Slow to Boot

[mba...@mvl.kmmfg.com]

Dear Forums..

I have a IBM Thinkpad T41 running Windows XP SP2. My boot times have
exceeded 15 minutes before getting a Netware Client Prompt. I am running
4.91 SP1 Client. When I remove the client, boot time is less than one
minute. The only oddity about this particular laptop is that it currently
has 10 user accounts. I have tried to reduce the number of user accounts
to see if that would speed up boot time, but have failed to show any
signifigant improvement.

Has anyone ran into this problem before? Is there any conflicting software
that needs to be removed besided Novell client?

Anyone have any suggestions, let me know.

[Tony Pedretti]

mbaumli,

Is a wireless NIC present and enabled? Using Bootvis some of us have
isolated svchost.exe (mrxsmb.sys) getting hung during startup when 1 - 2
minute delays were present. Is the Wireless Zero Configuration service
disabled? If so, re-enable it.

After pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL there is a 2 minute delay before the NWGINA
appears
http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10099173.htm

Lets gather some more details about your environment...

Any additional components of the client installed?
What protocols are bound to the client?

Windows Event logs showing anything unusual?
Was Windows installed from scratch, a custom image, or an OEM image?

Security or any other driver-based software like firewall, VPN, remote
management or antivirus installed and running?

BootVis is be a good troubleshooting option for general startup delays.
1.3.37.0 can be downloaded from various web sites to help you troubleshoot
where delays are present in XP's startup...

Fast Boot / Fast Resume Design
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/fastboot/default.mspx

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/bootvis/

Can you verify a virus, spyware or some other corruption has not affected
Windows?
I've used these free utilities in the past to help troubleshoot and they can
tell you wonders about what is really going on with Windows...

AutoRuns, Process Explorer, Filemon, Regmon, LoadOrder, TCPView, and TDImon
http://www.sysinternals.com/

DriverView, ServiWin, AdapterWatch, and WinLister
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/

--
Tony Pedretti

[mba...@mvl.kmmfg.com]

Tony

Wireless NIC is enabled and Present. But this is not the component I am
using to connect to the network. I have done the Typical Client Install
with the only modification being IP and IPX install.
CA's eTrust 7 has Realtime Monitor Installed on boot.
I haven't checked Windows Logs yet, but the Install was OEM from IBM. I
have removed some of the "Junk" Out of it.

BootVIS shows that the majority of the time is spend in the Logon & Service.
Also the primary delay is "Network Delay" which is at the same time that
Logon and Service is running.

Hope this helps.

[Tony Pedretti]

Doesn't really matter what connection you're using. Just that a wireless
NIC is active.
For us it was a combination of the Microsoft client for Windows, Novell
Client, wireless NIC being enabled and the Wireless Zero Configuration
service
being disabled. Remove any of the first three or re-enable the service and
the delay calling mrxsmb.sys (Microsoft's redirector for its Windows network
client) is resolved.

Can you reproduce with a non-OEM install of Windows? Either a fresh install
or a clean image.

Someone had mentioned updating IBM Access Connections to 3.71 or whatever is
current and its related drivers/utilities but we were not able to reproduce
or otherwise verify these as part of the issue.

Novell being the third-party here its really time for Microsoft to take it
up with the OEMs (eg. IBM) and possibly the wireless chipsets manufacturers
(eg. Intel).

--
Tony Pedretti
TransUnion Corporation

[mba...@mvl.kmmfg.com]

Tony

Disabling the Wireless connection dropped the boot time to an acceptable
level. 65 Seconds. I am still curious why another machine of similar
build has no problem of this. My guess is that I need to do some more
testing at a later time.

Thanks for you help. I will probably use BootVIS quite a bit in the near
future.

[acl...@roseburg.k12.or.us]

I'm troubleshooting a Dell, Latitude D510, Pentium M, Intel Centrino
technology, Windows XP SP2, and Novell client 4.91 and it is doing the
same thing as you are reporting. I checked all of the threads to your
post and then checked this system. Windows Wireless Zero Configuration is
enabled, but the system still takes over a minute to boot to a Novell
Client login dialog screen. I remove the client and it boots normally.
This is causing my clients grief and therefore causing me grief.