Windows XP bootcamp'd iMac rediculously slow to load

Question

My girlfriend recently bought the new quad core 27" iMac, and I have just finished installing windows XP on it. Once I get into xp, it works fine (although Ive only spent about 30mins in it so far).
However, after holding down the option key to enter the boot selection screen on startup, I see the cursor as expected, but it takes about 5 minutes before the two HDs come up and I am allowed to make a selection. Then, after I press enter, it takes another 5-10 minutes to actually pass control over to Windows.
Why in the world is it taking so freaking long for control to be passed over to Windows? I myself have a previous generation 24" iMac, and I never had such a problem with windows XP (I am even using the exact same copy of XP)
I am at the moment trying to load up windows (Im writing this on another computer) and so far, I pressed Enter about 10 minutes ago and I still have the same screen, unresponsive.

Answer 1

Well, upon some hefty google work, Ive found that a few people have been having similar problems. Usually, the problem lies within out-of-date drivers, especially for peripherals left plugged in during boot-up. In my case, I had an external USB HD plugged in while I was entering the boot prompt screen, which could possibly cause a delayed start-up.
However, perhaps the greatest tidbit of advice, was a certain key combination. Apparently, pressing/holding -- appleoption+PR -- as soon as the boot chime sounds, and then keeping the keys pressed down until the computer restarts and you hear the chime again significantly speeds up the boot cycle.
I have no idea what it does nor how/why it works, but after I did this (and unplugged the external HD) the boot prompt behaved in a way I would expect of a quadcore/8gb ram iMac; fast.
So, my advice to others if they have this problem is to try the following in this order:
- install all windows drivers for absolutely anything your computer uses
- boot with nothing besides a mouse and keyboard connected
- depress appleoption+PR at the boot chime and hold until you hear another boot chime.
worked for me! thank you google!