Discovering what is delaying computer boot time

Searched this/these forums and elsewhere and can not find an answer.

I have a Compaq nx9420.

It takes about 5 minutes to boot up.

What is the way for finding out what is causing the boot up delay?

Found plenty of apps that run a boot log . . . but these only showl what is booting up and the sequence, not what is taking a long time.

Already tried disconnecting all non-Windows services and that did not help. Next disconnected all but essential Windows services and sure enough normal boot time. So anyway to narrow that down besides running turning off each individually which would probably take about 5 hours to complete.

Thanks.

 

Well, if you have tried disabling all non-windows services, and then you tried disabling all but essential services, that should actually narrow down your selection considerably. Just work on individually disabling nonessential Windows services one at a time. To make sure this would work, build a list of your services and check to see which ones are disabled with an all non-Windows selection, and then check to see which additional services are disabled with an all non-essential selection. Then try booting with the non-Windows services active to see if you still have a speedy boot.

Then all you have to do is reactivate the nonessential Windows services one at a time.

 

Thanks for responding.

That's what I would've thought, too. But it didn't seem to narrow it down that much. So perhaps I'm not doing something right.

At the services.msc there are 109 services with 31 disabled.

At msconfig on the Services tab there are 87 services listed, 5 unchecked, and 3 listed as essential. And at Startup tab 20 services listed and 8 unticked.

So going to the services.msc it seems there are 78 services to tick/untick and with an average reboot time of 5 minutes that's about 6.5 hours to see what is holding up the process.

So like I said, maybe I'm not doing something right, but I was hoping for some way or some app that would help narrow down the search.

Thanks.

 

5 minutes to boot up? You must have the record! wow! Is this a personal or business laptop use?

 

Since your boot time seems faster with all nonessential services disabled, try starting from that point, then rechecking 10 services at a time (keep track of the ones you re-enable). If one group of 10 triggers your slow boot, reboot with only five of them checked. If that group boots quickly, uncheck those five and check the other five. When you've found the group of 5 that cause the problem, reboot once for each service until you nail the culprit.

 

Thanks thain1982, that is a good approach. It'll help reduce the time and tedium a bit.. I just got through chatting with HP Tech Support . . . and checking each one is the only way to do it.

Yea kanehi it's a business laptop. And so normally I don't care that much about boot up time . . . you know, go get a cup of coffee, chase the wife around the house, take a nap, whatever . . . but when you're at work with all the big boys standing around and this is your time to shine waiting 5 minutes for the 'ole computer to come to life seems like an eternity, especially when you've forgotten to get rid of that stupid wall paper of the "crazy cat" or whatever and now that what's were all standing around looking at . . . yep, a little humbling.

 

I had the same problem on my nc8430. Disabling the SMINST Scheduler and Remind_XP from start up under msconfig helps. These are just activation and reminders for the HP Backup and Recovery utility.

 

Is this an issued laptop or did you buy it yourself? Did you check the "startup" folder to see how many programs are loading? If it's a company laptop you can ask IT to see what you can do. Other programs essential to the business might also be loading.

 

Did what thain1982 suggested and found the problem: Shell Hardware Detection. Disabled it and now the computer boots up normally. Lost the autoplay functionality, but that was hit or miss proposition anyway, so probably worth investigating to see if somehow it got corrupted.

Chrixx, thank for the tip, but those weren't loaded.

kanehi, the laptop was issued, checked with our IT department, such as it is, and they told me to reformat my harddrive and reload from the HP recovery partition . . . too destructive ergo taking thain1982 advice first. I checked the startup folder and stopped all programs when I did the check. After finding the above problem I ticked the 11 programs to run again and the computer booted normally.

Thanks.

 

I uninstalled many of useless programs by HP and then I use WinPatrol program to check startup and other boot up files to disable some files and now my new Presario v6420 boot up real faster. I am glad I don't have to reformat and clean install Vista I have read from other forum.

 

I suggest you just back up your files and do a clean install

 

I was having the same problem with my nw8440. It would load everything but the network stuff, and then pause for about 5 minutes before finishing. Depending on where I was connected to, sometimes it would boot in a flash.

I used Microsoft Bootvis, which worked wonders on my machine. I also heard that the Microsoft .NET framework could really slow down boot times. I haven't touched it, but I've talked to people where, after they uninstalled it, their PC booted up much faster.

I wouldn't touch the Microsoft .NET framework stuff though, unless you've talked to your IT about it and made some backups of your computer. For now, I'd recommend Bootvis. Just google "Bootvis" and you'll be able to download the program, along with instructions on how to optimize your system for faster boot times.

Just keep in mind that Bootvis only works in Windows XP and not Vista.

 

Sounds like a multitude of problems, have you tried a registry cleaner, your registry may be bloated, on top of other things.

 

I second bootvis, works great.

here's a thread detailing how to optimize your computer (with xp)

Bootvis download

 

Typical IT response. Glad your loading time is faster now. If you have XP I recommend the powertoys by MS.