applying settings screen on bootup takes forever... 2

[elmurado]

well, not literally forever but nearly.
Have a Toshiba portege M200 1.6G 512 RAM with XpPro (tablet edition) when it boots up it takes almsot three to fourminutes to apply computer then personal settings.
Now we have a few GPO's but none of them should take that long. We have two very small login scripts too but these run after the applying settings stage.
It is quicker though when not logging onto the domain--ie at home and at home it uses a wireless card to access the network.
I think it may be a NIC issue.
Any ideas? I've tried disabling all the raft of Toshiba startups which seem useless.

 

[bcastner]

faq779-4017

 

[elmurado]

Hi Bill, the user had it wrong when she said that the login was quicker at home. It does take just as long.
two minutes for the login screen to disappear after entering credentials and then the applying compter settings screen takes two minutes. Personal settings is fine.
The DNS settings are fine--all client machines are set to have the DNS server(internal) as their DNS and the external (ISP) as their secondary. We use DHCP too. This was the advice from our firewall manufacturer for best throughput at the gateway.
I've tried the force full/100Mbps on switch and NIC but as it happens even with the cached credentials I thought that must mean it is either a winlogon problem or something to do with gp's being applied.
I'm going to try and place the machine in a GP free maintenace OU and then see what happens after running gpupdate.

 

[beerhunter2]

You might want to check the event logs to see if there is an application or service that fails to load at startup. If it is an application (ie. Antivirus), a simple uninstall / reinstall should resolve your issue.

Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my beer.

 

[Beowulf005]

Make sure to check you IP settings. I have the same problem with I have an IP address that is assigned to two machines.

Example.
I am an admin for 4 different computer networks and when I take my laptop from on to the other and forget to change the static IP address the logon takes forever. You are probaly noticing that web pages and email are acting up too.

Give that a try.

 

[Ddraig]

Does this occur every time you try and log in onto your network? Or only when you're switching from one network (Office) to another (Home)? My initial guess is that it is attempting to get new IP information, I've noticed this when switching one computer from one subnet to another. Also their is a local computer policy you might be interested in. "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon." That could be enabled, I know we like to enable it here as it has resolve some issues with our workstations but it could be turned on on the laptop which may be affecting it.

 

[elmurado]

Okay. Here's what I did, unplugged network card and booted up. Now it boots fine. If the NIC is plugged in it takes forever.
I think I will have to go back to the forcing 100MB FUl duplex option again.

It does drop network connections on a regular basis too.
workaround for the moment is to start up without being connected and then connect after it has finished applying settings etc. the machine then synchronzies as it is meant to(folder redirection/offline files) and is fine.

The 'always wait' is not configured so that shouldn't be causing the problem.

Beowulf--what's the quickest way to ensure an IP is not assigned to two machines? This particular machine is set to use DHCP.

 

[elmurado]

Okay, here's the skinny.
I...
1. set both switch port (Cisco 2950) and NIc to 100Mb/Full
2. Can workaround this issue by starting machine then connecting NIC. This boots fine.
3. the applying Computer settings is where it takes longest.
4. scratched my head.
5. Will try from different port on both switch and wall.
6. It tries to pick up so many different wireless networks it's not funny.
7. Tried to eliminate different GPO computer settings which could be taking time.
8. have not understood why a computer setting(our gpo's are pretty lightweight but even the scripts seem to take a while to run-login scripts have the admin templates removed too).

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

If possible, see if you can use a static IP assignment rather than 'obtain an IP address automaticly.' It is the DHCP process rather than any port, speed or duplex issue that is slowing things down.

 

[Beowulf005]

Check list.

Check all computers on the network and look at their ip settings. In windows XP go to the control panel and open network connections. Right click on the network connection and click properties. Click on TCP/IP and click properties. You have the choice of setting auto or static. I recommend to use a static IP.
IP-192.168.Y.X
Subnet-255.255.255.0
gateway-192.168.Y.Y
Y is equal to router IP
X is equal to that computer (count computers and give them a number)

Once this is completed logon to you router and their should be a link to view connected devices and there you should see all the connected computer names and assigned IP's.

Also are you using the build in zeroconfig xp wirless utility or using the one that come with the wirless card? I recommend using the XP one.

Using winXP, make the wirless card AUTO for speed. Don't force it to 100 full. The router will auto accept the card on most networks.

Good luck

 

[elmurado]

Thanks for the suggestions. Still no good! I tried changing to static and it still took forever.
The fact that it authenticates fine means to me that it has already received it's IP address which has an eight day lease-or is that wrong?
Do you think this could be a license issue? As far as i was aware the servers had been setup with per device licenses. If a domain goes above that license no. what are the consequences?
Something else that happens is that the network connection is forever dropping out and today the systray icon said that there was limited or no connectivity( two pc's with yellow moving dots beneath them.) even though the system could use mapped drives and internet.

TIA

 

[bcastner]

http://www.pchell.com/support/limitedconnectivity.shtml

 

[PalmTest]

@elmurado:
If i'm correct the laptop has two NIC's.
One wireless nic (built in?) and an Ethernet NIC.
Logging on to the domain is by Ethernet NIC.

Is there a possibility that the laptop tries to communicate to the domain throug the Wireless NIC?

Try to set up a SPAN port on your Cisco switch and monitor the network behaviour of your logon attempt.
My favorite is to do the Network Packet Capture (Sniffing) by Ethereal. Reading (and understanding) the trace I use packetyzer, both GNU GPL.

http://www.ethereal.com

http://www.packetyzer.com

 

[elmurado]

<BUMP>
I have found the issue--finally, after a few hours of doing a clean boot then turning on services one by one.

These two services, so far, are the culprits;
workstation
Network location awareness

Both are required for ceratin networking features to work(eg synchronisation)
If I turn them off, it boots fine.

Any ideas on how to fix these? Does it look like a reinstall?

 

[Beowulf005]

Was or Is the laptop part of a domain?

 

[elmurado]

Thanks Beowulf.
It is part of a domain and is also part of a home network(wireless).

I'm googling for repairing services.

 

[Beowulf005]

I am guessing that you are doing the same thing that I do often. having a laptop that access an domain and in another place not be connect to the domain. What I have to keep doing is changing the IP infomation before rejoining the domain. Its one of the drawback from going from one network to another. Hopfully Microsoft will put something out to assist with that in the next OS.

I would change the service startup options to manual and when on the domain manually start them when you need them.

GL

 

[elmurado]

Yeah, i'll see what MS have to say about it.
the things is, the wireless NIC is for home(different IP etc)
and the normal NIC is for the domain.
That part works fine, it's just that it has an issue when booting and obviously loading these two services and whatever 'discovering' they need to do.
I'll use the manual startup as a workaround.

 

[Beowulf005]

One last thing I would try is seeing that you are useing the two NIC ,one to access each network,

Open you network connections and in the toolbar you will see an option for advanced click that then chose advanced settings. There you can change the prority that the computer uses when trying to access the network. If your wireless connection is first then that could be why its so slow on the domain.

 

[elmurado]

<BUMP>
This thing will not go away!
Ok. Now I have noticed that when it is first turned on, I can't ping or RDP the machine from anywhere UNTIL I log in.
So I will try and rebuild tcp/ip stack and poss update/reinstall NIC drivers. And see how it goes.

Thanks for all help from everyone.