on log-in : hourglass over inaccessible taskbar

[John A Grandy]

toshiba laptop; xp pro; sp1; all windowsupdate.com updates installed;

logging-on as local user who is member of local administrators group

when i start-up & log-on, i get an hourglass over the taskbar for about 5-10
minutes.
the taskbar is completely inaccessible and does not show the minimized
rectangles for any running apps.

when the hourglass finally dissappears and the task-bar is re-enabled, any
messages & icons related to network connectivity finally show up (such as
"could not map network drive" or "wireless networks found", etc.)

while the taskbar is disabled and the hourglass is showing, if i use
task-manager to force shutdown, restart, or log-off, then xp tells me that
the "run32.dll" process must be terminated

this behavior occurs irrelevant of what network i am connected to via
ethernet (home, work) -- in fact, it occurs irrelevant of whether i have
ethernet connectivity at all; it also occurs irrelevant of whether my
laptop's wireless receiver is enabled ...

i've done full scans for viruses & worms & parasites ... nothing.

i used to have zonealarm installed ... i de-installed it .... no effect on
this
problem.

 

[XPUSER]

toshiba laptop; xp pro; sp1; all windowsupdate.com updates installed;

logging-on as local user who is member of local administrators group

when i start-up & log-on, i get an hourglass over the taskbar for about 5-10
minutes.
the taskbar is completely inaccessible and does not show the minimized
rectangles for any running apps.

when the hourglass finally dissappears and the task-bar is re-enabled, any
messages & icons related to network connectivity finally show up (such as
"could not map network drive" or "wireless networks found", etc.)

while the taskbar is disabled and the hourglass is showing, if i use
task-manager to force shutdown, restart, or log-off, then xp tells me that
the "run32.dll" process must be terminated

this behavior occurs irrelevant of what network i am connected to via
ethernet (home, work) -- in fact, it occurs irrelevant of whether i have
ethernet connectivity at all; it also occurs irrelevant of whether my
laptop's wireless receiver is enabled ...

i've done full scans for viruses & worms & parasites ... nothing.

i used to have zonealarm installed ... i de-installed it .... no effect on
this
problem.

===============================================
Boot to Safe Mode as built in Administrator account or a User that is
a Computer Administrator type account.
Right click on My Computer and click on Manage
In Computer Management, expand Services and Applications
Click on Services
In the list of Services, double click on SSDP Discovery Service
In the Properties Window, set the Startup Type to Disabled
and click on Stop if not greyed out and then click on Apply and OK
Do the same thing to Universal Plug and Play Device Host Service
Close Computer Management
Restart to Normal Mode and log on as usual
See if the issue is resolved
===============================================

 

[John A Grandy]

should i start in "safe mode", "safe mode with networking", "safe mode with
command prompt" ... or does it matter?

 

[John A Grandy]

ok, when i start in plain vanilla "safe mode", logging-in as a special user
i created for troubleshooting (member of local administrators group) and try
to go to the start > settings > control panel ... it takes forever to
bring-up the control panel. the control panel window opens, but it is blank
and there is an hourglass over the window for 5-10 minutes ....

 

[John A Grandy]

when i started in safe mode, i assumed control panel would come-up after
5-10 minutes ... but i'm not seeing it come up at all ... the hourglass is
there forever.

 

[XPUSER]

when i started in safe mode, i assumed control panel would come-up after
5-10 minutes ... but i'm not seeing it come up at all ... the hourglass is
there forever.

effect

If you are having such issues in Safe Mode, then your system is seriously
damaged.
Or maybe that User you logged in as has a damaged profile.
You could try once again logging into safe mode as Administrator
There is a built in account called Administrator
After booting into Safe Mode as Administrator,
click on Start and then right click on My Computer and click on Manage
and then see about disabling the SSDP Discovery Service and
Universal Plug and Play Device Host Service
My previous email did not say anything about going to Control Panel
But like I said, your system is seriously damaged if you cannot open
Control Panel in safe mode when logged in as the built in Administrator
account.
Could be virus activity
Could be damaged system files from bad RAM or failing Hard Drive
Could be something else
If you have any way to start backing up your important data,
you better start doing so as soon as possible.
========================================================

 

[John A Grandy]

it's very strange ... because i have no problems going to control panel from
any account when i start-up in "regular mode" ... it's only when i start-up
in safe mode that i can't get to control panel