Windows pausing at logon

Cake · 21 Nov 2007 at 11:35

Hey people,

I've been having a small annoyance on Windows XP Pro lately. When the machine boots up, I usually type my password in straight away and hit enter to login (by the way, I don't use the crappy Welcome screen or Fast User Switching; I always switch that off soon as I install Windows). At this point the screen just freezes for a while. I can move the mouse, but the login dialog is just sitting there for a whole minute before logging in.

Now, if I boot the machine and wait a while before I type in the password and login everything is fine, which leads me to believe that there is a service loading at that point which allows me to use the keyboard/mouse, but won't let anything else happen until it's finished what it's doing.

I've switched a lot of services that I don't need to manual startup and I've also disconnected network drives and deleted network printers as I thought the machine may be trying to connect to these at bootup, but to no avail.

Anyone had any similar problems and have any suggestions to the cause of this?

Thanks,

-A

*edit*
List of startup services from HijackThis:

Ad-Aware 2007 Service: "C:\Program Files\Security\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\aawservice.exe" (autostart)
AEGIS Protocol (IEEE 802.1x) v3.7.4.0: system32\DRIVERS\AegisP.sys (autostart)
Windows Audio: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
AVG7 Alert Manager Server: C:\PROGRA~1\Security\Grisoft\AVG7\avgamsvr.exe (autostart)
AVG7 Update Service: C:\PROGRA~1\Security\Grisoft\AVG7\avgupsvc.exe (autostart)
AVG E-mail Scanner: C:\PROGRA~1\Security\Grisoft\AVG7\avgemc.exe (autostart)
AVG Network Redirector: \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avgtdi.sys (autostart)
Computer Browser: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Cryptographic Services: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
DCOM Server Process Launcher: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost -k DcomLaunch (autostart)
DHCP Client: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Diskeeper: "C:\Program Files\Diskeeper Corporation\Diskeeper\DkService.exe" (autostart)
Logical Disk Manager: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
DNS Client: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k NetworkService (autostart)
Error Reporting Service: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Event Log: %SystemRoot%\system32\services.exe (autostart)
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Event Log: C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\EvtEng.exe (autostart)
FAH@C:+FAH+FAH504-Console.exe: C:\FAH\FAH504-Console.exe -svcstart (autostart)
VMware hcmon: \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\hcmon.sys (autostart)
Help and Support: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
IIS Admin: C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe (autostart)
Server: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Workstation: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService (autostart)
Machine Debug Manager: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe" (autostart)
mdmxsdk: system32\DRIVERS\mdmxsdk.sys (autostart)
Plug and Play: %SystemRoot%\system32\services.exe (autostart)
IPSEC Services: %SystemRoot%\system32\lsass.exe (autostart)
Protected Storage: %SystemRoot%\system32\lsass.exe (autostart)
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Registry Service: C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\RegSrvc.exe (autostart)
Remote Registry: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService (autostart)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC): %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost -k rpcss (autostart)
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Service: C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\S24EvMon.exe (autostart)
WLAN Transport: system32\DRIVERS\s24trans.sys (autostart)
Security Accounts Manager: %SystemRoot%\system32\lsass.exe (autostart)
Task Scheduler: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Secondary Logon: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
System Event Notification: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS): %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Shell Hardware Detection: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Print Spooler: %SystemRoot%\system32\spoolsv.exe (autostart)
System Restore Service: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Themes: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Distributed Link Tracking Client: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
VMware Bridge Protocol: system32\DRIVERS\vmnetbridge.sys (autostart)
VMware Network Application Interface: \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\vmnetuserif.sys (autostart)
VMware vmx86: \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\vmx86.sys (autostart)
TrueVector Internet Monitor: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe -service (autostart)
Vstor2 Virtual Storage Driver: \??\C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\VMware Virtual Image Editing\vstor2.sys (autostart)
Windows Time: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
WebClient: %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService (autostart)
Windows Management Instrumentation: %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless SSO Service: C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\WLKeeper.exe (autostart)
Security Center: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (autostart)
XAudio: system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.sys (autostart)
XAudioService: %SystemRoot%\system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.exe (autostart)

Aod · 21 Nov 2007 at 20:15

could be F@H or print-spooler.
a lot of possible things really.

i'm assuming this is a centrino-laptop yeah? the CPU could be in power save and slowing the system down.

Cake · 25 Nov 2007 at 19:37

Yeah, it's a Centrino Duo. Just bought it around 2 months ago. I didn't have this problem until about 3 weeks ago though and I haven't changed any power settings since installing and configuring my OSes.

Switching F@H and Print Spooler to manual startup didn't change anything.

Also, this only happens on the first login after boot. If I logout and back into the system, I don't seem to get the pause. :S

RJC · 25 Nov 2007 at 21:59

Do you have any network attached equipment! reason being every time I started my pc and my printer was off it would sit there for about a minute then carry on

Done a cold reboot the next day, switched the printer on soon as my pc started, logged on, no lag windows carried on without any problems.

Rob

Cake · 29 Nov 2007 at 13:03

I don't have any physical printers installed. I did use the network printers at work a couple of times to print, but I removed them and I still have this problem whether I'm at work or not.The printers I have right now are both document writers. Here's the list:
Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Microsoft XPS Document Writer

I also had network drives mapped, which I need to access at work, yet whether I'm connected to the network or not and whether I remove the drive mappings or not I have the same problem. :S

Butters · 29 Nov 2007 at 14:02

Its quite possibly something network related that isnt working right.

bledd · 29 Nov 2007 at 14:03

usually things like wireless network cards or virtualmachine network drivers cause pauses like this