Computer starting up slow after format

[Dudeydan]

Hi, sorry if this has been posted somewhere before but I have searched all over the internet and haven't been able to find a post which has the same problems as I am having now.

I decided to format my harddrive to go back to Windows XP. The windows XP that I have installed is the new Service Pack 3 disk.

After deleting the old partition and creating a new one, the computer formatted and installed a brand new Windows XP on to the harddrive, and then after a successful install the computer restarted, and reached the bit where it's a black screen and at the bottom there are white bars and a white line which goes through them as Windows loads.

On this bit, it takes at least 15 minutes and possibly upto 30.

After the huge wait I logged on and created my new account, and then installed necessary drivers such as Internet, Graphics, Motherboard etc. When all was complete I was asked to restart the computer, and I thought having installed all these drivers the computer may boot up quicker.

But after the restart the black screen with the white bars appeared again, once again taking 15+ minutes to boot up.

Not sure which kind of information you need, so I'll start with the basic things, I'm not that good on computers either.

CPU: Pentium 4 2.8ghz
1GB RAM
Gigabyte 8A667 Ultra 2 (quite old yes)
ATI Radeon X1650 graphics card

Not sure what other info you would need. Also to note that the slow bootup has never happened before, and also when I log onto windows after waiting the 15+ minutes, everything runs smoothly and fast, it's just the bootup that is strange. Thanks in advance, Dan

[Sylvander]

I'm no expert on this, but since no other help has arrived so far:

A. I guess the problem is happening at about the Kernel Load (http://www.geocities.com/asoke_dasgupta/boot-xp.html) stage.

B. Perhaps you need to replace or repair NTOSKRNL.EXE as shown here at "Missing or corrupt ntoskrnl.exe file" (http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000646.htm).
i.e.
1. Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD. Note: If you have a recovery CD or a restore CD and not a Microsoft Windows XP CD it is likely the below steps will not resolve your issue.
2. Reboot the computer, as the computer is starting you should see a message to press any key to boot from the CD. When you see this message press any key.
3. In the Microsoft Windows XP setup menu press the R key to enter the recovery console.
4. Select the operating system you wish to fix, and then enter the administrator password.
5. Type expand d:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ c:\windows\system32
6. You will then be prompted if you wish to overwrite the file type Y and press enter to overwrite the file.
7. Type exit to reboot the computer.

Make sure you use the correct letter being allocated to the optical drive if not d: as above.

C.
FREE Registry Scan to find Windows errors related to NTOSKRNL.EXE (http://www.liutilities.com/products/campaigns/plib/rbplib/opt00808/b/).

FREE Driver Scan to make sure you have all the correct drivers and they are up-to-date. (http://www.liutilities.com/products/campaigns/plib/dsplib/)

FREE performance scan to automatically optimize memory CPU & internet settings. (http://www.liutilities.com/products/campaigns/plib/spplib/)

All 3 above got from HERE (http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/ntoskrnl/).

D.
You might also try running this cleanup scan (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/center/cleanup.htm).

E.
Of course, you should make an image backup of your Windows partition contents before making any changes, so that if something nasty results from any action taken you can go back to the way things were at the beginning of the process.