Dell XPS L501X - Slow Startup - New Laptop takes more than 2 minutes to boot up

Two minutes is long.  How are you measuring the boot time?

Right click Computer and select Manage. Then click on Event Viewer, then Applications and Services Log, then click on Microsoft and then Windows. Scroll down the list and double click on Diagnostics-Performance. Scroll down the list till you see an Event ID of 100. This is a boot event. Then click on Details and look for BootTime and MainPathBootTime. The MainPathBootTime is the time from the Dell log-on page till the Desktop is fully loaded. This is the number to work with. My best results are in the area of 30 (30000 milliseconds) when everything is running OK; my last boot was 84 seconds with a MeanPathBootTime of 48 seconds. If something is not loading correctly, Items above the 100 ID (101) show what program is loading too slowly and how much time was lost. 

I range between 30 an 45 seconds, but don't worry about any longer times because I use Sleep mode and rarely shut down except for reboots needed after installing updates.

One thing that will slow down  boot-up after the Desktop has loaded is the Indexing program. This really isn't needed and can be shut off.

Two minutes is long.  How are you measuring the boot time? Right click Computer and select Manage. Then click on Event Viewer, then Applications and Services Log, then click on Microsoft and then Windows. Scroll down the list and double click on Diagnostics-Performance. Scroll down the list till you see an Event ID of 100. This is a boot event. Then click on Details and look for BootTime and MainPathBootTime. The MainPathBootTime is the time from the Dell log-on page till the Desktop is fully loaded. This is the number to work with. My best results are in the area of 30 (30000 milliseconds) when everything is running OK; my last boot was 84 seconds with a MeanPathBootTime of 48 seconds. If something is not loading correctly, Items above the 100 ID (101) show what program is loading too slowly and how much time was lost.  I range between 30 an 45 seconds, but don't worry about any longer times because I use Sleep mode and rarely shut down except for reboots needed after installing updates. One thing that will slow down  boot-up after the Desktop has loaded is the Indexing program. This really isn't needed and can be shut off.

Thanks for your reply.

When I went through the steps you mentioned, there were multiple events with "100" - (I guess they represent every time I rebooted?) ..  The MainPathBootTime ranged from 29846 to as high as 63367. The latest 100 event was 45918. 

As for the programs listed above each 100 event - there were quite a few:  DellDataSafeLocalBackup, USB driver, Intel Wireless Wifi link, iphlpsvc, NVIDIA, Realtek high definition, etc. - and many others.  What does this mean?  Sorry, I"m not very technically skilled.  Can you tell me what this means and what I should do?

I"m just bumping this thread to the top in the hopes more people will comment.

Is a 2-minute-and-15 second startup time the "norm" for this laptop?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

The 23 to 63 second boot times are in range. The items listed above the 100 are those items taking longer to load that the OS thinks they should. These items can stall the computer for a while if they take lots of resources, and it seems the OS is loading slowly, which it isn't. You need to look at each item and decide if it is something that needs to be loaded each time you boot, and if it is necessary, why it might be loading slowly. Most of the things you listed are needed, but there are probably some that are not.

To start with, download Winpatrol and use it. This is a resident program that keeps track of what is running and what is loading initially. Start with the Startup Program tab. Unnecessary programs can be set to not start, and some necessary ones can be put in the delayed start section.

My new Xps L501X takes 72 seconds to fully boot into Windows 7.  Seems like Dell dock takes awhile to load. 

Yes, but 72 seconds is far better than 140 seconds (My latest start-up was 2 minutes and 20 seconds). I would have no problem if it was just 72 seconds.

When I asked Dell  tech support about this, the tech said he saw nothing wrong with this and that it's all just my "perspective" that this seems long.

Ridiculous.

Does anyone know if this is a hardware or a software issue?  Would reinstalling Windows 7 help?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting pretty frustrated. I paid a lot of money for this and didn't expect such a slow startup time for a brand new laptop.

Actually, I uninstalled McAfee as soon as my laptop arrived. I have Norton instead, and Norton never delayed by startup time on my previous Studio XPS 16 laptop. So, I don't think this is causing the slowdown.  I haven't activated the facial recognition yet, so I don't think this is slowing things either.

Can you tell me how long your startup time is?

Also, what kind of screen issue were you having?

Just bumping up this thread in the hopes a few more people will offer comments or advice.

Just bumping this thread one more time in the hopes a few more people will offer comments or advice.

madison1137, I've been working in IT/Computer Repair for years and my experience shows me that both McAfee and Norton tend to slow things down a lot. They may not be causing this specific problem, however. Facial recognition can still be running even if you haven't activated it.

My ideas of what is causing your problem is almost purely speculation from my end because I've had about 30 minutes with a new XPS 15. I ordered one and ended up getting a refund on it because of some problems it had. I have ordered a replacement and should receive it in the next couple of days. I'll experiment with it then to see what I can find out.

Phylter00 - thanks for your reply.

And please let me know what you find when you receive the replacement. 

As for Norton, I had the same program installed on the old Studio XPS 16 laptop and it also had facial recognition software -and my startup time was less than a minute.  I realize we can't compare the two laptops the same since they're configured differently, but I haven't heard of anyone with a startup time of 2-minutes-and-20 seconds on a brand new laptop. Also, please keep in mind, the startup time - before I added a single program - was two minutes. 

If your new laptop arrives with a similar startup time, then please let me know.  The other person in this thread who  had this laptop reported his startup time at 72 seconds, which is quite reasonable.

also, get rid of norton and use MSE,  http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

hi,

2mins startup means your cpu is running at single 1.6 ghz speed, you should check your bios  to see if intel speed step was disabled.

load bios default then save & restart may solve the problem.

I just got the same laptop, WOW! Check that bright screen!

But back to the point -- I installed CCleaner and used the Startup manager under Tools to disable most of the programs loading at startup, and there were a bunch. I left the Synaptics mouse/touchpad utility on, but that was it. Also, I uninstalled the McAfee AV, and installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I also disabled the dock by unchecking "load at startup" under "advanced settings" when you right click the dock.

I restarted, cut the boot time in half. I don't know how many actual seconds it takes, but its fine for me now.