Computer takes a long time to start up

[El Moose Monstero]

A problem I've been puzzling over - my computer will take several minutes to get from the initial boot screen with the bios option to go to the windows login screen and often taking the time between the boot screen and the windows loading screen, showing nothing but a blank screen.

I'm assuming this is a hardware problem rather than a software problem; I'm running Windows Vista, a Q6600 chip, 2 gig of ram, I have 2 hard drives installed (250, 500 gb), with the windows directory on the smallest of the two, and a geforce 8600 512 mb card. I do occassionally get problems with my graphics card causing stuttering, but these are generally after transporting the computer in the car and are normally solved by taking the card out and putting it back in again.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[DesertFly]

Has it always taken this long to boot up? Was it faster when you first got it (or first installed Vista)? Have you tried running a spyware/virus scanner, and some sort of registry cleaner? (I use CCleaner, although I'm sure someone will be along shortly telling me how that's crap and will make my computer poop green or some shit.)

[El Moose Monstero]

No, my recollection is that it used to boot up more or less instantly when I first put it together, but I couldn't say when I started noticing the delays. I've got an up-to-date virus scanner and firewall, although I've not done a registry check in a good long while. I'll have a go at that.

So it's just as likely to be an issue with software rather than hardware?

[Braedley]

If you never really noticed a change, then it's probably been getting worse at a slow rate, which leads me to think that it's windows rot. CCleaner, Ad-Aware (although I feel it isn't as good as it used to be), Spybot S&D may help.

[General Zod]

When was the last time you cleaned out the insides for dust?

[El Moose Monstero]

When was the last time you cleaned out the insides for dust?

To be honest, I don't think I have ever really done a proper clean out for dust beyond blowing over the graphics card fan when it was playing up as described in the OP. What do I need to do? Do I actually take all the components out and blast them with compressed air or can am I better using something with a lower pressure such as the nozzle of a manual foot pump?

[Napoleon the Clown]

Just pop open the side panel and blast away with some canned air. Just be sure to hold your breath and possibly close your eyes. You'll get a surprising amount of dust kicked up.

Defragging the harddrive may also be of use.

[Dominus Atheos]

The only thing it could be that's easily fixable is a misconfigured bios. you can try resetting the defaults and see if that helps. The only other things it could be is a dying mobo or an os issue that will require a nuke and pave to fix.