Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I'm new here, so I hope I have posted this in the correct forum?

My wife has aquired a second hand T30 2gz, it came with XP pro sp2 pre installed.

Quite pleased with it, but it is very slow to boot/reboot. Could this be just our perception as we are new to laptops, or is there some tweaking we could do?

Thanks

G'day and welcome to thinkpads.com!

Yes you are in the correct place. I just re-booted my 1.13Ghz T23 running with 1024MB in Windows XP SP2 and it took 1:45 until the Firefox browser had finished opening up my 4 default tabs. I have a 60GB 5400rpm drive on this system and have a couple of small application programs running and have AVG antivirus. It's also connecting to the net over an 802.11g wireless system.

Depending upon how many programs are setup to launch on your system, the speed of your hard drive and the amount of system memory, you may have a bottleneck somewhere. You may also have some malware running on it as well. If it takes your system about a minute to a minute and a half before you can start a program then that sounds about right. If you are experiencing a much longer boot delay then it's time to look at both your hardware and software.

How much memory do you have in the system?
Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties.

What is the manufacturer and model of hard disk drive?
Double click the My Computer icon, then right-click on drive C: and select Properties. The Hardware tab should contain your disk drive info.

Are you using the system on battery only?
It's possible that your system is running at a slower speed due to the Intel Speedstep function. Plugging in an AC adapter usually will make your system run the fastest. You can manually select High Performance from the Power Option properties window (right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, Screen Saver tab, Power button, Power Schemes tab).

How many processes are running in memory?
Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the Windows Task Manager. Click the Processes tab and look at the lower left corner. There should be a total number of processes running. My T23 system has 40 at the moment. This includes Firefox, four AVG processes, five system tray programs and some Thinkpad utilities. If you look at the CPU column that will tell you which process(es) are taking up the most number of CPU cycles.

When was the last time you defragmented the disk drive?
To a lesser degree, the amount of fragmented files can slow your system down since the hard drive has to retrieve your files from all over the disk.

What are you running in the way of antivirus/spyware?
Some programs are resource hogs. I was using Norton AV 2006 but it made my system noticeably slower, thus my changeover to AVG and Comodo (on another system) for now.

And finally, you can shorten your "boot" time somewhat by using the hibernate function. Instead of totally shutting down Windows (Start/Turn off computer), put the system into hibernation. That way the next time you turn on the system, Windows will reload everything back the way it was without having to go through a "cold boot". You should be able to press the Fn+F12 key combination and that will hibernate the laptop. If that doesn't work, you can click Start, then Turn off your computer and then instead of clicking the Turn Off button, press the "H" key. To turn the system back on, press the power button as you normally do. You will see Windows start up with a message indicating that the system is resuming.

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your prompt and highly detailed reply!

It takes about 1.40 minutes to boot, which from what you say, is not to bad. I think, as I suggested in my original post, that as we have had no experience with laptops, it is only appearing to boot slowly in compaison to our PC.

It is a T30 2Ghz with 512MB running in windows XP pro SP2. It is connecting to the Internet from an 802.11g wireless connection to the router next to the PC. The PC is in turn connected to the Internet via a adsl connection.

It is used by means of an adapter, rather than battery.

I defragmented the drive a couple of days ago, only took 10 minutes (!) - ntfs file system, which I have never seen before, I am used to 1h 45m defrag on the PC with FAT 32.

Also have running AVG, Zonealarm, Spybot S&D, and AdAware.

So reading your reply, I am quite sure all is well and we just have to adapt to it.

Many thanks for your comprehensive post which I greatly appreciate.

Regards,
tiger

The T30 can take a total of 2GB memory (2x 1GB).
If both slots work, you could max out the RAM to speed up things.
If just one slot works, buy just a single 1GB stick.
XP will be flying!

To read more about a possible memory slot problem, see this post:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=13262

Hi RBS,

Thanks for the post!

You also may want to consider reinstalling XP with only the programs that you need. My 1.13ghz T23 with 576mb ram takes 25 seconds to boot up. It has 25 processes running without any antivirus or spyware protection. Boot times really don't depend on your CPU since most T61s from the factory take around a minute or more to boot. Try to run only the programs that you plan to use. You can also download a program called Ccleaner. It will let you remove a ton of junk that has accumulated in Windows.

Appreciate you suggestions!

Don't want to run without AVG, Spybot S&D, AdAware, also alrady running CCleaner.

The programs that are running are required by my wife, so don't want to remove any. After it boots, about 1m 40s, it runs very well in so much that pages load quite quickly.

The reason for my OP was that we have never had a laptop before and didn't know what was [*normal*] boot time, and noticed it was slower than the PC. - Which we now know, (thanks to you guys), is pretty much normal.

Thanks for your post!

Tiger

Well, I don't know if you can call my system "normal". Realize that my 1:45 time includes the time it takes to launch Firefox and completely load all four tabs (Yahoo!, my eBay [usually 7 SXGA+ pages!], eBay Search and Thinkpads.com; all of this over 802.11b/ADSL connection). I can get to the XP desktop in about 1:15 to 1:20. The extra 25 to 30 seconds is actually Firefox starting up, along with a couple of applets (MobileMeter, DS Clock, XNeat, 4t Tray Minimizer). If you want the quickest boot time, I would recommend that you use hibernation. Even with 1GB of memory, a hard disk password and a check for a USB floppy during boot, I can resume from hibernation in 30 seconds.

If the T30 has the same BIOS setup as on the T23, then it's possible that you have disabled the "quick" boot mode. Do you see a running memory check prior to getting the "loading Windows" screen? If so, you can access the BIOS, go to the Startup menu and change the boot mode from "diagnostic" to "quick". This skips the more intensive memory check.

Hi Ray,

To be honest, the laptop is my wife's and she is quite happy with it at the moment, which makes life easier for me. -

However, I have printed out some of the info from people who have responded, for future reference. I have now also made a note about the 'quick boot' option in the BIOS that you just mentioned.

Might have a look at startup options in the BIOS, sometime if I get bored with the peaceful life

Thanks to yourself and the others who were kind enough to post.

Regards,
Tiger

Hi Guys,

Booted into the bios, and 'Quick Boot' is enabled.

Thanks again for all your help!

Tiger

EDIT - Spelling

Ray, go and download Firefox 3.0b1 (beta), it starts up a lot quicker now!
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Hi RBS,

I have read nothing but good about 'Firefox' and your post has encouraged me to at least download it, and save it disc.

My reluctance to install it is mainly due to a couple of things I have so far neglected to state. -

1. I am not very tech savvy.
2. I am getting on in years.

Both these things make it difficult for me to try 'new things', as I invariably screw it up, if something is working reasonably well, my instinct now, is to leave well enough alone.

You have no idea how much courage it took, last night, to check that 'Quick Boot' had not been disabled on the laptop, by booting into the BIOS, on the laptop

I have been interested about Firefox for some time and I might try installing it on the PC first.

Thanks for your continued interest!

Cheers,
Tiger

There's no magic about it. Just doubleclick your downloaded Firefox file, it will install itself, automatically import all the 'Favorites' from Internet Explorer (FF calls them Bookmarks) when it asks you, and then asks if it should be the default browser or not. You can always change this later.
So, happy (and a lot safer) browsing!

RealBlackStuff wrote:Ray, go and download Firefox 3.0b1 (beta), it starts up a lot quicker now!

Hmm.. I guess I'll have to give it a try on one of my test sleds. I'm always leery about using "beta" versions since it usually means that I'll "abet" Mozilla with finding their bugs . For now, FF 2.0.0.10 seems to be running quite well; slow startup time notwithstanding.