slow to load Windows XP

[StickBoy]

A friend asked me to look at their computer. Thought thy had contracted a virus. They had much more and I'm still working on that part of it. The part I am baffled by is the slow load of Windows.
Here's what I get:
On re-boot or cold boot, the Dell screen comes up with the loading bar and the F2=Setup
F12=Boot Menu
at the top right.
Then it goes to a totally black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left corner. It sits there for ... I'm thinking at least five minutes, though maybe longer. Then up comes the regular Windows XP loading screen, and Windows boots normally.
Any ideas what could be the holdup between what I am assuming is BIOS initiation and Windows starting? Is it a fatal issue (ie time for a new computer) or is it something fixable?
Thanks!

(PS - Dell-bashing isn't helpful. Regardless of your opinions on the company or their computers, this is what I am dealing with and saying "Dell sucks" or "buy a computer that isn't Dell" really isn't helping. Thanks! :) )

[Clark05]

Well it sounds like you're having a lot more issues with this computer instead of this 5 minute delay. I have no idea what the problem could be. My only suggestion in your situation would be to save all the data and reformat the computer. Unless of course, someone else has a solution.

[brad211987]

Find out the manufacturer of the hard drive and run their diagnostic test on it to see if there are any problems with it. Usually a bloated registry in Windows can cause a really slow load time, but your problem seems to be before you even get to that point.

[Fou-Lu]

Do you have more than one eide disk in that machine?
I had a similar problem once. I can't remember if it was the jumpers that were the problem or if it was the bios looking for the second drive. In either case, it was because I had no second drive, and either the primary (on a CS cable, probably the first problem right there) was configured to expect a slave or the bios was configured to seek the slave. I'd check those out.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what could be lagging that out before the windows boot screen. Perhaps a damaged mbr?
Unless you're HD is making some interesting noises, I wouldn't say its a fatal problem.

[oracleguy]

Do you have more than one eide disk in that machine?
I had a similar problem once. I can't remember if it was the jumpers that were the problem or if it was the bios looking for the second drive. In either case, it was because I had no second drive, and either the primary (on a CS cable, probably the first problem right there) was configured to expect a slave or the bios was configured to seek the slave. I'd check those out.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what could be lagging that out before the windows boot screen. Perhaps a damaged mbr?
Unless you're HD is making some interesting noises, I wouldn't say its a fatal problem.

Checking the connections on the inside is a good idea. However before you do that, go into the BIOS and make sure all the settings are correct. If there are more hard drives configured there than are actually in the machine, it is probably spending that time trying to find the HDs. Or if there is physically a second HD inside the machine, if it is failing or has failed, that could cause the long delay before it tries to boot the operating system.

[StickBoy]

These are all great ideas - some of which I should have thought of myself! I will definitely give them a try the next time I am at their house. (They are not even close to being able to check this stuff out!)
Thanks to everyone!

[StickBoy]

I am told they sometimes get a message of low battery power on startup and have to reset the date and time. Yes, it is a desktop, not laptop/notebook. Could this be the problem?

[oracleguy]

I am told they sometimes get a message of low battery power on startup and have to reset the date and time. Yes, it is a desktop, not laptop/notebook. Could this be the problem?

It certainly isn't helping. What this is talking about is the small battery on the motherboard that maintains the BIOS settings when the computer is unplugged. It can be replaced fairly easily.

When they have their computer off, is it unplugged? Like is it on a power strip that they turn off?

I should also point out that when that happens the BIOS loads the defaults, which are probably set to auto detect everything, which could be attributing to the long delay after POST and before the OS begins to boot.