sp4-very slow dialup registration-PC stalls

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.setup_upgrade (More info?)

I wonder if anyone might have some insight into this apparently odd SP4 dial up
behavior.

PC went from SP3 to SP4 upgrade fairly smoothly. There were a few minor issues
but it seemed fine after. Used this way for about a month. Put in a new modem
(older Supra ISA, flashed to V90-hardware based). This worked a couple of days
and then I started getting very odd dial up behavior.

Dialing part worked normally. After handshake the [Registering on Network]
dialogue came up. Instead of seconds to finally connect it now would take 2-4
minutes. Once connected it worked normally. Disconnect took the same several
minutes.

If I tried to cancel or do any other activity during this time the PC "almost"
freezes. Everything happens SOOOO slowly I thought at first it was frozen up. I
cannot terminate/cancel the dialup process from [Task Manager]. I can't do much
except wait or hard reboot. Keyboard and mouse are extremely sluggish to do
anything like the rest of the system.

I thought I might have caught a virus or something. Running updated EZArmour
with built-in firewall (Zone Alarm)-found no virus. Ran Adaware, Spybot,
Spyblaster and found nothing. Tried scandisk, Win2K repair without success.
Nothing odd running in Task Manager. No weird start-ups in Registry. Put in
previous modem (USR)-still no difference.

Finally did a complete format with slipstreamed SP4. Once I got to dialing
ability it worked the same, very sluggish.

I re-formatted and loaded slipstreamed SP3. Only one evening now but it seems to
be working fine-normal dialup behavior.

AMD K2-500, Ali chipset (Win2k IDE patch), 196 RAM.

Fritz