Start up problem with laptop

Dollardog

My laptop sometimes hangs on start up.
It gets as far as loading the desktop icons then sometimes hangs, the little light that shows its working flashes but not as bright as usual and the little round circle that shows it woring is going round on the screen but it doesn't go any further than that. I suspect its when its trying to connect to the router.
I end up having to power down and try again, I sometimes have to do that 2-3 times before it loads properly.
The Toshiba health monitor shows no problems, I've run an antivrus scan (Kaspersky paid for) again nothing untoward showing.
I don't know how to get the list of programs that load at start up. Not that I think it would help my problem but there might be some I could get rid of.

Its running on Windows 7 Home.

Any ideas?

andy2004

i like using Autoruns to see whats loading. freeware. see link.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

its safe to use dont select delete, select disable, and if problem persists, you know it wasnt what you disabled. so re-enable.

have you tried running malwarebytes on your system?
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
download, install, click update. run scan.

did this problem accur after a windows update ?
maybe it didnt take the update properly.

Dollardog

andy2004 wrote: »

i like using Autoruns to see whats loading. freeware. see link.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

its safe to use dont select delete, select disable, and if problem persists, you know it wasnt what you disabled. so re-enable.

have you tried running malwarebytes on your system?
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
download, install, click update. run scan.

did this problem accur after a windows update ?
maybe it didnt take the update properly.

Thanks for the reply. It started a couple of months ago, can't remember if it was after an update or not to be honest.
I already have malwarebytes, haven't run it this time although I do run it from time to time anyway. Will run it again.
I will also download and run the Autoruns. How will I know which ones are safe to disable though?

I was going to ring the Toshiba helpline to see if they could help as the laptop is still under their extended warrenty.
I will try your ideas first. Thanks

TakeThis

Full model number? Probably the easiest way is just to back up your important data and then to run a Factory Restore.

But if you would like us to take a look at your Startup items, you can produce a HijackThis log or use CCleaner.

Once installed, run the Cleaner and then go to it's Tools section. Then click on the Startup button and the Save to txt file in the bottom right hand corner. Choose to save this file. You can then copy it contents in to your next post and we can advise on which to disable.

Dollardog

Thanks for the replies.
I haven't had time to do anything with it since posting - ha ha, got taken out for lunch!!
The model number is Toshiba Satellite L500-1XC. I have got a back up of most of my important stuff, although not favourites, programs etc. Would rather not go down the route of factory restore unless really necessary in case there is something I've missed.
I have never run CCleaner on this, although I have on my pc. I really ought to.
Thanks for telling me how to get a list up, I will post and take advise as to which to disable as I am sure it probably loads lots of things that are not needed at start up and I'm sure my pc does too as that seems to take ages to load these days.

I'm just about to run the malwarebytes.

andy2004

in autoruns it will tell you the publisher, so anything in there to do with toshiba i would leave enabled. anything else should be safe to disable.

after running autoruns change the tab to LOGON, this is whats loaded during startup. may seem small, but anything to do with "windows" is hidden by default. to enable that click on options at the top and then filter options and remove the tick from hide windows options. theres also a hide microsoft entries aswell. which isnt selected by default.
personally would leave window disabled and make sure none of the other programs running are causing the problem.

TakeThis

andy2004 wrote: »

in autoruns it will tell you the publisher, so anything in there to do with toshiba i would leave enabled. anything else should be safe to disable.

after running autoruns change the tab to LOGON, this is whats loaded during startup. may seem small, but anything to do with "windows" is hidden by default. to enable that click on options at the top and then filter options and remove the tick from hide windows options. theres also a hide microsoft entries aswell. which isnt selected by default.
personally would leave window disabled and make sure none of the other programs running are causing the problem.

I don't agree with that statement. Better for the OP to post the list so that we can advise.

andy2004

well in that case he'll need to unhide the microsoft entries so we can tell him which ones can be disabled. by default they are hidden by autoruns < for safety.

personally i use all of nirsoft software and systeminternals via WSCC.
WSCC is a free, portable program that allows you to install, update, execute and organize the utilities from various system utility suites. WSCC can install and update the supported utilities automatically. Alternatively, WSCC can use the http protocol to download and run the programs.
This edition of WSCC supports the following utility suites:

- Windows Sysinternals Suite (including support for "Sysinternals Live" service)
- NirSoft Utilities

Windows Sysinternals Suite download and Licensing FAQ website: http://www.sysinternals.com. this link will take you to that link.
Windows Sysinternals is property of Microsoft Corporation. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

NirSoft Utilities website: http://www.nirsoft.net.
NirSoft Utilities is property of Nir Sofer.

Dollardog

Oooo - you're getting a bit too technical for me lol - I'm a woman!!

I ran a full scan today of my Antivirus which cam up with nothing malicious, took hours to run. Then followed that with Malwarebytes, which also found nothing.
Will tackle the next bit tomorrow

Thanks for your help guys.