Please forgive me for making this explanation too long, as I am very wordy, and I am basically telling the computer's history with me. (If you want to skip down to the basics of what's wrong with my computer, do a search for this phrase "For Those Of You Who Didn't Want To Read My Lengthy Explanation", or just scroll down the page till you see the phrase.)
Okay, first off, the circumstances. I got a PowerSpec desktop computer from an ex-friend. We now have parted ways, in very unpleasant circumstances, so there is no way I can get any information from him on the computer. If you need to know any information, just ask me, and I will get the information for you, but please tell me how to get the info you need.
Here is my, um, I guess you could say my status, ha ha.
When it comes to computer programs, I am a total whiz at it. I can make a computer do almost anything I want to, from the programs part of it. Give me a program on a computer and a few hours, and I will have mastered it. (The only exception to this is the computer's registry. I know crap about editing, using, etc. the registry)
However, when you get down to the heart of the computer, from the BIOS to the physical internals of a computer (the processor, the video cards, the motherboard, etc.) I am a complete and total idiot, and know nothing about this stuff.
Okay, now here is the situation.
My friend gave me the computer. At first it was just for me to borrow, so I really didn't use it that much. I reinstalled the OS on it, and kinda let it just sit around, turned off, and used my laptop only.
However, eventually, I had it so long, that I started to use it. At first, just to browse the internet, but then I started installing programs on it, with Norton SymantecWorks first, so I could make sure everything was clean.
Eventually, (about a month later), I was given the computer. It was mine, so I decided to put it in a more active role, considering it is a Pentium 4 computer, and it has a 2.20 GHz processor, and 512 MB of RAM, basically sh*tcanning my laptop's specs. (By the way, I'm running Windows XP with Service Pack 2)
However, no one likes change, and I was still a little resistant to just move over completely to my new desktop, as all of my programs and games were on my laptop.
However, I started to get new and different programs, but I was still using my laptop, so I used the desktop to test my new programs to make sure that they weren't virus infected, or bad for my computer. Eventually I got about 30+ programs running on my desktop, and it was getting kinda messy.
See, one thing about me, is that I like to make sure that only things that I use are on my computer. I get super paranoid about my computer.
I don't want to install anything at all on my computer at all, unless I KNOW I'm gonna use it, because I'm so paranoid that I don't even want it on my computer, because it will show up in my computer's registry. Yes, I know, I'm weird, but I just am like that.
Anyways, I had to reinstall the OS (Windows XP with Service Pack 2) several times (about 3 times) to clean up the whole system.
Anyways, not too long after, I found the program that I consider and always will, the apple of my eye, more valuable than any gold, better than any girl (hmmmm, gotta think about that, ha ha, and no, I'm not gay
).Anyways, this program is what they use at my school to prevent the crap the students download from clogging up and slowing down their computers. It's called "DeepFreeze".
What it does is it literally freezes your computer. When you install the program's workstation program, it freezes your computer's hard drive. You can install all the crap and anything you want on the computer. You can get the worst viruses and trojans and delete the entire HDD. Then simply restart your computer, and everything comes back, exactly down the exact bit as it was when you froze your computer. Then if you want to make a change on your computer, you simply "thaw" your computer, make the change, then you can "refreeze" your computer with the changes you made, and they will stay.
Well, this is where my computer started acting up. I didn't realize it at first. I thought that it was DeepFreeze acting up, since I didn't realize that something on my computer could be damaged just by reinstalling the OS.
At first I couldn't access the DeepFreeze login area to thaw my computer, so I had to reinstall the OS. Then it was acting slowly, so I thought a reinstallation of the OS would fix it up. I ended up reinstalling the OS at least 7-10 times in a period of 3-5 days.
Now, I had it where my computer was all setup, and nice and organized and tidy.
Well, there was only one problem. When I turned on my computer, or rebooted it, it turned on. I saw the computer manufacturer's screen (the one you see where it says to press F2 to enter system setup). Then it shows the Windows Loading (?) screen where the loading bar flows, under the words "Windows XP".
Now, after about 3-5 seconds, it flashes a black screen, then goes completely black for about 3 minutes. I don't know why. The computer's little CPU light (the one that flashes/blinks or glows when the HDD is being read) doesn't glow, so I know the computer's not overworking itself. It flashes every few seconds.
After about 5 seconds of the black screen, it changes to the logon screen. Now, the dialogue box doesn't show up right away. This is very annoying. I have to wait about 5-8 minutes or maybe even longer.
During this time, I can see my mouse cursor, but when I move my mouse, there is a long delay from when I move it, to when I see the cursor move. However, the CPU's little indicator light isn't glowing (showing that the computer's overworking, it's flashing every now and then, just like everything's normal and running fine).
Well, finally the dialogue box shows up where I can type my name in. Sometimes, when I don't wait for about a minute after it shows up, when I type my password, the characters show up very slowly, and the mouse cursor still moves slowly.
However, if I wait for about a minute, I can type the letters and they will appear instantly, just like normal, just like they are supposed to. And the mouse cursor doesn't suffer from the horrible slowdown.
Well, after I logon, into my Windows account, everything runs at normal speed. It's just when I am starting the computer up, either from a shutdown computer, or from a reboot, that it takes an extremely long time for the computer to respond.
For Those Of You Who Didn't Want To Read My Lengthy Explanation
Basically, I reinstalled my computer's OS (Windows XP with Service Pack 2) about 10 times, within a 5 day period. Now, when I start up my computer, or reboot it, it takes an extremely long time to display the login screen, then an even longer time to show the login dialogue box.
However, once I logon to my account, the computer functions at normal speed.
What's Not Wrong With The Computer
I know it's not the HDD (Hard Disc Drive). I took my internal 8.45 Gig drive and switched it out with the one that is in my computer, reinstalled the OS onto it, and when the computer rebooted, it took a long time to start up, so I know that it's not anything to do with a bad sector on the HDD, or having trouble reading the data from the HDD.
I doubt it's the Graphics card, since that only deals with graphics.
Also, none of the programs are causing this strange behavior, as I have the exact (down to the way and in order of how I installed them) configuration of programs on my both my laptops, one being the less powerful one, the other one being the "rival" (almost, but not quite as powerful as the desktop).
Could it be the processor or the motherboard that's wrong with the computer? Someone please help me, cause even though my computer is fine after I logon, it is horrible when I have to reboot the computer!!! What in the world did I do to my computer??? What in the world did I damage when I reinstalled my OS too many times???
Someone, please help me and tell me what I have to replace! I'm so upset here! Please help!
