WinME startup Problem

My system:
Athlon Tbird 1GHz
Elitegroup K7VZA Rev. 3.2b (bios updated due to via bug)
Hercules 3D Prophet II MX 64 MB (Geforce2MX)
SBLive! Player 1024
2 HDs: PriMas: Maxtor 10 GB UDMA 33
SecMas: IBM 46,1 GB UDMA 100
Asus 50x CDROM (PriSlav) UDMA 33
Tevion 4x4x32 (SecSlav) Pio4 (but DMA enabled in windows)
Microsoft Intelli Mouse Explorer
256 MB PC133 SDRAM Infineon

My Problem:
Sometimes when starting WinME and the wallpaper has already occured, Windows is booting real slowly. In nearly stops booting, when the quick start has shown up and it takes ages to load the icons in system tray. Windows seems to stop and resume booting frequently, it is loading one or 2 icons, then stopping, then again loading another...
When starting up has finished and I open the explorer, I always notice that Windows didn't find My logical partition D,E,F (my complete secMast hard disc). All other programs and the complete windows is running real slowly then and the only way out is to reboot windows or, if it has crashed after completing the boot sequence, press reset.

1st - I'd partition that IBM 46Gb HDD into 3 15Gb partitions, set it as Pri/Mas. Since your motherboard doesn't support UDMA 100 I'd try a different IDE cable preferably a UDMA66 IDE cable. I don't know if there could be a problem using the UDMA 100 cable if that's what you're using.

2nd - If the cd-rw isn't capable of UDMA 33, which you would see it set at during boot, if not, disable it in Windows. Improper hardware settings can create startup problems not to mention memory problems.

3rd - Make sure your power supply is on AMD's recommended list, all of them devices you have on your system could, well may be causing some problems also. But just because a power supply isn't on their list doesn't mean it won't work, but it does give a little extra assurance if it is on their list.

4th - Make sure the heatsink/fan is properly installed on your processor, excessive thermal paste can also cause more harm than good. Be sure the heatsink is resting on the die not just the little feet resting on the ceramic frame of the processor, some heatsinks must be modified to fit correctly. Be careful, you do not want to crush the die which can be done very easily.

5th - Make sure on-board sound is properly disabled in the system setup (CMOS/BIOS) whatever.

Oh, you'll also want to make sure that you don't have a bunch of programs trying to load at the launch of Windows, i.e., Lotus, Office 2K, System Monitor, etc.... they can be setup to load all by themselves, you can view autoloaded programs in the bottom right hand corner by the clock, the more icons down by the clock being loaded, the slower the system will boot, the wrong combination of programs being loaded can cause system lock-ups, memory leaks.


Good Luck, hope this was usefull.

I changend the 4x4x32 to PIO Mode in Windows (like it is shown on startup).
I can't change the hard disks, because I need the big one for many logical partitions, so it's impossible. But me Motherboard (Via KT133A) supports UDMA-100.
The sound on board is already disabled.
And the heatsink/fan is also working well.
In the end, windows still has the same problem :(

I missed to read whether you clean installed ME or you upgraded from other versions. If it is an upgrade than you should seriously consider clean installing it.

If you already clean installed ME, then my question is, did you disconnect all peripherals when installed it? ME is frustrating when you clean install it and all peripherals are plugged in to your computer. Perhaps it is worth trying disconnect all except mouse, monitor and keybord. Install ME, then the drivers, then plug the peripherals. Make sure that all drivers are ME compatible. If that doesn't work, then you may have to focus on the interrupts.

Another thing you might consider, check the registry for the last drive listed. This can be found in the registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Setup]

You may also want to try making the CDRW the Secondary Master. I have found that this solves more problems than anything when dealing with CDRW's. Also make sure you keep the CDROM and CDRW on separate IDE channels.