XP Pro Slow Logon

[Victor]

At the office is a 3 computer network. All machines have
512MB of RAM and contain XP Pro SP-1. The network is a
workgroup, not a domain. One of the machines is a laptop
from Gateway, the 200X.

Each machine uses a CAT5e cable and connects through a
LinkSys switch(EZXS55W). The problem occurs on the laptop.
When it boots up, all we see is the wallpaper and it takes
about 2 minutes before we see the taskbar, icons, network
connection, etc.. I know it has something to do with the
network because if i boot up the laptop without it being
connected to the network, the whole desktop shows up in
seconds. Has anyone run into this problem before? It is
the strangest thing and any help is appreciated. The
laptop also has offline files setup and it does
syncronize. I had to do the setup again and it did a full
syncronization but transfering the files over to the
laptop took forever! Very slow in that aspect also. With a
switch and cat 5 you would think it would be faster?

The laptop is a Pentium M with Centrino, so it is not
slow. The network card is an Intel Pro/100 VE and it also
contains a Pro/100 Wireless 2200BG card, but that one is
disabled since they dont use wireless there. SP-2 is not
an option right now, and dont know if they will ever need
it since they rarely go online. No broadband there, just a
dial up connection that is used just a few minutes a day.
In todays world, that might be rare, but that is the way
they like it so i will leave it as is.

One last thing to mention, i went into the advanced
settings of the Network Connections window and changed the
provider order, so that the MS Networks is first and that
did not do anything.

Thanks for any answers,

Victor

PS. The other machines are a P4 and an Athlon so they are
fast also.

 

[Giuliano]

Try the ms boot visualizer tool (ms bootvis). It's a semi-supported tool
downloadable from microsoft site (don't know exact location).
It can make a boot trace + driver (startup) delay calculation. You should
then be able to identify a driver with a very long delay.

I'll bet it will be mrxsmb (the redirector component, with a huge 67 seconds
delay). Many people have had problems (including me) but it is not
documented on
Microsoft KB. I've resolved using the network driver included in Windows XP
instead of the original hp one (at least I think so).
Maybe changing again the providers order or installing SP2 (just to shake
the whole system) will prove useful.

Let us know..

 

[Guest]

I did not try the bootvis program because that messes with
the boot process and i did not want to do any harm to that
laptop. Can boot viz be used just to see where there is a
bottle neck? If you could point me to a link that shows
how ot work the program i can then see if it would be
worth running.

I did remove the network card completely, and added an
updated version of the driver for it. It is the Intel Pro
100/VE nic it uses. I did that but still when i connect to
the network it is slow, but when im not connected just a
few seconds for the desktop and related items to show up.
It really is the strangest thing and im stumped

Thanks again for any help

Victor