Windows 7 Slow start up after power outage

steverino

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Hello -

I did search the slow start up topics, but couldn't find anything relating to a power outage. Also, I can't say 100% that this is related to the power outage. I had this same problem a couple months ago after an automatic Windows update. I restored the computer to 2 days prior and everything was fine.

This HP computer is running Windows 7 - 64 Professional, version 6.1, build 7601 Service Pack 1. The last time I had a normal start up was last Saturday after turning off all the computers and unplugging due to thunderstorm activity in the area. Yesterday morning, Sunday, we had 4-5 momentary power outages where the electricity pretty much flickered a few times, then stayed on. This computer did start up, but the start up process took approx 20 minutes. I restored the computer to 3 days prior with no noticable difference, ran defrag with no noticeable difference, and ran chkdsk, which did make a difference. The 1st start after the chkdsk was a normal quick start, then subsequesnt starts take approx 3-4 minutes, so it has slowed down again, but not near as bad as the original problem.

The start up goes as follows: 1.) The normal Blue HP start up screen for approx 20 seconds, then, 2.) The windows graphic with the changing colored "windows" on the black background, then, 3.) a completely black screen for approx 2-3 minutes with minimal flashing of the HDD light, then 4.) proceed to Welcome to Windows screen where everything loads and the HDD light is pretty much steady. Within 30-40 seconds of getting to this point the normal desktop is up, icons are loaded, and computer is ready to use.

My step 3 noted above - the black screen, is usually 15-20 seconds max, so it seems whatever the hangup is is occuring during that time.

After the start up is complete everything works normally. There isn't any abnormal use of memory or CPU usage.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Steve
 
Last edited:
I figured it out! By unchecking most of the start up programs, and then starting them up 1 by 1, I determined the problem was Avast. I uninstalled Avast, and then reinstalled. Then after re-booting I have the normal start up time. I'm assuming Avast may have been updating at the time of the power outage?
 
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