Login screen takes forever to come up after windows is booted.

[copparedds]

I have a client who's computer was infected with spy were and viruses. I cleaned the system, the registry, de-fragmented the hard drive etc.

After all this i am still having the problem where the system "hangs" after boot before it presents the log in screen. Once i log in the system runs GREAT. I really need to get rid of the long waiting period before the logon screen.

HAs anyone ever experienced this before?
Can anyone help me fix it?

[Daifne]

How about telling us what operating system it is...
And some of the system details...

[copparedds]

How about telling us what operating system it is...
And some of the system details...

My apologies. Im kinda new here.

The OS is windows Xp

1.6ghz processor
512 ram
60 gig hd
onbord video and audio.

Not sure what other info you want.

just ask and i will be happy to inform you.

Thanks in advance.

[iptech]

just ask and i will be happy to inform you.
Er, isn't it you as the employed professional who's supposed to be doing the diagnostics here?

You've told us what the problem is but you've still not told us what diagnostics you've done. Scanning for spy were (sic) and viruses does not constitute diagnostics.

If you search through the many posts on this forum you will find threads that will help you identify what's causing the slow boot, but please don't look at this forum as a free help desk ready to fix your customer's computers whilst you just sit back and hold out your hand for their pay cheque.

[NYJimbo]

I have a client who's computer was infected with spy were and viruses. I cleaned the system, the registry, de-fragmented the hard drive etc.

After all this i am still having the problem where the system "hangs" after boot before it presents the log in screen. Once i log in the system runs GREAT. I really need to get rid of the long waiting period before the logon screen.

HAs anyone ever experienced this before?
Can anyone help me fix it?

Are you a technician?. If not then go here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21

If you are a tech you simply need to improve your diagnostic process. You are NOT trying hard enough. The system is not "hanging", right, its just slow to finish the whole boot process. It's very important to get your facts straight or you will waste alot of peoples time when they try to help you.

Do you know how to use msconfig and other startup tools and diags?. If not go here to get started.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

[Eastern Shore IT]

Hint - Autoruns / HijackThis

Clean out the orphaned entries and disable the unnecessary startups / shell extensions / services...ect.

I don't know your skills but if this is too challenging then you may consider, as others have suggested, fine tuning your skills and knowledge a bit before trying repair work professionally.

[copparedds]

Hint - Autoruns / HijackThis

Clean out the orphaned entries and disable the unnecessary startups / shell extensions / services...ect.

I don't know your skills but if this is too challenging then you may consider, as others have suggested, fine tuning your skills and knowledge a bit before trying repair work professionally.

How do you suggest i fine tune my skills and knowledge? to be honest i have learn from trial and error and a lot of google.

Normally i would google this problem but im not sure why i had this crazy notion that the people here would help me.Maybe im just not likable.

[NYJimbo]

How do you suggest i fine tune my skills and knowledge? to be honest i have learn from trial and error and a lot of google.

Normally i would google this problem but im not sure why i had this crazy notion that the people here would help me.Maybe im just not likable.

We did help you. ;)

Don't try to act like a victim or something with the "maybe im just not likable" stuff, nobody is going to start feeling sorry for you. You didnt bother to research this and just came here thinking we would do all the work.

[iptech]

How do you suggest i fine tune my skills and knowledge?
The first thing you need to do is understand how the boot process works, then you need to recognise how a healthy operating system should look when it boots using tools as suggested above, you'll also need to take into consideration tools and services that the customer might wish to have loaded at boot time.

This is not fine tuning skills, this is one of the basics and you should not be taking on paying customers until you are at least reasonably competent with computer operating systems, networking OSI model, TCP/IP stack, hardware interfaces, user applications, how viruses & malware interact with the computer & operating system, and most importantly the diagnostic tools and procedures used therein. You will find a lot of the answers on this forum and indeed on Google, but unless you understand what you're looking for then you'll get yourself into deep water.

The crux of it is it's not fair to expect paying customers to pay for your basic learning. Get yourself onto Amazon or visit your local library /bookshop and get a detailed book on an NT based operating system (any one will do, you can build your knowledge on other OSes from there), also get a book on basic computer science. You might want to also consider doing a formal course.

Despite what the get-rich-quick 'gurus' might tell you there is no quick way to learn how to fix computers and if you rely upon Google and anti-virus scanning software then you will quickly end up with a bunch of unhappy customers and a failed business.

We do like you, but don't expect us to do the job you're charging the customer for.

[copparedds]

And you are charging people for your learning experience? :confused:

I feel a huge Ignore list entry coming forth...:rolleyes:

Im not charging people for my learning experience. I have been doing armature repairs for 6 years now.

Have you ever come across a problem that has stumped you...its like no matter what you try you just cant figure it out? Im pretty sure most of us has been thru something like this and its is only with experience that you learn to correct these problems with ease.

I have tried everything that i suspect. I defragmented the drive, cleaned registy, cleaned temp files , scan for and removed viruses and spywere and still the computer boots slow. I even went as far as disabling all startup programs via msconfig.

At first the whole computer was slow. ANd yes to some extent that is due to the hardware, however after making the changes to the system the user was happy with my work. The slow booting wasnt a problem to her because she understands that she has a old computer. i just want to know how to fix the problem for personal fulfillment.

[copparedds]

The first thing you need to do is understand how the boot process works, then you need to recognise how a healthy operating system should look when it boots using tools as suggested above, you'll also need to take into consideration tools and services that the customer might wish to have loaded at boot time.

This is not fine tuning skills, this is one of the basics and you should not be taking on paying customers until you are at least reasonably competent with computer operating systems, networking OSI model, TCP/IP stack, hardware interfaces, user applications, how viruses & malware interact with the computer & operating system, and most importantly the diagnostic tools and procedures used therein. You will find a lot of the answers on this forum and indeed on Google, but unless you understand what you're looking for then you'll get yourself into deep water.

The crux of it is it's not fair to expect paying customers to pay for your basic learning. Get yourself onto Amazon or visit your local library /bookshop and get a detailed book on an NT based operating system (any one will do, you can build your knowledge on other OSes from there), also get a book on basic computer science. You might want to also consider doing a formal course.

Despite what the get-rich-quick 'gurus' might tell you there is no quick way to learn how to fix computers and if you rely upon Google and anti-virus scanning software then you will quickly end up with a bunch of unhappy customers and a failed business.

We do like you, but don't expect us to do the job you're charging the customer for.
Thanks for the advice

P.s I did not charge the customer, she is the mother of my co-workers 1st son.

[bagellad]

Hi, sounds like the guys are really giving it to you. haha. Maybe you should explain a bit more about yourself so they dont think you are just someone looking for free tech support or something.

But in regards to your problem. The first thing to do is figure out if its software or hardware. So how does it load in safe mode? probably pretty fast? I would think maybe a windows file has been damaged or is hard to read. So I would do a chk dsk or maybe a windows repair.

[copparedds]

Hi, sounds like the guys are really giving it to you. haha. Maybe you should explain a bit more about yourself so they dont think you are just someone looking for free tech support or something.

But in regards to your problem. The first thing to do is figure out if its software or hardware. So how does it load in safe mode? probably pretty fast? I would think maybe a windows file has been damaged or is hard to read. So I would do a chk dsk or maybe a windows repair.

yes i did try in safemode and it loaded fine. I never thought of running chkdsk nor windows repair. will try these ,, thanks for the advice.

P.s google suggested that the prefetching option might contribute to the slow boot so im gonna clean out the folder and see if that helps.

Thanks again for you time.
Some of these "professionals" are real unprofessional.( to put it mildly) ...

[Doctor Micro]

ok, so you've been doing amateur repairs for 6 years. I'll accept that and with your permission, treat you like an apprentice technician in my shop.

Lesson 1: One of the hardest things any technician has to learn (and some never do) is the mental decision-tree troubleshooting process.
Lesson 2: A common new-technician mistake is to assume that every problem is complex and therefore requires a complex and highly-technical solution. This is an egotistical mistake and I call it the "Me Technician, You Not" Syndrome.
Lesson 3: Always check the obvious, simple things first. Plugged in? Wires connected? Cards firmly in the slots? Power and HDD LED's coming on? Fans spinning?
Lesson 4: Take a few minutes to think about what you know and don't know about the system you're working on before you pick up the screwdriver or slap in the repair CD. If you want, write down the symptoms, and what you know.

Okay, now let's apply these principles to your current problem PC. You already know it boots quickly in Safe Mode, but boots very slowly in Normal Mode. Think about that for a minute. What is the difference between Safe Mode and Normal Mode?

Once you know this, you should be ready to start troubleshooting those differences. Trust me, you'll be amazed and pleased when you finally get it and I'm guessing you'll never forget what you've learned.

By the way, leave the prefetch folder alone for now... that's not likely to be where your problem is.

Good luck.

[TechGirl86]

While I think some people are being a little rough with their posts, I have to somewhat agree with them. It does seem you did not do a thorough diagnosis of the computer and perhaps do not know enough about operating systems to make repairs. I think that was the jist of everyone basically, you seemed to not know what was going on. I understand about having a problem giving you a hard time, and sometimes you don't know what else to do, unfortunately when you become a professional tech, you have to know what else to do. Check every other possibility, even if it seems unnecessary. Sometimes what we overlook is exactly what causes the problem in the first place.

[PatrickB]

Copparedds,

1) Is it slow to bootup in Safe Mode?
2) Did it bootup at a normal speed prior to the infection?
3) What OS?
4) Any driver issues shown in the Device Manager list?
5) Use F8 to enable Bootlogging during startup. Then examine the C:\Windows\ntdtlog.txt file to see if the drivers opened successfully.

Some possibilities are that:

A) One or more drivers are corrupted
B) Some malware remains
C) ?

-- Patrick B.

[Shaggyra]

Some ideas (try all)
- Combofix
- Malwarebytes
- A good anti-virus
- chkdsk
- Install and/or Update correct drivers
- Post hijackthis log

Or pass along to a professional.

[iptech]

- Post hijackthis log
I totally disagree on this one. If a tech cannot analyze his own HJT logs then he should either not be in business or should not be thinking of going into business. There are forums dedicated to HJT logs please don't encourage this one to get full up with junk from PTs or lazy techs.

The OP hasn't responded to this thread so the computer owner is either still left wanting or...

1) The OP has fixed the problem and can't be arsed to wrap up his thread (unlikely);

2) He's realised his limitations and taken the PC to a professional (v. unlikely);

3) He's nuked & paved. (most likely).

[copparedds]

I totally disagree on this one. If a tech cannot analyze his own HJT logs then he should either not be in business or should not be thinking of going into business. There are forums dedicated to HJT logs please don't encourage this one to get full up with junk from PTs or lazy techs.

The OP hasn't responded to this thread so the computer owner is either still left wanting or...

1) The OP has fixed the problem and can't be arsed to wrap up his thread (unlikely);

2) He's realised his limitations and taken the PC to a professional (v. unlikely);

3) He's nuked & paved. (most likely).


Thank you guys for all your responses.
Sorry i took so long to respond. My personal computer burned out 2 night ago so im waiting on new parts to arrive.

P.s Chkdsk solved the problem.
Thanks again

[copparedds]

Before i get flamed again for not being specific, My onboard graphics card on my laptop burned out. Need new parts to build a Pc.