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General discussion

Slow boot after using Partition Magic

Apr 2, 2005 1:47PM PST

Specs: WinXP Pro, 2.8 Ghz P4, 512mb pc2700 ddr ram.
ZAP, NAV, Microsoft AntiSpyware, Spybot, Adaware.

I recently used Partition Magic to eliminate a Win98 partition on a dual boot machine. I deleted the partition, converted the space to NTFS, then merged with the other NTFS partition.
Since doing so, I'm having a problem with XP Pro booting slower than before.
It boots normally through the Windows loading screen, then the screen goes black or blank for exactly 1 1/2 minutes, before the destop appears.

Then after my programs are loaded, (Zone Alarm, NAV,etc.) Windows Explorer opens displaying the contents of My Documents folder.
The only other symptom that I've noticed is that my usb mouse is not recognized until I unplug then re-plug in.
I have tried several things that were unsuccessful in fixing the problem.

I have ran drive mapper several times. It seems to find the same 6 entries each time.

I have ran FIXMBR from the recovery console.

I have defragged the drive.

I also did a repair install of XP.

I know that a similar problem was posted recently in these forums, but I have not been able to locate the thread.
If someone can please point to it, or offer any advice, I would very much appreciate it.
Thanks for any help.

Discussion is locked

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Could it be the DMA setting?
Apr 2, 2005 11:49PM PST

XP is known to show DMA but the drives are in PIO.

Fix? None.

Workaround? Set to PIO, OK it, then set to DMA and OK it.

Bob

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PIO settings
Apr 3, 2005 1:21AM PST

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply.
This mb is Soyo, I845PE chipset, Phoenix-Award BIOS, v.6.00PG.
The options for PIO settings are either Auto, Mode 0 thru Mode 4. There isn't an option to disable PIO.
Under UDMA, they are Enabled or Disabled.
I disabled UDMA, booted, then rebooted and changed it back to Auto.
That didn't effect any change.
I also booted with Fail Safe Defaults, with no change.
I'm sure that I've read a very similar post here before, about two months ago, but my searching has been in vain.
I cannot recall if a solution was found.
If all else fails, I'll format and clean install XP.
Can't tolerate this slow boot and knowing something is amiss.
Thanks again for your advice.

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Not what I noted.
Apr 3, 2005 4:45AM PDT

In XP, the DMA if available will show, but PIO is in use.

Your note appears to be about the BIOS, which I didn't note.

No FIX is available, but I shared the workaround.

Bob

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DMA - PIO
Apr 4, 2005 3:17PM PDT

Thanks Bob, that seems to have solved the problem of the slow boot.
I still have the occasional problem of the disappearing usb mouse, but even that seems to occur less frequently.
I will re-install the usb drivers to see if that may solve the problem.
Thanks again for you good suggestions.