Windows 'sticks' on startup

[Guest]

This happens on average about 1/3 of the time I start my Acer Travelmate
C314. Some weeks it seems every time I turn it on, it behaves this way, some
weeks it never causes any problems.

Windows loads, I log in, and I get my desktop as expected. But a large
portion of the applications I use don't start properly: for example, Opera
and IE simply don't start; MS Word opens but I can't open any documents;
Adobe Illustrator shows its splash screen and seems to load all its plugins,
but the splash screen never clears and the main interface never appears;
Windows Explorer opens but never shows any files in any folder; Windows
Firewall apparently doesn't start either, since I usually get a warning from
Security Center that it isn't running (it is turned on). I can't even shut
down or restart: when I try, nothing happens. I have to do a hard reboot.

I never get any sort of error from these applications themselves. I can see
the processes for all of these applications in Processes tab of Task Manager,
but they never show up under Applications, and killing the process or process
tree doesn't seem to do anything. I also don't see anything unusual in the
Processes tab - no process is using an inordinate amount of processor or
memory.

I have up-to-date antivirus, and run Spybot S&D's TeaTimer as general system
protection. I wiped the laptop a few months ago, hoping to get rid of this
problem, but it didn't seem to help.

I'm considering doing one-by-one testing of the various items in Startup
Programs, but considering how this problem isn't redily replicated, that
could take weeks. Does anyone have any thought on where to start looking?

Thanks.

 

[db]

you might want to disable
all your startups temporarily.

start > run > msconfig > startup tab >
disable all and reboot.

if this helps then the stall was one of
the startups you temp'y disabled.

if it doesnt' help then it could be
a problem with a device driver. In
which case you might want to check
out the faq's at the acer website...

- db
This happens on average about 1/3 of the time I start my Acer Travelmate
C314. Some weeks it seems every time I turn it on, it behaves this way, some
weeks it never causes any problems.

Windows loads, I log in, and I get my desktop as expected. But a large
portion of the applications I use don't start properly: for example, Opera
and IE simply don't start; MS Word opens but I can't open any documents;
Adobe Illustrator shows its splash screen and seems to load all its plugins,
but the splash screen never clears and the main interface never appears;
Windows Explorer opens but never shows any files in any folder; Windows
Firewall apparently doesn't start either, since I usually get a warning from
Security Center that it isn't running (it is turned on). I can't even shut
down or restart: when I try, nothing happens. I have to do a hard reboot.

I never get any sort of error from these applications themselves. I can see
the processes for all of these applications in Processes tab of Task Manager,
but they never show up under Applications, and killing the process or process
tree doesn't seem to do anything. I also don't see anything unusual in the
Processes tab - no process is using an inordinate amount of processor or
memory.

I have up-to-date antivirus, and run Spybot S&D's TeaTimer as general system
protection. I wiped the laptop a few months ago, hoping to get rid of this
problem, but it didn't seem to help.

I'm considering doing one-by-one testing of the various items in Startup
Programs, but considering how this problem isn't redily replicated, that
could take weeks. Does anyone have any thought on where to start looking?

Thanks.