Updated Windows 7 - Computer Now Boots Slower and Has Issues

[AngryGoldfish]

Around a week ago I updated Windows as per usual. Almost immediately afterwards, Windows began to take an additional 30-60 seconds to boot. Also, just now, Windows would not boot at all, even in Safe Mode. It began a repair test, but seemingly it failed. I restarted after half an hour and am now back into Windows, fortunatley. I have not downloaded any programs recently, apart from one, which I have since deleted in case it was causing the issue. A few programs have been updated to newer versions, but these are programs I have been using for years, such as Steam, Firefox and TagScanner.

 

Should I aim to restore my computer to a previous version? If so, are there any concise, helpful guides I can use to do this as I've never done it before? I am using a Samsung EVO SSD and obviously do not wish to reinstall Windows entirely. There should be no hardware failure, unless it's an intermittent problem. Before the crash, I was using an official Windows Xbox controller while playing Rogue Legacy. I've been doing this for weeks. The only issue I've had with this version of Windows is when I click the left button on my Mionix mouse when the computer is turned off but plugged in. I don't know how, but the computer boots up. However, it does not boot properly and fails. Windows also does not like me pressing any buttons while booting, either on the keyboard or the mouse, unless it's a designated task button such as F12.

 

Any thoughts? Any guides or FAQ I should be looking at? I have heard of this happening to many people when they update Windows, but maybe there is something else I need to be looking at? I don't usually do it, but I can run a registry cleaner, though I don't think that's advisable with SSDs. I'm running Anit-Malware and Avast at the moment, just as a safety precaution and to rule out that.

[adamrutter3]

My Windows began to take an additional seconds to boot as well and Aero Transparency is not working since a week.

[AngryGoldfish]

I've been through the Event Log and found Warnings throughout my time with this computer, which I imagine is normal, but it's only over the last two weks have I experienced Critical and Error messages during boot up. I've disabled everything that is not essential at startup, though for some reason Avast refuses to remain unselected for startup programs. Every time I click Apply, the box becomes ticked again.

 

Boot time is now around 1 minute 20 seconds. It's better than it was, but it's still appalling considering what I put into this machine and how much better it was just two weeks ago. Can anyone please offer an opinion on what I can do?

[adamrutter3]

I've been through the Event Log and found Warnings throughout my time with this computer, which I imagine is normal, but it's only over the last two weks have I experienced Critical and Error messages during boot up. I've disabled everything that is not essential at startup, though for some reason Avast refuses to remain unselected for startup programs. Every time I click Apply, the box becomes ticked again.

 

Boot time is now around 1 minute 20 seconds. It's better than it was, but it's still appalling considering what I put into this machine and how much better it was just two weeks ago. Can anyone please offer an opinion on what I can do?

Maybe a bad overclock? Try to use stock configuration for RAM and CPU.

[AngryGoldfish]

No overclocking is set at the moment. I've been running the system stock since I got it. I've had no need to push beyond its normal speeds since it's good enough for any game so far at 1080.

[adamrutter3]

No overclocking is set at the moment. I've been running the system stock since I got it. I've had no need to push beyond its normal speeds since it's good enough for any game so far at 1080.

Well then, I don't know what to say. Sorry mate. I tried.

[AngryGoldfish]

I know, man, thanks a lot. Unless anyone else has other theories, I'm going to have to have put up with a €1300 machine that takes 1-2 minutes to boot. I'll probably reinstall Windows later this year and hope the problem goes away. I'm not reinstalling now, out of principle alone. You could spend €5000 on a PC, but you're still limited by incompetant programmers and incompatible software that have little to no control over.

[adamrutter3]

I know, man, thanks a lot. Unless anyone else has other theories, I'm going to have to have put up with a €1300 machine that takes 1-2 minutes to boot. I'll probably reinstall Windows later this year and hope the problem goes away. I'm not reinstalling now, out of principle alone. You could spend €5000 on a PC, but you're still limited by incompetant programmers and incompatible software that have little to no control over.

Yeah you are right. You can try to take an empty HDD or SSD you are not currently using, install Windows on them and then look if there is any improvement. It might be HDD/SSD issue. You never know.

[AngryGoldfish]

It could be anything. There are so many eventualities. I'm having the same problem diagnosing my Internet problem. We've had poor Internet for years, but we live rurally so fibre optics or satellite options aren't available to me. We've had half a dozen engineers check the line and they all subtly say the same thing: we don't know what the problem is so we can't fix it. When researching why Windows is now so slow to boot, I found a thread where a guy basically replaced his entire computer (SSD, Mobo +) and the problem was still there. It wasn't until he migrated to 8.1 that the issue went away. There was just something incompatible with his very particular installation of Windows. It was a very singular serious of unfortunate events, and the same could be happening to me. I could reinstall Windows and soon as I update it the problem will be back. I'm not fucking about with new SSD's when it's not the SSD's fault that the software was not compatible. The SSD is what it is. It should not be experiencing any issues. If you can't claim a warranty repair for a product then I'm screwed. I can't call up Microsoft and say I want my €100 back for a shitty OS, and neither can I call Samsung and say your SSD is shit because Windows now takes 2 minutes to boot. They'd laugh in my face.

[samcool55]

As far as i can understand is your rig quite powerful, so you probably have a graphics card, it's possible that the drivers for that are failing, i had the same couple of weeks ago, new gpu drivers and everything was ruined. Did you also check if the SSD is connected to a sata3 port? And try to run a benchmark when windows does work of your ssd. Maybe the ssd isn't working properly.

 

EDIT: install samsung magician, useful tool for EVO ssd's that can maybe help you, it can do OS and ssd optimizations, maybe that will fix it.

[AngryGoldfish]

As far as i can understand is your rig quite powerful, so you probably have a graphics card, it's possible that the drivers for that are failing, i had the same couple of weeks ago, new gpu drivers and everything was ruined. Did you also check if the SSD is connected to a sata3 port? And try to run a benchmark when windows does work of your ssd. Maybe the ssd isn't working properly.

 

EDIT: install samsung magician, useful tool for EVO ssd's that can maybe help you, it can do OS and ssd optimizations, maybe that will fix it.

 

One of the initial processes I did to resolve the problem was update my GPU's drivers. My PC isn't especially powerful. It's a 4670K at stock speeds and a OC 770 2GB (the overclock is stock) with 8GB of 1600 RAM. It's not a dual Titan setup with the new CPU architecture or anything, but it's everything I need a machine to be. I took a long time to upgrade my previous PC, so I had games as far back as Skyrim to play.

 

Anyway, I was using Intel Rapid Storage previously, but when the issue arose I removed it in case it was causing an issue. It might have been because booting is now more like 80 seconds rather than 130, but it could have been because of the deactivation of a few startup programs like Steam and Evernote. I'll check but the SSD should definitely be connected to a SATA3 port. I'll also check out Samsung Magician.

 

What benchmarks should I run for the SSD?

[samcool55]

One of the initial processes I did to resolve the problem was update my GPU's drivers. My PC isn't especially powerful. It's a 4670K at stock speeds and a OC 770 2GB (the overclock is stock) with 8GB of 1600 RAM. It's not a dual Titan setup with the new CPU architecture or anything, but it's everything I need a machine to be. I took a long time to upgrade my previous PC, so I had games as far back as Skyrim to play.

 

Anyway, I was using Intel Rapid Storage previously, but when the issue arose I removed it in case it was causing an issue. It might have been because booting is now more like 80 seconds rather than 130, but it could have been because of the deactivation of a few startup programs like Steam and Evernote. I'll check but the SSD should definitely be connected to a SATA3 port. I'll also check out Samsung Magician.

 

What benchmarks should I run for the SSD?

samsung magician has benchmark stuff in it, just run those but run te benches without RAPID enabled, if it is enabled the scores won't be right (you get things like 1GB/s read which is just not possible, sata can't handle that)

[AngryGoldfish]

I've removed Rapid* anyway, so no worries there. Might download it again eventually, but I'm trying to keep my computer to bare essentials until I can fix this, if I can.

 

I might come back with the results because I may not know how to decipher them. Cheers, man.

 

edit: *I'm referring to Intel Rapid Storage Technology, not the Samsung one.

[AngryGoldfish]

My result:

 

 

Not entirely sure what it means.