XP Startbutton lockup on loading

[danvn]

Hi,

Could anyone help me with this problem?
I had to do a system restore after a problem with my Audigy drivers and it crashed midway through restoring. I finally sorted all the problems out but when I load XP now, the start button if clicked just freezes, I am unable to select anything there, it lasts for about 3 or 4 mins.
I've tried ctrl alt del to see what's taking so long and have noticed that under the user tab, it is blank, for 3 or 4 mins, then the profiles load and everything works again.
I never had this problem before and it's kinda irritating!
My system Specs are-

AMD 2000XP processor
ATI Radeon 8500
Soundblaster Audigy
512 meg DDR ram

not sure what other info might be needed?
if anyone could help me out here, I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers,
Dan

[BipolarBill]

Welcome to SysOpt!

Just boot from the XP CD and choose > Setup > F8 > Install > Repair (R) - not Recovery Console. WinXP will be as good as new afterward.

[danvn]

Hi Bipolar Bill,

thanks for your answer, and your going to have to forgive me for being incredibly dumb but how exactly do I boot from the CD?
I have tried re-booting with the XP disk in the drive and my PC justs boots normally, am I missing something here?

Cheers,
Dan

[BipolarBill]

OK...go into BIOS setup and look for the Boot Sequence setting. Put the CDROM to the front and try again.

[EasyFast]

My windows XP does the same thing, and I just live with it, until I have time to try to figure it out.

Mine does not lock up for 3-4 min., only about 1 min. And it is not related to the Start Button. It may seem to related to the "Start" button. Because if you launch any program in first few minutes after boot, it appears to lock up.

What happens to mine, and maybe yours also is, a known problem with a "network" card. At least this is one problem that I have heard of that relates and seems to make sense.

When mine locks up, I watch my DSL modem, which is connected through the network card, the lights will start flashing and then all of a sudden the OS starts working again.

XP is trying to assign that network connection and it pings it. The system hangs while it does this. The reason it hangs/locks up is do to the ethernet card/network card and XP assigning something to it, I don't recall. Anyhow, I just have not had time to address it with my computer, but there is an article about the problem over at http://www.tweakxp.com

I once thought that XP was sending info out over the internet, but I watched it through some software that I have, and it is only pinging for a connection. But it is the card that is causing the hang/lock up.

You might want to check it out.

[danvn]

Thanks for the answers. I repaired XP, and it's all back to normal now.
I haven't got a network card installed, so maybe it would be an idea to do a system repair as well Easyfast, can't hurt.

It's not a serious problem, but irritating especially when you've spent £1,300 on a PC 2 months ago and it's playing up!
Thanks again Bill and Easyfast
:t