Windows XP PRO SP2 - Hangs on reboot at "applying computer setting

[Guest]

Recently, following re-start and entering credentials, hangs for about 60
minutes at "applying computer settings". Then continues on normally. This
happens on each re-boot.

It boots normally into safe mode with networking.

Tried capturing and comparing event logs from safe mode and comparing with
problem - don't see the issue.

Checkpoint restore didn't resolve.

Can't correlate to any program installations, driver installs, etc.

Would be grateful for any ideas or suggestions.

Thanks,

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Jeff

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System
and Application logs for the time the error occurs and post copies.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, and
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and click
on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Kerry Brown]

Are you connected to an active directory domain? The most common cause of
long delays logging on to a domain is misconfigured dns settings on the
client. Make sure the client only points to an internal dns server. One
thing to try is to unplug the network cable or disable the wireless adapter
and reboot the computer. Does it still take a long time to log on?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=832161

Another possible cause is a corrupted winsock stack. You can reset it but be
aware this procedure will break your antivirus, antispyware, 3rd party
firewall, and possibly more software. You may have to reinstall them.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

Let us know the results of rebooting with the network cable unplugged.

 

[Guest]

Gerry,

Thanks for the reponse. However, as I mentioned in my original post:

Tried capturing and comparing event logs from safe mode and comparing with
problem - don't see the issue.

Not saying that it's not there. I just don't see it.

However, I'm now troubleshooting using msconfig diagnostic startup, which I
should have done in the first place. It looks like the problem is occuring
with the start of one of the services. Assuming that I isolate and resolve
it, I'll post the resolution.

Again, thanks for your suggestion. The answer will probably appear obvious
in the event logs after I isolate it

 

[Guest]

Tried disconnecting from the network - i.e. disabled the wireless and the
wired NIC's for startup. No diference.

Using msconfig, isolated it down to the following:
If I do a selective startup, and select all, except under "load system
services", uncheck "Themes", then it starts normally. Note that I
discovered this by unchecking all, and rebooting iteratively until I got down
to themes. No idea why that is causing the issue and the event logs don't
appear to show anything relevant.

Corrective action:
Tried right-clicking on the desktop>>select Properties>>Themes and selecting
Classic Windows.
Also, changed Performing Tuning for Visual Effects back to "adjust for best
performance." This was accomplished by right-clicking on My
Computer>>Advanced>>Performance-Settings>>Visual Effects tab>>select "adjust
for best performance"

Note that I'm not sure what this actually accomplished since the only one I
had selected that wasn't default was "smooth edges of screen fonts"

Anyway, after 3 reboots, that appears to have resolved the problem -
although I don't really understand why the Themes services was causing that
problem - again - about 50-70 minutes per reboot; or why the combination of
Changing the Theme back to Classic (it was only slightly modified) and
modifying the visual performance (again, only slightly modified) helped
resolve it.

Thanks for the ideas and feedback.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks for posting back with the solution. That does sound like a strange
one.