Windows Vista Computer slow to start up

Yesterday, I noticed my computer was taking ages to start up. At the screen with the progress bar and 'Microsoft Corportation', it stalled. It got to the point that I initially thought it wasn't going to start up at all at that point. I then restarted and tried again but with the same result. I then tried getting into safe mode and restarted but same thing happened again. I then tried going into safe mode again and backed up my files on an external hard drive in case my computer has to be repaired or Windows has to be reinstalled. When going into safe mode, the log of system files that shows at the start got to 'crcdisk' and then the computer stalled similarly to what I got going into normal mode. After backing up my files, I thought I'd leave my computer to see if it eventually got to the Vista login screen and it did but took 2 minutes and 20 seconds, which unusually long. We have had bad weather here over the past few days and thought there might have been a power outage and then a power surge the previous night. I usually take my computer out of the socket but mistakenly left it in. I thought a power surge might have damaged my computer in some way. Anyway, I am now able to get into Windows and my computer seems to be working ok. However it is still taking a really long time to get from the progress bar screen at the start to the login screen. There must be something wrong. Can anyone advise me of what is wrong here? Is this a software or a hardware issue?

Thanks

 

First thing I'd do is run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility to make sure the hard drive isn't failing. (They do wear out).

Download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD to CD. It has all the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utilities, (plus much more). Simply boot your computer from this CD and select the utility you want to run.

If you aren't sure who made the hard drive in your computer, use Seagate's Seatools as it will work with most any make of drive.

You may find the following instructions helpful for burning the UBCD .iso file to disc:

How can I write (burn) ISO files to CD or DVD?

 

I also suggest running Error Checking (CHKDSK) and be sure to scan the disk surface. Look up "Error Checking" in Help and Support. Don't stop/crash out of CHKDSK, if it seems to stall, let it run as long as it takes (could be many hours).

I have a HDD damaged by a power outage.

If Error Checking reports "bad sectors ", it will continue to get more, although your system might work better after CHKDSK carried out repairs. You would still need to replace the HDD in the near future.

Matt

 

Thanks but searched for CHKDSK and it only brought up a DOS window that closed right after it appeared, nothing seemed to happen.

The other day after the progress bar/Microsoft Corporation screen, the screen said something like 'checking registery components' and some number which appeared to be the last it was checking because it said something like (7285/7285). I can't remember the actual number. Could this whole thing be a registery issue?

 

Thanks for your help. It appears to be ok now, albeit somewhat randomly.

I tried running the manufacturers diagnostic utility first. My hard drive was made by Hitachi. It was weird. It involved downloading an iso and then copying it to cd. I tried running the utility exe from a mounted iso using Power ISO but it said it couldn't run in Windows.

I then burned the image to cd and ran the file from it. A DOS window opened shortly and some text appeared in the window but it was too short to make out what it was.

I then put the cd in the drive and restarted and hoped it would run the utility automatically like a boot disk (I'm not sure how you do that). The computer now starts normally. This is quite strange to me. Is it possible running the exe file from the created CD fixed this issue? I'm sure restarting the computer and leaving the disk in did nothing.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_4967757_run-chkdsk-utility-vista.html

Try it either the first or second way.

 

Thanks MrBill, I was going to suggest CHKDSK be run to completion.

You can't run CHKDSK on the Windows (OS) drive while Windows is running, you need to set it to run on the next restart. It will scan the drive before Windows loads. (The same way you found that that the drive utility could not work unless you booted to CD.)

Some boot disks will just "work" if you put the boot CD in the drive and restart. They won't work if the startup settings have the hard disk drive set before the CD drive to boot, so you will need to go into the BIOS (startup settings) and change the boot priority from HDD first to CD first.

Some boot disks (especially those from Microsoft) have a screen during startup that says "Press any key to boot from CD ". You have to press a key (like Enter) to boot to the disk, otherwise it will still boot to Windows as normal.

I suggest you become familiar with the way boot disks work if you wish to improve your experience level.

It is good that you have found that it seems to be working correctly again. I would make sure, by running CHKDSK (Error Checking) completely. I don't expect any "exe's" might be involved. If you find the problem is resolved, please mark the thread Resolved. We can still keep discussing it.

Matt