400, Yousuf Khan
wrote:

On 19/04/2013 9:38 PM, AlDrake wrote:
IMHO it's time for a reinstall. The time you can spend trying to
get
it back to where is was isn't worth the trouble. From my experience I
keep a spare SSD ready to slide in and start over. Feels good to
have it
so fast again.

Rather lazy, as this will happen again, so it's better to understand
why
it's happened in the first place.


Ditto! A very strong ditto!

Ya, RIIIIIGtt. Let's see just how long it takes to talk about this and
eventually fix it. I would have the OS reinstalled many times over by
now, fixed and have moved on. Get over yourself.

I have far better things to do than spend any time taking out the
trash. Do any of you actually think a business would spend any time
playing kids games? Time is money.
??? This isn't about Al. Most of us would like to understand a
problem. Time is not money here. You should just take the computer to
a shop then pick it up when fixed so that you could make the best of
your time. Your time is obviously more valuable then getting to
understand a computer.


I offered a solution that is far more efficient than spending
countless hours fixing something that could have been avoided from the
start is proper care had been taken. I stand by my solution even if it's
unpopular.

Your point is valid. I can usually fix all problems but if it is going
to take too much time to fix a complex problem then I might reinstall
the system as you suggested.

My customers don't like high repair bills, so for me it is whatever is
the fasted way to get the job done (properly) and keep my customers
happy. I can't spend too many hours on a job or it doesn't pay, gotta
get it fixed and out the door! Time is indeed money! A lot of people
get seperation anxiety when the don't have their computers so there is
often some pressure to get the job done.

Jimmy L

Good point. This is basically all I was saying from the start and I
was all of a sudden guilty of being lazy. I tried to point out that I
have a life beyond 7 but it seems most in this groups have no life and
rather spend it indoors playing. Sad.............

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:55:40 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:

So will Cleanmgr, which (a) comes with Windows and (b) won't frack up
your System Registry.

Neither will CCleaner if you don't let it. And if you do, chances are
small your registry will be f*cked. In any case, it's always a good idea
to create a backup (image) /before/ messing with the registry. But I
don't believe a registry cleaner will make a computer go faster...

--
s|b

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:37:00 +0100, Scott wrote:

Get a solid state drive.

+1

--
s|b

On 4/21/2013 6:18 AM, AlDrake wrote:
On 4/21/2013 3:23 AM, Jim wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:56:22 -0400, AlDrake
wrote:

On 4/20/2013 5:08 PM, Mellowed wrote:
On 4/20/2013 1:06 PM, AlDrake wrote:
On 4/20/2013 12:05 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:15:28 -0400, Yousuf Khan
wrote:

On 19/04/2013 9:38 PM, AlDrake wrote:
IMHO it's time for a reinstall. The time you can spend
trying to
get
it back to where is was isn't worth the trouble. From my
experience I
keep a spare SSD ready to slide in and start over. Feels good to
have it
so fast again.

Rather lazy, as this will happen again, so it's better to understand
why
it's happened in the first place.


Ditto! A very strong ditto!

Ya, RIIIIIGtt. Let's see just how long it takes to talk about this and
eventually fix it. I would have the OS reinstalled many times over by
now, fixed and have moved on. Get over yourself.

I have far better things to do than spend any time taking out the
trash. Do any of you actually think a business would spend any time
playing kids games? Time is money.
??? This isn't about Al. Most of us would like to understand a
problem. Time is not money here. You should just take the computer to
a shop then pick it up when fixed so that you could make the best of
your time. Your time is obviously more valuable then getting to
understand a computer.


I offered a solution that is far more efficient than spending
countless hours fixing something that could have been avoided from the
start is proper care had been taken. I stand by my solution even if it's
unpopular.

Your point is valid. I can usually fix all problems but if it is going
to take too much time to fix a complex problem then I might reinstall
the system as you suggested.

My customers don't like high repair bills, so for me it is whatever is
the fasted way to get the job done (properly) and keep my customers
happy. I can't spend too many hours on a job or it doesn't pay, gotta
get it fixed and out the door! Time is indeed money! A lot of people
get seperation anxiety when the don't have their computers so there is
often some pressure to get the job done.

Jimmy L

Good point. This is basically all I was saying from the start and I
was all of a sudden guilty of being lazy. I tried to point out that I
have a life beyond 7 but it seems most in this groups have no life and
rather spend it indoors playing. Sad.............
You really go out of your way to justify your point of view. There is a
HUGE difference between a business decision (Jimmy L) and somebody
trying to understand and fix their computer. And you say that because
somebody wants to understand the problem they have no life??? Now that
is really SAD.

On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:16:13 +0200, "s|b" wrote:

On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:16:46 -0700, Krypto wrote:

Download and install Malwarebytes & Superantispyware from
http://ninite.com/ and scan the computer. First Malwarebytes then
Superantispyware or the other way around just not both at once. :-)

Why download from a third party site like ninite.com? SUPERAntispyware
Free can be downloaded from

http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE

and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware can be downloaded he

http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php



Why download from a third party site like ninite.com? SUPERAntispyware
Free can be downloaded from

Have you looked at Ninite.com? The site has many useful free
installers for the most common things you need. You can pick several
programs and you get one installer that installs them all onto your
computer consecutively with no spyware, no Ask toolbars etc. Great
site if you need to install several items fast or even just to get an
installer for one program. The nice part is that you just click
install, no boxes to check or uncheck, no toolbars, just a smooth
installation of your programs and you can find most of them on ONE
site, Ninite.com

When I redo a system I go to Ninite and download one installer that
might put 10 or more programs on my computer. Just one click and the
install is all done in a short time with no interaction on your part.
You should check it out, it really saves a lot of time. You will find
everything from browsers, messaging apps, Itunes. quicktime, Java,
Flash, .net, Shockwave, imaging programs like Infranview, Gimp,
Picassa, Document readers like Foxit, Libreoffice, Adobe Reader.
Security programs like Malwarebytes, Superantispyware and so many more
programs all in ONE place and super easy to install. No need to hunt
all over the net, most of the common free programs are there.

So to answer your question: That's why I use Ninite.com.

Krypto

On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:05:34 -0700, Krypto wrote:

So to answer your question: That's why I use Ninite.com.

Tnx. To be honest, I was already convinced after I read ' no Ask
toolbars'. :-)

--
s|b

On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:21:01 +0200, "s|b" wrote:

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:37:00 +0100, Scott wrote:

Get a solid state drive.

+1

The OP has a software problem that needs to be addressed. If the OP
has done CHKDSK, looked at the device manager etc. and all is well
then he doesn't need a new drive, he just needs to isolate the
problem. Perhaps as has been suggested he should just reinstall the
system or install a backup that he 'should' have made when all was
good. Of course if he switched to a SSD then his problems would be
gone because he would install a new system on the SSD, if he cloned
his system and put it on the SSD then there is a very good chance that
his problem would still exist. The speed of the hard drive during
startup is not the problem. SSD's are faster but on a normal system we
are only talking 30 seconds or so not the 5 minutes that the OP says
it takes to boot. Nope, there is definitely some software problem.
Maybe a hardware problem but I doubt it. The OP says that he has had
his system for 3 years and now it is slow to boot. Why am I not
suprised? I would guess that many things have been installed and
uninstalled in that period of time and probably some of it is still
left behind as junk. The system needs to be cleaned thorougly.
Manually clean the registry. Get rid of all traces of old programs and
any other programs that are not needed. Check the event viewer for
problems. Scan for malware. Do a selective startup using msconfig.
Disable all non microsoft startup items and see if the computer is
faster to boot. etc., etc. All the common steps to fix a slow computer
have already been suggested.

There is no magic program that will fix everything, but there are
common steps that a person takes to narrow down the problem and
eliminate it. SSD's are nice but not the solution to the problem the
OP has.

Jim

In ,
Ken Blake typed:
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:38:59 -0600, "Buffalo"
wrote:

Before using the Registry cleaner function in Ccleaner,
I would back up the Registry and also make a Restore
point.


Yes, if someone insists on using a registry cleaner
(*any* registry cleaner), it's always wise to do that.

*However*, if the registry cleaner screws things up badly
enough, the system may be unbootable, so it's not great
to rely on that.

It's ALWAYS a good idea to back up before doing ANYTHNG to the OS, files or
otherwise.

In all of my many years of sercicing machines, I have NEVER had ANY cleaner
mess up ANYTHING on ANY machine and also have never heard of anyone with
such an experience.
Your closed-mindedness to some very useful tools is an absolute cartoon
many times; your posts should always be ignored as they're nothing but
opportunities for you to lie about cleaners. All you need to say is to not
use a no-name product with no reputation, as with anything you download from
the net, not just cleaners.

You're a real dummy.

In ,
Buffalo typed:
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:38:59 -0600, "Buffalo"
wrote:

Before using the Registry cleaner function in Ccleaner,
I would back up the
Registry and also make a Restore point.


Yes, if someone insists on using a registry cleaner
(*any* registry cleaner), it's always wise to do that.

*However*, if the registry cleaner screws things up
badly enough, the system may be unbootable, so it's not
great to rely on that.


Excellent point.
Registry cleaners can cause more problems than they do
good. A good backup and/or the procedure to boot up when a
normal boot doesn't work, is extremely valuable,
Buffalo

Citations for you reg cleaner claims? Where can your words be validated
with fact?

Also it has nothing to do with bootless machines; I've never come across any
such thing. Where are your citations?

In ,
s|b typed:
On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:16:46 -0700, Krypto wrote:

Download and install Malwarebytes & Superantispyware from
http://ninite.com/ and scan the computer. First
Malwarebytes then Superantispyware or the other way
around just not both at once. :-)

Why download from a third party site like ninite.com?
SUPERAntispyware Free can be downloaded from

http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE

and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware can be downloaded he

http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

Sounds to me like a 1-stop instead of a 2-stop.

Twayne wrote:
In ,
Buffalo typed:
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:38:59 -0600, "Buffalo"
wrote:

Before using the Registry cleaner function in Ccleaner,
I would back up the
Registry and also make a Restore point.

Yes, if someone insists on using a registry cleaner
(*any* registry cleaner), it's always wise to do that.

*However*, if the registry cleaner screws things up
badly enough, the system may be unbootable, so it's not
great to rely on that.

Excellent point.
Registry cleaners can cause more problems than they do
good. A good backup and/or the procedure to boot up when a
normal boot doesn't work, is extremely valuable,
Buffalo

Citations for you reg cleaner claims? Where can your words be validated
with fact?

Example of such. Search time, two minutes, via Google Groups.

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...B&dmode=source

It's a tool for usage by experts, not for totally automated,
one button registry decimation.

Paul