Slow (5 min) booting in safe mode without Networking

[hhiralph]

XP Pro SP2 with all security updates and problem unchanged after updating to
SP3. Turn on and use F8 at boot screen to get menu. Select Safe Mode and
startup begins. List of start up items flashes and disappears and comes back
about 3 times and then sits there for 5 minutes with drive access light on
but no disk thrashing noise. At about 5 minutes from beginning the disk
begins operating normally and start up completes normally. SP3 installed
with no reported errors and rebooting afterwards was normal. Some days later
I wanted to boot in safe mode again and again, there was this 5 minute delay.
Any ideas what the boot up is waiting for?

Befuddled Ralph

 

[Gerry]

Ralph

You should not install an update to a malfuncting system.

What Error and Warning Reports appear in the System and Application logs
of Event Viewer for the last two days?

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[hhiralph]

Ralph

You should not install an update to a malfuncting system.

What Error and Warning Reports appear in the System and Application logs
of Event Viewer for the last two days?

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Gerry,

Thank you so much for responding! The event log was a great suggestion.
After spending some time with it and trying some different scenarios, I
realized that the Event Log startup occurs immediately after the 5 minute
delay. I also discovered that Safe Mode with Network does NOT have the 5 min
delay! So I'm still wondering what is going on. I wanted to turn on boot
logging and try to boot in Safe mode but the menu doesn't accept but one
option. Any suggestions?
Ralph