Slow Loading of Windows

Typhoon859 · Jan 6, 2009

Ever since I plugged in this PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II Controller Card, Windows started taking very long to load up (before the user login screen). After I removed the card, the problem remained. After I did a System Restore to before this started happening, the problem remained. Many times, before I did the System Restore, Windows took very long to shut down as well. FYI, probably needed, my OS is Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

This happened to me almost every time before when I was installing the motherboard and graphics card drivers but then it stopped after the first restart of each install.

Also, this controller card caused many other problems besides this.
-At first it wouldn;t work until I disabled the raid in the BIOS (I'm guessing they were conflicting.
-Then, when I plugged a hard drive into it, Windows would freeze right at the point where there's a black screen that instantly follows after Windows finishes loading.
-When I unplugged the hard drive, it logged into Windows though if I looked under Storage Controllers in the Device Manager, I didn't see the original NVIDIA Storage Controllers of my EVGA 750i FTW edition motherboard listed as they were before.
-Next time I restarted, Windows wouldn't boot and I got the message that a certain file was missing (don't remember the exact name) that was located in the drivers folder of Windows (I think it had SATA in the name of it).
-Windows Repair repaired the start but (don't remember if this was at some point after or right away), the Windows loading bar wouldn't start moving from left to right and my computer just hung there. That's when I did the System Restore using the recoviery disc and this is where I stand now. Windows still starts slow though other things have caused this in the past as I've mentioned.
*The startup when I login is same as usual; it's fine.

Anyone know what the problem might be? Thanks in advance.

patio · Jan 6, 2009

So are you no longer using the card ? ?
If so physically removing it doesn't always do the trick.
Travel to Device Manager and see if it is still listed...if so right click it and select uninstall.
Then just to be sure check Add/Remove Programs for any Promise software left behind.
Power down and re-boot.

Typhoon859 · Jan 6, 2009

patio said:
So are you no longer using the card ? ?
If so physically removing it doesn't always do the trick.
Travel to Device Manager and see if it is still listed...if so right click it and select uninstall.
Then just to be sure check Add/Remove Programs for any Promise software left behind.
Power down and re-boot.

No, I checked. It's not there. If it were there, then yeah, I would've uninstalled it. I did a System Restore remember? And no software came with the card, drivers were automatically installed by Windows.

I also said that the card didn't work at first and I tried normally installing the driver from the site, I tried forcing it, tried uninstalling and then installing it, and each time it said that the device failed to start until I disabled RAID in the BIOS. Yeah... and, The card is no longer inserted.

Card aside, what can be causing this, because as I said, it has happened many times before.

lordbob75 · Jan 6, 2009

Wow. Ok so your account of the problem confused me quite a bit (Though it might be the late (not really) hour and my mind being dead after 2 hours of calc homework)
So the problem was cause when you installed a PCI card to control the hard drives?? What exactly is the point of using this? (I haven't heard of these before)

So here are a few things that might help clean up your hardware:
Try cleaning out your registry and HDD with the free programs at Auslogics Products

I use the registry defrag on mine and my dads computer. Mine was fresh, but his was about 5 years old, and after deleting the 800 some extra crap, his computer is running almost like new. (with an extra gig of ram, but it did help)
I have not tried the HDD defrag, but its worth a shot.

The CCleaner at CCleaner - Home should help as well.

Try these and see if it makes a difference.

~Lordbob

SIW2 · Jan 6, 2009

Hi,

Not entirely sure I follow the sequence of events.

Nevertheless, it is worth checking Device Manager for non-present devices, and uninstall drivers you don't need.

To Do this :

Press the Windows and pause/break keys together.

In the System window that opens , click Advanced System Settings ( it's in the left pane ).

Click the Environment Variables box.

Click "New" in the System variables section.

In the Variable Name box, type

devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices

In the Variable Value box, type 1

Click OK and OK again.

Go into Device Manager and select View then Hidden devices.

Devices that are not present will be shown in light grey.

Hope it helps

SIW2

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

SIW2 said:
Hi,

Not entirely sure I follow the sequence of events.

Nevertheless, it is worth checking Device Manager for non-present devices, and uninstall drivers you don't need.

To Do this :

Press the Windows and pause/break keys together.

In the System window that opens , click Advanced System Settings ( it's in the left pane ).

Click the Environment Variables box.

Click "New" in the System variables section.

In the Variable Name box, type

devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices

In the Variable Value box, type 1

Click OK and OK again.

Go into Device Manager and select View then Hidden devices.

Devices that are not present will be shown in light grey.

Hope it helps

SIW2

Hmm... Cool, that was useful in the sense that I like learning something new. But, there were no grayed out devices unfortunately, lol. I did however notice that I have many of the same devices listed for some reason. For example, under Processors, I have 5 of the same processor listed.

SIW2 · Jan 7, 2009

That's curious, I would expect one for each core.

Could you post a screenshot showing all the multiple devices?

To post a screenshot, click Go Advanced at the bottom of this threadpage, then follow step 8 onward of this tutorial.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148532-how-use-snipping-tool-vista.html

SIW2

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

SIW2 said:
That's curious, I would expect one for each core.

Could you post a screenshot showing all the multiple devices?

To post a screenshot, click Go Advanced at the bottom of this threadpage, then follow step 8 onward of this tutorial.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148532-how-use-snipping-tool-vista.html

SIW2

Can't I just Print Screen, upload it to an image hosting site and give you the link(s)?

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

There were only 4 listed under Processors. I just remember there were multiple ones under there but forgot how many. There's four, the way it's supposed to be. But yeah, there's the rest.

patio · Jan 7, 2009

Have you considered a clean install ? ?

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

patio said:
Have you considered a clean install ? ?

That's the answer to everything now isn't it? That is not a solution. That's called giving up and wasting an endless amount of time and gaining no experience.

limneos · Jan 7, 2009

have you considered reinstalling the chipset drivers for Nvidia Nforce Chipset?

Also, what is that Mass Storage Controller appearing with yellow mark? What is not detected there?

SIW2 · Jan 7, 2009

You do appear to have multiple drivers loaded for some of your devices.

They seem to be appearing as attached devices, rather than some as ghosted/non- present. There may well be conflicts causing the issues you describe.

Short of a reinstall , you could try uninstalling them one by one .

Right click each one and look under the properties tab to see if that reveals which ones can be uninstalled.

Suggest you start by checking the ones under Driver Interface, Human Interface Devices and Keyboards.

SIW2

SIW2 · Jan 7, 2009

You might also go into Bios, if you are comfortable doing that.

From there you can disable the devices you are certain you don't use. That prevents Bios wasting time loading up the drivers at startup that you have no use for.

SIW2

SCSIraidGURU · Jan 7, 2009

When you switch RAID controllers, you have to be careful. If you switch within the same family group, you don't need to reinstall. I went from the LSI Logic MegaRAID 320-2 to 320-2X without reinstalling. If you switch brands, you should always reinstall clean. RAID puts down a different architecture and stripe layout on each different brand.

Did you clear the event viewer and see what is hanging during boot? Is it hanging before Windows loads? Do you need to disable an on-board controller no longer being used?

patio · Jan 7, 2009

No it's not the answer to everything now and i wasn't insinuating it is...
It's an option period.
No more.
No less.

lordbob75 · Jan 7, 2009

Reinstall.

Its usualy a last ditch effort when all else fails. Its not giving up, its saying "Enough of this bulls***. DIE." I have done it when i got a massive virus infection that wasnt worth trying to save. And i was happy with it.

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

limneos said:
have you considered reinstalling the chipset drivers for Nvidia Nforce Chipset?

Also, what is that Mass Storage Controller appearing with yellow mark? What is not detected there?

The yellow mark isn't a problem. Not sure what that is. Somehow, I just know that it isn;t an issue - just ignore that.

Typhoon859 · Jan 7, 2009

SIW2 said:
You do appear to have multiple drivers loaded for some of your devices.

They seem to be appearing as attached devices, rather than some as ghosted/non- present. There may well be conflicts causing the issues you describe.

Short of a reinstall , you could try uninstalling them one by one .

Right click each one and look under the properties tab to see if that reveals which ones can be uninstalled.

Suggest you start by checking the ones under Driver Interface, Human Interface Devices and Keyboards.

SIW2

I'm scared to accidentally uninstall something I need though.

SCSIraidGURU · Jan 7, 2009

What errors are in your event viewer?

Slow Loading of Windows

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

Lord of Bobs

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

Member

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

New Member

My Computer

My Computer

Lord of Bobs

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

New Member

My Computer