Some programs (like XBMC and iTunes) takes 10 mins to open

Hi,

Would like to ask for expert advice on this problem im having recently.

I use my PC nowadays mainly for light office work, casual gaming, downloading, browsing and as a media center.

I run XBMC , display it on my LCD TV and use XBMC remote app on my ipad. Works great!

But now when i click XBMC, nothing happens. I later realized it will still run XBMC... 5 mins later! So something is making it run sloooooow. I checked Task Manager, its there and sometimes its difficult to End Task it. (Not Responding). But if i leave it for 5 minutes or more it will eventually run it and its fine. Task Manger shows normal or at least not high levels of mem usage or physical memory.

Another program thats giving me program is itunes. After upgrading to the latest version, it also opens slowly. Not as slow as xbmc, but still slow. Also, it wont recognize my ipad anymore so i cant sync or add files in it anymore.

So far these are the 2 programs i noticed thats giving me problems. My other uses, like MS Office, photo editor and other media players dont give me problems and would run instantly upon launch.

I uninstalled xbmc and itunes, downloaded latest version and reinstalled them. Still the same.

Updated virus software and cleaned registry, still nada.

And also, i have dual boot pc.. so i boot windows xp (w/c i hardly do anymore) and can run xbmc and itunes fine. And itunes under xp can detect my ipad.

The only things i can recall i installed last on my system are:

itunes latest version.

Airvideo server (w/c i use to stream videos on my ipad using airvideo app).

I uninstalled this airvideo server but still no improvement.

I thought of going to XBMC forums for help, but upon searching i didnt see anyone who had this problem with WIndows7. Plus the fact that theres at least 1 other program (itunes) who's behaving like this seems to point to a WIndows issue.


I dont notice any noticable slowdown on my system aside from this instances (but then again lately i havent really been running other apps that is more challenging than spreadsheets) . My system btw is nothing spectacular, but decent: AMD Athlon 64 x2 dual core 4800+ 2.5 ghz, 4GB ram. 1 Tera HD + 640 gig HD. I reran the Windows Experience Index btw as way of quickly benchmarking the system and the score remains unchanged (5.4)

Is this something familiar to you guys? Memory problem? System problem? Virus or worm? SOmething seems to be definitely "holding back" these programs from running instantly. I would even understand a few seconds delay or even a minute or two.. but 5 minutes??

Would appreciate any feedback on this.. perhaps theres a quick fix i can use? Last resort would be a clean reinstall, which is always a pain (esp if I want to keep my dual boot.. I always screw up that part )

Thanks guys!

Hi Neutron16,

Thanks for your post, it solved my problem!! (wait till you hear what the problem was... its soooo sttupid.. :) )

First, sorry for the late reply. Ive been waiting for my post to appear in the General Discussions thread where I posted it (I think). Says it will be reviewed first so ive been waiting but havent seen it appear after several days have passed. Finally did a search and found out it was transferred in the Software section. :)

Was still having problems with SOME software, like I tried Safari browser, same slow launching like itunes. (Chrome and Firefox runs ok)

I did what you suggested and immediately the problem presented itself: There's an Error happening EVERY 1 to 2 SECONDS!! Source: CDROM.

The cluprit: A FAILED BURNED DVD inside my DVD drive.

A few weeks back I was going through some of my burned and blank DVDs and sorting them out. Many are unlabelled so i was checking them out by putting them inside my drive to see whats in it. I inadvertently left a "coaster" disc in my drive and forgot all about it. Thats whats been causing the problems!! duuuuhh... I feel so stupid..

1) My PC is under my desk so i dont notice if the drive is blinking or not. So my PC has been accessing that disc EVERY 2 SECONDS for the past few weeks?? I leave my PC on 24/7 most of the time so i shudder to think of the waster power. Not to mention wear and tear of the physical drive (not sure if it was spinning?) Hopefully it can still write dvds..

2) The moment I took out the dang disc, I tried launching those problematic programs and they ran instantly. No more issues.

3) Im just curious why under Windows XP (on the same machine, which is dual boot as i mentioned earlier) There was no issues like this even when the same disc is in the drive? Is this a Windows 7 thing that tries to access the drive every 2 seconds?

4) I think its not a coincidence that the programs ive had problems with are media players of some sort (XBMC, iTunes) although Safari is a browser. I take it they are trying to check my drive for some playable media? But even so, why the looong delay? Why not return an error outright?

5) I still cant get over the Event Viewer is showing error EVERY 1 or 2 SECONDS for the past weeks!!!

Anyway, thanks so much Neutron for the help. I was seriously thinking of reformatting and reinstalling Windows7 just to fix this issue. Turns out it was a SIMPLE MATTER OF TAKING A STUPID DISC OUT OF THE DRIVE. (Sorry, still cant get over that!) :)

+1 Rep for you Sir!

I have the exact same problem when executing itunes on Windows 8. I tried everything, I looked at the event log and sure enough theres a problem with Bonjour. The thing is that I don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?