Very slow logon into XP SP2 w/all updates

[engineer2001]

I'm having a problem with my mom and dad's computer I built for them
about 4 months ago. Last week, after downloading and installing the
"Genuine Advantage" tool (may be unrelated), they now get incredibly
slow logins - with the "applying your personal settings" notification
beside their login icon (welcome page) showing for at least a full
minute, then the desktop with no icons and no taskbar showing for
another 5-6 mins before the icons and taskbar finally appear.

I followed the advice found in another thread and downloaded the
"autoruns" utility from Sysinternals (which is very nice, BTW), and I
disabled everything that normally loads at logon (everything below the
Shell/explorer.exe entry on the "Logon" tab). Now, it just boots to a
black screen before the welcome screen, and reboot time is even longer.

It now boots quickly through the BIOS and Windows logo w/the green
progress bar to a black screen for about 3-4 minutes, then the
logon/welcome screen shows, then when I click on the icon for my
username, it shows "Applying your personal settings" and plays the
logon sound, then sits there for 1 or 2 full minutes. It then shows a
black screen for another 4-5 minutes. Finally, the destop wallpaper is
shown with no taskbar and no icons.

I can hit ctrl-alt-del and get the task manager at this point, and
everything looks fine. System Idle Process is using 99%, and the CPU
is idle. It sits like this for a good 5 minutes or more before the
icons and taskbar pop up, and the system works normally from that point

on.

If you search for "XP logon black screen" on here, you get 13,000 hits,
with many of them this same problem. Is this some kind of worm/virus
or bug in a Microsoft update? Why do we all have this problem?

I have tried a repair install - no fix. Formatting the computer and
reinstalling XP SP2 - fixed, but then I downloaded the microsoft
windows updates and installed my McAfee Virus Scan Enterprise 8.0i
again and reloaded all of the documents and images from backup, and it
was back to the problem again. The virus scan w/todays' definitions
(and it updates every day) says I have no viruses, Spybot w/the latest
updates says I have no ads/trojans or spyware, and everything runs fine
as long as I don't reboot. If I reboot, I need a good 15 minutes
before I can use my system.

Anybody have any idea what I can do? Thanks in advance.

 

[engineer2001]

Nobody has ANY ideas at all? I'll try anything to fix this. I have
built PCs for years (since MS DOS and Windows 3.1) and provided support
for all of my family's PCs, and I have never seen anything like this.
I thought I had seen it all. This one has me stumped.

Thanks in advance, if you post something helpful!

 

[Frankster]

Nobody has ANY ideas at all? I'll try anything to fix this. I have
built PCs for years (since MS DOS and Windows 3.1) and provided support
for all of my family's PCs, and I have never seen anything like this.
I thought I had seen it all. This one has me stumped.

Thanks in advance, if you post something helpful!

You don't give many details, but...

Are you on a network?
Does this happen for every account or only some?
Is anything else slow?
Do you have any device errors in the Event log or in
MyComputer|manage|DeviceManager?
At what point does it appear to hang for awhile?
- Logging on
- Loading personal options
- Starting windows
- (I can't remember then all )

-Large remote profiles cause slow logon
-Corrupt profiles can cause slow logon
-First logon after a reboot is *always* much slower than subsequent logons

-Frank

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

And besides all the good questions asked below, how slow is "very slow." How
long does it take?

 

[engineer2001]

Yes, on a network, but only using local profiles.
Every account does this, even when I make new accounts.
Only logon is slow - nothing else, once it's logged on.
No device errors in the event log or in device manager.

At what point does it appear to hang for awhile?
- Logging on
- Loading personal options
- Starting windows

All of the above - see original post (sorry so long, but the info is in
there). It does this at EVERY login, even if I log out and log back in
- just as slow as the initial login.

Thanks for the questions, though. I was beginning to wonder if anyone
was reading this at all.

And besides all the good questions asked below, how slow is "very slow." How
long does it take?

A full 10-15 minutes, with pauses before the welcome screen (about 3-4
mins), when showing "applying your personal settings" (about 1-2 mins),
another black screen (4-5 mins), after displaying the wallpaper with no
icons or task bar (4-5 mins), then the icons and taskbar pop up and
everything is normal from that point on, so long as you don't log off.

Thanks - please help more!

 

[Frank]

Yes, on a network, but only using local profiles.
Every account does this, even when I make new accounts.
Only logon is slow - nothing else, once it's logged on.
No device errors in the event log or in device manager.


All of the above - see original post (sorry so long, but the info is
in
there). It does this at EVERY login, even if I log out and log back
in
- just as slow as the initial login.

Thanks for the questions, though. I was beginning to wonder if anyone
was reading this at all.


A full 10-15 minutes, with pauses before the welcome screen (about 3-4
mins), when showing "applying your personal settings" (about 1-2
mins),
another black screen (4-5 mins), after displaying the wallpaper with
no
icons or task bar (4-5 mins), then the icons and taskbar pop up and
everything is normal from that point on, so long as you don't log off.

Thanks - please help more!

Just for a shot in the dark...Try disabling the McAfee....

 

[engineer2001]

Thank you for trying to help, Frank.

I figured it out - know what it was? I have NEVER seen anything like
this. I packed the ehole computer up to take to my house for
troubleshooting, and it worked FINE! I took it back to my parents'
house and hooked all the peripherals back up - back to the slow boot.

I added devices one at a time until I figured out what it was - their
HP Photosmart 1215 printer. It wouldn't even turn off normally. I
turned the printer off (after waiting a few minutes for it to shut off)
and then back on, and the problem went away completely. Apparently, XP
Pro SP2 waited right there (three times during boot) and tried to poll
the USB devices. Even though one was fragged/in a bad state, it waited
anyway.

Stupid problem with a stupid solution. I wonder how many of the other
posters on here would have their slow boot problems fixed if they
unplugged their USB devices?