New system slower to boot than old lower spec??

Another query.

Got my new system as detailed below....previous was the same but with 720qm and 4gb ram.

Had the two side by side tonight....turned both on at the same time and the new system (820qm and 6gb) was quite a bit slower to boot to the desktop.

I thought this was kinda odd but im no expert, i thought the new one would be quicker.

Any ideas why this is the case?

Also, the new system came loaded with "respawn" whereas my original had dell datasafe.....is this any kind of indicator? - is one older tech than the other? - do AW new systems ship with respawn?

Note. I have done a clean install on the old one - would this make it boot faster?

 

May be it's harddrive difference. It's a desktop replacement system anyways, I wouldn't care about it unless you carry it w/ you all the time.

 

HDD's are thhe same.......1tb raid 0......i thought it would be quicker with a better cpu thats all....dont understand why its slower to boot!

 

it has alot to do with with your hdds & the processes that are being loaded.

 

Use the Task Manager to see how many processes you have running. Use MSconfig.exe to disable stuff you don't need to run at start up. This will hopefully help to speed up your boot time. Lots of programs don't need to start up when you boot, but they take it upon themselves to do it, most of the time without your permission.

 

Your computer is probably slow to boot because you are running either Panda or Eset as per your posts on another thread. Just Google computer slow...Panda or computer slow Eset and see for yourself. Also you have been adding/deleting alot of utilies lately and this leaves junk in the registry as I predicted it would. A slow computer is a trade off for antivirus protection. When you delete this software it leaves pieces in the registry and this causes slow boot times. Once your registry becomes corrupted your next step is a registry cleaner which is a dice throw as they themselves can wipe out your operating system. The next step is comptely reinstalling everything.

Cheers.

 

Falcon

The faster of the two is my original 720qm system - has had a reinstall of windows and drivers and a trial of Eset smart secuirty 4.

The new 820qm system is running completely AS IS out the box with NO alterations at all.

I would assume the system without a/v would boot faster because of this yet it seems to be the other way around!

 

Eset smart secuirty 4 is not a Bloated Antivirus like others. It only uses 64mb hard drive space. 6mb of Ram.

 

I am sure it is better than some, I just googled Eset slow to boot and found many, many complaints about speed.

 

Hi Stevie, Oh my gosh, I can't keep up with you as you are changing things so fast . You raise a good question about a fresh install. Often people that have done a fresh install are complaining about speeds. The reason is simple, your drives are now really fragmented. I will assume you have not missed any drivers as this too could cause a slower boot. Also the extra 2Gb of ram would take in theory an extra few seconds to boot.

I recommend you purchase Diskeeper to defragment your hardrive. There are also registry optimizers that will rearrange your registry to make boots faster. This is similar to a registry cleaner but a little different. Often one software does both cleaning and optimizing.

When some people are reinstalling their operating system they often add extra drivers by mistake that they don't need. This can really slow the system down as the system looks for hardware that doesn't exist.

Here is a link for diskeeper, Defrag Software - Defragmentation & Data Recovery Solutions | Diskeeper I am not sure which version is best for you as you are running Raid 0. I would call the company and ask. I have used their products for the past 3 years and been extremely happy with the results. The software runs 1% of resources in the background and shuts off when you are using the computer. The benefit is a harddrive that is always defragmented and fast. If you use SSD you don't need to worry about fragmentation.

 

I would also suggest you to do a Defrag of your HDDs, also consider updating your OS via Windows Update, that might have an influence aswell. The only other thing i can think of at the moment is the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver on Dell's Driver Support Site.

Also make sure you let the system boot completly, e.g. Let it run atleast 5 minutes until you reboot, so Windows can index and load/save settings. It should get faster every Reboot aswell, as Windows7 optimizes the boot sequence automaticly.

I also do a Registry Defrag with TuneUp from time to time, which seems to help reducing loading times.

 

Hey Falcon!

My new system is the one slower to boot to the desktop. I havent done a thing to it since getting it out the box so it is completely stock.

The original may have a small degree of fragmentation due to a/v installs but i dobt much as it had a fresh install (all drivers checked by tech support)...it now is stock with the exception of eset trial software.

Now, given that both systems are more or less stock systems (with the exception of a/v on the 720qm system) i would assume that both would have pretty much the same boot to desktop time???

Have timed booting them both and the 820qm system takes around 30 seconds longer to boot to the desktop as opposed to the system with 720qm AND antivirus to load!

Doesnt seem right to me....

 

steviejones133,

press:
win + r (it's the button between the FN and ALT)

type:
msinfo32
(press enter)

click on the + to expand the:
Software Environment -> Startup Programs
take a screenshot and post it here or
go to Edit -> select All -> Edit -> Copy
Open the notepad and paste.
attach the file to your post

then click on:
Services, on the frame on the right, click on Start Mode to sort the Services by Auto
go to Edit -> select All -> Edit -> Copy
Open the notepad and paste.
Attach the notepad file on your post so we can take a look.

to disable start up items for faster boot time
press:
win+r

type:
msconfig
(press enter)

go to tab:
Startup
Uncheck items you don't need to autostart on every boot
Check your boot time

*EDIT*
If you have RAID-0 and it takes you like 2 minutes to enter the desktop something is wrong

 

Hiya...thanks very much for those suggestions. How do i take a screenshot and post it here?? - im a noob as you can tell LOL!

Also, FYI, I have done some timings on booting. They are as follows:

From Battery:

New replacement with 820qm = 1m 35s
Original with 720qm = 1m 20 seconds

On A/C:

New replacement with 820qm = 1m 05s
Original with 720qm = 0m 58s

Now, the 820 is absolutely stock. Has 7 processes running at startup
The 720 is stock bar Eset Smart Secuirty & AlienGUIse. Has 10 processes running at startup.

I cant post the details for the 820 as not connected to the internet with it yet. I can however copy the info word for word and post it here.

I can screenshot the 720 as i am using it atm - i have purposely avoided doing anything with the new replacement as i wanted to test it without any alterations for defects (hence no network connection etc etc)

Hope this helps but i was thinking surely the system without the a/v etc woulod boot faster given less to boot and faster cpu.

Figures proving here that my 720 with a/v etc is quicker off the mark to get to the desktop.

Advice/opinions welcome.

 

To take a screenshot press CTRL+ALT+PRINT SCREEN
Then press:
WIN+R

then type:
mspaint
(press enter)

press:
CTRL+V
save the image and upload it on the ImageShack® - Online Media Hosting
copy paste the link of the uploaded screenshot on you post

you still need to provide the information I asked you on my previous post.
Otherwise I won't have enough info to help you

 

Top 10 reasons start up slow:

1) System Start-up packed with too many applications
2) Spyware
3) Corrupted / Bloated Windows registry
4) Badly fragmented hard driver
5) Poor security software gobbling up resources
6) Remnants of Uninstalled programs
7) Page file too small
8) Hard driver getting full and too many internet temp and windows temp files
9) Virus
10) Hardware problems.

 

Hope this works.

This is the info from my original system with 720qm

The 820qm system (slower to boot) has exactly the same info less 3 entries which are:

swg
eset
stardockmycolours

 

was your previous system installed with stardock software? Im sure thats what slowing it compared to the old one if thats the case.

 

Just stating what might be considered obvious to some - but boot-up times are probably the *WORST* measure of system performance.

Unless of course you spend all day rebooting your computer.

 

im comparing boot times to my NEW system which doesnt have ANY additions from factory state.

I reinstalled the OS on the original as was told it may cure a HDD raid controller problem i was having. Whilst doing the reinstall, i elected to load the stardock colours thing (pretty cool actually - nice appearance to it) but this particular system is the one that boots FASTER than the 820qm system which is in a factory stock state!!!

Thats what i cannot understand! - WHY!!! when the system which boots faster has more stuff to load at start up (a/v / stardock etc) and it has a slower cpu with less ram!!! - why on earth would the stock 820qm system with 6gb ram and less to boot on startup be slower than the other!!! - its madness!!

Hope someone can tell me why this is.

 

6GB of ram takes longer on boot up than 4GB. Around 2-3 seconds. Also newer bios has more instruction to load.

Stevie if my memory serves me this was a unit that was built especially for you from a returned computer? If that is the case the registry and hardrive could have been very fragmented. The fact you have reinstalled the operating system would leave the boot registry even further fragmented and possibly you are missing some drivers. I would suggest you use the rescue disk.

 

You could try bootingthe new one once with a network cable attached. It could be timing out on some network connection that is not there.

I have seen this happen before. On a new system this should not happen, but it could.

If you could spare a few minutes, just try it and let us know if that makes any difference. Or, boot the opld one without a network cable attached. It might be slower then.

 

Falcon, your not getting me here buddy.....yes, i have a new replacement which was built to order (just like a new order) and thats the system i am saying is slow to boot - it hasnt had a thing done to it. Its fresh out the box.

Now, my original is different - thats the system that i have reinstalled the OS on NOT the "slower" replacement. This system was checked over by AW tech via remote to check i had done all the relevant drivers (being the 1st time reinastalling OS i wanted to be sure - he said it was fine).

The original is quicker to boot than the replacement.....which technically i feel should boot faster as its superior and has not been "played" with.

 

Do you notice that any part of the startup is slower? e.g. When the screen is black, when you see the desktop, etc. I'd benchmark the harddrives on both setups and if it's the replacement drives are about the same, then it's a software issue.

 

Hi Stevie,

I think it is a quesiton of symantecs, as I recall you were given an email confirmation that they were going to build you a new system with a higher spec. Some may interpret that as a NEW, New build and others may assume that to mean they are building you a replacement from returned parts.

Every GB of ram takes longer to load. So your larger amount of ram does take longer to load. Also your bios may have more instruction which also takes longer to load. If your still not happy than just send it back.

All you have to do is open the registry up (regedit) and look at the two machines line for line to determine what has changed or look at the total size of the operating system and that could account for some problems.

Maybe they modify a system they have in stock for replacement purposes and this could account for some of the discrepancies. Maybe the 720 simply loads faster than an 820 because it is less advanced in terms of number of features.

Normally you have to return the old system pronto. Don't hold onto it for too long or they may bill you for it again

 

720 820 920 are the same cpu they just have diferent clock speed

and frsh out of the box will always boot slower then a fresh install as they are using a master install wich they clone on all the HDD and if you have diferent hardware that require specific driver aka newer GPU newer network card etc they just add the driver on top after cloning the drive
it does not really have a impact on performance but on boot the more diver the sysstem loads the longer it takes

 

I see that you the older drivers installed (ie Matrix Storage).
If you don't mind, do what you did with your 720QM system, a clean windows installation with the latest drivers (ie Rapid storage drivers).
After you complete windows 7 installation and drivers DO NOT INSTALL any other programs, measure your boot time. If it is OK then proceed with the installation of 3rd party programs you want.

 

Yeah, i would have said the same. It's not a very solid comparison anyway, if you have two different windows7 factory images that have been put on your probably 4 different hdd's, on two different systems, with two different specs, and not made at the same time and you don't know what can have what influence, because of the unknown install method that dell used.

Also the RAM theory makes sense to me aswell, as i can imagine Windows, when it has more RAM available to be used, it might just grab that and load some more things into RAM, when starting up.

If you still have both systems, try changing the RAM once and look if it boots up faster with 4GB instead of 6GB.

 

I suppose there is that argument to it...replacements MAYBE not BRAND new....i gotta trust to luck here yet again. I wont go on about it here as its not in the right thread.

 

Just reinstall windows and download all your drivers from the dell site instead of using the CD these are simple solutions. It is not uncommon to have a slow running system outta the box. Your expectations are somewhat High... We all paid good money for our systems. Some of us don't like how it comes out of the box so we fix it.

 

Right....listen....you have just posted on three of my threads with all negative comments about something i feel strongly about. Just because you dont or have different opiions i would kindly ask you to keep them to yoursefl UNLESS you have something USEFUL to input to this thread. Why the heck would i want to have to reinstall windows to cure something that shouldnt be a problem in the first place. You are obviously the kind of person who settle for second best...dont have a go at me because i do not accept less than perfect when spending thousands.



Without sounding rude.....take your unwanted opinions elsewhere.

 

Well Was not trying to be rude bud, Just telling it how it is. Your queries are not uncommon they are very common. I have experienced all the issues you have faced. the solutions are a fresh install of windows for the slow boot times, a reinstallation of CC for your Alienhead light problems. Hope that helps and don't take things personal on the internet.

 

Hi...thanks for your input. At the moment , i still have the 720 system...its was due to get picked up on thursday hence my eagerness to address this as what i thought was maybe a problem (yes maybe i am over cautious but im not used to this level of computing and i want my investment to be 100% right)

I reinstalled via the OS disc, loaded the drivers in the order of chipset first, then video drivers and then the rest. In relation to the storage manager, i initially installed the rapid storage one as it was the latest available...when i got thru to an AW tech, he said for me to revert to the matrix manager and he remotely uninstalled the IRST and reinstalled Matrix. Thats what it has at the moment.

I found that the rapid storage wouldnt always fully load....i had the task tray icon displayed but stating that it wasnt working....it took a few seconds or so before it changed in the task bar.

 

Yeah, sorry and i appreciate what you are saying about how to resolve things which is great....i guess im just a perfectionist and dont expect this kinda thing straight away....i was under the assumption that these systems are tested before leaving the factory...obviously not that well or i wouldnt have had the issues in the first place....maybe someone forgot to flash the command centre or whatever, i dont know or pretend to know. Its just very annoying.

 

That is normal I always got the little yellow thing on the taskbar icon if you double click it it will load faster... RST drivers are better for a RAID setup as they are newer ISM is older therefore will work just not as efficient. If you are done taking my advice just lemme know and I will humbly refrain from posting.

 

Sorry mate, I am just very frustrated and have been since 2nd June when i placed my 1st order - i am now looking at a 4th replacement which must be some kind of record so excuse me if i sound off a little - its not intentional and please - carry on posting any advice. Please take my apology as its meant.

 

Hey no problems, I have been down that road SXPS 16 in the 8 months i owned it, I had 8 service calls and 4 replacements so I know how frustrating it can be, and I agree whole heartedly that you should get or atleast feel you got what you paid for, just within reason. Software problems are common out the box and a little more acceptable for me than say a hardware issue would be totally unacceptable. So try those solutions out and if they help great, If not tear Dell a new one.

 

Haha, i totally already have torn thhem a new one - hence replacement number 4 immininent. Img glad (not in a nasty way) that you know where i am coming from - being kinda new, its a rapid curve and i dont fully know what causes these problems - all i can say is that i expect it to work out the box - yeah, i guess that sometimes software can be the cause but as i dont fully know this for sure, i would rather be on the safe side than be in this position 6 mnths down the line after trying to rectify possible software issues....

I hope you catch my drift and maybe im being too pedantic or too much of a perfectionist but thats just me. I am sure I will get to grips with blips and hiccups in the future but as it stands at the moment, i dont think i want to settle for anthing less than 100% functional without any errors right off the bat.

Thanks for your input and sorry i tore a strip off you.....

 

lol no worries I can see where I might have come off as rude and good luck hopefully 4th times a charm

 

Hi Mkelliny

I guess I should consider myself very lucky that everything has worked straight out of the box. How easy/hard was it for you to reinstall your operating system using the dell driver page? I notice on mine there appears to be some that don't belong like for SSD and wrong video drivers so just wondering what your experience was like. Personally when I look at my driver file which is huge I wonder if Dell has really included all the drivers necessary to do a proper reinstall. All I read are complaints about bad installations so if you have any postive experiences that would be nice to hear about, or others for that matter. On previous dell laptops there was always at least one critical driver that always ended up missing, usually a wifi or driver or one of those obscure drivers. What was your reinstallation like?

 

During my reinstall of the OS on my original laptop, what i found was that the resource disk did not contain all the relevant drivers to my system. It was clearly lacking in correct support for video drivers as the only ones on the resource disk were for the 4870 and my system had 5870's.

Yeah, i can go to dell web site and get them there but whats the point in supplying a resource disk if it doesnt correlate to your system?

 

I actually had multiple reinstalls trying to find the best performing stripe size for my SSD's in RAID 0 before I unraided, but I always started with either ethernet or wireless then i went in this order:
1: Chipset(unless you want to update the bios do that first)
2: Ricoh
3: OSD
4: VGA
5:Wireless/ethernet(whichever i didnt do)
6:IDT Audio
7:touchpad
8:bluetooth
9:Antivirus
10: all other software
11: Command center(should always be last)

Restarts in between all, but the one driver that I always had a problem with was the 6300 drivers, for some reason they are missing from my resource disk and windows 7 doesn't pick them up.
Each time went smooth and I have enjoyed the performance gains. Now if they figure out what the deal is with the SSD's poor 4k read/write speeds I will be a happy camper. Also I reinstall windows every 6-8 months just to keep things fresh. ( I make regular backups)

Also Dell does that alot where you have extra unescessary things on the driver download page never understood why, but those are the ones i grab from there or intel site (for 6300) or AMD site for GPU's also from what I have gathered the 5870's need to do the workaroundinstall=true edit to config file to install ATI drivers from AMD site.

Also for my HDMI audio I goto realteks site to download the driver for the HDMI audio as they create the drivers for ATI HDMI AUDIO

 

The only reason for this is time and cost. It takes a certain amount of time to put together a master disc and send it for pressing. You've then got to pay for that, and absorb the cost of the obsolete discs.

However, Dell should have made a new disc when the 5870s came out, even if that disc contained drivers for both the 4870s and 5870s. That would have at least let people install their systems fresh without having to hop on the net and download drivers.

 

Stevie, I really hope this works out for you as, like Mkelliny and yourself, I have been down the road with multiple replacements and that just plain stinks. It also makes me wonder how Dell makes any monay at all. But I guess for every one of us, there are possibly ten people that never complain, or even know their system has an issue.

Mkelliny, is this still your first M17x? If so, great! I thought my journey would end with the M17x, but it isn't over yet. I do agree with you though, the M17x problems are nothing like the XPS 1645 problems. I'm glad I switched.

 

Thanks Mitchell - I hope it works out too - I now have my 4th system in the pipes....hope this one works!

Regarding reinstalling the OS, AW tech told me that it is imperative to install the drivers in a particular order (i did find this order on the resource disk under one of the tabs)

I was told that it was very important to do the chipset driver first, then the video driver....he said the rest could be done in any order??

The order I got off the resource disk was:

1. chipset
2. video
3. network
4. input devices
5. audio
6. miscellaneous
7. patches/utilities/applications

Now, i was also told by AW that i would be better of using the Matrix storage manager for my drives as opposed to the newly released Intel rapid storage technology driver....i thought this was odd but he assured me it was best. If anyone has any info on this, let me know. I also found that the Matrix driver is no longer available on the website - seen as how i have the downloaded file on my system, i thought i might make a copy of it and if any one wants it, i can upload it - if anyone thinks its useful let me know.

I dont know if there is a specific thread on NBR that would have a good blow by blow account of how to do this somewhat daunting task - i know as a relative novice, it was quite nerve racking for me - the only reason i took it on was because the system i was trying to reinstall on was due to go back to Dell....i think if it had been "a keeper" for me, I wouldnt have tackled it so soon.

Be interesting to see if anyone has a "fools guide" to doing a clean install on the m17x....might make a good sticky/wiki.