Tray icon boot order - network icon taking ages to initialise

[Andre Willey]

Any suggestions as to how to reconfigure the order that tray icons load
under Windows XP Home? I've just built a new high-spec PC which is
otherwise working beautifully, but one oddity is that the network/internet
connection takes ages to appear in the system tray (as much as a minute
after the other icons). My previous PC and my laptopp both get internet
connectivity up and running quite early in the boot sequence (all of them
are connected to the same ethernet hub, which in turn has the cable modem
attached). However, on my new machine, several tray applications (e.g.
windows messanger) just sit around trying to connect until the network icon
finally appears - one even times out and gives up on the net, and I have to
manually connect it afterwards.

Any thoughts on how to speed this up?

Andre
--
Andre Willey

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[David Maynard]

Any suggestions as to how to reconfigure the order that tray icons load
under Windows XP Home? I've just built a new high-spec PC which is
otherwise working beautifully, but one oddity is that the network/internet
connection takes ages to appear in the system tray (as much as a minute
after the other icons). My previous PC and my laptopp both get internet
connectivity up and running quite early in the boot sequence (all of them
are connected to the same ethernet hub, which in turn has the cable modem
attached). However, on my new machine, several tray applications (e.g.
windows messanger) just sit around trying to connect until the network icon
finally appears - one even times out and gives up on the net, and I have to
manually connect it afterwards.

Any thoughts on how to speed this up?

Andre

It isn't the 'order' of things as XP will try to get an internet connection
early just like the others but something is delaying it, probably causing
it to wait for a timeout.

Who is it supposed to get it's IP address from?

 

[Andre Willey]

It isn't the 'order' of things as XP will try to get an internet
connection early just like the others but something is delaying it,
probably causing it to wait for a timeout.

Yes, I thought net connection was an early task too - it certainly is on
my WinXP laptop and another WinXP PC connected to the same Netgear 4-port
ethernet hub/firewall.

Who is it supposed to get it's IP address from?

It's all set to automatic, just like the other PCs are. I've checked and
the internet connection setting are identical.

I've tried uninstalling the network driver and letting XP redetect it
next time, but no progress. I still get a very a long delay after all the
other tray icons have installed (several of which are waiting for their
network connections) before a sudden burst of HD activity as several
processes kick in - I can see stuff starting if I open the Windows Task
Manager Processes tab. Then the Local Area Connection icon pops up in the
systray and it connects fine.

At the moment I guess the most serious side effect is that it stops
Norton Anti-virus from enabling auto-protect mode, I have to do it
manually via the systray icon (although it might activate on its own
after a while when the net connection starts, not left it long enough
yet).

Kind Regards,

Andre
--
Andre Willey

Address edited to avoid spam. Please remove the letters shown in CAPITALS
from my quoted email address to contact me directly. Thanks!
Visit http://www.cix.co.uk/~neverland/dlp/ for the Disneyland-Paris FAQ
List.

 

[old jon]

It isn't the 'order' of things as XP will try to get an internet
connection early just like the others but something is delaying it,
probably causing it to wait for a timeout.

Who is it supposed to get it's IP address from?

Check your Event Viewer for errors. Might show something.

 

[JAD]

Yes, I thought net connection was an early task too - it certainly is on
my WinXP laptop and another WinXP PC connected to the same Netgear 4-port
ethernet hub/firewall.


It's all set to automatic, just like the other PCs are. I've checked and
the internet connection setting are identical.

I've tried uninstalling the network driver and letting XP redetect it
next time, but no progress. I still get a very a long delay after all the
other tray icons have installed (several of which are waiting for their
network connections) before a sudden burst of HD activity as several
processes kick in - I can see stuff starting if I open the Windows Task
Manager Processes tab. Then the Local Area Connection icon pops up in the
systray and it connects fine.

At the moment I guess the most serious side effect is that it stops
Norton Anti-virus from enabling auto-protect mode, I have to do it
manually via the systray icon (although it might activate on its own
after a while when the net connection starts, not left it long enough
yet).

Kind Regards,

Andre

a few suggestions.......

switch cables

reroute cables away from electrical outlets power strips etc

don't use LONG cables for a short distance

check to see what port in the 'hub' that machine is on.

(or did you mean router/or the 'router' is built into the modem?)

most hubs have an uplink port that is shared with one of the 'normal' ports

don't use the port next to the uplink





Andre Willey

 

[David Maynard]

Yes, I thought net connection was an early task too - it certainly is on
my WinXP laptop and another WinXP PC connected to the same Netgear 4-port
ethernet hub/firewall.

Are they XP Home too, or Pro?

And is that Netgear a hub or a router?

It's all set to automatic, just like the other PCs are.

That doesn't answer where the IP is coming from, though, and maybe there is
some reason why 2 work and 3 don't, as fast anyway.

I've checked and
the internet connection setting are identical.

Which 'internet settings'? You mean the NIC port? What about the machine ID
and domain/workgroup settings?

You also haven't said which ISP. Is it trying to logon to the ISP with the
same ID as the other machines? Do they allow three machines?

 

[John Weiss]

Any suggestions as to how to reconfigure the order that tray icons load
under Windows XP Home?

The only control I know of is that those that are loaded from the Startup
folders in the All Users and [current user] Documents & Settings shortcuts are
done in alphabetical order. Try resetting the order of any affected programs by
prefixing the shortcut names with 1, 2, ...

I don't know about those programs invoked by the ...Run... Registry keys.

 

[LeeHunton]

I have just found this post and i have the EXACTLY IN EVERYWAY same
problem as Andre Willey.
i have windows XP Pro Service pack 2, and a P4 3.2 @ 4.0 GHZ
(overclocked), and 1 gig of RAM and an X800XT Platinum edition
graphics card.
any help would be really appreciated.
(By the way, all those solutions you said above are useless, none of
them wil work. I have a wireless network connection, with BT Voyager
router and PCI adaptor.)

 

[JAD]

does your wireless card require PCI 2.2 to operate correctly?

 

[LeeHunton]

it has everything to operate correctly, and still takes ages to load
up.
i dont know why.
all the other programs i have wotn start running properly until the
network connection in the tray has fully initialised and the other
few programs that initalise at the same time just after the network
has, then my PC words 100% fine.
but i need to know why it takes so long and try to fix it.

 

[Ed Medlin]

it has everything to operate correctly, and still takes ages to load
up.
i dont know why.
all the other programs i have wotn start running properly until the
network connection in the tray has fully initialised and the other
few programs that initalise at the same time just after the network
has, then my PC words 100% fine.
but i need to know why it takes so long and try to fix it.

By any chance are you using Norton? On some systems, not all, it can cause
those exact symptoms. I had to remove it from my neighbor's system and
installed AVG and Zone Alarm instead. It is a pain to remove all the
registry entries it leaves after uninstalling too. You must delete all
entries relating to Norton and Symantec.

Ed

 

[LeeHunton]

nah the exact same happened way before i installed norton
: