[rgreen4]

Actually it's not a ninja stick, it a hiking stave. That's my hiking bear with the backpack with his gear.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Bulletproof. I believe you have done everything that you can do to rectify this issue. We normally always leave a reinstall to the last step and I think you have reached that point.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Coastie. Utilizing half of a hard drive should not be a factor as to why it slows down. Now, if the percentage was more like 85-90% (68-72GBs used out of 80GBs) then available hard drive space may be an issue. At this point, other than what has been done, I cannot think of anything else that can cause such a lengthy startup time.

[coastie65]

Hey mph, :D Yeah, that was something I just threw out there as I didn't see it mentioned anywhere. I should have specified "Way" South of 40 Gb, as having half a Hdd, or a little less shouldn't be a problem. coastie

[bulletproof]

Hello all!

Well, I am reinstalled and updated (thanks again rgreen for checklist, it was helpful). My Laptop now takes 1:11:81 'til the desktop is displayed and a whopping 1:59:58 to complete the boot-up process! So I would say that a reinstall is a solution, albeit a nerve-racking one! Still I like the idea of stripping the waste. Thanks to all for the interest and helpful efforts. I'll be back one day I'm sure.



love,

bulletproof

[alexartox]

You may want to try TuneXP, it's free and I love it!

http://download.cnet...4-10290929.html

[DevSouthAfrica]

Hi bulletproof -
I'm sorry to be coming to the party a little late, as you've already done the deed (backup format reinstall, doo da, doo da), but I suspect I might have a solution to your problem, which I will post for posterity's sake. I stumbled on your post searching for someone who might have found a permanent solution for my issue.
I'm running Windows XP SP3. I am without a doubt virus-free according to Avast! and malware-free according to SuperAntiSpyware. My machine runs like a dream, with .NET Frameworks up to 3.5 SP1, SQL Server 2008, Jave, Geoserver, the works (I'm a developer). AS SOON AS I INSTALL DRIVERS FOR MY * Lexmark printer (X5650), I have the same issue as you do... takes about 15 minutes (I haven't timed it exactly), and explorer.exe hangs as soon as I go to Control Panel->Network Connections.
I have narrowed the culprit down to lxducoms.exe. The Lexmark software installs and starts a couple of services on startup, but this is the one that causes the crap.
I see you had it in your HijackThis log, and from there Google made the connection. Only solution I have found to this is to uninstall the drivers completely. I can't find the start-up location for this service (registry, user startup folder, ini's, anything), and I've even tried renaming the file, to no avail - it starts no matter what.
Bottom line is don't buy a Lexmark Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax and hope to instal it on your XP machine.
Hope all is running well now on your side, and don't install that Lexmark software ;)
Message was edited by: rgreen4 - obscenities and character substitution to avoid word filter is against the community standard.

[bulletproof]

Follow-up:

After reading through this problem again I just have to repeat myself and offer more gratitude for everyone's input. Here's my update:

Not long after I posted last (reloaded OS) I began to have the exact same issue only there was a slight difference in the time and distance into the start-up that the OS could get before hitting a snag and slowing to a crawl. Well, I wasn't about to reload all that crap again, so I determined that the OS was loading far enough to be able to play "Monarch: The Butterfly King" (great game to kill time with, stop and save at any point) which in turn afforded me the patience I needed to wait this Daffy Duck out. So that's what I'd do. It took from about 2 weeks after I reloaded my OS until about 3 weeks ago for the problem to finally eat itself so much that it took the next step which was to kick a leg out from under my OS altogether. Unable to recover, or even reload the OS, my Dell preloaded DOS based diagnostic software uncovered the wicked little monkey...queue the music...that is right fellow braniacs HDD failure (though not mechanical)!!!! The ghost is now at rest and awaiting my incoming enclosure so that I may resurrect it and make it my new zombie slave drive (providing it can be tapped in whole or in part).

It ought to be noted that a "Check Disk" back then did not reveal this, nor did the Dell Diagnostic test. I suppose that the problem in that area of the platter had not reached a point sufficient for its detection back then.

Also, to DEVSOUTHAFRICA, the second time problem occured I did not have the printer installed at all, however I had for a time cast some suspicion on that registry value (lxducoms.exe), but even after de-selecting from the the startup and services menus in msconfig and later using Cleanse Uninstaller to remove all searchable traces of the Lexmark Software the issue still occurred.

On the upside I replaced a 120GB 5400 rpm HDD for a 320GB 7200 rpm one

Cheers

This post has been edited by bulletproof: 09 September 2009 - 06:57 PM

[istanbul]

rgreen4, on 01 March 2009 - 03:39 PM, said:

I did. The reason I asked about what anti-malware you had on the machine was the fact that Norton's Internet Security and McAfee's Secuity Suite are noted for their resource hogging and slowing machines down to a crawl.

It is best if one did not jump to conclusions about why a particular question is asked, and I don't believe I asked if the machine was plugged in.

It is fairly easy to diagnose a computer if you are sitting in front of it. It is more difficult to diagnose a computer over the phone with someone, and it is even more difficult to diagnose a compter with only forum responses. It is even less helpful when after asking a question that many times is something the member has tried, instead of a reasonable response you get snapped at.

If the disc you have from Dell is a recovery DVD, there will be no format option as is normal on the true install disc. This is why I asked the method by which you repaired the XP MCE installation. If you have a spare HD, an option would be to install it into the machine, format it from within your current OS and then disconnect the current HD and reinstall from the Dell disc to the clean HD.

Hi rgreen,i have always read your posts with interest,as you are obviously very knowledgeable with computers,however' the fact that Norton's Internet Security and McAfee's Secuity Suite are noted for their resource hogging and slowing machines down to a crawl.
statement is blatently İNCORRECT,at least as far as Norton İnternet Security 2009 is concerned.Definetely NOT slowing down your system.That used to be the case with the old versions.And NİS 2009 by the way is a very good program.İ speak from experience believe me.

[mphenterprises]

istanbul, on 10 September 2009 - 06:50 AM, said:

...the fact that Norton's Internet Security and McAfee's Secuity Suite are noted for their resource hogging and slowing machines down to a crawl. statement is blatently İNCORRECT,at least as far as Norton İnternet Security 2009 is concerned.Definetely NOT slowing down your system.That used to be the case with the old versions.And NİS 2009 by the way is a very good program.İ speak from experience believe me.

Hi istanbul. In RGreen's defense, those two applications (McAfee and Norton) are notorious for being resource hogs. However, that is merely based on those that have limited resources to begin with. A computer that has high end resources may not notice any hit on the resources.

Additionally, both McAfee and Norton applications do not play well with other security applications. Now, both applications have improved over the years and that is probably what you notice in relation to NIS 2009; however, not everyone using the latest version.

That all being said, since this particular thread is related to a Windows issue...and has already been resolved...this line of discussion should be addressed in another thread.