Extremely LONG Boot time (Win 7)

blitzwing85

blitzwing85

blitzwing85

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I have been asked by my parents to look at their Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1545) which was taking 15-20 minutes to boot up.

I checked the event logs for boot times and it was averaging around 130,000 ms since OS install date. However on 29/10/12 it jumped to 300,000 ms then by 02/11/12 it was up to over 600,000 ms.

They had nothing important on there so first thing I've done is just completely re-install the OS.
I then tried it on and off a dozen times and it was loading in about 1 minute. Great...

However the next day it is taking around 10 minutes again already.



Question: Is there anything else it could be if re-installing the OS hasn't worked?
The way it works initially then degrades more and more suggests to me that the fault is not software related and is a hardware fault with the laptop but thought i'd ask here to see if this type of fault has any 'usual' causes?
 
If you have done a fresh install with only the os and updates installed then it shouldn't take that long to boot. If it were me I would be looking at the HD first. Check the bios or device manager to find out what brand of HD is in there. Go to the makers website and get their own diag software, most supply it in ISO form. Burn the ISO and boot the machine from the CD you made. Run the diag, both short and long tests. I have seen HDs with just one bad sector cause a machine to run like crap.
 
Thanks i'll get that now then burn it after work and see what that turns up.
The boot time varies quite a lot. I'm turning it on and off a few times and sometimes it's 5 minutes, other times up to 20 and i've seen it hit 30 once.

Half the people I know had HD faults on their Laptop within 2-3 years so there is every chance that is indeed causing the problem.
Even once it boots it's running quite slow and constantly comes up with 'not responding' until it kicks in a minute or 2 later and that's just to open a basic folder.




While i'm here too, is there any easy way to get rid of a 2nd OS?
Initially they couldn't find the Windows 7 CD so I quickly downloaded a copy of XP as it's a lot smaller and dropped it off on disc. It seems they installed it on a different drive to the OS so now it has two.
I since re-installed 7 from scratch as mentioned but couldn't overwrite XP as it's on a smaller drive which 7 wouldn't fit on...
I tried formatting the partition but it doesn't let me.
I've never done this myself so not come across this before.
 
Could that have started to happen at any point?
The issue started randomly one day and there was no changes, software installs, downloads etc done on that day. It was just used on Word that day (so i'm told), turned off then next time it was used it just ran incredibly slow.

But I haven't installed any drivers myself since re-installing OS no so i'll try that too in case re-installing OS fixed the original issue but now driver issues are causing similar problems.
Checked Dell website after reading oll3h's post and they have everything there including a diagnostic check so i'll install all the drivers tonight, run that and hopefully get it sorted.
 
I'd be tempted to run a low level checkdsk on the hdd.

The comment above one bad sector killing the speed has happened to me before. A checkdsk c:\ /F should map out any bad sectors from the file system removeing the problem.

/fingers-crossed...
 
Update:

Ran checks and came up with the following errors on HDD:

'Targeted read test' Failed
'Smart short self test' Failed

I guess the drive is failing so i'll just tell them to order a new one.
At least it's one of the few things easily sorted on a Laptop.


Thanks for the help :)
 
Check a 64gb Crucial M4 in there, if they don't really need space, this will be perfect and it will FLY
 
Told them about the 64gb and they said they wanted something the same size (250gb).....parents *sigh*.
I don't think they liked the idea of a different one...even though I told them it doesn't matter as they are all the same.
Said they have a lot of photos...LOL.

Must have a heck of a lot of photos if they think they need a 250gb drive just for those. I have 1000s and it takes up...3gb.

Still, they WERE going to buy a new laptop for £400 and this drive cost £31. My parents era is at least the last group of technophobes! haha
 
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