Annoying problem when XP loads the desktop, Please help

[jkay69]

A few months ago I built the following PC to use as a Media Center PC, although not neccessarily running XP Media Center edition 2005 (I only installed that to see if it would resolve my problem, which it didn't):

AMD Athlon64 3700+ (S939)
Zalman CNPS7700-Cu HS/F
Abit KN8 SLI (S939) ;-)
2x1GB Crucial PC3200 DIMMS Dual Channel (Matched Pair Kit)
Gainward Bliss 7900GT PCX 512MB (PCIe)
Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT Dual DVB-t TV Tuner (PCIe)
Creative X-Fi Extreme Music (PCI)
Samsung SpinPoint 250GB HDD (SATA2)
Thermaltake Mozart HTPC MediaLab Chassis with Remote and VFD
Tagan TG480-U22 PSU
NEC ND-3550 Black 16x DVD±RW DL (IDE)
Windows XP Pro or XP Media Center Edition 2005 (I tried both, both are legit)

Software
Windows XP Pro clean instal not even drivers, problem not evident.
Installed SP2, no problem.
Installed Forceware mobo drivers 6.70 no problem.
Installed Forceware Video Card Drivers 91.31, Problem started.
Un-installed Video drivers and installed 84.21, same problem
Fresh install of XP Media Center Edition 2005 not even drivers, no problem
All windows updates, no problem
Installed Forceware mobo drivers 6.70 MCE no problem.
Installed Forceware Video Card Drivers 91.31 MCE, Problem started.
Un-installed Video drivers and installed 84.21 MCE, same problem

The build went well as expected, although I will be upgrading the GPU HS/F shortly with the Zalman VF900-Cu as the Stock Gainward HS/F is a little loud for my requirements, not loud by any means, just not as quiet as my 6800Ultra with Zalman VF700-AlCu.

The thing is, I get a long (about 10-20 seconds) pause when windows gets to the desktop, while it is loading the background apps and drivers. This only happens after I install the Graphics Drivers. I have tried many different versions to no avail.

To expand on what I mean...While XP is loading and the desktop is displayed but the system is launching all the background apps and drivers, like antivirus, nVidia audio, video and system drivers, before finaly settling down. There is a distinct pause, if I move the mouse over the start bar the eggtimer cursor is displayed and I cannot click on anything until after the 10-20 second pause.

I have tried re-installing windows, tried a different version of windows, tried different video drivers, system drivers, etc...

It seems to me that it happens after I install the nVidia video card drivers although that could be a coincidence.

Has anyone else come across this problem as it is driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, the system runs fine after the pause and everything works otherwise as it should, but I know the pause shouldn't happen, as it has never happened in any previous build I have done and I have build many, many PC's in my time...

I would really appreciate any help on this issue. Thanks in advance.

JKay6969

 

[mesarectifier]

How much older forceware have you tried?

Try some hacked drivers also.

 

[ZOldDude]

While XP is loading and the desktop is displayed but the system is launching all the background apps and drivers, like antivirus, nVidia audio, video and system drivers, before finaly settling down.

There is your answere in a nut shell.

I can get to desktop in 7 secs...if I let my corp AV scan befor loading all the other things (firewall,cookiewall ect) it takes another 20 secs. But that is AFTER the 7 secs it took to load the OS from the HD.

You could try cleaning your registry and then defraging it....then after next reboot run BootVis to lay out all your boot files for speed.

 

[Scarchunk]

Well since you seem that you have no issues with giving Windows a quick reinstall, you could swap out the 7900 for the 6800 just to narrow this down. It seems strange though because I would think that your graphics drivers are one of the first to load, and you say that this happens after you've already gotten to your desktop. There are three start-up programs that are installed with the nvidia forceware drivers. You could go to msconfig and turn them off one by one to see id there is a difference. I don't think that any of them are essential as one is your hotkeys ans tray icon, one is only neccesary if you overclock and set it boot that way, and one is for some of the nvidia desktop wizard settings. There is also a service that runs in the background that I have turned off with no known ill effects. You can go to services.msc and turn it off, I can't remember the name right off but it says something to do with "nvidia". Worth a try.