HELP! XPS m1330 extremely slow on startup

Hi!

So lately (the last few days, just out of nowhere) I've been starting to have a problem with an XPS m1330. Every now and again the notebook starts Windows 7 waaayyyyy too long. A lot of the times it doesn't go past the welcome screen (after entering the user password etc.) If it does get past the welcome screen it just is extremely slow for the first 5-7min then, it's normal again. When I boot to safe mode it's fine.

I've had no problems with the software or drivers etc., only setback was that I had to change the AC Adapter through warranty just yesterday.
I've also done a full system scan with an AV program called Avast, and nothing comes up.

So I'm really lost here, is the only way just to format the HDD and start from scratch?

EDIT: Also it used to help if I booted to safe mode and restarted the notebook from there. But now, when booted into regular Windows 7, it just sits at the welcome screen loading and loading....

 

im not sure how to get into msconfig on windows 7 but for vista hit windows key r and type in msconfig and go to startup tab and remove things u dont need at start up such as itunes aim msn ect. msconfig probably comes up same way in 7 as vista so give it a try

 

Yeah msconfig is run in the same way for Win7. To be honest, this could be anything. I have Win7 x64 on my M1330 with a new SSD fitted. It is blindingly quick to boot up on most occasions but every now and then mine seems to hang for a little after displaying the windows logo. After 5-10 secs it then wakes up and displays the fingerprint/login screen.

I guess this is slightly different to your issue, which seems to be post sign in. I think the best thing is to go through your applications to see what you have installed and running from start up. The more that you have running at start up the longer it will take. Another thing to check is which of you applications check for new versions of their apps on start up. Your virus checker and the like all like to make sure they have the latest version installed and if this is all done at start up then you will be waiting for all this to complete.

Out of interest, do you have outlook installed? and if so does this start automatically when you log in? If so, I know mine hogs plenty of resource as it downloads the latest emails / rss feeds.

How much RAM do you have installed? If it is only a gig then I recommend upgrading this to 2-4gb. Also try defraging your hard drive (assuming it is a normal spinner).

 

Sorry to state the obvious, but try a system restore to a few days ago. Quick, easy and saves a lot of headaches if it sorts your problems out

 

This could be a warning sign of hard drive failure also.

I'd do a reformat before anything else if it's been a more than 8 months since your last format. This is just good computer policy, as your system becomes inevitably bogged down with crap over time. If you're still having a problem after formatting, you need to look at hardware issues =/

 

Before doing anything else download there freeware apps, spybot and ccleaner portable.
With any of the above apps disable anything which you do not want to run on Start Up both come under the heading Tools within their menus.
Next I would run ccleaner to clean up your system once this is done I would run spybot after downloading updates for it and scan your system and take it from there.
CCleaner is more then enough to clean up your system I use it myself and swear by it Fu*!$%%&***