slimco

Just formatted my machine and installed WinXp Pro. Was installing the Windows update and did SP2. Since the SP2 install, it takes a few mintues for my machine to boot up.

It will just sit there for a little with a blank screen like nothing is happening. Then the white bar will appear at the bottom and take a few mintues for it to fill up. It eventually boots into windows and works fine from there. Could the SP2 update have done something. I have only installed Spybot Search & Destroy, nothing else.

I haven't seen if there are any other Window updates since the SP2. Maybe there is one that fixes this issue.

kcnychief

It will take a considerable amount of time, depending on hardware overhead, after the SP2 install first reboot. This is because it applies ALOT of new features and updates.

After the first reboot, you shouldn't have problems like you are describing, have you rebooted again? What is your hardware profile?

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slimco

I have already rebooted once or twice since then. I can't remember my hardware profile, but I know it is maybe a year old if that. I can double check the hardware profile.

kcnychief

To further comment, you definitely want to go out and get the hotfixes. I believe there was 24-30 (probably more by now) hotfixes that are considered critical post SP2. This could resolve your problem, other than that, it might be a driver conflict, and is probably not something loading at startup since you said all you installed was Spybot.

Can you get into Safe Mode in a rather decent amount of time?

I definitely would start with getting all Windows Updates, then see what happens.

Since your computer is only about a year old, the only real bottleneck I can foresee is perhaps RAM, if you have 512MB or above you shouldn't have problems, 256MB or less, you definitely need an upgrade.

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slimco

I believe I have at least 512 MB of ram. That's another thing, I tried to get into Safe Mode and it wouldn't let me. Last time I knew F8 got you in unless it has changed for XP.

kcnychief

F8, as long as it's pressed at the right time, will give you a boot menu. You can hit this on the screen where the white slider goes across, or right after your machine finishes POST. Then, you can choose Safe Mode.

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slimco

I finished all the windows updates and still booting very slowly. Could it be a hardware issue with the hardrive, maybe a back sector or something??

kcnychief

Could be, but I doubt it. Did you verify your RAM? Do you still see the white sliders before the XP Logo?

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Johnny

Did you upgrade to xp pro ?? Seeing you say white bar at the bottom makes me think you did. Also, take a look at the processes and see what is running. Another thing, did you install norton ??

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Admiral Michael

I have a system that briefly shows that white bar, what excatly does that mean? I just thought the system wasnt fast enough to skip it. Its an AMD Duron 1200+ (900Mhz) 256MB RAM.

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Hipster Doofus

See how this goes>>>

Correcting System Hang at Startup

If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background.

1. Go to the control panel/admin tools/.
2. Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service, disable it, apply the changes & reboot.

Also if not on a network disable 'workstation' at the same place as above.

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slimco

The system is slow to boot. Once I get to the welcome screen, windows runs normally. Would that still help Hipster?