My Windows starts sooo slow

[Variable]

My Windows is starting soooo slow.
Hi, I have a PIII 500MHz 64MB RAM Notebook and AMDK6-2 500MHz with 72 MB RAM and on both my Windows 98SE (I like it) is starting soo slow, well too slow for me.
It takes about 60 to 65 seconds from the message Starting Win98... to the end.
(My old P133 MHz without network-card did it in 30-35 sec.)
Now I know quite a lot about Windows (I thought I cleaned the Registry and the MSDOS.SYS, Config.sys, autoexec.bat rather well) but I could do nothing about it.
Now I heared it starts faster if I kick out all the network stuff I don't need.
I did all that but still no change.
Please help me...

PS: Now I heared of people with Windows ME staring in 12 seconds... ...I'm a Betatester myself an my WindowsME Beta 3 takes about 50 to 60 seconds. Now what is wrong??

[blubomber]

Here are some ideas i have and i hope they help you out. How about your HD? Did you try scandisk and defrag? How old is your HD? Since it seems that you have taken care of the software stuff i am thinking more towards hardware. I have had a similar problem before but messing with all the things you have does fixed the problem. So, if you have not already, i might suggest an extensive diagnostics on some of your hardware. If your HDs are new and you have them hooked up to old cables, try getting new cables. I hope this helped you some.

[CMonster]

Win9x in 60-65 seconds!?!? - I'll bet that is about average.

Suggestions:

Disable Craptive Desktop, run msconfig and disable as much startup stuff as possible. Assign a static IP address to your NIC.

[theburner]

There are a number of reasonable explanations as to why your boot takes so long.
1. startup in msconfig. dump any not needed.
2. autoexec.bat, config.sys, and other files must have dreck dumped.
3. use tweakui98 or 2K to have auto user/pw logon to microsoft notwork (sp intentional), check your logon under Network Neighbourhood and "client for MS networks": is it quick logon or the logon and restore n.w. connections.
4. are u running any a.v. progs or TSRs? The anti-virus progs can and may slow down your boot and other TSRs such as UMBPCI (shoves base mem loaders into upper memory block) will load at startup and consume time.
5. in device manager do you have any conflicts, any yellow/red circles?
6. are your drivers up to date?
7. scandisk/defrag?
8. is a reboot just as deadly slow?

[chaskuss]

Variable,
Another system bog down item not yet mentioned is fonts. Some programs load your system with fonts during TYPICAL install. Every time Windows starts, it has to load all these fonts. I alway do a custom install on all software to make sure that I don't inadvertantly install several hundred unneeded fonts. Corel WordPerfect is a classic offender here.

[Variable]

My Start-Up files are as clean as they can get (inlucing WinRegistry) (I even thought about making a homepage about it). I have the newest drivers for all my stuff my hardware is at its optimum etc. I think it has something to do with the network stuff. I gave both (PC and Laptop) a fixed IP but then my Laptop couldn't go in to the internet over my PC (had to change it back on the Lap). I also changed the logon (for Client for MS...) to quick (Windows Logon).

[Variable]

Great my PC at least down to 47 seconds from 64.But my Laptop is still at 61 sec.

[Wilan Wong]

Disable most of the startup programs ... using msconfig... it should run faster.

[Variable]

I ALREADY DISABLED ALLMOST ALL STARTUP PROGRAMS!!!!!

[Konan555]

Make sure the static IP's are in the one of the ranges set aside for lans.

Assign one to say 192.168.0.1 and one to 192.168.0.2

This will have no effect on the internet and it cuts out that HUGE pause while the computer scans for a DHCP server.

[andonis]

Something you might try that worked for me to pinpoint the reason for my machines boooting slow.... Go into device manager and select "disable hardware" check box on the network card and try to restart. I found with the network card disabled my machines boot in about a quarter of the time. You can then uncheck the box to restore your settings to normal after you reboot a few times to see if that is the culprit. I know it's not a fix but at least you can figure out if the nic is the problem.
Works great if you don't need networking everytime you use the machine, I just turn it on and reboot when I need to use it. Also note when you do choose to disable the card it will hang for a minute but then come out of it ok. Goodluck.

[This message has been edited by andonis (edited 05-13-2000).]

[Variable]

I did that on my TowerPC but on the Laptop I use the LAN to go on the internet (using Internet Connection Sharing on the Tower). But if I give the Laptop a fixed IP-address it won't go on the internet.

[thekingofpain]

Had the same prob---turned out to be the cheap NIC I bought slowing things down, swapped it, end of probs...

[zetor]

Go to microsoft knowledge base and do a search for ICS. You will find an article on using ICS and static IP address.

I have done this and it works fine.

Zetor

[jadison]

Right-Click on My Computer, go to Properties, then Performance Tab, then click on File System, check that Network Server is highlighted, and your read-ahead optimization is at its fullest, also check that your Virtual Memory is handled by Windows, That's all I can thing of right now, except for what some of the other people said about getting another NIC card.

Good Luck

Takes me only 50 seconds from the time I turn it on till the desktop. I'm running Win98SE with 6 programs running at startup-Norton Antivirus, Norton Crashguard, Getright, Rain 2.0, Zone Alarm 2.1, and FreeMem Standard. All on an AMD K6-2 500 w/160MB SDRAM and a 5400rpm 15GB Maxtor HD.

-jd-

[jadison]

so did you get it working at the right speed or are you still going pretty slow!

-jd-

[Variable]

I now changed my system from Win98SE to WinMe on my Tower and the Boot-Up went down another 2 seconds. My Windows is running at its best and I don'T think you can configure it any better. It has to be the configuration of Network. (The Network-card is working fine so I don't hope I have to replace it). I have a AMDK6 500MHz, 72MB RAM, Viper V550, unknown 10MBit NIC.

[amos]

Hi,
Why not you remove the netowrk card to see if it causes the slow, i have 2 network card install, my boots up is less than 15 min. I believe u have other device that is not configure correctly. Sorry if i am wrong. Another problem i ca think off is the registry file is too big, more than 4M. Than u may want to consider reinstall the windows.

All the best.

Note: Alot off reason can cause the windows to run slow, the card, mother board, amount of video ram etc. So u need to compare apple to apple.

I think u may want to add another 128M ram.

[amos]

Sorry, is 15 second.

:-)

[Variable]

Whithout network card it is something around 25-30 sec. And I just installed WinMe so the Registry should be at its minimum.

[amos]

If u want to try, go to c drive root directory, u see a msdos.sys, right click and select propertise, remove hidden and read-only, then use notepad to open it. Under the [Option] Did u see the BootDelay=0, if not try add in yourself, save and set it back to read-only and hidden. Reboots and see how. Another item u may like to know is, under the autoexec.bat and config.sys should not have any line there. Provided u have card/device that needed under DOS prompt.

I have a 233MMX system w/64M ram and 8M ATi PCI VGA card, using ASUS TX97E, win95, running almost the same boot up as my another P3-500 192M ram, 32M xpert 2000, Abit Bx6-2 M/B, win98 system.

U may want to look into some bios setting like enable some cache. The m/b manual should explain which is needed to set/enable.

Good Luck

[Variable]

I already did all that!! Here the best MSDOS.SYS Settings:
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
AutoScan=0
DoubleBuffer=0
WinVer=4.90.2499
BootKeys=1
BootMenu=0
BootWarn=1
DBLSpace=0
DRVSpace=0
LoadTop=1
BootDelay=0
Also do this:
System.ini
[386Enh]
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
PageBuffers=32

[vcache]
MinFileCache=2048
MaxFileCache=10240
Chunksize=512

=======================================
MyComputer => Properties => DeviceManager
CD-Roms and Harddisks => enable DMA
DMA-Cntroller => Reserve DMA Buffer 64 KB
PCI Bus => enable only the MS-IRQtable (Windows uses only this one anyway)

I hope this helps anyone but my computer is still booting quite slow (sits right there for 10 sec doing nothing [no HD, nothing] while booting win)