reboot delayed at applying computer settings

[Guest]

I have a few computers in my office that take a long time to boot, and by
long time I mean anywhere from 10 minutes to 30-45 minutes. When booting it
never even gets to the logon screen, it stays at "applying computer settings"
for a very long time, but does eventually allow the user to logon. I looked
on the knowledge base and found a couple ideas for a fix, but nothing I try
works. Are there any known problems with Windows XP doing this? I am new to
XP (yeah, I know, where have I been!) and have never seen this issue before.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[Leythos]

I have a few computers in my office that take a long time to boot, and by
long time I mean anywhere from 10 minutes to 30-45 minutes. When booting it
never even gets to the logon screen, it stays at "applying computer settings"
for a very long time, but does eventually allow the user to logon. I looked
on the knowledge base and found a couple ideas for a fix, but nothing I try
works. Are there any known problems with Windows XP doing this? I am new to
XP (yeah, I know, where have I been!) and have never seen this issue before.

Check to see how LARGE their profiles are - In a Domain I've seen
FireFox generate 500MB of cached files and it takes many minutes to
download those to local machines (for some reason)....

 

[Kerry Brown]

I have a few computers in my office that take a long time to boot, and by
long time I mean anywhere from 10 minutes to 30-45 minutes. When booting
it
never even gets to the logon screen, it stays at "applying computer
settings"
for a very long time, but does eventually allow the user to logon. I
looked
on the knowledge base and found a couple ideas for a fix, but nothing I
try
works. Are there any known problems with Windows XP doing this? I am new
to
XP (yeah, I know, where have I been!) and have never seen this issue
before.

A few possibilities.

Check Leythos' suggestion.

Are the clients that logon normally Windows XP?

Check the DNS settings. In a domain environment the DNS should point only to
a DNS server on a DC that is authoritative for the domain.

If one of the systems doesn't experience the problem is running XP then
compare the results of ipconfig /all with one of the systems that doesn't
work. If there are any differences you have probably found the problem.

This sometimes happens if the computer has a hard time finding the group
policy files. Check if the slow logon computers are in a different OU than
the other computers. Check what group policies are being applied to one that
works and one that doesn't.

Kerry

 

[Guest]

All of the computers having problems are XP, and one just happens to be mine.
And I just started here 2 weeks ago, so it is a new install. Running
ipconfig I am hitting the correct dns server, but I do see something that is
strange, and I dont know if this might be causing my problem, but for a wins
server I am getting an IP for a server that doesnt exist. Could this be
causing the hangup during boot?

 

[Kerry Brown]

All of the computers having problems are XP, and one just happens to be
mine.
And I just started here 2 weeks ago, so it is a new install. Running
ipconfig I am hitting the correct dns server, but I do see something that
is
strange, and I dont know if this might be causing my problem, but for a
wins
server I am getting an IP for a server that doesnt exist. Could this be
causing the hangup during boot?

It could be but not likely. In a domain environment XP uses DNS before
NETBIOS to resolve network names. Did you compare your settings with a pc
that works? How many DNS servers did you see in ipconfig /all? How are the
computers that logon normally set up? Do they have the same WINS server? Do
all the clients use DHCP? Do you have more than one DHCP server? Are all the
clients on the same subnet? Did you check out Leythos' suggestion? It seems
the most likely cause.

Kerry

 

[Guest]

I did check out Leythos' suggestion. My profile was 272MB due to having
something on my desktop, so I moved it and it dropped my profile size
significantly, but that didnt fix the problem. The delay in boot is before I
even get to a logon screen so I dont think the problem is profile related.
All of the PC's are set up similar and the settings in ipconfig /all are the
same. Only one DHCP server and I found my issue with WINS. As I said I am
new to this place and they dont have a WINS server, and yet they have a DNS
entry for one so I removed that and now WINS doesnt show up when I do
ipconfig /all, but that didnt even solve the problem. I would just re-image
my machine, but this problem is happening to more PC's than just mine. I
would like to find a fix and not just a workaround (re-image). Any other
ideas???

Thanks again!!

 

[Kerry Brown]

I did check out Leythos' suggestion. My profile was 272MB due to having
something on my desktop, so I moved it and it dropped my profile size
significantly, but that didnt fix the problem. The delay in boot is
before I
even get to a logon screen so I dont think the problem is profile related.
All of the PC's are set up similar and the settings in ipconfig /all are
the
same. Only one DHCP server and I found my issue with WINS. As I said I
am
new to this place and they dont have a WINS server, and yet they have a
DNS
entry for one so I removed that and now WINS doesnt show up when I do
ipconfig /all, but that didnt even solve the problem. I would just
re-image
my machine, but this problem is happening to more PC's than just mine. I
would like to find a fix and not just a workaround (re-image). Any other
ideas???

I would start looking at the network infrastructure. It could be a bad
switch. You have to find out what is the common denominator between the
clients that have the slow logon. Same software: antivirus, firewall,
antispyware, etc. same hardware: nic, motherboard, connected to same switch,
etc.

Did you check out the AD structure? Are all the affected clients in the same
OU? Is group policy working properly? I have seen a problem with group
policy cause slow logons but not that slow. If you have a 2003 server try
the Resultant Set of Policy snap in.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...Ref/7372e80d-0124-4419-b3de-29014df610d1.mspx

If all else fails capture some packets while one of the slow clients is
logging on and see what is happening on the network.

Kerry

 

[Guest]

We are having the same problem here - just started- but with one addition
thing - when it happens it completely wipes ALL user profiles from the system
(all data, settings everything is completely removed) We've had 3 confirmed
cases of this and are bracing for more - but would like to find the cause
before it gets worse.

any thoughts?

Druuna