Slow startup...

So here's the issue I face:

I have the Inspiron 1720. 1.66C2D, 2gb ram, 256mb Nvidia card.

My problem is this: After I turn on the computer, and it goes through it's initial "Dell" screen, prior to Vista loading up the screen will stay black for probably 15-25 seconds..just long enough so that it almost seems like it's freezing.

But then Vista loads up just fine and my speeds seem just dandy (Oblivion ran with no problem whatsoever at decent settings).

Is this typical for Vista startup? I'm used to XP so I'm not sure, but it sorta worried me that I didn't see SOMETHING on the screen after the initial dell screen.

Thanks!

 

So it's 12-25 seconds before you see the scrolling bar?

 

I can't remember if it's before or after the scrolling bar.

I'm not at home atm to check it out, I'll call my fiancee and get her to mess with it and tell me.

 

Weirdest thing..now she says it's not doing any black screen at all. I'll have to test it when I get home tomorrow morning, update ya then.

 

I have the same problem.. After the Vista loading bar, the screen will actually turn off, completely, for about 20 seconds then come back up and windows will start up. Don't know what it is, but I just deal with it.

 

No! You don't have to take that trash off of M$. Reinstall windows. Show them who's boss.

 

Yeah it was just like that!

So you think it's just a Vista being a piece of crap issue, and not a computer issue?

 

I'm pretty sure it really started after I installed SP1. Like I said, it really doesn't bother me that much. A few times however, I thought that my laptop had just turned off cause the power button LED doesn't stay on after you initially turn it on.. then the screen magically turns back on. Just an annoyance, nothing to go crazy over IMO.

 

Thanks for the input bud. Glad to hear I'm not the only one dealing with it!

 

how long ago was it that you installed sp1? when you install sp1 it wipes out the existing prefetch stored and this causes the first few startups to be much longer than the really normally will be.

another cause of this is the dual monitor check that vista does. that can be turned off in the administrative controls section.

another cause of this is a driver conflict. its trying to load a driver that is conflicting then after trying so many times or for a certain period of time it will error out and boot anyway. this can be checked by doing a full boot log during boot up. this will show you everything that is happening during boot up. this also is in the administrative controls. go to control panel---adminstrative tools ---- system configuration --- boot tab ----then check boot log.

restart the system. now under the same admin tools there is the event viewer. upon the next reboot turn off the boot log feature and go to the event viewer and see what errors it lists. go to the windows logs folder open it in the tree. now look at the system list. you will see either yellow caution signs or red stop signs. this will tell you what errors you are getting. these need to be fixed.

once this is done run a good app that will allow you to shrink down your startup items. i recc a program called jv16powertools, awesome program.

disable / delete any startup programs or drivers you do not need starting with vista. they will start for you anyway once in vista when called upon once set to manual startup.

my entire boot up time from a system turned off status to the vista desktop and all items loaded in the system tray is less than 30 seconds total. this is on all of my systems in the house (6 of them) vista just needs a bit of tweaking to get it just right but man once its right its def fast.

 

No...the 20 or so seconds of black screen is where vista scans and diagnoses ALL of your storage devices attached to the computer during startup. Thus, the more external and internal harddrives/storage devices you have, the longer the scan is going to take. If you don't believe me, unplug ALL of your external USB/Firewire devices, and the black screen will be reduced by at least 15 seconds....

 

I have no external devices attached at all.

 

Where exactly is this?