Very long Pre-Boot time

[jblue42]

Hello, after coming home from college for the holidays, my computer all of a sudden started having this problem. When I got home, it wouldn't load windows because it was missing some file in the system32 folder. I just formatted and reinstalled, but now when I turn my computer on, before seeing the WindowsXP booting screen, it takes about 4-5 mins to load. After showing the motherboard/bios information my screen goes blank for about 1 min, then there is a white progress bar at the bottom that very slowly fills up (takes 4 mins), before the windows logo appears.

system:
p4 2.8C
1GB pc3200
WD 120 GB 7200 IDE
IC7-G
etc...

Could this have happened because my computer was in my car for ~3 days before I got home? In subfreezing temps? The OS and games run fine, and transfer speeds seem to be the same on the Harddrive, its just the terribly long boot time...

Any help would be appreaciated, thanks.

 

[Grimmda]

Do you have things like the "Chipset" drivers loaded? Right click My Computer/Properties/Hardware Tab/Device Manager and see if there are any yellow question marks. If so try to tie drivers into those. Go out and look on the website for the manufact. of your board and download all the latest drivers and see if any of this works for you. Obviously a fresh image shouldn't do this, but considering it's not effecting your gameplay only the bootup then it could also be something like trying to find a network and you're not plugged into one maybe. Check msconfig Start/run/msconfig to see if there's anything strange in your start ups, look at your services to see if there's anything nefarious in there, or possibly your log files Right click My Computer/Manage/Logs.

Any of these ideas might find the problem.

 

[thedude42]

witht he delay on the initial boot strap, i would have to suspect the hard drive, but during the windows xp load it would be services and drivers delaying the boot.

running boot vis might get to the bottom of the windows xp load screen, but to check the hard drive you may want to find a SMART monitoring program, as well as checking your event viewer for any logged SMART events. also, if you have any other IDE devices, try disconnecting them and see if the boot load goes quicker.

i definitely concur with the startup items in your msconfig utility, and you may consider disabling any network devices just as a troubleshooting measure to see if it is having problems obtainning network/DHCP info or some other wierd problem.

 

[jblue42]

Hey, thanks for the responses guys, and sorry I haven't been able to respond. Ive been visiting family this holiday, and Ive just gotten around to checking my post.

I have thought of a few things in the past few days

Is there a boot sector or something on a Hard drive that could have gotten damaged by condensation or something else from my computer being in below freezing temps for 3 days?

Also, is there any way that this could be a motherboard problem? I flashed the bios to the newest version, but no change.




ANSWERS for theDude and Grimmda:

My chipset drivers are installed, although i didnt install the onboard audio or LAN drivers, because I have a linksys card, and a SB Audigy2 sound card, so there are yellow question marks there, but I dont think that would matter, I have never before installed those drivers.

Also, I am connected directly to my cable modem at home, have been for over a year now with this computer, so I don't think its a network issue.

I just did a clean install of WinXP, so I doubt there is anything wrong with my startup, but I can check when i get home, and post what my startup programs are if you think thats necessary.

 

[thedude42]

are you running any antivirus software? plugging directly into a cable modem can be dangerous depending on your ISP's level of preventative measures against network threats, and at the minimum a software based firewall is reccomended (the XP SP2 firewall will suffice, but not the pre SP2 firewall)

also, it is not at all likely that your hard drive is suffering from condensation problems because as long as you haven't messed with it, it should be completely sealed.

however, condensation on other parts may occur, though it is unlikely. i have dealt with initial boot blue screens on my laptop after brining it in from the freezing cold and not allowing it to get to room temperature before booting, but after a reboot it is fine. this behaviour is definitely scarry, but i have never noticed any long term repercussions from it.

you may want to go into the BIOS and disable your onboard audio and LAN, see if maybe windows is spending extra time during boot to identify those or some strange behaviour like that.