Ten minute startup

[squeakyknees]

My friend got a new computer apparently built by some guy who has a repair business. It takes over 10 minutes to start up. The guy she got it from tells her that's normal. Also her last computer was painfully slow and nebver worked properly. A family member kept "fixing "it until finally it was no good. He also insists on putting Norton on them. At one point I revived her older machine by removing Norton, cleaning up with Spybot, AdAware etc. and cleaning up statrup with msconfig and it run great for awhile until same family member fixed it again. Same guy set up brand new computer and it's never been right. Yeah I guess I'm venting but even so the new one shouldn't take 10 minutes to start up. ANy ideas?

[Alaron]

There are a number of things that could at issue. Could we have some details about the hardware and software on the machine?

[shadowpr]

Tell her to get her money back, and stop going to that guy.

[john ranger]

You might want to try a faster virus control program like Nod32. IMHO the best and fastest anti virus program and small.




Might want to try this>>>

http://www.socrtwo.info/text_version.htm

[glc]

Basic tweaks like that won't help something that's taking 10 minutes to start up. That computer has a major hardware issue somewhere, it was not properly built.

[Strider]

Originally Posted by glc Basic tweaks like that won't help something that's taking 10 minutes to start up. That computer has a major hardware issue somewhere, it was not properly built.

I Second that, 10 minutes to boot up? Heck my very first computer didn't take that long to start up.

[glc]

The last XP computer I saw that took 10 minutes to start was a P2-233 with 64 ram and a 3gb hard drive that was 95% full. There was no hope for that one, whoever installed XP on it was a complete moron.

[squeakyknees]

I only had a quick peek at it. It's got a 1.8Ghz dualcore cpu, 2 GB RaM, 1 DVD burner, card reader and it has XP pro on it and Norton, a few kids games, nothing that would be on startup menu. I'm fairly certain they paid a good dollar for it too. I also noticed an Acer logo screen flash on for a few seconds but it's in a no-name case. Neither she nor her husband has a clue about computers so the guy could sell them anything.

[Petef56]

Originally Posted by squeakyknees He also insists on putting Norton on them. At one point I revived her older machine by removing Norton, cleaning up with Spybot, AdAware etc. and cleaning up statrup with msconfig and it run great for awhile until same family member fixed it again. Same guy set up brand new computer and it's never been right. Yeah I guess I'm venting but even so the new one shouldn't take 10 minutes to start up. ANy ideas?

Most PCs can be configured to startup within 2 minutes and I'd say you are on the
right track with removing Norton, cleaning up with Spybot, AdAware etc. and cleaning
up statrup with msconfig. That would be the first thing to do to see if the startup
time was dramatically affected. Use NOD32 instead of Norton.

I saw your other post indicating the procesor & ram specs and it seems that you
may have bigger problems than Norton, but i'd still remove Norton and troubleshoot
from there by disabling all the SERVICES and STARTUP items in MSCONFIG to see
if PC starts up in about 1 minute or less.

---pete---

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by squeakyknees I also noticed an Acer logo screen flash on for a few seconds but it's in a no-name case.

Do you think the seller just stuck the parts from an ACER into a generic case?

If you can get ahold of the computer then first thing I would do is pull it apart and see what kind of parts were used in it's construction.

Cricket

[squeakyknees]

I tend to think there's not much of anything at all on it. It's so annoying she hasn't really used it hardly at all. There's nothing extra on the startup list and even Norton wouldn't slow it down that much. I tend to think that maybe he's used a bunch of old parts and put them in a new case, otherwise why the Acer logo? I won't get a chance to gwet a look into it. They firmly believe the family member knows what he's doing and by the time he's done tinkering with it, it will be teh same as the last one.

[trulad]

You can run Belarc Advisor (free) to see what the machine is made of then maybe you might be better served to re-format and re-install XP. I use AVG free anti-virus and never had any problems.
trulad

[glc]

Acer logo? This is very fishy. Acer does not sell motherboards. The closest thing to components that Acer sells is AOpen.

[trulad]

Sounds like he may have taken an old Acer,upgraded some components,put it in a new case and sold it as new. I would stay far away from that guy.
trulad