Solved Slow Windows 7 Start up before Login

[nyto]

Recently my computer has started to hang up after post but before the log in screen for windows 7. It hangs up on the starting Windows GUI. I have that disabled so its just a black screen for me. Usually my computer doesn't take long after post to get to log in screen. Now it sits at the starting up part for 30 seconds or more until I get to the log in screen. I not sure what it could be. The things I've done before this happened are:

1.) Updated video driver
2.) Installed BF3
3.) Defragged the 1TB Western Digital Storage HD.

I reverted my video driver back to the previous and the problem remains.
I uninstalled my anti virus and the problem still remained. I'm not sure what else it could be. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

EDIT: If I take out the Western Digital HD, the hang up does not occur.

 

[DustSailor]

Well, here is a good link for you. Keep in mind if something becomes too difficult or too advanced, you do not have to do it. Nor does anyone expect that you should go out and purchase anything. This is just an exhaustive list of things you can do to speed up windows 7:

Optimize Windows 7

(Thank Brink your administrator)

After reading your specs, it looks like your computer should handle that game. Give windows update a run (believe it or not, installing those updates are very important, even for games). Install all important material, and all optional material that has to do with compatability. Then look in device manager for any exclaimation points that indicate something needs to be updated, and update it. Also, printers and devices(?) lists a few different drivers that you may want to check as well.


Try it with these things, and if you still have a problem (though I hate to say it), you might keep your video card at an earlier state.

Could also try a System Restore.

 

[nyto]

I've done most of the things that have been mentioned in that post. It loads fast after it gets past the hangup at "Starting" and I log in. I have the OS on the SSD and everything is fine if I remove the extra drive. But once I put the hard drive in it slows down at starting Windows again. It didn't have this problem a few days ago and it's never been a problem since I first put it together. Everything works as its suppose to after I log in.

 

[DustSailor]

I've done most of the things that have been mentioned in that post. It loads fast after it gets past the hangup at "Starting" and I log in. I have the OS on the SSD and everything is fine if I remove the extra drive. But once I put the hard drive in it slows down at starting Windows again. It didn't have this problem a few days ago and it's never been a problem since I first put it together. Everything works as its suppose to after I log in.

Ah, you didn't mention the combination of an SSD and HDD in your earlier post. Do not defragment the SSD, and turn scheduling defrag off for the SSD (defrag menu). How much space is left on the SSD (assuming the HDD has plenty of space to go). Do you have your bios set to spend extra time checking for things? Is it set to fast boot? Does your HDD have items on it already or is it empty?

A few early (and I suspect later) SSDs had some problems with them, albit minor, because they rewrite and delete differently than HDDs, and because they were a new thing set with a new standard. Don't write off looking through that Optimize Windows 7 list again just because you did once, nor write off everything else I told you to this point. I suggest you at least try updating everything and post back, let me know how it goes.

does this problem happen after you restart or after you resume from sleep?

 

[cluberti]

Ah, you mention a WD drive and an SSD - you might want to read this post thoroughly, as another user had a similar problem just the other day and we were able to resolve it.

 

[DustSailor]

It hangs up on the starting Windows GUI. I have that disabled so its just a black screen for me. Usually my computer doesn't take long after post to get to log in screen. Now it sits at the starting up part for 30 seconds or more until I get to the log in screen. I not sure what it could be.

Why don't you try reenabling it just to see if that does anything?

 

[nyto]

The SSD has never been defragged and scheduler for it was disable when I first put it together. There's about 7 GBs left on the SSD. It's mainly an OS drive. Everything else goes to the HDD and it has items on it already.

That thread looks relevant to me. I'll try to look through it and see if it fixes my problem. It's weird because I never had a problem with it until recently and I've been using it for over a year.

I did reenable the gui and it doesn't make a difference. I'm looking at the posted thread to see if it fixes my problems.

It doesn't have this problem after sleep. I'm currently defragging so I'll update and do a couple other things after it's done. I ran chkdisk and there was no problems. This HDD was formatted by this same computer after I wiped it. There are no backups or images on this HDD.

 

[nyto]

So I'm guessing the most likely way to fix this is to move everything off the drive, wipe it, and reinstall? I don't want to do that since I'm in the middle of a school semester with a lot of programs installed and other storage stuff. It's like 700GB of stuff. There isn't anyway to clean off any boot code is there?

 

[DustSailor]

could try this. I recommend loading some important stuff on USBs or back it up: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
But that is kind of an extreme option.

Did you change anything in the BIOS? Are you able to try and hook up other HDDs and see if the problem reoccurs? I usually keep about 20GBs at least on my OS drive (also SSD) just in case for updates and so that it can do its thing with some breathing room. You can delete items and/or move them to the HDD to free up space. I'm a bit busy right now but I'll see if I can't look at this a bit more in another day or so. Do let us know if anything else changes, and perhaps someone else might look at this problem for you.

 

[nyto]

I've talked to the guys in the other thread that had the same problem and I most likely have to wipe my drive to remove the backup data that's causing this. That's the only known solution for this but I'm going to wait until the semester is over until I do this. I can make do with hibernating until then since there is no performance degradation after the boot. I'm sure if I switch HDDs it would work since it only came up after I defragged the drive. I think the defrag moved the boot code from the backup to a place that my system picked up on and caused the delay describe in the thread posted earlier. I'll sort it out when I have some time. Thanks for the help though.

 

[nyto]

Okay I managed to fix the problem. I just defragged again with Smart Defrag 2 and it doesn't have the delay anymore. It is a weird problem with a weird solution.