Boot process stops but then continues

  • Thread starter Thread starter Martín M.
  • Start date Start date
M

Martín M.

Hello,
I am using Windows XP Professional, with SP3 and all the updates installed.
I am having a strange problem with the start of Windows. It boots normally,
but when the desktop and the wallpaper appear, there is a pause of about 30
seconds, in which there is no disk activity. After that pause, everything
boots normally.

I used Bootvis and BootLogXP to find out what processes could be causing
that pause, but I didn't find anything useful. Maybe I don't know what to
look for.

Anyway, I removed several unneeded services, even uninstalled antivirus
(Avira), and managed to cut down the boot time in 15-20 seconds. But the
strange pause is still there.

Any ideas on what should I try next?

Thank you.
 
During the pause, bring up Task Manager and find out what processes uses
most of the CPU resources.
 
Martin

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the
System log in Event Viewer for the last boot. No Information Reports or
Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
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. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are any devices malfunctioning? Select Start, All Programs, Accessories,
System Tools, System Information. Open Components under System Summary
and click on Problem Devices. Is anything listed there?

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?
noelma wrote:

This "I removed several unneeded services" may lead to problems at some
time!

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Thank you both for your replies.

Leonard Grey said:
During the pause, bring up Task Manager and find out what processes uses
most of the CPU resources.
Click to expand...

I can't. I press Ctrl+Shift+Esc during the pause, even several times, but it
doesn't show until the pause is ended and rest of booting process is
continued.


Gerry said:
Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the
System log in Event Viewer for the last boot. No Information Reports or
Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in a previous boot.
Click to expand...

There are some errors at the top of the list complaining about expired SSL
certificates, but they are dated in 2059 (!)... I remember changing the date
accidentally some weeks ago, so this may explain it. Anyway, I don't think
that is part of the problem.

The only "real" error is a "NetBT" one repeated in some days ago, but not in
the last 3 days. Sorry about it being in Spanish, but you can see the event
ID, 4307. Here it is:

**************************************
Tipo de suceso: Error
Origen del suceso: NetBT
Categoría del suceso: Ninguno
Id. suceso: 4307
Fecha: 06/05/2009
Hora: 13:46:00
Usuario: No disponible
Equipo: <deleted>
Descripción:
Error en la inicialización porque el transporte rehusó abrir las direcciones
iniciales.

Para obtener más información, vea el Centro de ayuda y soporte técnico en
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Datos:
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 58 00 ......X.
0008: 00 00 00 00 d3 10 00 c0 ....Ó..À
0010: 01 00 00 00 07 02 00 c0 .......À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
**************************************

Are any devices malfunctioning? Select Start, All Programs, Accessories,
System Tools, System Information. Open Components under System Summary
and click on Problem Devices. Is anything listed there?
Click to expand...

There is a RTL8168C network interface in that section, but that is because
it was disabled by me. I have a dual-NIC motherboard and since I am only
using one, I disabled the other. There are no more malfunctioning devices.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?
Click to expand...

If I enable "Show hidden devices", I can see "parport" and "serial" with
code 24, but I guess that is normal since the parallel and serial ports are
disabled in the BIOS (the BIOS supports them, but they don't phisically exist
on this model).

This "I removed several unneeded services" may lead to problems at some
time!
Click to expand...

I disabled some services to find out if one of them could be causing the
problem. I mean, the problem was there already before disabling them. Anyway,
I disabled really unneeded things for me, like Bluetooth, Themes, Bonjour,
and some other non-Windows services that I didn't need (EPSON monitor,
nsclient...).

Here are some other things I tried but had no success:
- sfc /scannow
- disabling wallpaper and logon sounds (I once had a similar problem with a
corrupted WAV file!)
- updating drivers: nvidia, audio, network
- flashing a new BIOS (not related but I needed to do it anyway...)
- starting computer without anything but keyboard plugged in
 
Gerry said:
http://snurl.com/i13p7 [74_125_77_132]

Are you running Windows Server 2003 or a later version. If yes this may
not be the right newsgroup for your problem.
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/services/WINS_Home.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

Nope, I am not running Windows Server 2003. I am running Windows XP
Professional with SP3. I don't think the NetBT error is related to this
problem, since it stopped appearing in the events 2 days ago. It could be
caused because I flashed and reconfigured my router recently.
 
Martin


Have you tried a logged boot?
A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315222


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martín M. said:
Gerry said:
http://snurl.com/i13p7 [74_125_77_132]

Are you running Windows Server 2003 or a later version. If yes this
may not be the right newsgroup for your problem.
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/services/WINS_Home.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

Nope, I am not running Windows Server 2003. I am running Windows XP
Professional with SP3. I don't think the NetBT error is related to
this problem, since it stopped appearing in the events 2 days ago. It
could be caused because I flashed and reconfigured my router recently.
Click to expand...
 
I solved it. It was VMWare Workstation. I was using a slightly outdated
version that would have some kind of bug, but it was solved in the last
version. I upgraded it and the weird pause in the boot process was
inmediately gone.

Thank you for your help :)
 
Martin

Thanks for reporting your solution.

I tried comparing your boot log with my own but there too many
differences for me to identify a lead to follow up. The two logs sat on
my desk all this week. This morning I picked them up to see what loaded
after Mups.sys. Your mention of VMWare Workstation could help with
trying to understand ways to isolate some of the causes of the 0xED BSOD
where it stops at mups.sys. Your boot log being from a Windows XP
Professional system whereas my system is Home Edition also makes for an
interesting comparison exercise.

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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