WinXP Welcome Screen Unnecessary Long Pause

[intense321]

I have three systems running WinXP with identical setups. 2 of them run fine without the problem below.

The 3rd one is giving me a problem. WinXP SP2 running on a 3.2ghz machine with Sata drive pauses for almost 5 minutes at the welcome screen! No hard drive activity occurs during the pause.

I have disabled all passwords, etc. so after the 5 minutes, windows actually boots just fine.

I have tried disabling everything in MSCONFIG (including doing a diagnostic boot with no drivers) with no help. I have run Microsoft Bootvis system optimization software with absolutely no increase in performance.

I have scanned for viruses using both AVG and NAV2k5, and scanned for adware/malware using Lavasoft and Microsoft Antispy. I have none of these problems.

Any ideas why I'm getting this 5 minute pause? It is VERY annoying.

 

[intense321]

I found the problem but still need help!

After extensive driver and system service disabling, I found that disabling a system startup process called, "Workstation" completely fixes the problem. No more 5 minute wait! All my internet, etc. seems to work fine after disabling this "Workstation" process.

My major concern is that on the Services Guide for Windows XP (http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm), it says to absolutely NEVER DISABLE the "Workstation" system process because I will lose all internet connectivity, etc.

So, how come my internet still works fine? Man am I confused. If someone can shed some light on what this Microsoft Certified "Workstation" system service actually does and why it is slowing down my system to a 5 minute Welcome screen with no hard drive activity, please get back to me ASAP!

Thanks!

 

[intense321]

YEA! I figured it out!

I figured out my problem! "Workstation" is a required element of WinXP. I re-enabled it. I found out that I had a nonfunctional network drive mapped that windows was trying to reconnect upon login.

For some assinine reason, windows doesn't stop looking for the missing network drive for 5 minutes! What kind of stupid programming is that? I mean, wouldn't it be logical to attempt to access the network drive and continue booting windows while the drive access was attempted in the background? Shit man, I could reprogram that sub in like 15 minutes so users like me wouldn't get so frustrated by MS's incompetent programming.

I just disabled the network drive, and VOILA! instant WinXP boot. I love it when a plan comes together.