M17x R1 slow startup

First, yes im well aware that there is another post available regarding startup times. Ive looked at that post but it has not helped me.

No matter what i do my m17x r1 is still very very slow booting up. I've tried re-installing windows and drivers and un-overclocking everything and disabling practically every single startup item.

Boottimer is telling me that my computer is taking 124 seconds to boot up.
Another thing to note is even my bios take forever to boot up. when i press the power button it takes a good 30 seconds before i see the alienhead logo for the bios.

any help is deeply appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
also if i should contact dell can anyone please let me know immediately. since i only have about 6 days left on my warranty

 

I noticed this is the only thread that seems to ask a direct question about this issue. I have the same problem and I cant seem to figure out the exact cause of it, can anyone help with this issue?

 

jonat1992

If i were you i would do a fresh install & see if that improves your boot time.And 100% renew your warranty while you have the chance for all it costs.

 

One thing to check is run hard drive disk monitor or another program to check your HDD. It would explain the very slow boot time. Would not be the first time a hard drive failed. Also you can just run Diagnostics from F8 on boot up. Hope it helps.

 

I did run a hard drive scan and found nothing wrong with it, and the diagnostics don't really help with this problem. Anyone have any more ideas as to what the problem could be?

 

Did anyone who is experiencing this problem or looking for solutions find anything? I tried removing the Nvidia storage drivers and that didnt do anything from what I could see.

 

What chipset driver are you running morgotth?

Have you tried reverting back to this one:
Drivers and Downloads - Public Sector

1. Please post full specs of system with relevant driver info which you feel is worth mentioning.

2. When was the last time you performed a clean install of the OS?

3. Drive defrag lately?

4. Clean up HDD lately? See this if you are not familiar with this (some are not): Delete files using Disk Cleanup (yes, the narrator's voice will put you to sleep - lol)

 

same problem here, even with my successives fresh installs, having an error code with the diagnostic tool

( more than 30s before seeing the alien head)

 

Specifications:
M17x
Processor: QX9300
Graphics: Dual 280m GTX in SLI
RAM: 4 GB 1333 mHz
HDD: 250 GB 7200 RPM
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Chipset Drivers: Nvidia MCP79
Graphics Drivers: 197.84

I have completely cleaned my computer up, registry cleaner, disk cleaner, defragged, I know it is not one of those things. Ive noticed from the previous posts clean installs do nothing to fix it, and I have not reinstalled my operating system since December 2009/January 2009. I have not tried reverting back to that driver, should I give it a shot? Or is there an updated driver I can try? Thank you for the help.

 

Which defrag utility did you use? Which registry cleaner did you use? The reason I ask is that the defrag utility in windows is not very good. For example it won't do a boot time defrag. Also registry cleaners can mess up more than they fix. Make sure you used a 64bit to match your operating system. Most hard core gamers will reinstall their operating system every 6 months. Easier said than done.

 

If you are doing a clean install and things aren't working as they should that is a pretty good indicator that you are missing some drivers. Too many people are under the assumption that Dell has included all the drivers. From past experience that is usually not the whole picture.

 

Tried updating the BIOS? May not help but could. But really, 124 seconds-that's only 2 minutes 4 seconds. And that's all the way into the OS?? Don't seem too bad to me. Start it, fix a drink, then come back. It'll be done. Seems faster when you're not there. Now, gonna time mine.

 

Here ya go-126

 

Yes but my older dell laptop with pentium M processor, slower hard drive, etc boots faster than this one, and I see that as a big problem. My bios version is A03 i recently updated it.

 

Guys don't forget the Windows 7 is large and will take longer than previous versions of Windows. This is why so many people are switching to SSD. 2.5 minutes for HDD does seem a little long, either fouled registry, fragmentation, or bad drivers is my guess. Also check what is loading at startup.

 

I only have 2 things loading at startup, my razer orochi driver and my synaptics touchpad driver. My registry is ok, so maybe it is my chipset drivers. I will update my chipset drivers and see if that solves the problem, however someone had mentioned previously updating the chipset drivers did nothing, but maybe it will be different in my case. Also, its not the actual loading time for windows, its the loading time it takes for the alienhead splash screen to load up.

 

Yes Same here i only have about 5 items starting up, ive re-installed windows about 1 month ago and i always make sure to defrag and keep my harddrive clean. Nothing works. It takes my computer forever to show the alienhead splash. also i did diskcheck and ran diagnostics. no errors. I use smart defrag and ccleaner.
also my specs are
core 2 duo T7900
4 gigs ddr3 ram
7200 rpm hardrive
sli nvidia 260m
i have an r1 m17x

 

^^^^^^^^^^^Did you not see this??? You ain'ta gonna get too much faster.

 

And I bet that Pent will cry if you try to do the stuff my M17x will/can do.

 

No what concerns me is that this laptop can do everything else fast except boot time, something my old pentium m is capable of doing extremely fast, so I know the boot time can get better, so lets focus on solutions.

 

No offence, but it isn't going to get better. I showed you mine at 126 seconds. All my specs are listed in my sig. And if others will run Boottimer and see what theirs is and post, maybe we can all compare and see if 124-you and 126-me, is somewhat normal.
And That P M is running XP too isn't it? Try booting XP on this bad boy!!!!!

What is 2 minutes in the grand scheme of things anyway? People, help me out and post some boottimer times.

 

You should probably actually read the previous posts, as I did list my specifications, and for your information my friend has the m17x from best buy, Q9000 processr 4 gigs of ram 7200 rpm 500 gig hard drive single 260m GTX graphics card, he hasnt messed with the drivers or anything and he gets faster boot times than I do, so I have to disagree with you on the point you made about the boot time not getting faster. His computer does not hang on the Alien head splash screen for an inordinate amount of time before going to the windows loading screen which zips right by the way it should be with the specifications listed. So why don't we try to get to the bottom of this issue.

 

OK. You got me. I was reading the OP stuff and then quoted you. You can see where when I quoted you I said you were at 124-which is incorrect as the OP showed his at 124-not you. So, sorry bout that. Yes, I am an idiot (don't agree, just grin and keep going). But still, have not seen any other Boottimer times posted. We only have 2 to compare so far-124 and 126 seconds. So, as I stated in a previous post Let's see some times for comparison. Then we can argue whether or not 124-126 is slow.

Just a note-my HDDs are 7200rpm.

 

With the 320Gb WD installed as the boot drive it takes my M7x r1 in the 110-115 sec boot time, with the Intel 160Gb SSD it's in the 45 sec boot time.

 

Currently running stock drivers and I have 25 items that start up. You can view your startup items by opening MSCONFIG. Of those 25 items only 2 are from software I have added. It sounds like some are missing an exceptionaly large number of drivers as a result of a reinstallation. You are probably going to have to call Alienware to find out which ones. Also those who keep saying their registry is clean leave me a little sceptical. A good registry cleaner will easily find 150+ errors in the first pass. Also a good defrag utility will do wonders. If you have done a fresh installation your boot will be fragmented and windows defrag tool won't touch that. You need to do a boot time defrag.

 

well maybe its time to try a SSD drive

Boot up times for me are around 35 - 40 seconds

I do not think @110 seconds is out of character for a hard drive.

 

SO, can we get some NUMBERS!!!!!!!!! I mean true numbers please. Not 'about' 35-654'. OK. I exaggerated. But it takes like 6 seconds to download then run it and reboot. C'mon. Somebody post some Boottimer numbers. Look up(Google, Bing!) Boottimer and run it please??!! That way we have solid, true to life, documented comparisons. Now-Ready, set, GO!!!!

 

Specs in my sig.

 

Oh the difference an SSD makes, huh? WOW!!! I gotta get one.

 

I fixed the problem, I did an extensive defragmentation of the system during boot and after boot, and the boot time is now back to what I believe it should be. The boot timer program indicated a 45.117 second boot time, and this is with an HDD 7200 rpm.

 

I ran boot time again to be sure and got 37.015 seconds the second time, so anyone who has 110+ boot times should run Ultra Defrag during and after boot multiple times if you have cleaned you disk and registry already.

 

Did anyone else who was experiencing this problem try this and if so did it work? Post your boot times before and after following what I mentioned.

 

i will try this right now and tell you how it goes. ill post pre-defrag boot time and post defrag boot time

 

ok so my boot time b4 ultra defrag was ~101 seconds
and after it was 74.32
this helped. but i still wish i could get my time down to about 30 seconds or at least 50

 

Have you cleaned your registry with CCleaner and the disk with CCleaner as well? That can definately help speed it up.

 

yes i did. i ran bootimer again and this time got 90 seconds

 

how many times did you defrag your drive?
i defraged with ultra defrage once at boot, once after, and then did one optimize defrag.

 

I defragged it 4 times before boot, 4 times during boot