System Lags at boot screen 80% of time

this has been annoying me for the past couple monthes, and with diablo 3 going live in a couple days I've been polishing up my computers performance, and decided to seek help in fixing a problem I haven't figured out.

unlike all information I've seen on vista boot issues, mine still works. it just lags. when i turn my computer on it goes through my bios screen at the normal speed but once it gets out of the bios screen i can barley see the boot screen horizantal bar (the part where the green squares go back and forth) but it is transparent (because had it not been lagging it would fade in) and it lags there for anywhere from a minutes to 5 minutes, then the bar fades the rest of the way in and all is fine. the rest of my boot is fast I have no other problems whatsoever.
interestingly enough if I hold f8 to boot in safe mode, it doesn't lag, loading windows memory diagnostic tool doesn't lag, booting from a disc dosn't lag. only the normal boots. and then its only 80% of the time

its been doing this a couple monthes, I've tried system restore, I've cleaned up all junk and unused files and programs, I've ran both anti malware and virus checks and both came back clean. I've even tried updateing my bios and removing extra un-necissary components (wireless card, dvd drives, and extra sata controller). I even took it apart, cleaned each piece individually with compressed air then reassembled (I didn't think it would fix my problem, but you know it can only help reduce heat)

I've checked my problem devices, only one being my extra sata controller because I removed the driver and use a third part driver for it. but I have also. tried removing the driver (and as stated before I took it physically out and it didn't help)

I'm really at my wits end of what exactly is causing my issue. it makes restarting after updating any program a major pain.

Vista home basic x64 (genuine)
AMD pheneom II x2 Black edition Callisto 3.2ghz stock (confirmed its really a 4 core, and have unlocked, and then re-locked them because it prevents me from monitoring temperature in quad mode)
4X 2 gig 1066 mhz gskill DDR2 RAM stock (8 gigs total, not overclocked)
500 gig 7200 RPM western digital HDD
gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
gigabyte ATI Radeon 4850 800mhz 1 gig GDDR3
rosewill wireless card (no longer in use)
Via SATA 6421 controller (nothing connected to it)
sony operatic dvd burner
lite on ihas 224b
2X 250mm fans 1X 120mm fan and 90mm zalman cpu fan and heatsink
650 watt PSU
everything is Crossfire ready for when i have money to drop on a new radeon

pretty sure its not my system. and if so I have alot of overclocking potential. I've seen people who get the callisto's up to 4 ghz quad unlocked on air, and 5 on liquid
I just haven't overclocked because I haven't needed to at all.

Welcome
Lets see if a clean boot helps diagnose and solve the problem
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup - Windows 7 Forums
Do you know how to obtain the exact boot time from the computer logs?

If Clean Boot does not lead to the solution here are many more hints
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html

wow that was fast. I've actually never hard of a clean boot. and I forgot how to view the system logs.
I'll try performing a clean boot now

The clean boot should give you the answer. If not read my second post. If none of that works, I know of special software that will solve the problem. You do want to make a system restore first, just in case of problems, however. We will solve your problem.
http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...mine-your-boot-shutdown-times.html#post900448

clean boot still hung up on the "microsoft corporation" and little green bar. i didn't time it but it felt like about 2 minutes. I'll read the other links.

Run a full antivirus scan
Download and run a full scan with Malwarebytes. Be sure to update both before the scan. Make the complete Scan. Should take a few hours.

richc46 said:

Run a full antivirus scan
Download and run a full scan with Malwarebytes. Be sure to update both before the scan. Make the complete Scan. Should take a few hours.

Click to expand...

already did this eariler today. using malwarebytes and avast

I'm going through the 2nd link you provided step by step. I've made it to using multiple cores on boot (which tempts me to reunlock the 3rd and 4th one, however I'm not sure of their stability, will test when this is taken care of)
problem still persists, continuing the boot suggestions.

I did notice a slightly faster boot once it got past the initial lag, now that its using both cores. which is nice :D

went through all suggestions. nothing worked. checked my last boot time, says critical.


last boot time: 164203ms

shutdown also says warning but isn't nearly so bad.

last shutdown time: 8167ms

Wow almost 3 minutes. You were not kidding that is slow.
Tell me do you maintian your computer
Defrgag
Clean Dsk
Scan Disk?
Do you use ccleaner?

richc46 said:

Wow almost 3 minutes. You were not kidding that is slow.
Tell me do you maintian your computer
Defrgag
Clean Dsk
Scan Disk?
Do you use ccleaner?

Click to expand...

yeah its not like. just a slow boot though, it lags as that one part faes in, then when it finally fades in goes just as fast as when i built it.

auto defrag on a shedule. and also manually do it after cleaning my harddrive. I uninstall unused programs, run disc cleanup and delete any junk files I can find usually every week

I'm not sure what you mean by scan disc, and I've never heard of ccleaner, I just used the disk cleanup under my hdd's properties, uninstalling stuff from the control panel, and manually finding and deleting files

my computer does not run slow whatsoever except the mentioned spot where it lags.
I downloaded and ran that registry defragger and it said my registry wasn't fragmented, and both numbers were 0%

oh and i don't know if this matters really. but in the 3 years I've had this rig put together its blue screened a few times. on average about once a year. all three times were before this issue ever started. and seeing as how they were all very few and far between i just chalked them up to glitches and/or bugs and simply ran windows update. not sure if thats relevant or not

if I could remember where I put my flip I'd video what it does

OK, I see we have some work ahead of us, to properly maintain and to try to diagnose. If you have the time so do I. After we are done, if you still do not boot properly, I will give you a Heads Up on software that will solve your problem. Lets try to do it by maintenance, however. I am calling it quits for Tonight, after this, Im in CT and its late.
Lets start with Ccleaner (cc use to be clean crap, but then they changed it). It gets all the crap off the computer.
CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download
Any comments or questions have to wait until Tomorrow.
Also scan with the great little add-on
ESET :: Get a FREE Online Virus Scan

Night, my friend.

No its not Morning, yet. Do this scan Disc. I am wondering if you are beginning to have Hard Drive problems at the part that Lags.
Do the long test. Check box fix errors and the top box, too.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67612-check-disk-chkdsk.html This is the scan disc.
Will take a couple of hours.

yeah I've always got time for my computer. especially since I'd like to get it in tip top shape by tuesday.
just downloaded ccleaner. gonna run it on the default setting for now. then afterwords use that eset thing. after that I'll run the hard drive scanner then just chill till tomarrow whenever you're on. thanks for the replies btw. i hit the rep thing for ya.

EDIT: ccleaner got rid of 2 gigs of junk. junk that i would have though disk cleanup would have taken care of. so thanks for that

eset found 4 files that avast overlooked. but it didn't fix the problem. disk check came out 100% okay. so no luck with that
I already tried using my OS disc to repair the startup before comming here which didn't work. but I never thought to use the upgrade as a repair until I was looking around the tuts here
I think I'ma try http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html
before I go to sleep.
just keeping you updated on what I'm trying.
even after I get this fixed theres alot of cool stuff in the tuts section I think I'll do. I can't believe I never found this site sooner

My gift to you after we are done, will be my home made suggestions for good maintenance. If you follow it you will not have any problems. OK, so Disk scan and ccleaner are done but you still lag.
How much space is available on your hard drive?
After you boot press alt, cntr, delete at the same time. In task manager go to perfomance tab. Click on memory so big users on top. Give me a screen shot.

richc46 said:

My gift to you after we are done, will be my home made suggestions for good maintenance. If you follow it you will not have any problems. OK, so Disk scan and ccleaner are done but you still lag.
How much space is available on your hard drive?
After you boot press alt, cntr, delete at the same time. In task manager go to perfomance tab. Click on memory so big users on top. Give me a screen shot.

Click to expand...

I did the windows upgrade fix I mentioned earlier, and well. that was a pain. shouldn't have done that. was more trouble than it was worth.
after which I ran the registry defragger and ccleaner disck cleanup ect. after reup[dating of course. also had to go into regedit to get my dvd drives to function again.

problem still occurs.

I currently have 228gb free. which is odd because I had 240 gb before re-upgrading vista, and I did run ccleaner and disc cleaner again

this is a screenshot of my task manger. there wasn't anywhere to click memory though
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/4049/tskmgrperformance.jpg
the majority of the time only about 2-10% of my cpu was being used. with spikes of 20-30

Rather baffling. Make a system restore point and install this software. If it does not help, Im at a loss.
https://www.soluto.com/About/
About 75% of the members report success other 25% had problems and used restore to remove it completely.
If this does not work, Ill give you my complete list of maintenance and if that does not help. I think that the use of registry cleaners, defraggers etc did more harm than good to your registry. Stop using them.

To maintain your computer:

10 Tips on How to Properly Maintain Your Computer

Steps that I did not notice on the guide include:

Running a scan disc before doing a defrag

Using Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes.

Making System Restore points, at least once a week

Makaing a system Image once a month (varies by user)

Not relying on your A/V common sense, should prevail. You know of many sites can cause a problem.

Do not use any reg cleaning or optimizing software.

Download and use Ccleaner about once every two months. Untick any registry entries.
http://www.piriform.com/

Download and use PSI, to to be sure that all of your software is up to date
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

If you follow these instructions, you will be trouble free for a long time to come.

Be sure to back up your hard drive about once a month (varies by user) and to keeep system restore points up to date.

um. weird. this is new. it won't let me create a system restore point.
"could not create the sheduled task for the following reason: the task image is corrupt or has been tampered with. (0x80041321)"
could this have something to do with when I disabled creating a system restore point at startup?
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/1...-change-automatic-restore-point-schedule.html
or something worse?

just went back into task cheduler and got about 5 popups saying things were corrupt. and this is new since the upgrade vista installation. great...
my vista discs aren't burnt discs either. I used the 64 bit disc that I sent away for (because my retail box only had 32 bit software) so I don't think the problem is my disc..
said tasks are:
ScheduledDefrag
Microsoft-Windows-DiscDiagnosticDataCollector
LPRemove
ConvertLogEntries
SR