My Windows 7 Start is Extremly SLOW

[Szaby59]

Hello!
I have a Toshiba Satellite A500 Laptop:

Intel C2D 2,5 GHz
4GB DDRII 800 MHz RAM
400 GB 5400rpm Toshiba HDD
ATi 4650 GPU

I have Windows 7 Pro X64 Genuine OS, via MSDNAA

The boot takes 17-21 seconds to welcome screen (20-30 seconds "Welcome"), then 1-3 minutes to responsive desktop.
I have all drivers installed, I tried to boot removing unnecessary startup programs, but It's the same, only 1-5 second faster.
I reinstalled my OS many times, HDD is in AHCI mode, but I tried in "Compatibility" but didn't solve the problem.
After bootlogo, there is very high HDD activity (With disabled search indexer and superfetch too)

[Mussels]

I dont have a solution, i'm posting to subscribe to see what other people come up with (i may get an idea from something they say/ask)

three ideas that may, or may not help:

1. Disable system restore

2. Limit the size of your page file manually, lock it to 2GB or something.

3. Disable hibernate support (google for it, its simple)

[AthlonX2]

its most likely a combination fo things but i will say that your hdd is most likely the slowest part of your system,and also download cpuz and make sure your ram is actually running @ 800 mhz because half the time OEM's will say u have 800mhz ram but its only running 667 or maybe less..

[Szaby59]

Everest/CPU-Z shows 400 MHz (800 MHZ in DDR)
I know the 5400 rpm hard drive isn't very powerful, but 3 minute boot time is too much...

[AthlonX2]

was this a fresh install? or did you upgrade

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

was this a fresh install? or did you upgrade

windows 7 'upgrades' are fresh installs anyway, they just relocate your old files instead of formatting the drive.

[Szaby59]

Fresh install, from MSDNAA ISO.

Pagefile is set to 4GB in a different partition which physically is at the first part of the harddrive.
System restore, superfetch, search indexer, windows defender disabled, hibernation too...

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Szaby59

Fresh install, from MSDNAA ISO.

Pagefile is set to 4GB in a different partition which physically is at the first part of the harddrive.
System restore, superfetch, search indexer, windows defender disabled, hibernation too...

definately odd then, as those are the primary causes of excess HDD usage (and HDD overuse is the primary cause of slow windows booting)


Maybe because its on the seperate partition its having touble, could win 7 be dumb enough to think its a different drive and be trying to hammer both partitions simultaneously?

Try setting the page file to the same partition as your windows install

[InnocentCriminal]

Start with disabling anything in the BIOS you don't need and d'you have any USB devices connected to the laptop once it's booting up? Memory sticks, external HDDs/ODDs can cause excessive boot times.

As the slow down is pretty much when coming into Windows it's most likely going to be more of that then settings in the BIOS or additional devices connected. I take it your installed Windows 7 instead of what was supplied with the Toshiba originally?

[Szaby59]

With preinstalled Vista boot takes 1m 27s (and I think it can be much better because with preinstalled softwares I had !97! processes).
I tried to set SWAP manually to system partition.
Full Boot time: 1m 57s
From "Starting Windows" to password screen: 27s
From "Welcome" to desktop view: 41s
To responsive desktop: 40-50 seconds

I only have an USB mouse plugged to computer.

[Tyrael]

Uhm... I got a bad feeling that its going to be like Vista... slow like hell again. No wonder I am still testing it with Parallel software...

Notes: please use a genuine windows 7 disk. Don't use the disk from the company. 75% of the stuff is always bundled together with the disk.

1.] Hard reformat your HDD and do a clean install of Windows 7.

2.] Update your drivers, update Windows and everything else.

3.] Defrag everything else!

[Szaby59]

I used the genuine MS ISO from MSDNAA, defragmentation is 0,27%, drivers are "up to date" (last driver from Toshiba was released in November...

System partition: 50GB
Partition for storing data: 317 GB <- can this cause problem? Isn't too large for a single partition?

[Mussels]

The only thing i can think of, is a minor incompatibility with your drivers.

since that laptop uses an intel chipset: try the following


Chipset drivers

Sata drivers/software

[Tyrael]

Originally Posted by Szaby59

I used the genuine MS ISO from MSDNAA, defragmentation is 0,27%, drivers are "up to date" (last driver from Toshiba was released in November...

Did you install it over another OS? If so, there might be things underneath it. Therefore, please backup your drivers and do a clean install with an actuall MS disk. Not ISO!

This may solve your problem. But, its your choice....

[Szaby59]

No, it's a fresh install, the chipset is pm45, I updated all drivers from intel, amd, and realtek site, but no change...

[AthlonX2]

Originally Posted by Tyrael

Did you install it over another OS? If so, there might be things underneath it. Therefore, please backup your drivers and do a clean install with an actuall MS disk. Not ISO!

This may solve your problem.

an iso is an image of the disk,so he doesnt need to do a clean install he is fine its simple a driver issue or the pagefile..

[AthlonX2]

have you ran the windows experiance index since you installed 7?

[Szaby59]

Yes: Hard drive 5,3, this is the lowest

[Mussels]

make sure you update the drivers in my post above, you may have missed it with all of us posting at the same time.

[HalfAHertz]

Can you do a few shots of all the running processes in your task manager? You could also try switching off all unused services.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by HalfAHertz

Can you do a few shots of all the running processes in your task manager? You could also try switching off all unused services.

messing with services is a bad idea.

you should only disable services if you have a low spec machine incapable of running the OS - with a high end machine you're just asking for compatibility problems for zero performance benefit.

[HalfAHertz]

I never completely dissable them, only stop them and set them to manual, so that they can be started if necessary.

[Szaby59]

Process list:



Ok, thanx

[Mussels]

tpu has its own image hosting at www.techpowerup.org

please use that next time, its a lot faster

whats that top one using 99% CPU? is that your languages equivalent of "idle" ?

i also dont recognise "smoothview" and KEnotify, but as they dont seem to be using much resources i doubt they're the problem

[Szaby59]

Yes, system idle process.

Smothview, keynotify are installed by toshiba apps.
When I did a clean install I didn't installed these apps, because I though these processes are slowing down the system, but no, the problem is exist without them, too.