Laptop screen stays black for 25 min after startup - please help

[Seeker]

Hi-

About three weeks ago, my Gateway model MA7 (MT6821) laptop with Windows Vista Home premium began loading the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, Skype and Yahoo Messenger as usual... but the desktop and the files on it were not visible for 10 minutes - just a black screen.  Now it's a 25 min delay, and I can't access any files or start taskbar programs until the desktop & files appear. (I can, however, tell Vista to accept Skype & Yahoo Messenger access on popup windows that appear before the full startup - The sidebar with a clock also starts quickly)

The font on my desktop files also appears to have changed and gotten slightly thinner.

I've downloaded several video editing programs during this time and before, so not sure if that's a factor. I'd be glad to eliminate some. I've attached a screenshot of the processes that run at startup (see below), in hopes someone reading this may recognize one that's causing a conflicton other pcs. Also have a long list of services running that I can mlist in case that may give anyone a clue.

I bought my pc the first month Vista was released (Feb 07). I downloaded IE8
two weeks ago, but the problem was happening before I updated from IE7.

Have an Intel Core2 cpu T5200 @ 160GHz processor with 2GB ram and a 32-bit OS. 112 GB hard drive, most of which is filled with video and audio files, etc. I've run AVG and Ad-Aware scans but it hasn't fixed the problem.

Thanks for your help,
Jeff






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[cat-bomb]

Are those all of the processes?

[Idiosyncrasy]

Try deleting some unnecessary files, e.g. whatever you don't use regularly. Chances are, your hard drive is bogged down. I've had it happen to me.

How much space is left on your hard drive?

[Seeker]

Thanks - those are all the processes that appear at startup. I'd be glad to eliminate any unnecessary ones.

I don't have a lot of hard drive space left. Since I download a lot of video files, I'll get to no space left at times and have to delete files. on average I have 750MB-1GB available.

[Idiosyncrasy]

You need to keep like 15% of your hard drive free depending on what OS you're using. Make it 15Gb and you'll probably see a HUGE performance jump.

[Seeker]

I'll definitely try that, but since it was never a problem before, is there anything I can remove (programs, processes, etc) that also might help?

[Idiosyncrasy]

Well, you can make all the programs that start up when you boot your computer to be set to NOT boot up when you do so. Have shortcuts on your desktop for them so your computer doesn't have the extra burden of loading them when you start your computer.

[Broni]

If you don't increase hard drive free space, one day, your computer won't boot at all, and your only option will be to format, and reinstall Windows.

[cat-bomb]

Try downloading ATF Cleaner
Save it to your Desktop.

Please locate ATF

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
  
• Click Select All found at the bottom of the list.
  
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  

If you use Firefox browser[/b], do this also:

• Click Firefox at the top and choose Select All from the list.
  
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  
• NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
  

If you use Opera browser[/b], do this also:

• Click Opera at the top and choose Select All from the list.
  
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  
• NOTE: : If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
  

Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.

Also, please tell us how much space it has freed.

[Seeker]

Thanks for all your replies! Downloaded and ran the ATF program, which removed 150kb. I'd already been clearing IE and Firefox caches to free space, but this is quicker.

Stopped Skype, Yahoo IM, Windows Media Ctr network sharing svce config app, iTunes, GoogleTalk, Adobe Acrobat and Realplayer from starting automatically at startup. Also tried dumping some files - 5gb out of 111gb are now free. I'm still trying to get to 15-17gb total free, but have sooooo many files.

The window still stays black after startup, but now it's only 2 minutes vs. 25 minutes.  Still, the 2 min. delay (and font change) worries me. Is there any more troubleshooting I can do besides defragmenting?

Can I/should I suspend any of these other programs still running at startup? Are any known to cause trouble? They are: three Intel Common User Interface programs (igfxtray.exe, hkcmd.exe and igfxpers.exe) and Intel's RAID Event Monitor (Iaanotif.exe), QuickTime (QTTask.exe), Java polatform SE 6 U11 (jusched.exe), GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe and GoogleUpdate.exe.  Thanks again!

[Broni]

I'm still trying to get to 15-17gb total free

This is your main goal, for now.
We'll worry about unnecessary startups later.
Move pictures, music, movies etc. somewhere else (CD, DVD, external HD).
Uninstall not used programs.
Disable Hibernate in Windows Vista: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsVista/Disable_Hibernate_in_Windows_Vista.html (this will save you couple gigs)

[Seeker]

All good advice, but a quick question about disabling hibernation:

When I click Vista's Start button, there is no "Start Search" box - maybe because I use the classic view of the desktop? 

When I do a file search for cmd.exe, three cmd.exe files (each with corresponding cmdkey32 and cmdkey files) show up with identical icons:  one set is in the System32, the 2nd set is in the SysWOW64 folder, and the third set is in this folder: (C:\USWV64PR\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-commandprompt...)

Which of these cmd.exe files should I use the command on to disable hibernation, or is there another way? 

[Broni]

The one in system32.
Change from "classic" to "default". It's much easier to use. More options.