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Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up?

An anonymous reader writes "Computers take too long to boot up, and it doesn't make sense to me. Mine takes around 30 seconds; it is double or triple that for some of my friends' computers that I have used. Why can't a computer turn on and off in an instant just like a TV? 99% of boots, my computer is doing the exact same thing. Then I get to Windows XP with maybe 50 to 75 megs of stuff in memory. My computer should be smart enough to just load that junk into memory and go with it. You could put this data right at the very start of the hard drive. Whenever you do something with the computer that actually changes what happens during boot, it could go through the real booting process and save the results. Doing this would also give you instant restarts. You just hit your restart button, the computer reloads the memory image, and you can be working again. Or am I wrong? Why haven't companies made it a priority to have 'instant on' desktops and laptops?"

13 of 975 comments (clear)

  1. You haven't asked before by JonathanR · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is because until now, you haven't submitted your question to Slashdot.

  2. Re:hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about being a little more patient? 30 seconds is not that long. It takes food in my microwave longer to heat up.

    If your only concerned about fast startups, why don't you just install Windows ME. It will take less then 15 seconds to start up, your friends will be amazed, plus an added bonus of bluescreens ever 30 seconds.

  3. Re:Gotta mention the obligatory Steve Jobs story h by Ghoser777 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hate to imagine the amount of human lifetimes lost on slashdot...

    --
    James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
  4. Be serious by BCW2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Windows didn't go through the complete boot process each time how would it come up with random reasons to crash?

    --
    Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  5. Why can't a computer turn on and off like a TV? by bunions · · Score: 5, Funny

    honestly, this is like the dumbest possible way to ask why we can't have faster boot times.

    Ok, maybe not. The dumbest possible way is probably something like:

    "why can't the compujigger turn on faster, like the whatchamavision?"

    but still, it's pretty damn close.

    --
    there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
  6. Yeah, why does it take so long? by aldo.gs · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, all those gears and counterweights can't be that slow, now can they? Wait...

  7. Re:Gotta mention the obligatory Steve Jobs story h by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, if everybody just stared at their screens and drooled while they booted, I guess you could say something was being wasted. Except for all the quality drooling time, of course.

  8. Re:Gotta mention the obligatory Steve Jobs story h by greg_barton · · Score: 5, Funny
    The amount of human lifetimes that are wasted waiting for PC's to reboot is pretty horrifying - and there's a lot more than a million of them.

    I just spent 30 seconds reading your post.

    YOU BASTARD!
  9. Re:Oh please. by Dean+Hougen · · Score: 3, Funny
    I really don't know if it's that great of an idea to turn of a computer over lunch. One of the hardest things on a computer (hard drive, motherboard, power supply, you name it) is starting up. That's when most hardware failures occur. Shutting the computer down for an hour at a time and rebooting is going to shorten lifetimes of your hardware. I think when that hard drive fries it might well take more energy to construct a new hard drive and restore backups, etc, than you probably would have saved during those 30-60 minutes x however many days.

    Absolutely right. After your machine has been off for an hour almost all the oil has drained back into the pan, so it isn't lubricating the engine like it should be. You're better off letting it idle over your lunch hour.

    Dean

  10. Re:hum by Fred_A · · Score: 3, Funny
    Hibernation is still not "instant-on" by a long shot. My P4 laptop still takes almost 3/4 as much time to resume from hibernation as it does to boot.
    You've got to be kidding, on my machine, I press the button on the TV thing and presto, I'm right where I was before I turned it off. And it just takes a couple seconds.
    And it never crashes either. Those computer things are like magic.
    --

    May contain traces of nut.
    Made from the freshest electrons.
  11. Re:hum by I+Like+Pudding · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...or you can just go into Quicktime's config and disable the startup option. You don't get that same feeling of beating The Man, though.

  12. Re:hum by Sajarak · · Score: 5, Funny
    Or linux with 'init=/bin/sh'. Only takes a couple of seconds on my machine.
    And runs completely off your sense of self-satisfaction! ;-)
  13. Switch by David+Nabbit · · Score: 3, Funny
    Apple is slowly turning your Windows PC into a Mac, starting with putting QuickTime in the startup folder.

    As for Adobe, they just don't like you.

    --
    "Her idea of wit is nothing more than an incisive observation humorously phrased and delivered with impeccable timing."