Hi,

I have a Sony VAIO laptop with a 1.13G P3 processor, 30G hard drive, 256 SD ram, Windows XP, over a year old.

My problem is that when I start up the computer, it will load up as normal to the startup/desktop screen. Once it reaches the desktop, the hard drive/disk light stays on without blinking, and the hard drive continues to make a whirring sound. I'm able to move the cursor around, but if I try to click on Start or on any icon, it takes about 10 minutes for a response. Ctrl-Alt-Del will not work, so I have to push the on/off button to shut the computer down.

Can someone please help me with this problem? I would really like to not have to reformat my hard drive, as I have a lot of irreplaceable pictures and documents. Thanks in advance!

Are you on a network by chance?

try starting in safe mode and check Start/run /msconfig and see if any strang looking programs are starting when you boot [and uncheck unnecessary ones] .sounds like it to me !!!!!!

In reply to the first poster...no, I'm not on any network.

In reply to the 2nd poster...Thanks, I'll try that. I have to press F8 when it first boots up, is that right?

yes

QUOTE:" and the hard drive continues to make a whirring sound"QUOTE:
Sure you dont have a trojan of some sort?
Its time for some spring cleaning
and my bitrot line
BITROT DEF HERE

XP has a folder called "Prefetch" in the C:/WINDOWS folder. "Prefetch" launches a whole slew of .exe files whether you're going to use them or not.

To greatly speed up your boot time, simply empty C:/WINDOWS/Prefetch every once in a while.

I've done this to about 20 XP machines and never had a problem. Search Google for "Prefetch" if you have any doubts.

John

I just got this and installed it. When i booted up my computer, all it did was lag....SUPER LAG did this to my old memory stick when i replaced the 512 with my old 256 mb. Wut is the problem? can u tell me wut 2 do?

well, 1.13 gHz isnt that great,....have you defragged in a while? or cleaned your disk?
defragmenting helps to speed up
http://www.webattack.com/get/starter.html
that program shows you what is starting up [dunno if it will help]
p.s. is there a disk in your ROM drive? (whirring sound)

Program called Bootvis you can run on the machine to see whats making it hang. Most likely is the prefetch folder, I disabled this "feature" as I find it to be more a hindrance than a help. If you wanna disable it, do this:

1. run "regedit";
2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher];
3. Set the value to either 0-Disable.
4. reboot.

As for the bootvis program, microsoft does not have it on their website anymore, but you can find it all over the web. Got a link that work today at least, here: http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/12/2/12-2-1.shtml

Once you downloaded it, just right click to install, and follow the instructions. Set it to run on next reboot, and it will keep a log file for you on what program started and how long it took. Helps for isolating particular drivers and programs. Hope this helps.