imac takes 3-4 mins to start

Hi, does anyone know why my imac stays on the white blank screen 3-4mins before you can hear activity and then it goes to the screen with the grey apple and finally the desktop ?
Hope someone can help!
Chris

That sounds like it is trying to load something, eventually failing and timing out.

Try a "safe boot": start up the machine and hold the Shift key down until you see the words "Safe Boot" on screen. Was that faster, or about the same as a normal boot?

Hi chas_m, Thankyou for you advice, as I went to start my comp I noticed that our Epson printer which has 2 USB plugs in the back were actually both plugged into the imac so I took one out and it seemed to start up as normal, don't know if that would of caused it? but what you said makes sense! I will take your advice next time it happens again! Once again thank you so much for your help.
Cheers, christle

Oh yeah, that would cause such a problem. The Mac would be conflicted trying to communicate twice with the same printer, and eventually give up.