Slow BIOS reboot

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

This is a wierd problem... I was dusting my keyboard this past weekend, and thru some off combonation of key strokes, I log off my user in Windows 2000. I decided to reboot my machine and upon doing so my BIOS system check is slowed to a crawl.....almost 15 minutes to get into Windows. Once in windows everything works fine. I reset my factory BIOS settings, no effect...I get no BIOS errors..... just one real long slow beep, instead of the one short beeps to let me know all is well. The only other thing that happened with the computer is I installed the latest critical update from Microsoft on Friday and had not rebooted yet. I don't know how either (the update, or the accidental keystroke) would effect my BIOS speed though. Anyone have any ideas on what to check to get this thing back up to speed, even with 512MB RAM my total system check was a minute at most before.

[soupy]

Ok, it takes 15 minutes to BEGIN loading the OS, or it takes 15 minutes once the OS has started loading?

It takes 15 minutes to get thru the BIOS check.... and load Windows.... once Windows is loaded, everything performs well.

[soupy]

So you're saying that BOTH the POST and the OS boot are slow?

Ok, start by checking to see if the memory test is set to quick.

Then, remove all your PCI/ISA devices and add them back in one at a time to see if one of them is causing the problem.

Ran thru the boot up with both the quick boot enabled and disabled...no effect...also removed various devices and reinstalled.....only thing I'm seeing in Windows is a USB device error, but all my USB devises are functioning...however did not see this error in Device Manager until the recent Critical Update from Windows....but how would that affect by BIOS? Still booting slower than a snail.

[KachiWachi]

Slow POST and slow Windows would be two different issues I think.

First off, what machine do you have there, BIOS rev, etc...??

If you remove everything except the RAM (and the video card), how long does it take to get to the end of POST? Of course it won't boot at that point, but that will give you a mark to time your POST routine. Then as soupy suggested, add one card back at a time to see if there is an offerder there. Add your HD last once POST is back to it's normal speed to move on to the Windows issues.

You may need to turn off the USB in the BIOS, as that would also be a "card" as far as the system is concerned, to eliminate that as a possible problem source (damaged motherboard component). That goes for extra IDE ports, COM ports, etc...

This is a Dell Dimension Desktop, PIII 600, 512 MB RAM, Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 running Windows 2000 Pro.

I'm trying to figure by your post if your telling me to remove all the cards while in BIOS setup..or from Windows..... In looking thru the BIOS all I can see to eliminate are my IDE cards, and Legacy USB support..but not individual cards like sound, video, network, etc.

While waiting for the reply...I decided to try and resolve the Windows issue with my USB..... I unplugged my USB hardware and plugged them back in.... apparently I had to USB video components, a webcam and a video capture unit in conflict with one another.... as soon as the USB reinstalled the components... everything worked fine..... haven't seen that before and with the boot-up slowness..thought it had to be something more complex.... but a simple fix.... in the event this happens to anyone else.... by the way.... problems began when I installed Microsoft's Critical Update Q814033... I previously uninstalled that and reinstalled before I tried the above hardware fiddling.

[KachiWachi]

That would be to power off the computer and physically remove the hardware from the machine.

So everything is OK now???

Everything's fine after I unplugged all my USB hardware and let Windows reload it. Back to normal speed now.

Thanks to all for the help though. Sometimes just bouncing ideas around helps me think clearer.

[KachiWachi]

Sometimes that's just what it takes...