acer 1703esc problems: v. long startup, audio-Q

i've just gotten this notebook, and i am already stressed: 4 minutes of waiting until winXP starts! >:[

does anyone know of a program for winxp that analyzes the OS starting up process?
i know win98 very well, but this is the first time i really have to deal
with winXP as an OS and my diagnostic programs won't even work. the issue is with my newly purchased notebook from acer, where the startup takes for ****ing ever (4+ min. versus the less than 1 min. i'm used from my desktop). i have to make up my mind, if i should return this slowmo notebook to the shop tomorrow.
btw, i've checked whether the long loading time is due to loads of stuff loading themselves prettily in the background, but turned out not to be the problem.

any suggestions of what i could try to eliminate the start-up problem? diagnostic etc. freeware?


merci!

 

Hey Kalt,

Sorry to hear your having problems with your brand new notebook.

1. I believe you can check the Boot.log file in the C: root. Should contain all the info loaded at bootup
2. XP does take longer to boot that Windows 98, but 4+ minutes may be a bit too long. XP itself is over 1GB in size, compared to 98 which is only 300-500MB.
3. The slow boot times could also be because of the apps/drivers being loaded at bootup, things like video & network drivers, OS core files (larger), etc...
4. Another cause could be your HDD, the Acer's use 4200rpm HDD which is slower than your desktops HDD. You can try buying a 5400rpm or a 7200rpm drive, this will speedup load times.
5. Most notebooks have a bunch of software loaded that are not needed. This will slow down boot times and overall system performance. You may want to try loading the OS from scratch and install only the drivers and software that you need. A cleaner OS will help your system run faster/better
6. Also, depending how much ram you have will also make your system faster/slower. Make sure you have at least 512MB of ram because minimum requirements for XP is 128MB. 128MB is just enough for XP to run, 256MB will make it run ok, 512 should make it run good (in my opinion).
7. If you're wireless is not being used, make sure you turn it off, this could be another cause of the delay. During bootup, it will try to scan for a network to connect to and may take upto 15-30secs.

Other than that, there's nothing else you can really do to make your system boot faster. You just have to be aware that XP does take longer to boot that Windows98 and there's not much that can really be done other than the few suggestions above.

Good Luck!

-Vb-

 

thank you for your suggestions! i will go down the list! i wasn't aware that winxp would take longer anyhow, however, my father's XP notebook loads 20 times as fast as mine.

i thought that maybe there is a problem with a driver loading, which leads to such a sluggish boot as i have experienced, but this would be strange seeing that starting up's been taking long every time since i first unpacked it.

strangely enough, there is no dedicated video driver for the system (it uses a generic windows driver). plus, when i click on the xp-help file, it gives me an missing file message. could it be that the OS is badly installed?

 

First off, this notebooks shouldn't be using a Generic Display Driver, it's an ATI MR 9600, so it should be running an ATI driver.

Second, if it says it's missing files, than yes, your OS is probably corrupt and you should consider re-installing it.

It's very likely that these problems are causing your system not to operate correctly. If there's not too much data on your HDD, backup what you need and then blow away the OS using the Restore CD's and see if this fixes your problem. I'm betting that it will.

-Vb-

 

thanks so much for the info! i think i will take the computer back to the shop where i got it from to let them know about my problems. i probably could try to do the reinstall myself, but the harddrive is so noisy/scratchy (in a repeated _____ _ _ pattern) that it's started to drive me insane. i don't even know if i can complain about the HD noise, but i will try. is there a HD test in XP? scandisk isn't under the system utilities on this notebook.

 

oh. i forgot to mention another thing: it's not only the concurrent HD noise and the OS installation problems that concerns me about my acer notebook, but also the fact that it seems to have been first installed in JUNE-11, 2002 (many tmp system files carry that date and also Adobe Acrobat has that as last modified) ! i only bought it this monday, so that would make this notebook more 2 years old when i bought it. should i be bothered about that? thanks so much for your help so far. i feel stupid for being such a n00b. [|)]

 

Hey Kalt,

Don't beat yourself up about asking questions. A lot of people have problems/concerns and don't even speak up until it's too late. It's good that you're noticing the things now and that's what this forum is here for.

So, regarding the HDD making the long-short-short scratching sound, might mean that it's starting to die. I've had HDD's that made similar scratching sounds and even clicking sounds. If the same pattern continuously repeats, there's deinitely a problem with the HDD. That would also explain why you're missing files and drivers and also for the LONG OS bootup.

You can access ScanDisk by opening My Computer -> Right Click on C: Drive -> Select Properties -> Click on Tools Tab -> Click on Check Now under Error Checking.

There is a possible reason for the old file dates. The system may have been manufactured back in 2002 and may have been sitting in stock until you bought it recently. I checked Acer's site and found that the 1700 series are no longer listed. They have been replaced by the 1710 series, so it's very likely this is the case. You will still have the manufacturer's warranty because it doesn't start until date of purchase. It could also be possible that the date on the system had not been set yet at the time of the OS install. The BIOS may default to a 2002 date, if that's the case, you should have nothing to worry about.

Definitely send your notebook in to be checked out. The HDD does sound like it's dying or going to die so that should get replaced. The OS is most likely screwed up because of the drive, so get that reloaded after you get the HDD replaced and you should be fine.

Good Luck!

-Vb-

 

damn. no editing possible... i dunno where the last sentence fragment (see post above) came from! maybe i should actually learn to use the Preview button. nah!
[xx(]

 

hi Venombite,

i just thought, i'd tell you what i ended up doing, seeing that you were instrumental in it...

i actually ended up re-installing XP and all the screwy OS things that were bothersome before seemed fine, but the next morning the computer wouldn't want to boot into the OS at all (citing a config sys error, as far as i remember). and so prompted, i started to re-install xp once more. the computer simply switched itself off during the latest xp-reinstall, and i couldn't even turn it on anymore. so, then finally i brought it back to the place i bought it from. (of course, in the shop it let switch itself on once again, but isn't that always the case...). anyway, they didn't have a replacement for me other than the one they use to demonstrate the notebook. so, i ended up taking that one, grudgingly. so far, everything seems fine, however.

thanks again for your help!


and then the computer simply stoppedwhen i tried to reinstall xp once more,

 

I noticed that Windows XP sometimes has problems with trying to get an IP even though it isn't connected to a network. If you get you new computer and it still has a slow boot up, try disabling both your Wireless and LAN card. By disabling, I mean going into the "Network Connection", right clicking both network devices and click "disable" to disable them. They will appear greyed out. Then re-boot. If you notice the computer boot much faster (very likely), then you know that your OS is trying to get an IP during boot up. The reason it takes so long is because it takes over a minute for the requests to time out and basically, will continue booting after it has given up. You can fix this by assigning an IP to both of them or have it connected to a Gateway router during bootup.

 

Kalt,

I'm happy to hear that the replacement unit is working (fingers crossed). It did turn out to be a bad unit that you got originally, so that was most likely the cause of the slow bootups. I don't want to rain on your parade, but I am a bit shocked that they would/could only give you the demo model. Did they offer any discounts for the unit or offer to give you a new one when available? You may want to check with Acer to make sure you still have a full 1 year warranty on the notebook. But, if you're happy with the unit, that that's all the really counts.

What kind of boot times are you getting now?

P.S. To edit your posts, there are a few icons above each rsponse, there should be one of a piece of paper with a pencil on it. If you put your mouse on top of it for a few seconds, it'll popup "Edit". Just click that and it'll allow you to edit your posts.

-Vb-