Windows XP hangs for ~ 2 mins after logon

[AltKey]

I'm having a huge problem with Windows XP Pro. When I logon, the system just freezes up for about two minutes. When I open My Computer, the status bar says "searching for items". When I mouseover the Start Menu/Taskbar, the pointer is an hourglass. Avant, my web browser, just sits there blank. When I try to browse Network Places, I get an error about "resource in use". This all happens before my wireless utility has loaded, which leads me to believe that this is a network problem. I always seem to have the most random problems with my computer - but maybe that's just because I'm not using Linux.

I tried running BootVis, but it didn't tell me anything important, since the OS is already technically loaded before the network is initialized. However, I disabled my ethernet card (Linksys WMP11 Wireless PCI v2.7) in the Device Manager, and the computer booted perfectly. What's odd is that when I re-enabled the card after the system had booted, it loaded and restored my LAN connection in less than a second. I assume that means that Windows XP is having trouble initializing my network card. Since I am admittedly only an XP intermediate, I don't really know how to go about fixing a problem like that.

Anyone have any ideas as to how I might go about remedying (or at least diagnosing) this disaster? Many thanks in advance for the help.

 

[jihiggs]

maybe there is interference messing with the connection. or your just barely within reach of the access point.

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[AltKey]

Granted, the signal isn't terribly strong. But the card enables and connects very fast when I do it manually, rather than letting the OS load it automatically.

 

[jiffy]

My computer boots in about 40 sec. as soon as I put the DSL modem in it takes about 1 minute and 45 seconds to boot. For me I gave my Network card an IP address, now it boots in 40 sec. again. The IP is 192.168.0.1 the end 1 can be 1-254, and different numbers for each PC you do this to. XP will give you a sub and you can use (ipconfig /all) in Command Prompt to get the rest of the numbers you need. I haven’t tried this with cable or wireless, I just know it works with DSL. If it doesn’t work you can always put it back.

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<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new">When you don’t have a snickers bar for the wait.</A>

 

[AltKey]

Thanks for the suggestion. I wish I could give it a try, but I've formatted my hard drive and have decided just to stick with Windows Me. I never really had any problems with it before, and as the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The good news is that the thing works like a charm now, and that's certainly good enough for me.

I guess my next tech question is "should I give XP another shot?" (although it should probably be "what is the best distribution of Linux?" )

Thanks again everyone.

 

[jiffy]

Was that the only problem you had with WinXP that it took a little longer to boot? It took me about a year to fully let go of Win9x, thought some day I may use it again for gaming, but I sure wouldn’t be with out WinXP. It can be a pain sometime, but when it’s stable it’s great.

Don’t know much about Linux, wouldn’t even know how to install I driver or update it, or if it would play any games, about the only thing I figure it being good for is a server or business stuff.


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<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new">When you don’t have a snickers bar for the wait.</A>

 

[AltKey]

The boot problem with my NIC was the only real "issue" I had with XP, but in general I'm just not sure I like it. It seems to me that far too many tasks are automated, or the OS has too much control over them. To me, the term "operating system" suggests a system through which the computer can be operated by the user, not a system which operates the computer for the user.

My friend told me that he had the same problem with his NIC, and it turns out that it was because he installed the PCI card before the Linksys driver, which is what I did. Now, the order of installation isn't really a big deal, but it just goes to prove my point about automation, as does the "uncertified driver" errors that XP gives you (which are meaningless anyway).

I love the new flow of XP, and I love the amount of information you can get about your computer with its Administrative Tools, but I don't like how so many things are color-coded, candy-coated, and automatic. I've been using a computer since I was 3 years old, so needless to say, I certainly don't think all the automatic "help" is necessary.

But I do appreciate many aspects of XP, and at this stage of the game, there's no way I could get my $170 back, so maybe I'll give it another shot. I never "activated" it, because I was anticipating a major upgrade. which I've now decided against. Since I completely formatted my computer before reinstalling ME, I should be able to just install XP and have the full 30 days again, I think. But I'm still undecided.

Thanks again for the help everyone. Your comments have been most appreciated.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by altkey on 01/22/03 10:43 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jiffy]

I’ll have to try installing the driver first before the Nic card and see if that boots up quicker with out me giving the Nic a address. I never tried it that way and figured you would need a devise in before giving it a driver, but what the hack, I try it next time. Hopefully the next time will be a ways from now. Another reason I leave my PCI cards in while I load the OS is because I found it much easier to install drivers, where as before it seemed impossible to load drivers, like my Nic card, or Live card drivers, but maybe things have change since then.

The uncertified driver will up date as you update windows, not to say these drivers will be any better, but you’re right it is kind of useless, but that too can also be disabled, just like many other things can as well.

Me on the other hand like the XP colors and keep them enabled. My performance isn’t suffering, so I keep the best look. A couple things that come to mind that I particular like is I can hit start go to music and hit play all, there’s other ways, but I like it. Also I like how the picture show up, and how my screen saver can show my pictures, and what I like best if that XP looks so different. I’m not sure why people want to get rid of the look and go back to how Win 98 or Win2000 looks, I would think they would want a changed from the same old look, but to each his/her own. I never cared for Win2000, thought it look to business like, while XP doesn’t, at least to me. I didn’t like how XP moved everything around, but now I do and it has become second nature to me.The best part is it plays my games well, some won’t play, and the same for some device. But I do think it’s a worthy upgrade from 9x.

One thing about activating XP with a legit copy is, if you have it on the same system, not sure about what upgrades you can make, but if you do ever have to format the activation will go threw with no problems on line, I done it over a dozen times. And if you do change your system and it won’t allow you to do activated it over line you will have to call them and tell them why the change. The only problem is you will have to do this every time you reinstall the OS, unless of course you hack it. I was thinking if you install XP, even though you didn’t activated it, that maybe it would still recognized that you made changes, forcing you to call, but you didn’t make any changes, so you shouldn’t have any problem activating it over the internet as many times as you want, that is until you make certain upgrade, what ever that may be.

It sounds like you know what you want to do. So good luck if you give XP another shot, there’s a lot of updates, and sites to help you get it set up how you want.


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<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/" target="_new">When you don’t have a snickers bar for the wait.</A>

 

[AltKey]

I like XP's color scheme too, but I'm somewhat of a tweak freak by nature, so I'm always eager to disable little things like that. Besides, the bright, cheerful blue doesn't really go well with my H.R. Giger wallpaper.

But honestly, I haven't quite given up on XP yet though. I plan on installing it on my second hard drive, at least until I'm sure that I really like it. If everything's going well, I'll consider using it as my primary OS. But I've got everything up and running on Windows ME right now, and as I learned from DirectX 9, it's best not to touch anything that you already think works perfectly.

Thanks again for your advice. Cheers.