Z96Js boot time is over 4 minutes!! Please help!

My Z96JS is a week old:
1.83Ghz, 80Gb 5400, 1Gb DDr2 Ram, Intel Pro wireless

I installed a legal copy of windows XP pro and all the ASUS drivers bundled with the computer.
I installed a firewire soundcard and a bunch of audio apps, autodesk invetor, and OpenOffice.

I also installed the OEM Norton Antivirus.

RIght from the beginning (even after a purely clean install of WIndows) the startup has been slow. Now my startup (time until I can actually launch and use a program) is over 4 minutes.

I tried replacing Norton with Zonelabs Internet suite: no change
I eliminated every unecessary background service andstartup app
I performed every other windows XP optimizations I could find (several good sites with explicit details)
Defragmented my HD
Installed latest ATI Moblity drivers
I installed Ad-aware and windows defeneder and scanned for spyware
I ran Boot-vis and chose to "optimize boot up"
I ran WinTasks and chose optimize boot up

After all that my startup is still soooo slow.

The final thing I am going to try is to remove Zone Alarm internet security suite and replace it with AVG and Zone Alarm firewall

What else can I do???

Is my best option to re-install windows??

Also I should note: the time from when I press "power" to when my desktop is displayed is reasonable (about a minute), but then it takes several minutes before I can actually open a program. It looks like a lot of time is spent starting my wireless card.


any help is greatly appreciated!!

thanks,
intellijel

 

i've had a similar problem where everything booted up fine until i got to the windows logon. after i logged on, i tried loading a program, i waited about 5 minutes, then i heard the xp startup sound and knew something was wrong so i reformatted and everything was fine again

it sounds as though something (maybe a virus) is hogging your main memory which might explain the slow boot, in which case i would recommend a fresh install as that always fixes my problems

 

I have checked for viruses using Norton AV, ZOnelabs AV and AVG. I also scanned for spyware with Ad-Aware and Windows Defender but have found nothing.

Right now I am running a chkdsk (someone esle suggested it may be a bad HDD).

We shall see! I really don't want to have to re-install windows. If I do, I would prefer to wi[e my machine and start freesh... the issue is that I have spent the whole week (or what little spare time I have) loading my software and configuring/tuning the system!

thanks,
intellijel

 

chkdsk /f may or may not find a bad drive. Seatools or wd tools will find either bad sectors and possibly repair

 

It sounds like your antivirus/firewall - I've never had that happen with Norton - but McAfee did the same thing with my Dad's computer.

 

Normally, many applications are installed in a hard drive and enable it after booting up a Windows, the time will be taken a longer. You can try to uninstall some applications software one by one and see if it will be faster than before. Before you do it, please disconnect the Internet connection, then uninstall any Anti-virus software, then uninstall any Internet security application because those of these almost slow down the speed during booting up a Windows.
Cheers

 

I am trying the Seagtae SeaTools

As for AntiVirus problems, I have tried Norton Internet Secuirty Suite, then Zonelab Secuity suite and then now I am running AVG Free + Zone Lab free firewall.

I have noticed a bit of a difference with the latter but still an optimised system as fast as mine (except for the 5400 rpm HDD) should boot up in under a minute. Not 4+ minutes.

thanks!

intellijel

 

Also you may want to use BootLog XP to measure accurately how long ur boot time is. Plus it will tell you was programs take up so much time to load.

Try to aim for 90 seconds or less.

When doing the review on the Z96j, the my boot time was just under 90 secs, and thats with a lot of programs installed for gaming, and benchmarking.

Once you run bootlog XP take a screen shot and then post it here.

 

Ok SeaTools had soem interesting results:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File Structure Test Result
Partition 1 (NTFS (80Gb) Resukt: Failed witg critical Errors

The following errors were found while scanning the colume:
- One or more errors were found while scanning the volume:
-Other errors were found
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the recomendation is to run defrag and scandisk/Chkdsk/Error Checking utilities built into windows

I will do this and I will post the windows Bootlog XP results,

thanks !!

intellijel

 

Well that doesnt look like a good thing. Your hard drive might be bad. I would run defrag and scandisk to see if it helps.

 

Are you sure it's fresh? This isn't a slipstream or modded Windows XP disk, is it? Sometimes modded/customized Windows disks add other utilities which cause problems or conflicts.

Did you install the drivers from the ASUS CD and restart after every single one when prompted? Sometimes the system absolutely needs to be restarted to make sure it's properly installed (some programs install immediately, some only on restart, the problematic ones are typically the ones which install a bit now and then a bit more on restart and some other program gets in the way).

Check the Event Viewer under System. That should give you an idea as to what might be happening if it's a hardware issue.

I have a 100.0GB Seagate on mine, no problems with the only exception being the screen having a slight flicker at lower brightness.

 

This was definitely a full, fresh version of windows installed. The HDD was formatted before the installation.

SeaTools keeps finding the File Structure errors:
Errors with Metadata File Records+other errors

Running chkdsk c:/f didn't help.

I am guessing my HD is corrupt? Is this solved with a reformat+reinstall windows?

Also I re-installed all the asus drivers and restarted when each one requested.

It is still taking 3:30 min to start. When I ran bootlog XP it says it only took 127 seconds but it was actually an additional minute and a half longer before any programs would open.

Attached is the Bootlog

 

If it's saying metadata problems, it means the format of the disk isn't quite good. Check the Event Log (Start: Run: EVENTVWR.EXE) and check under System to see if you're getting any disk errors. Trouble with SeaTools is that it doesn't always test the HDD completely like other manufacturers, it seems that it checks to see if the file format is correct and the SMART registers say anything bad, otherwise just lets stuff pass.

Also try getting a copy of MEMTEST86+ to see if the system RAM is okay. http://www.memtest.org/ You'd have to run it using a bootable USB key, though.

You can try reformatting it and running it through again. I'd also try another HDD if possible, though it's a nuissance that these systems use only SATA laptop disks since they're not as widely available as EIDE laptop HDDs. I would've suggested using SATA cables from a desktop, but I don't think they made extension cables for the power...

 

>Check the Event Log (Start: Run: EVENTVWR.EXE)
No disk errors logged

>Also try getting a copy of MEMTEST86+ to see if the system RAM is okay.
Ran memtest (took hours!) and everything passed

This laptop is only a week old, at this point I will try to get a warranty replacement HDD then start fresh. This is actually the second time (on a totally different machine) that I have had issues wiht a Samsung HDD!

Thanks for all the help!! It is really appreciated

cheers,
intellijel

 

I would RMA it and get a replacement. It definately sounds like the HD is messed up.

 

thats long