Long delay in Windows startup

[Guest]

My Windows XP Pro machine has started hanging for a long period between the
Windows startup screen (with the moving indicator) and the pre-desktop screen
when the startup sound plays. During this period, the screen is black, with a
mouse pointer visible. There appears to be hard disk activity (the light is
on, but no sound) and just before the welcome message appears, the video card
resets to its desktop resolution (I can hear the monitor switching modes). I
have tried using MSCONFIG to do an absolute barebones startup, but it's just
the same, so it does not seem to be a service or startup program that's
causing the problem.

Where else could I be looking? Because I have just reinstalled Windows after
a crash, there is no restore point to go back to. It was loading fine for the
first few days. I think the problems began when I upgraded to the latest
video drivers. But I can't seem to roll them back either.

The configuration is ASUS P4P800S-X motherboard, P4 2.66 Intel CPU, 1 GB
RAM, ASUS 9500GE AGP8X 256 MB video card and two Samsung HD drives - one 40
GB and one 80 GB (boot disk), plus an NEC DVD-R/W.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Guest]

I have this same problem, as do 2 other XP machines in my office.

Is this an update issue or a bug? We had this same problem about two months
ago, when on the same day all 3 PCs were slow at startup.

Can anyone help?

 

[Guest]

I am having the same problem .. msconfig set fot the bare minimum to load ...
my progress bar shows short movement then stop and keeps doing this, and then
after input of password, takes several minutes for the desktop icons to
appear ... can't figure out the cause ???

---Thanks for any help ----
25or6to4

 

[Guest]

I failed to mention, does this even after a deep virus scan, total
defragmentation and optimizing.