Thinkpads Forum

I'm wondering how long it takes other people to start up their machines. I recently tried using Registry First Aid to clean my registry, and it seems like my machine is taking much longer to boot up now.

It takes about 1 minute from power on to get to the windows login screen, and then another 3.5-4 minutes to finish loading all my programs. My method of timing is not very accurate -- I'm just watching and timing until all the normal programs finish loading in the system tray -- so if anyone has a better idea or even knows a program that can help with this, please do tell.

I'm running Windows Vista on a T60p with a 2.0 GHz processor and 2GB of memory. My startup programs are basically the default programs the thinkpad came with. (I replaced Norton Internet Security with Symantec Corporate Antivirus, and turned off a few Thinkvantage utilities, but that's about it.)

If anyone knows about how long it should take to start up, or better yet cares to time and post your own results, I'd really appreciate it.

X61 (2.0 GHz, 3 GB, 7K200).

1:05 to the login screen; swipe finger immediately
1:10 until almost everything is ready, except ...
0:25 additional for Skype to load

So that's a total of 2:40 for everything, or about 2:15 without Skype.

33 seconds from pressing power buton to Windows XP desktop with auto login. Clean Windows XP install, no bloatware, only usefull IBM Power Manager, IBM software for OSD, HDD airbag applet, FireGL V5200 driver with Control Panel (not Catalyst Control Center so no Framework .net), RightMark CPU clock and TPfancontrol.

I love fast boot !

ThinkPad T60p : Core Duo T2600, FireGL V5200 256 Mo, 14" SXGA+, 2 Go DDR2-667 CL4, Momentus 7200.2 160 Go, DVD burner

Do you have the CSS (Client Security solution) in your bootup? I am not talking about the fingerprint reader during boot, this is a different thinkvantage software. If you are not using it, you can disable (or even uninstall it) and you should see a significant decrease in boot time.

Nope. I don't use it.

Within reason, I don't care how long a machine takes to start.

My machines will however:

1. Start reliably time after time after time.
2. Never crash.
3. Run fast.
4. Run smoooooooooooth

I don't need to save less than a bathroom break by leaving things I want and need behind just to boot faster.

If you only reboot once a week, the boot time indeed becomes pretty much irrelevant. Now, unfortunately 3 GB has increased my hibernation times ...

tomh009 wrote:If you only reboot once a week, the boot time indeed becomes pretty much irrelevant. Now, unfortunately 3 GB has increased my hibernation times ...

I have gotten into that habit with both my T60 and T23. I reboot only when I install some update and windows pesters me to restart.

To the OP: if you are not using CSS, uninstall it (you can leave the FP reader s/w as it is, since functions independantly). My boot times became much faster after I did that on my T60.

@gator: Thanks for the tip! Uninstalling Client Security Solution made a huge difference.

@Pascal: How can I make it so that only the ATI drivers load? I never mess with the settings in CCC anyways -- can I just uninstall the program?

nomissa wrote:@gator: Thanks for the tip! Uninstalling Client Security Solution made a huge difference.

@Pascal: How can I make it so that only the ATI drivers load? I never mess with the settings in CCC anyways -- can I just uninstall the program?

Only tested with Windows XP :
- Download Lenovo FireGL driver. In the folder C:\Drivers\WIN\DISPLAY\Driver (not C:\Drivers\WIN\DISPLAY), you run setup.exe so it only install the driver alone.

- Download directly form http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/fireglv-xp.html the FireGL Software Suite. Note it only weights 25 MB ! Start the install. It will fail ! Go to something like C:\ATI\...\cpanel and run the setup.exe. It will install the good old Control Panel.

Please note that Control Panel and Catalyst Control Center are only an interface to change registery keys witch control the driver itself. You can also use some softwares like ATI Tray Tools to control the settings instead of CP or CCC. They all do the same job. Also, Control Panel (perhaps also ATI Tray Tools) offers less options then Catalys Control Center (like temporal anti aliasing or Catalys IA) but most features are aviable.

PS : ATI Tools is not ATI Tray Tools