Boot up question

Hi ... I have windows xp pro sp2 , I just added a new hard drive and installled windows , which got install ok but , Now I notice that when windows boots up it woulds show the bios screen and afterward it would try to boot from the hard drive , Now after this point I would view a black screen which would stay like that for about 20 seconds , Then windows loading bar would show , after that point it would go back to a black screen , this would last maybe 10 seconds , then windows would load up , Is there a reason as to why this black screen appears ? Also can one recommend what I can do to load windows quicker ?

The hard drive that I added is 200gb , which is really about 190gb around there , My bios setting recognize this hard drive too and so does windows ...

If anyone can suggest what I can do to make it perform quicker it would be very appreciated , Thanks

 

on this pc you have, is it a 'custom built" pc, or a "store bought" pc?

reason being, if its a store bought pc, then the "splash screen" that would be saying, "compaq" or "gateway" or "dell" or whatever else, is missing, so you are seeing this black screen instead of that splash screen. for that, i wouldn't really worry all that much.

as for speeding up the start up times, it takes several boot ups of a new install of xp to get things going, so several more boot ups, and you might/should be about 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes of boot up time when all is set.

 

Hi ... Its a custom build , Though its odd because with my old hard drive which was 120 gb , I wouldn't get this black splash screen ...

 

was the "BIOS" screen you got before much longer (time wise) than this current boot screen? if so, then you may have just changed something in the way the BIOS splashes on your screen. i don't know what else to think of, as long as the pc boots up and runs, i'd say that your next to if not there "golden" at this time.

i get a black screen from both my compaq, and custom built pc's. there are a few seconds between splash screens and blackness on both. i never really woried about it myself, don't see the need to, but that's just me. maybe if someone else has any other thoughts, he (or she) will post, but it is the weekend (a holiday one at that), so any more responses will be furthur away.

 

I could not be certain, but I would think that the second black screen would be the graphics drivers loading.

After you install Windows you need to install the motherboard/chipset drivers, then the graphics adapter drivers, then other drivers. Windows has a set of basic drivers which it will use to get the system working. These drivers are only simple, you need to install the manufacturer's version to get a full set to make the hardware work efficiently.

Matt

 

Hi ... I have downloaded the chipset and the video card driver , I have the latest drivers , Now that you mention this , I am starting to believe it has something to do with my ATI card , I have the 9800 pro ( 128 ) Never again will I purchase ATI cards , I can never get the right driver for this dame card , I hate the catalyst software , I try just to use the driver only , not the software program but , ATI is always updating this driver , I wish they at ati could get there heads str8 , Thanks so far for the help and If anyone has other suggestion ? I would love to hear them , Thanks

 

Mattman >>> Thanks bud , You lead me in the right direction , What I end up doing was a reformat and now I notice without the video driver its working a lot better , So its the ATI **** driver , The good news is I found an ATI driver which is working better then the latest one out , I'm using a older driver version which seem to be working pretty good at the moment

PS: Sorry for the double post , I ain't sure whether if I should just edit my last post or add a new post

Thanks any ways

 

That's not a double post. It's a double post when you post the same reply twice
Glad to hear you are getting somewhere.

If the card is a branded type, eg., Asus, MSI, Abit, etc., They may have a download of the updated driver version that they think runs best with your card.

Search some of the gaming forums, it is their goal in life to find the best suited drivers for their graphics cards

Matt