Windows 7: Splash Screen Shenanigans

I have posted this to one other tech site but have had no luck with a resolution. While this is not earth shattering in it's importance , it does annoy me.
I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium x64. It's an upgrade disc i got through Toshiba.
When I first turn on my computer, the little dot's come out to form the Windows flag on the splash screen and they "stutter". The first three come out , start to swirl then stop, hesitate for a second , start again , then stop....when the yellow(last) dot appears they all swirl a half turn stop again, then finish the swirl to form the pulsating windows flag. I don't notice anything "wrong" with the way 7 runs after that. (Windows 7 is a dream!)
It happened the first time i installed the upgrade and every single time since. It happens if i do a upgrade OR a clean install. (I've probably installed/upgraded 3 or 4 times since I got it last December)

I've ran the system file checker from the command line (sfc/scannow) and all that did was to change my start button back to the default. I've since changed it back, but i can't help but think that somethings just not right.
Could this be a "fault" with the disc itself? Everything seems to run great after I log in. It's more "head scratcher" than anything else but still........

Anyway, any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.



Windows 7 Home Premium x64
AMD Turion x2 Mobile RM-72
ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics
4gb RAM

Not sure whether this will help or not, but try running a CHKDSK on your boot drive, and perhaps even a defrag.

It sounds to me as though the system is "stuttering" when loading important boot files. How is your system performance once everything is loaded?

does it also happen if you start in safe mode? or perform a clean boot?

well Dzomlija I've ran the disk check utility of windows and iobits too. iobits said it found disk errors but when I rebooted the dots still "stuttered". I defrag my hard drive once a week at the least,up until about 6 months ago I defraged everyday, but read somewhere that I was harming my drive so slowed. Still defrag multiple times if deleteing multiple files/programs. (I use Auslogics Free Edition Defragger)
(I just re-ran chkdsk again after reading your and kword88's posts)

And kword88, started in safe mode after reading your post and that screen does not even show up in safe. It's the "starting windows" screen I'm talking about, the one before the log in screen. Not sure what you mean by clean boot, but assume you mean a cold boot from being totally off, and yes it does.

Not sure if this is relevant but i did forget to mention my drive in my original post. Sorry. It's a 500 gb with 409 gb free of 454. (I try to just use my main drive for system files and a few other things....... put everything else on external HD's).

I notice no system faults and everything seems to be running fast and smooth other than this. Thank you both for the prompt replies.

i couldnt remember off the top of my head if that splash screen appeared in safe mode.

here is the instructions for a clean boot: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

Wow....... never done anything like that before! A little scary but........
Anyway. Followed the instructions as well as i could, and yes it's still there.
Really starting to think it's a problem with the installation disc from Toshiba. If so..... would there be a work around?
As i said.... the system itself seems to be just fine.

do you have any peripherals plugged in? try booting without them.

what program did you use to change the start button?

you can use the instructions in this article to restore/change the boot screen. try your same language first (i assume english). if the problem persists, try a different language, just to try and isolate the problem. maybe its just the english language version of the file.

How to restore Windows 7 boot | Web Talk

I think it is most likely a problem with your HDD. Since chkdsk reported problems, run chkdsk /r to fix possible defunct sectors including to save the data.

Ran chkdsk/r and no happiness. thanks one and all for the suggestions.

I wouldn't say this is a problem. Does your computer take a long time to boot up? With my computer, it seems like when it starts fast, the animation plays faster and smoother. But when it boots up slowly, the animation is slower and choppier.