upon login, xp intermittently locks up before desktop starts

[Adurr]

Intermittently, individual desktop Windows XP Professional systems in my
company will lock up at the baby-blue desktop right after login
authenticates.

I've let it sit for 15 minutes and it does nothing. The only way to get out
of it is to hit control-alt-delete > task manager > file > new task >
explorer.exe and everything starts up as normal.

Event Viewer doesn't seem to have anything that stands out. This happens
perhaps 40% of the time, seemingly randomly.

The only thing that I found that makes it go away for a little while is to
repair windows, install another verision of windows over the current version,
unfortunetly this only works for a couple of weeks and I need to find a
better solution.

 

[tg]

Intermittently, individual desktop Windows XP Professional systems in my
company will lock up at the baby-blue desktop right after login
authenticates.

I've let it sit for 15 minutes and it does nothing. The only way to get out
of it is to hit control-alt-delete > task manager > file > new task >
explorer.exe and everything starts up as normal.

Event Viewer doesn't seem to have anything that stands out. This happens
perhaps 40% of the time, seemingly randomly.

The only thing that I found that makes it go away for a little while is to
repair windows, install another verision of windows over the current version,
unfortunetly this only works for a couple of weeks and I need to find a
better solution.

1) viruses and spyware
2) if the pc's are networked, give them all static ip addresses, don't use dhcp.
3) do srat/run/msconfig, switch off any crap you don't need running. Better still,
uninstall anything that runs when it shouldn't.

 

[Adurr]

1) viruses and spyware - NOPE, I have more than 30 computer with this
behavor and I have throughly scanned each one for viruses and spyware.

2) if the pc's are networked, give them all static ip addresses, don't use dhcp. - Why can't we us DHCP?
3) do srat/run/msconfig, switch off any crap you don't need running. Better still,
uninstall anything that runs when it shouldn't. - Already took this step also, there is nothing on the computers that is not manadory for ther person to preform their job.

I have also run sfc /scannow, did not fix it
I have repair windows, did not fix it
I have searched the registry for corrupt entries, did not fix it.

I have done everything a knowledgeable IT person would do to resolve the
problem. I don't understand why DHCP would affect it, the point of DHCP is
so that I don't have to keep track of 30 IP addresses to make sure that I
don't duplicate.

 

[tg]

1) viruses and spyware - NOPE, I have more than 30 computer with this
behavor and I have throughly scanned each one for viruses and spyware.

because dhcp invokes a delay in the startup process while the pc negotiates an ip address.
You think the negotiation process is instant? It aint.

I have done everything a knowledgeable IT person would do to resolve the
problem.

no you haven't. You've assumed that dhcp can't be the problem and therefore refused to
look at it. I'm not saying dhcp is definitely the problem but unless you address this
you may never resolve it.

I don't understand why DHCP would affect it, the point of DHCP is
so that I don't have to keep track of 30 IP addresses to make sure that I
don't duplicate.

dhcp subjects the pc to a waiting process while it negotiates an ip address from the
server. Sometimes that waiting process can be longer than you think.
If you have a quiet period when you only use a few machines why not experiment and give
those pc's a static address. If the static ip pc's no longer manifest the delay, there you
have it. And if you do try that experiment, take extra care that you configure all the
static settings properly.

 

[Adurr]

I know that DHCP is not an instant process and I will run the experiment, but
I have never heard of DHCP taking 8 hours to give an IP address and I let the
lack of desktop go that long one day to see if it would ever start on its
own.

I really think the issue is somewhere in windows and not telling
explorer.exe to run at start up.