startup problem

my comp just started to lag extremely bad at startup. i don't think i did anything to cause this which leads me to assume it is a hardware problem. i have a dell dimension t800r w/ 768mb ram. i first thought this was a windows problem. it took about 5 min to start up with only half of the normal startup programs and an adwatch error. so i tried to use the repair option on the windows install cd which ran its course and started to reboot. once it began to reboot i turned around and when i looked back it was installing windows. so now i have two problems. i believe i am at the point of no return with the windows installation and have to just continue but what of the lag? could it be the motherboard crapping out? i'm not sure of the brand (stock dell 768mhz?) but i know it loves hitting %100 just by moving the mouse (slight exaggeration). any help is much apprecaited. thanks in advance.

 

well Rc, it could be a few things to my knowledge, im no expert but this is what i have to tell you, you may first of all have a virus that may be loading during ur start up, or you have a lot of ad-ware/spy ware on your computer, try using some kind of ad-aware removal if you have any and try to get an anti virus software program to get rid of them, my second view is that you may have a lot of starting programs that you dont really need and maybe that you dont even know that your running, so try and go to Start, Run..., and than type is "msconfid" without the quotation marks around it, and you'll get a pop up screen which should be System Configuration Utility, and you'll have about 6 tabs on top of the new screen, and click on Startup, and try to find any software that you dont necessary need or use at the beggining of your system boot. and it'll ask you to restart and than just follow those simple steps. or another way i heard of is if u have ad-ware removal start your computer in safe mode and try using it there is possible, same as with your anti virus software. hope this helps

 

well Rc, it could be a few things to my knowledge, im no expert but this is what i have to tell you, you may first of all have a virus that may be loading during ur start up, or you have a lot of ad-ware/spy ware on your computer, try using some kind of ad-aware removal if you have any and try to get an anti virus software program to get rid of them, my second view is that you may have a lot of starting programs that you dont really need and maybe that you dont even know that your running, so try and go to Start, Run..., and than type is "msconfid" without the quotation marks around it, and you'll get a pop up screen which should be System Configuration Utility, and you'll have about 6 tabs on top of the new screen, and click on Startup, and try to find any software that you dont necessary need or use at the beggining of your system boot. and it'll ask you to restart and than just follow those simple steps. or another way i heard of is if u have ad-ware removal start your computer in safe mode and try using it there is possible, same as with your anti virus software. hope this helps

 

hey guys i appreciate your quick reply's. unfortunately i take pride in keeping my comp as clean as possible. i have ms antispyware, pc cillin, spybot, spywareblaster, adaware, hijackthis, reg mech, outpost, ccleaner, cw, and i check msconfig regularly. this is also why i am leaning towards a hardware prob. sub question...is there any way to reverse the 30 seconds of xp installation or am i screwed. i tried the last configuration but it just says restarting setup... or something like that, then goes to a black screen with a big white mouse, then restarts. if i try to just start normal it flashes a little error box right after the boot screen and restarts. thx again

 

look at the hard drive dell has been known to go out little by little for some reason dont ask me why but it does happen I see them in the shop about 10 a week and they almost always have the same problem

 

hm i did that before when i was having ram problems and it did work well. i just recently acquired 512 mb more kingston ram and have not had a problem with it in 2 weeks. could the ram contacts slow down the comp during startup? this is the first time anything like this has happened during startup. my comp has stalled shutting down many many times. don't know the cause of that either.

 

out of the blue, but have you tried a system format? if you havent try to back up ur important data, and try to format it and if the problem is still there than you'll be pretty sure that your going the right way with the hardware problem.

 

well you better start lookiong at a power supply that is the first thing to do when it starts shutting down by its self it is getting hot or you just dont have enough wats on it what kind is it and how big ? does it have 2 fans or just one? but your problem at this point is going to be a power supply issue, I am almost positave.

 

or if his computer is randomly shuting down just like i had with my old computer, maybe his running too many programs and his cpu is over heating, because my old cpu would also reach in the 100% usage, and tend to restart time to time.

 

yeah - i don't think i have any other choice than a system format now. luckily i have a backup drive with all my info. i just wish i knew why it started to lag. also why my cpu so easlily reaches %100 and how to fix that. i wish xp didn't start to install again also ...so not looking foward to setting up everything again...

 

it hasn't shut down randomly ever but it stalls when i try to shut down sometimes. for example, it will only close half of the programs in the sys tray and just hang, not responding to my shut down requests

 

you do have a choice I dont think you need to do that untill you look at the power supply it seems more like a power issue to me and I havent been in the industry A+ certified for 10 years for nothing format is a long thing to do just check the event log it might just give you a clue do a burn in test or even a system restore then if all else fails format it but that is a lot of work to format and restore and then get all the up dates

 

do you have a p-4 or celeropn d? what other hard ware are you running? is the power supply a 350 or 200+ like 250? need more information lets do this thing right give me the compleet configuration

 

i am trying to find out more specs about my comp right now. so far no luck. i can tell you that it is a dell dimension xps t800r. everything is stock except for a dvd burner, radeon 7000 video card, 768mb kingston ram. i agree about the work of reformatting - if there is any way to avoid this i am all ears. i don't know how to check the power supply, error log, or burn in test. i tried the system restore (previous post) and it ended up in the install.

 

open up ur case, and there shoould be a sticker on one of the sides of the psu case, and it should say the wattage on it.

 

ok it says 135w combined output

 

your power supply is way to small you need to up that to at least 350
also you can go to dell.com service and support here you can put in your service tag and it will tell you what the orignal configuration was
that video card and dvd burner just took you over the top with power consumptiuon, go look at the min system requirements for that card