Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen

Started by Kevin

Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   20 February 2013, 04:47

When I started using SoftPerfect RAMDisk, I would experience freezes in the Welcome Screen of Win7 x64 randomly. Sometimes it goes through, sometimes it doesn't. Is this a known problem of the program? I really want this program because it is so fast.

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   23 February 2013, 04:25

Are you sure the problem is RAMdisk and not something else?
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   23 February 2013, 12:27

I think so. Because I just uninstalled this RAMDisk and the problem was gone.
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   23 February 2013, 16:58

Sorry!!!
False alarm. It's avast free edition that's causing the problem.
RAM Disk is fine.

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   25 February 2013, 19:02

That is a common issue with security apps. I used to use a security app that, because of timing issues during the boot process, would occasionally "not trust" something that had already been marked as 'Trusted and Allowed'. At least that app popped up a warning, if Avast doesn't then that's too bad. But, you're using the 'free' version of Avast which may not offer that option.

Anyway, I'm glad that the issue is now resolved. I was sure the problem wasn't in SoftPerfect software (note, I'm not an employee of SoftPerfect, just a very happy user that appreciates the excellent customer support for the excellent products that they provide.)

J
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   25 February 2013, 23:33

Understood, thanks for the explanation mate.

Well, actually it is a problem of Avast AV even when Softperfect RAMDisk isn't installed. It is a well known problem that emerged early this year and was discussed here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=105474.0

All I did was to uninstall Avast normally, run their special uninstaller utility, then reinstall it. This was a solution posted by a forum admin of Avast and it seemed to solve the problem. I guess there's something wrong their auto update utility which messes the files making it stuck at the welcome screen.

Regarding Softperfect RAMDisk, can it be considered the fastest RAMDisk among all others?

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   26 February 2013, 04:37

I tried RAMdisk Kevin but my needs were/are very simple and since all my drives are Sata3 SSDs, I didn't see much difference in speed, at least for what I tried. I haven't tried any other 'ramdisk' so I can't help you there.

A 'ramdisk' is probably a great app for folks that have slow HDDs and are continually accessing (a lot of) the same files over and over and that will fit into an image file in memory.

As an example, a 700MB spreadsheet opens and is ready for use in about 3 seconds from an SSD. I didn't have the program in the RAMdisk so that still had to load from the SSD and at a guess the time was about 2 seconds. If I had everything, program and spreadsheet, in a RAMdisk, it might cut the time down to less than a second. I'm willing to forgo the effort to set all that up that since 3 seconds is OK, and especially since I'm the 'slow part' of the operation here. wink

Avast isn't the only security app that's had problems like that, or other problems that should have been caught by thorough beta testing. But from what I've read, it's one of the most reliable over time, so stick with it, it's a good choice.

Perhaps you might consider just doing manual updates. I know that's what I do and I've been lucky and avoided problems when all the auto-updaters were bitten severely. That's a bit like the commercial where the two boys aren't sure about a new cereal so they 'let Mikey try it first", I let the other guy go first....

Thanks for the explanation, it's not one that would have popped into my head right away.

J
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   27 February 2013, 02:04

I do use an SSD also and I agree that they are very fast for almost everything. The thing is that I have the privilege of using the SoftPerfect RAMDisk for my Internet browsers' cache files, so why not right? smile

Yeah, I've read a lot of good things about Avast too. I came from many different AV programs and I can say it's the most less resource AV program that I've gotten into.

Yeah, auto-updates do really have some downfalls.

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   27 February 2013, 17:49

Thanks for your suggestion to put the FF profiles in the RAMdisk. I had to go through a bit of a learning process, but I've done it now and I can see that I could also have two profiles, one for general browsing and another for financial transactions. I'll run with just the one for now to get a feel for how it impacts boot times, etc.

Hey, I have a question for you... When you set up your RAMdisk, did you also specify to write the image to disk 'every xx minutes' or only when you shutdown?
I'm leaning towards the latter to reduce the writes to the SSD since I don't worry about power failures, I have a rather large UPS...good for about 30 hours if needed.

Cheers,
J
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   28 February 2013, 12:20

Yup. I'm glad to be of help.

Yes, you can do that.

I write it every 60 minutes so that if ever my computer crashes, for some reason, then I still have the updated image intact. I don't worry too much for the writes to my SSD because my RAMDisk is only 128MB and is relatively small. Now that's a good UPS, what brand and model? The biggest UPS I have here is an APC BR-1500GI unit.

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   28 February 2013, 21:08

I bought individual components and 'assembled' them:
1) Xantrex 40 Amp charging unit 120VAC-12VDC, has setting for AGM type batteries, quick recovery when AC power is restored
2) Exeltech XP 1100 watt pure sine wave inverter 12VDC-120VAC, the best for electronics (e.g. PCs)
3) two Lifeline Marine GPL-4CT batteries - 6 volt AGM type, in series = 12V (these weigh 66LB each!)
4) PowerPulse desulfator to keep batteries in good shape
5) Watt Meter to check power consumption to verify how long batteries should last
plus power cables and connectors,
total cost $2,100+CAD, in 2005, no idea what the cost would be today.

The batteries are rated to last 28+ hours with a low 8 Amp draw which is about 192 Watts and my PC, monitor, TV, only draw about 166 Watts.

I used APC units in the beginning but the largest that I had (1400-Smart) was only good for about 95 minutes tops (discharged to 10% of capacity). I was, and still am, running video security stuff that had to be up 'always' and with some of the power outages in my rural area lasting 3-7 hours, that wasn't enough. The APC gel batteries couldn't handle the deep discharge and had to be replaced frequently.

I've never had to run on the UPS for much more than a few hours but that's good because the batteries never get tapped to drop their remaining capacity below 75%, which makes for a very long battery life.

The Lifeline batteries are AGM, the best type, and are actually installed in a housing on their sides. AGM doesn't leak like a car battery would and is much better suited for this than gel batteries.

This isn't something for someone that just wants enough up-time to shutdown the PC gracefully, it's for serious up-time capability for a long time.

J
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   01 March 2013, 02:02

Oh my, that's some serious **** UPS smile I'm a licensed Electronics Engineer myself but haven't tried that sort of thing. You must be an Engineer too for you to build that stuff? I envy the power of that UPS, by the way. What does it look like? smile

SoftPerfect RAMDisk stuck at Win7 welcome screen   01 March 2013, 09:22

No, not an Engineer, just an IT Systems Analyst - retired.

A charger and inverter are mounted side by side on a 'panel' which is mounted in front of the batteries which are mounted on their sides to provide easy access to the terminals and keep the 000 wiring as short as possible.
As amazing as this sounds, I don't have a camera to take a pic.
I bought the components in Aug. 2002 (I checked) when the exchange rate was 1.65 so the USD prices were a lot less but I still had to pay in CAD.
I took a quick look at the Xantrex site and see some charger/inverter pure sine wave units that, if I had to replace the existing equipment, I'd probably choose, rather than having separate charger and inverter units.
Yes, those batteries are still in good shape after 11 years. I do a manual test periodically to verify that. They will eventually fail I suppose, but the theoretical limit is about 5,000 recharge cycles since they don't often get discharged below 80%.
www.xantrex.com
exeltech.com
www.lifelinebatteries.com

When you consider the cost to replace the APC gel batteries ($254CAD for the 1400), the cost of this D.I.Y. isn't so high after all.

J
Kevin

Stuck at Windows 7 welcome screen   01 March 2013, 15:27

Yeah, I guess. Thanks for the tip on the UPS man!

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