Slow 'final' part of windows xp load.

Hi

Now and then, when i boot into windows, it stays at the welcome screen, then the wallpaper loads, and eventually the desktop after that, but all take quite a while. When this happens, there is the yellow exclamation mark over the network icon, which always fails on the 1st repair, but sorts itself on the 2nd (disabling then renabling seems always to work first time). As i say, it only does it sometimes, and i;m thinking has to be something to do with the network, i wondered if there are any reg edits or the like, to make it more reliable?.

Hardware setup is pc --> netgear 5-port gigabit router --> (sky)Netgear modem router.

thanks
joe

That sounds like junk loading on startup. Run msconfig and see what you can disable in the Services and Startup.

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Originally Posted by Splash

That sounds like junk loading on startup. Run msconfig and see what you can disable in the Services and Startup.

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Nio, it never does it with the network cable unplugged (i should have mentioned that)

Do you use DHCP to get an IP Address for the machine, or have you assigned it yourself?

If you use DHCP, it may be an issue with your DHCP server taking time to assign a DHCP lease.

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Originally Posted by kidzer

Do you use DHCP to get an IP Address for the machine, or have you assigned it yourself?

If you use DHCP, it may be an issue with your DHCP server taking time to assign a DHCP lease.

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Hi

yes, it uses DHCP. So probably an issue at the ISP's end then?

no the dhcp is provided by your netgear router.

You could try giving yourself a static address in the same subnet but outside of your dhcp scope.

Sounds like there is something at startup which is trying to connect to something external (internet?) and windows is waiting for this to timeout before compling startup.
When you computer is starting up it will request an ip address from your router. The yellow symbol on your network connection usually means you have not collected an address. Could be a problem with either your router or your pc but easiest fix will be a static address.
Only real downside is if you move to another network you will have to set it again manually and if you don't choose an address outside of the dhcp scope another machine connected to your router could get the same address and cause a conflict.

Why are you using 2 routers? That will complicate things if you have conflicting features turned on on both routers.

Edit:

Hang on... a 5-port netgear gigabit router? Do you mean Switch?

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Originally Posted by hippoman

Sounds like there is something at startup which is trying to connect to something external (internet?) and windows is waiting for this to timeout before compling startup.

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It's always worth doing a few scans of your system when strange things start happening... I recommend adaware and spybot s&d.

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Originally Posted by Andaho

Hang on... a 5-port netgear gigabit router? Do you mean Switch?

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Hi

Yes, sorry, it is a switch. I have 2 pc's, and they both have gigabit network chips, so got the switch for faster file trasnfer between the two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hippoman

You could try giving yourself a static address in the same subnet but outside of your dhcp scope

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Sorry, i'm not that knowledgeable with the network stuff (clearly ;-)). Where do i set the static ip address?

thanks
joe

Save anyone typing anything again, here's a guide written by Jay in another thread for setting a static IP in XP or Vista;

http://forums.hexus.net/1487204-post2.html

thanks Kidzer, and to everyone else. :bowdown: