I own a 3 month old Dell Dimension 8200 laptop with XP.

I was watching a piece of internet media in full screen mode (forget
what the player was), then clicked the esc button to move out of full
screen mode...then a blue screen error happened (don't have any info
on what the error said).

Now there are noticable problems with my computer which happen
consistantly and are as follows:

1. Whenever I turn my computer off or restart.. the final screen
before the official turn off sits there forever (it's a blue windows
XP screen that says shutting down).  Probably takes about 2 minutes
for my computer to finally turn off which is obviously not normal.

2. The next problem occurs when my computer comes back on after a
restart and is as follows: I only have two programs load at startup
(zone alarm and an anti virus program (Nortons originally or currently
System Suite).  When my computer is starting up it appears that
everything is finished loading, but my startup programs have not
loaded.  It takes approx. 1 more entire minute before all of a sudden
my start up programs kick in and load.  It's like something is hanging
my computer up for over a minute that is not allowing my start up
programs to load.

These are my problems and they started happening directly after the
error.  Could it be that my computer is searching for some component
(like a sound card and maybe some path is incorrect now) and this is
what is causing the problem?  Any ideas?

---

Request for Question Clarification by secret901-ga on 03 Nov 2002 20:14 PST

Hi freakfarm,
Open your start menu and select "Run," then type in "msconfig." Look
at the Startup and Services tabs.  Are there programs in those tabs
that you do not recognize?

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 03 Nov 2002 21:00 PST

well...that question is not an easy one.  There are so many things
listed in services I'm not sure how I would know what I should or
should not recognize.

As far as the start up...the only things that are actually checked are
zone alarm and some spool path having to do with my HP printer (there
are numerous other things not checked, some of which I do not
recognize (although I've never known what half the stuff is in there
from the very beginning).

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 05:16 PST

Usuaully when there is a delay in booting XP/2000, it indiates a
driver or service that got hung or was unable to start. Windows logs
these errors in the Event Log. Please check the event log for errors
directly after bootup (after everything has finished loading). Event
log is under Administrative Tools in Control Panel. Look at both the
System and Application logs. Specifically any that say "Service
Control"... you're looking for red or yellow flagged entries.

If the log is clear of errors, I would look to Norton as the possible
problem. Norton has services that initialize at both startup and
shutdown. It also runs continuously during your sessions. It's
possible that your blue screen corrupted some of Norton's files. I
would probably completely uninstall Norton, reboot a couple of times
and see if the problem subsides. If it does, re-install Norton and all
should be back to normal.

Another thing you can do is simply use System Restore to restore your
system to a date earlier than when the blue screen occured. Windows
saves your system once every day in case of problems such as these so
it can be restored. As long as the problem didn't happen weeks ago,
this is still a viable option. You don't lose things such as current
email with a system restore, it mostly fixes system related problem.

If you would like for me to help you further on this question, please
let me know. I can give you more detailed instructions on any of the
suggestions above and/or continue the troubleshooting process with
you.

Sincerely,
PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 08:45 PST

addressing pwizard:

(can't do the system restore as this happened about 1 month ago.)

I've created screenshots of the errors in application and system for
you to view when I just tried starting up again:

http://www.tshirthell.com/google.htm

please let me know if this may help solve the problem and if I can get
you any more info...

thank you
Aaron

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 08:59 PST

Thanks for the clarification and screenshots. Just as I thought, you
have a service that is failing to startup. This service (WrKPoET2000)
appears to be related to the Earthlink DSL and/or dial-up system. Do
you use Earthlink? If so, please try uninstalling any Earthlink
drivers and/or software you have then re-installing it. Let's see if
that clears up the problem. Please let me know what the outcome of
that is. Thanks!
 
Don't worry about the W32Time errors, those are common. 
 
-PWizard

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 09:09 PST

To be more specific, this driver is a part of the "WinPOET" system,
which is included as a part of Earthlink's DSL software kit (and
possibly other broadband providers). This is the piece that needs to
be uninstalled/reinstalled. You might be able to do just this piece by
itself if you can locate it on the disc. Also, if Earthlink IS your
provider, you can go here:
http://start.earthlink.net/support/DLOADCENTER/dslclient_win.jsp

Enter your username/password and download the newest version of the
WinPOET software for Windows 2000/XP.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 09:21 PST

well....here's the thing.  I do use Earthlink when I'm on the road as
my dial up connection, but use Verizon DSL while connected at home.

When I have the problems afermentioned I'm at home and my DSL cable is
plugged into my computer (but it's not an "always on" DSL and when I
reboot, I have to dial up in order to connect).  It's an immediate
dial up though and connects very quickly.

Please clarify what you think I should should in regards to the
earthlink thing because as far as I was aware I wasn't using anything
"earthlink related" because I'm using my Verizon DSL.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 09:36 PST

Searching the web, it seems they too (Verizon) use the WinPOET
software for their DSL software package. Did you install the software
from the Verizon CD when you installed your DSL line? If so,
uninstall/reinstall the Verizon DSL software or WinPOET if you can
find it specifically on the CD. I couldn't find any download links on
Verizon's website, but you should have the CD if you installed the the
first time around.

Check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel... see if you have Verizon
DSL or WinPOET as options to be removed if you're uncertain whether or
not you installed it.

If you just use Earthlink for dial-up, I wouldn't think that the
WinPOET would have been installed as a part of that package as WinPOET
controls PPOE connections (DSL) only. Some references have stated that
Windows XP doesn't even need WinPOET to function correctly as it has
PPOE built-in. This is probably why your DSL continues to function
corrctly even after this service fails to startup. So, you might be
able to simply REMOVE the WinPOET or Verizon DSL software and use
WinXP's built-in PPOE software and be done with it. I would just make
sure you have the Verizon disc to reinstall the software should you
decide to uninstall in case it won't work without it.

Let me know how it goes from there. Thanks.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 10:11 PST

alright, I uninstalled winpoet 4.0 and I'm still having the same
problems on startup and shut down (although, the error is different
now as shown below):

http://www.tshirthell.com/google2.htm

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 10:23 PST

Did you try re-installing WinPOET to see if it would re-bind these
services together? I feel like your problem definitely lies somewhere
in the PPoE networking services layer. Let me know what re-installing
the WinPOET software does. If that produces no positive effect and/or
you still get PPoE related errors, we'll find a way to
re-install/re-initialize the WinXP built-in PPoE driver engine. That
might be the only solution as even WinPOET might be bound to these
drivers in the first place.

Sorry for all the clarifications, but troubleshooting problems such as
this is clearly a hit/miss type of situation. But, stick with me and
surely we'll find the source of your problem.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 11:09 PST

I reinstalled and we're back to the same errors in the first screen shot set.

thanks for working through this with me.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 11:26 PST

OK, let's do this another way. It appears that even after uninstalling
WinPOET, it still tried to start the service associated with it. Let's
disable the service altogether and see what we get. Do this:

Control Panel --> Adinistrative Tools --> Services

Look for something that resembles WinPOET, WinPPPoverEthernet, Verizon
DSL, etc. It may simply be labled as PPPoE or PPPoverEthernet. Look
for that as the last option as that might be XP's built-in service.
Once you find the service you want, double-click. Change the startup
option to DISABLED and click OK to save. Then reboot and see if you
still get the lag in startup time. Also, another screenshot of your
error screen would be great (if you get new/different error(s)).

I'm also interested in the error from that last set of screenshots
where it mentioned saving the registry during logoff. Does that error
occur with every single shutdown?

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 12:43 PST

did what you said and the errors are gone but the same problems are
still happening (tried restarting 3 times).  What does remain is the
registry warning in applications and it does seem to happen on every
shut down.

latest screen shot: http://www.tshirthell.com/google3.htm

thanks

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 13:00 PST

Well, this certainly is perplexing. My next thought is that one of
your startup applications is not functioning correctly or is hanging
trying to startup. I would probably disable these one by one until you
find the culprit. This will require editing the system registry. Run
REGEDIT.EXE and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

You can edit each entry an insert a "REM" statement in front of the
command-line to keep it from starting up on the next reboot. You can
either disable them all (except for (Default)) to see if it makes the
problem go away, then enable one at a time, or you can disable one at
a time and do the process in reverse. This will tell us if it's one of
your startup applications that might need to be reinstalled or is
having a problem. Otherwise, it's something wrong with the system
itself which might can be repaired by using the System File Checker -
but this process doesn't always work or help much.

On your last error screenshot, take a look at this website:
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=1517&source=

It descirbes the error and what some other people have done to clear
the error on their system. Might be worthwhile to give a couple of
them a try. I'm still not convinced that your startup and shutdown
problems are caused by the same issue. Fixing one may not fix the
other. Let's see how we come out with disabling the startup programs
and go from there.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 13:16 PST

I'm not sure how to do what you are asking (I'm not very technically
inclined).

When I go where you said...I see this:
http://www.tshirthell.com/images/reg1.gif

does that look normal and how "exactly" do I make the change in each
that you are mentioning?

thanks

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 13:36 PST

Yes, you are in exactly the right spot. Just double-click on the
description:

Dell|Alert
HPDJ Taskbar Utility
etc..

And in the box that comes up, add the word REM in front of the command
line. So, the Dell|Alert one would then read:

Dell|Alert      REM C:\Program Files\Dell\Support\Alert\bin...

do this for each one you want to disable. Everything listed here are
third-party programs that were added - such as print utilities,
antivirus, etc. There are no Windows system files in this section.
This will allow us to eliminate or find fault with one of your
third-party apps.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 14:03 PST

I removed all the items from start up and still have the same problem.

Zone Alarm and System Suite still loaded on startup (in fact...they
weren't even listed on the regedit list of startup programs).  Is this
normal?

Regardless...the problem still happens.

I also tried making every service (there were many) local system.  I
had to change about 10 items.  This also did not fix the shut down
problem.  In fact, the warning still comes up the same way (even
though every single service now has local checked).

Ughhhhh

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 14:17 PST

The Zone Alarm and System Suite are most likely configured to start as
services (remember where you changed the WinPOET service to be
DISABLED?). You can disable them from there. That's probably the last
thing to try on your startup issue. After disabling those, if it's
still slow to initiate, it has to be a system level driver or device
that is acting up. About the only way to correct that is a system
re-install or as I stated before, you can try the system file checker,
but I doubt it will really help much.

Not sure what to tell you on the shutdown issue. That one looks like
it could be caused by a few different issues as we saw in that last
site I directed you to.

I feel like when your blue screen error occurred, something got
corrupted somewhere, but not enough to cause the system to become
unstable. If we knew more specifics about the blue screen error or if
scandisk possibly found problems or tried to correct files after the
blue screen (and we knew what these files were), we might be able to
provide more help. I think we've checked just about everything we can
outside of re-installing the system. I'm happy to let any other
researchers jump in here if they can provide you with any other ideas.

I know you must be very frustrated, but I've had you check just about
everything I know for you to check. I apologize that it hasn't
produced a workable solution thus far, I know it's taken up quite a
bit of your time. I'll be happy to assist further if the last above
suggestion leads you any further in uncovering the culprit.

Sincerely,
PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 15:32 PST

ok...something interesting just happened.

I decided to simply unplug the ethernet cable from my computer to see
what would happen.

On start up everything loaded in the beginning as it is supposed
to...but I did get a little zone alarm pop up that is here:
http://www.tshirthell.com/images/svhost.gif

it looks like this "srvc host" thing is trying to access the internet.
 As i mentioned before, I have to dial up to connect to my internet
normally (although I assume my computer is connected in some way
because the only time the little tvs come up with red X on them is
when the cable is unplugged (even though I supposedly am not online)

When I unplugged my ethernet cable...everything worked fine but I got
that zone alarm pop up.  When my ethernet cable is plugged in,
everything does not start up fine but I don't get the little pop up
from ZA.

Any thoughts?

thanks for the continued effort.

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 16:08 PST

so just to be clear...once my ethernet cable is unplugged everything
loads fine again (aside from this little pop up asking to allow a
connection for svchost).

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 16:40 PST

Did you ever try just disabling the Zone Alarm service from the
Services list? I'm curious if this had any effect or not.

When you unplugged your Ethernet cable, you effectively diabled that
network connection and everything related to it. That definitely tells
us that the problem lies either in a service attached to your network
connection or something trying to access it. I've seen delays similar
to yours when the network connection has trouble establing
communication with whatever it's plugged into (modem/router/etc). This
might also be the case. I just want to rule out Zone Alarm as being a
problem before we proceed further.

So, if you could, plug the ethernet connection back in, disable the
Zone Alarm service and reboot. Let me know the result. Thanks.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 17:06 PST

I will do that.  I know that one of the things I did in the beginning
of this whole problem was to uninstall ZA and to try restarting.  The
same problem continued and uninstalling zone alarm did nothing.  I
will try again.

in the meantime..here is the message I get from MS help center in
regards to the warning I get when shutting down:
http://www.tshirthell.com/images/event.gif

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 17:11 PST

actually I misunderstood what you just said...and I DID try disabling
the only thing I could find related to Zone Alarm in my services list
(true vector internet monitor) and what happened was ZA still seemed
to load (and actually loaded like normal and right at startup, I guess
just minus the True Vector aspect).

The problem still existed though and System Suite loaded a full minute
later as usual.  I did also try disabling System Suite and this did
nothing.

I can't find any other Zone Alarm related aspects in "services", but
there must be something there....

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 17:16 PST

Perhaps there is a way to disable it through a configuration of the
software itself? I personally use Norton Firewall and I am able to run
the program and there is a DISABLE button and also a "Run at Startup"
function I can turn off as well. Perhaps ZoneAlarm has this same
setup? Obviously they have made it difficult to be disabled.. probably
so that virus writers and hackers can't easily deactivate it using
malicious code.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 17:26 PST

I did find a place in the preferences to disable ZA at startup.

This did not fix the problem as it still took over a minute to load
System Suite after initial startup.

I just started using System Suite, but used Nortons right before and
the same problem was happening, so I know it's not a SS issue.

hmmmm

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 04 Nov 2002 18:30 PST

Just curious, but have you applied Windows XP Service Pack 1? It
*might* correct issues with system files if they're out of whack.

I'm also curious... tell me about your network connection. Do you plug
into a hub, DSL modem, router, etc?

An interesting thing to try would be to right-click My Network Places
and then go to properties. Right-Click your network connection (DSL
connection) and then select DISABLE. Reboot. See if the boot process
works as normal. After bootup loads, do the same thing to ENABLE it.
Does it take a long time to ENABLE before the Internet is accessible?
Anything weird happen?

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 04 Nov 2002 18:51 PST

1. service pack 1 is listed in my add/remove program list, so I'm
pretty sure it's been installed.

2. I connect through very basic DSL modem via ethernet cable.

3. Connecting to my DSL connection happens almost instantaniously when
I click connect.

Problem still remains.

The only time the problem doesn't occur is when I disconnect the
ethernet cable and then restart.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 05 Nov 2002 04:44 PST

Ahh... wait a minute. Since you're using PPPoE, your connection
appears differently in My Network Places than a standard ethernet
connection does. I forgot about that. One last thing you can try is
playing with the PPPoE connection settings (right-click your DSL
connection and then properties). On the Networking Tab, click Settings
(under PPPoE)... try unchecking one or all three of these options and
see if it makes a difference.

If this doesn't make a difference, I don't know what else to try. I
still feel like the problem lies somewhere in the ethernet subsystem
or PPPoE service. However, it's impossible to know which part is
affected since you're not actually getting any errors. I've run out of
things to suggest. I don't want to waste any more of your time. At
least we definitely know what is "NOT" your problem :)

I've enjoyed trying to help you fix your problem. I feel badly that we
didn't find a solution. Perhaps another researcher will have some
different ideas. The only thing I know to do (outside of taking it to
a professional computer shop where someone can experience the problem
hands-on) is to re-load the system. I always hate to do that,
especially if it's not a serious problem, but that's the last thing I
can suggest.

Again, please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
PWizard

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 05 Nov 2002 05:02 PST

One final thought --

You could always uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 1. Test the
problem, then reinstall it. Could be that uninstalling fixes it, or
reinstalling when it reinitializes all of your network subsystem
files. After uninstalling, to reinstall, simply go to:
http://www.windowsupdate.com

and choose Scan for Updates... then Windows Update Service Pack 1
Express Install.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 05 Nov 2002 10:10 PST

tried uninstalling service pack 1 and reinstalling it and it did not
fix the problem.

The interesting thing was...after reinstalling, you have to restart. 
When the computer was trying to turn off, it just hung on the final
"windows shutting down" so that I had to actually power off with the
power button.

When the computer started back up, it actually loaded like it is
supposed to load (no delay in the startup programs).

So..just as it seemed the problem may be fixed, I decided to restart 1
more time to double check and sure enough the problem is back.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 05 Nov 2002 11:49 PST

I'm working on another question where the customer is having similar
results. When they uninstall and reinstall Dial-Up Networking and
reboot, their problem goes away and everything works perfectly.
However, after rebooting a second time, the problem re-appears and
everything is "broken" again.

To me it almost seems like System File Protection is kicking in and
replacing files that have been changed or overwritten. But it seems
that XP would be a little bit smarter since it knows that it's
installing a service pack. We're working with Windows ME on the other
person's problem.

You're welcome to try disabling the file protection scheme on XP:
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790

I think the only part you need to do is modify the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

as it mentions at the top of the article. You shouldn't have to do the
second part of the instructions.

...then attempt the service pack uninstall and re-install again just
to see if you get the same results. It a long-shot, but...

You did reboot after un-installing SP1, before re-installing, correct?
and the problem was still there? I figure that it would make you
reboot, but wasn't sure.

Again, this is only a long-shot and may not produce any differen
affect.

-PWizard

---

Clarification of Question by freakfarm-ga on 07 Nov 2002 19:24 PST

nope...still does not fix the problem.

I've tried everything and I guess I may just reformat my hard drive
and I'm sure that will fix things ;)

thank you for your effort though.

Aaron

Unless I'm mistaken, msconfig is not an option in XP.

freakfarm...

I hesitate to make this an answer just yet, since it may take
some ongoing collaboration to solve this. First, let me say
that, as part of its enhanced self-protection techniques, 
Windows XP will sometimes cease to load a driver that caused
a crash of the nature you describe. Had you been able to read
the error message, it may have told you this.

There are several things I'd suggest. You can stop XP from 
shutting down on these types of system errors. Right-click on
'My Computer', then the 'Advanced' tab, and then on 'Startup
and Recovery', and uncheck 'Automatically reboot' under
'System Failure'.

As for the slow startup, as soon as you can after Windows
opens, do Ctrl-Alt-Delete, click on Task Manager, and 
click on the 'processes' tab. Extend the window vertically,
so you can see all of them a once, and watch the 'cpu'
column, and you'll be able to see what's slowing things down
by way of the high percentage of cpu usage. That should tell
you something useful.

Then, if a driver has been disabled, you should be able to see
it by right-clicking 'My Computer', clicking on the 'Hardware'
tab, and then 'Device Manager', and looking for the yellow-backed
question marks which indicate a problem.

You can reinstall a non-signed driver at your own peril, or
look for a better one, if you find a problem there.

Leave a comment or clarification of what you've found, and we
can proceed from there.

sublime1-ga

1. there are no yellow backed question marks in the device manager
2. I do think I remember the blue screen error to be driver related
(not positive)
3. While monitering startup how you mentioned (clt-alt-dlt) I was
unable to really tell what was going on.  The only thing that really
had any CPU% was "system idle process".
4. here are the two screenshots of what is shown in my processes (pic
on the left is what appears when it seems the computer is done
loading...pic on the right is what appears over a full minute after
startup when everything actually does load):
http://www.tshirthell.com/google/1.gif

thank you

A definite cause of shutdown problems can be a service called Nvidia
Driver Helper Service. Your screenshot shows that running in the
second window, (it's the one marked nvsvc32.exe) so it may well be the
source of your problems. Set that to "disabled", and see if that
doesn't help things somewhat. It certainly helped me out (although the
new nvidia drivers cured the problem).

Also, you may want to investigate what "hpztsb06.exe" is - it sounds
suspiciously obscure, as if a virus was attempting to hide.

The NVidia driver helper service can certainly cause a "delay" in the
shutdown process, but not an indefinite hang (at least not in my
experience). I've never seen it cause a problem at startup. The
hpztsb06.exe file looks to me like a HP driver monitor service that is
installed as part of the HP driver package. I would be willing to bet
that the user has an HP printer installed.  Again I wouldn't look to
this as being the root of the problem, however I have seen issues with
HP's drivers in the past, especially their driver monitors.

Good point about the Hewlett-Packard driver, pwizard! I'll withdraw my
suspicion on that front.

I had one more thought. 

If it definitely happened while viewing something, AND the viewer
happened to be Windows Media Player, AND the content being viewed
required an extra codec, AND freakfarm automatically trusts some
companies to install ActiveX components, AND
something automatically downloaded, THEN that something could have
broken it all horribly.

It's a very long shot :-) but possible, nonetheless. I'm not sure
whether codecs all reside in a single repository however, so I can't
really guess how to track it down.

freakfarm...

PWizard is taking you in the right direction with the
event log search. As for your images, the thing that
stands out is the 2 instances of MXtask in your 2nd
image. MXtask is the task manager for Ontrack's 
Fix-It Utilities. One is being called by the system,
and the other by something else. I suppose it's
possible that Fix-It is running a separate instance
for each module you have sheduled (say, Virus-Scanner
and Disk Snapshot), but you might have a look at the
Fix-It Scheduler.

The other oddity is the 4 instances of SVCHOST in your
first image, with yet another in the 2nd. I have only
3 instances running when fully loaded and online.
I have, however, trimmed the number of services loaded,
using BlackViper's "safe" guidelines on this page:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
These settings may not solve your current dilemma, but
you may want to explore them anyway.

freakfarm...

I also found this dialogue about WROS.exe, which I see
loaded on your 2nd image, regarding difficulties 
hibernating/standing-by, in WIN2K, with this file:
http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/2002-06/0312.html
I take it you are using EarthLink. You may want to 
see if Earthlink has updated component files for XP.

freakfarm...

Just FYI, when ZoneAlarm is configured to start with windows, it
places
a shortcut in the 'Startup' folder under 'Programs' in the Start Menu.
You can check there for other items being loaded which may be 
interfering, and try relocating the shortcuts temporarily.

As for your the problem not occurring when you unplug your ethernet
cable, this makes it seem like a driver, related to your PPOE
connection, which may have been damaged or disabled during the
crash, and replaced by Windows. However, since you uninstalled
and re-installed those drivers, this is still a mystery.I take it
you did not go to BlackViper's page to try adjusting the services
according to his 'safe' guidelines. I still believe this might be
useful, and,
along those lines, I want you to try this one thing. Go to
AdministrativeTools --> Services, and set DNS Client to 'Manual'
Startup Type. Then
reboot, and see if you still get the delay. If so, then you can reset
it to
its current setting. I had this problem repeatedly with XP, after
several
installs. Initially, it would boot quickly, and then, out of nowhere,
it began
taking much longer. I finally traced it to this service, which
normally starts
automatically. When I set it to manual, it resumed booting quickly,
with no deleterious effect on my DSL connection.

The next image(s) which might prove useful is one of the Services
page, showing which services are set to run, under which Startup
Type.

I will be gone during the day, today, and will not be available, until
later, for the sort of dialog you had with PWizard. I will check in
on your status when I return. Best of luck in the meantime.

I did go to Black Vipers page and set everything to safe and I've
pretty much done anything mentioned above.

I also changed my DNS in services to manual and this does not solve
the problem either.

Here is that screen shot of my current services...
http://www.tshirthell.com/images/services.gif

freakfarm...

Having looked at your image of current services, I checked
it against mine. I am running WIN2K, so some of the services
which are started on your machine will be exclusive to XP,
such as the firewall and encryption services, so I didn't
count them. Nor did I count the ones related to programs on
your machine which are not on mine, such as Nvidia and 
System Suite. Given that, the following are services started
on your machine, and not on mine:

Application Layer Gateway Service
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Help and Support
Network Location Awareness
Shell Hardware Detection
Themes
Windows Audio

Most of these may be exclusive to XP, and are
not listed on my machine, however the 
Distributed Link Tracking Client is listed on
mine, and is not started, being set for Manual.
You could try this setting and see the difference,
re-setting it if there is none.

On the assumption that the others are not needed
in WIN2K, therefore XP could run without them, 
you could try disabling them, one at a time, and
also see what, if any difference you experience.

CAUTION! An unstable machine may act unpredictably.
For example, based on Black Viper's page, I disabled
the Remote Registry Service, since it's such a huge
security risk. I suggested it to a friend who is 
also using WIN2K, and he was unable to boot his 
machine thereafter, without an Emergency Boot Disk.
My machine, on the other hand, had no problems.

Therefore you might want to try right-clicking the 
services and stopping them, one at a time, while 
Windows is running, rather than setting them to 
Disabled or Manual for the next boot-up. Then see
if your shutdown is any quicker. If it is, then try
Disable or Manual for that service, and see if it
speeds the loading of Windows, as well, at next boot.

The limitation to this cautious method is that some
services take a long time to be stopped when Windows
is running, and some may not be able to be stopped.
If this is the case, these are the last ones you should
experiment with disabling, or setting to Manual, as 
Windows is giving the message that it is reluctant to
stop them.

Sorry I'm unable to offer anything more concrete and 
promising at this time, but sometimes you are reduced
to experimentation when troubleshooting odd situations.

Best of Luck...
sublime1-ga

Hello Freakfarm,
Hope you don't mind if I contribute something. Is there a DOS-type
command like "C:\scanreg /fix" or similar software in your OS? I use
that command in my Win 98SE system in case some slowups occur. You
might want to try the similar thing in your OS. Something like an
automatic registry fixer. Hope that helps somewhat. :)