Long pause in startup... DHCP problem?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I have a new computer with a fresh install of Windows XP Home, SP2...

At first it operated smoothly with quick startup, then I set up my broadband
internet account. Now when I start up my computer the startup is slow. When
I start up it gets all the way to showing my desktop (sans icons) and then it
sits for about 1 minute before displaying the start menu and desktop icons.
When I look in event viewer I find a pause of one minute and these two
entries at either side:
e.g.
11:56:42 Tcpip - The system detected that network adapter was connected to
the network, and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter.
11:56:52 Tcpip - The system detected that network adapter was disconnected
from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released.
....almost one minute later...
11:57:45 DHCP - Your computer has automatically configured the IP address
for the Network Card.

Since I connect to the internet using an ADSL account with my Broadband
provider that requires a user id and password, I think that it will
necessarily be impossible for my computer to get an IP address from the
domain controller during start up. That operation should only take place
later when I "dial-up".

Is there something wrong with my configuration?

Thanks for any support.