FZ Vista Boot Issues

First off, I'm not sure if this would be better suited for the Windows OS/Software forum or here, but I chose to post it here first to see if the problem is unique to the FZ series. Feel free to move the thread to the OS forum if need be.

I don't know if these issues are unique to me or if it is a widely found problem, but my new laptop takes forever to boot. Once everything is loaded, it runs extremely fast and smooth, but it must take 3 minutes before the wireless is fully connected and all systems are GO. The wireless icon toggles back and forth between the red x, to the globe, then to the yellow triangle, then the red x again, and finally the globe again. Aside from the actual wireless connection, the wireless switching utility and bluetooth seem to stutter upon startup. The whole system freezes until those two load completely. Unfortunately, they are the last to load.

I've had the FZ for a little over a week now and in spite of this issue, I'm still confident that I made the right decision with the Vaio. I just think I need some time to iron out some issues. I've applied all the updates I can find as well as removed all of the trial/bloatware. I've only installed a handful of programs. I've read through numerous tweak guides and addressed the services as well as the preconfigured startup programs. I've defragged the hard drive and followed all of the guidelines for speeding up the boot time, but it's still painfully slow.

As of right now, when I boot up, my task manager shows 71 processes. At idle, they computer eats about 1.05GB of ram... granted, I do run Vista with full Aero effects. My startup list, via run>msconfig, consists of:

-Adobe Gamma Loader
-Alps Pointing Device Driver
-Avast! Anti-Virus
-ISB Utility
-Java Platform SE 6
-NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Driver Version 101.28
-NVIDIA Driver Helper Service 101.28
-NVIDIA Media Center Library
-Windows Defender

Until tonight, I was using Norton Corporate Edition for my antivirus. I switched to Avast and it seems to have made a slight improvement. I'm contemplating disabling the Windows Defender because I've read it is pretty much junk. What else needs to be done? Any recommended utilities for optimizing startup? To remove the stubborn bloatware, I used CCleaner. I used BootVis with my XP desktop and had great success, but I haven't been able to find such a program for Vista.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.



System Specs:

Windows Vista Business 32-bit
2.0Ghz T7250
3GB 667Mhz
250GB 5400rpm
NVIDIA 8400m GT
Intel WiFi 4965

 

I pulled an all nighter tonight so I could work on these little issues. Its been 2 hours since I made the initial post and I've managed to shave my startup time down to about 1:35 seconds. That's still a long ways from my 40 second XP boot time, but hopefully I'll be able to squeeze some more "oomph" out of Vista. The only noteable changes I've made since the original post are:

-Disabled Windows Defender
-Downloaded Norton Removal Tool (The 360 trial was still showing in the security center, but this fixed that issue)
-Disabled the Windows Media Player Network (2 processes)
-Disabled Google Updater
-Disabled Google Toolbar Notifier

At idle, I'm now using roughly 850MB of RAM with 67 processes... excluding the task manager.

 

You should consider installing SP1. I installed it last night on my VGN-FZ340E/B and I notice a large increment in performance, fewer memory usage, faster local copying, etc.
You can get it from a MSDN subscriber or wait a few days for the official launch.
Other that that what you did (specially remove Norton) was right. Make sure you appied the SATA tweak

 

I have links to two threads in my signature below that might help you. The first is a link to how to clean install Vista on and FZ190. The FZ340 you have is VERY similar and the guide would help you to do a clean install.

Second is a procedure for defraging the bootfiles on your machine. You should wait until you have everything installed and setup the way you want and then run that procedure. Vista has a built in process to do this, but as I explain in the thread it never gets a chance to run on most folks laptop. This defrag can make a significant improvement in boot times.

Two other points, make sure you do NOT have any persistent mapped network drives. Those will REALLY slow down boot up. Vista looks for them even before the network drivers are fully loaded. I have NO IDEA why, but it does.

The second point is the wireless link up you describe sounds strange. Mine connects very quickly most of the time... 95 out of 100. I would look at the router/FZ340 setup, something sounds amiss there.

Good luck. If you decide to do a clean install read all the document first and make sure you create the two DVD restore set. If you have any questions just ask, and if you find any difference in the FZ340 install note them in the FZ190 clean install thread and I will link to them in the first message in the thread.

 

For quicker wireless connection, open task scheduler by typing in the search box. Then go to library, select sony and then click on WSSU. Right click and disable it. But doing this will leave your bluetooth ON/OFF depending upon how it's set in the Wireless switching utility. You can change this by opening switcher.exe from C:\Program files\Sony.

The wireless is slow because the WSSU resets the connection when it's starting.

 

Yeah, it will make things quicker but I have that task running and do not see the symptoms he was describing. Mine restarts, too, but not in the same cycle he talked about. I think there are other issues at work here than just this tweak. The tweak is worth a shot though as long as he can live with the extra step for bluetooth stuff.

Gary

 

I appreciate all of the suggestions.

Havokdu,

I'll have to look in to the SATA tweak. I hadn't previously read anything about it.


Scud,

I actually read through your defrag and boot file link and followed your directions a couple of days ago. Since then, I've added and removed a few other programs, so I'll need to do that stuff again when I finally get my programs finalized. As far as a clean install goes, it's my last resort at the moment. I need to get some DVDs so I can make some backup disks and even then, I'm not sure if I want to tackle the driver nightmare of Sony and Vista, lol.


Coolguy,

I appreciate the Bluetooth suggestion, but I just placed an order for a Bluetooth mouse on Monday, so I'd like that function to be left automatic.




I've posted on a few different tech forums and this forum is #1 in terms of quality information. There are a lot of sites out there that have mountains of information, but very little of it hits the mark like it does here.

Thanks again everyone.

 

Coolguy,

I just reread your post about WSSU and realized that it doesn't disable Bluetooth from working as long as I don't disable Bluetooth before cancelling the task, correct?


Thanks again for all the tips everyone. I'm just playing the waiting game for the SP1 launch now...

 

Yes. Also check out the link in my sig. Clean install is the way to give a fresh feel to your FZ. My FZ starts up in under 40 secs and becomes usable at 50 secs. This is after the clean install.

 

It's no nightmare at all. Once you have created the recovery disk you will have all the drivers. The recover disks serve two purposes. If you boot from them, they can perform a recovery of the machine to it's out of the box state. If you insert the first disk of the set while Vista is running an app will startup that lets you install drivers or applications.

Gary

 

It's something I might consider on down the road, but for now, I'm going to wait on SP1 to see if it makes any difference. From what I've read, a 1:30 boot time is fairly typical of Vista. I'm sure there are probably some things I'm missing, so hopefully my time will improve a little more.

 

Mine boots in 45 seconds to the login prompt and then another 35-40 seconds to everything loaded. (I csn actually start other apps within a couple of seconds after the login.)

Gary

 

Mine is setup to boot straight into Windows, but adding your boot to prompt + post prompt loading seems to be just about on par with my total boot time... give or take 5 seconds.

I know this topic has been covered, but what is your opinion on deleting the Prefetch contents once I feel everything is setup the way I want to leave it? On many of the tweak guides, they recommend that you don't mess with the Prefetch stuff at all, but as you know, Sony comes with about 15gb worth of crap bloatware. Would it be a good idea to delete the contents since all of that stuff has been removed and then let Vista do it's thing? If so, what files should not be deleted from within the Prefetch folder. I know you're not supposed to delete the layout file on XP, but is anything different on Vista? I immediately noticed a ReadyBoost folder within the Prefetch folder... my guess is that shouldn't be messed with.

 

I decided to go ahead and delete the .pf files since I've got everything configured the way I intend to leave it for a while. I rebooted a few times after that and the reboot got progressively better. I'm now booting to a completely working OS anywhere from :50 to 1:05. Upon the last reboot, I decided to click the internet icon as soon as I was at the desktop and to my surprise, the browser opened and loaded a page even though the connection icon displayed a red X. At idle, I now have 66 processes excluding the task manager and it's coming in at about 765MB of RAM.

Aside from that, I got my mouse in today. I couldn't be any happier with it... it's great.



Thanks again for all of the help. I couldn't have done it without this board.









EDIT:

I removed a bunch of the Sony VAIO stuff... leaving only a few of the programs. My processes are down to 53 at startup and my idle RAM usage bounces between 675-705MB. I'm booting in under 50 seconds now. I received the generic battery forced hibernation error a little while ago, which is odd because I'm using the original Sony battery... but anyway I disabled the ISB Utility and solved that. I'm down to only 3 startup items now, which are Avast, Alps, and Adobe Gamma Loader, and everything runs smooth.


I know the Windows Experience Index is a joke, but I've been surprised throughout this process that my score hasn't changed any. I figured all of these changes would have some sort of impact. My scores are as follows:

Processor: 4.9
RAM: 4.8 (I guess this is due to latancy because 3GB is surely enough)
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.3
Hard Drive: 5.1

 

You might want to leave the ISB utility in place. The prefetch stuff would have worked itself out over time anyway, but what you did won't hurt anything. Be careful about deleting the Sony stuff. Some of it is critical to the proper operation. See my guide for the clean install for details about what things you do really need.

Gary

 

Everything is working fine as far as I know. I get no errors on startup or anything. The only reason I removed the ISB Utility was because I was getting an error that said my battery was improperly seated. It instruced me to power down and reseat the battery, so I did... 2 different times and still received the error. I researched it and got a ton of hits from people using generic batteries. Removing the utility is apparantly a must for generic batteries. Mine is an authentic Sony that came with the laptop, so I have no idea why I was getting the message. I removed it and checked my power management and everything still works, so I'm not sure it is entirely necessary. The important part is that it stopped the message from appearing. When the message popped up, it would automatically bring that message forward on top of anything else I had open. If I clicked on a different window, it would only come to the front for a split second and the error would pop back in front. As far as the Sony stuff goes, the majority of it was useless media center type crap. I'll refer to your thread to make sure I didn't accidentally remove something vital.

Again, thanks for all of the assistance.

 

Disabling start up items, removing bloatware has no effect on WEI score. It's purely hardware based. I have the same graphics card and I am getting 5.4 for gaming graphics.