Hi

I need help!

For the past two weeks by PC's been really crap/slow at booting up. I've no idea why, what the cause could be. Before you say I've got too many programmes running at start-up, have a read of the description of the problem.

When turning on my PC, since I've been having the problem (as I said, for about two weeks now), I see the Dell logo (it's an 4-5 year old Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop). Next, I should see the "Windows" logo with the initialisation progress bar, but instead of seeing this my screen goes blank. Monitor is still on, and IS receiving a signal as the power light remains lit in green (not flashing orange as when monitor is on, but no "signal" being received). The computer them remains like this for 15-20 minutes before it comes back to life and I see the Windows Welcome (login) screen. During the time that the screen is blank, the busy light on my DVD+RW Drive remains illuminated, and so does the HDD busy light on the tower.

I've made no hardware/software changes since around the time this problem started. Someone mentioned something about problems with the processor cache? Is this a possibility? Is it a serious issue. I don't really want to have to wait 20 minutes before being able to use my PC. Also, after the screen "comes back to life" it still needs to fully boot up, giving another 2-3 minutes before it's usable. It's well annoying.

I'm not at home now (at work), but here are some specs of my System

    * Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop (bought between February-April 2005 I think)
    * 2GB DDR RAM
    * Intel Pentium 4
    * Windows Vista Ultimate
    * nVidia GeForce 5200 FX PCI Graphics card

Any advice/help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance. I know someone on here will be able to help me out

You should probably clean your computer and registry out with CCleaner, do a defrag, all that sort of thing. Also, you may want to scan for viruses/spyware...it seems very likely.

EDIT: CCleaner can be found here, if you don't have it already

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Originally posted by Salem
it's an 4-5 year old Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop

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quote:

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Originally posted by Salem
The computer them remains like this for 15-20 minutes before it comes back to life and I see the Windows Welcome (login) screen. During the time that the screen is blank, the busy light on my DVD+RW Drive remains illuminated, and so does the HDD busy light on the tower.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Adeptus

quote:

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Originally posted by Salem
it's an 4-5 year old Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop

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I am not going to say that you don't have a real malfunction, but I will note that a computer that old is due for a replacement and has a zero or negative (if you were to dispose of it in environmentally friendly manner) value.  Keep that in mind.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Adeptus

quote:

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Originally posted by Salem
The computer them remains like this for 15-20 minutes before it comes back to life and I see the Windows Welcome (login) screen. During the time that the screen is blank, the busy light on my DVD+RW Drive remains illuminated, and so does the HDD busy light on the tower.

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It sounds like something hanging up the IDE or SATA controller, usually a failing device.  See if you can find some diagnostic to run on your hard drive (most likely from the manufacturer of the drive) and if you haven't done so already, test the DVD+RW drive once you manage to boot up.  Does it read?  Does it write?  What happens if you disconnect it?

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