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GO - 22 Nov 2006 02:02 GMT

Hello,

This problem has been plaguing me for a long time and I've yet to find a
solution. Windows XP Pro is very slow when launching applications and it
can take up to 20 seconds at times before the application will even start to
load. The problem is not isolated to any application in particular as it
occurs with everything ranging from the simple applications such as task
manager or Explorer to larger apps like Paint Shop Pro and Word/Excel. Once
the application loads everything runs smoothly. The system itself is more
than adequate as I'm running a P4 3GHz with 1GB RAM. I am running a (very)
small network (1 Win2k box and this XP box) connected through a router.
This is actually where I think the problem lies....my best guess is that
it's trying to access or search for something across the network when I
attempt to launch a program. Win2k runs flawlessly and I do not see the
same problems on it.

There is nothing abnormal running on the system at the time and typically
the system idle process is the only thing "using" the CPU. I am also very
confident in saying that there are no viruses/spyware causing the problem.

any thoughts or comments appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg

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Malke - 22 Nov 2006 04:06 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> very confident in saying that there are no viruses/spyware causing the
> problem.

Do you have any network shares? Any mapped drives? I would look at
whether your hard drive is in PIO mode instead of DMA mode where it
belongs. See this page by MVP Hans-Georg Michna for an explanation and
a fix if that is the case:

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

Malke

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Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

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GO - 22 Nov 2006 04:45 GMT

>> Hello,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> Malke

Hi Malke,

Thanks for the reply. Both machines' (Win2k and XP) IDE channels are
operating in DMA mode. (Thanks for the tip though. I have noticed on
several occasions in the past where they'd revert back to PIO mode and I
could never understand why). I'm guessing that since I am in DMA mode it
negates your other questions but yes, I do have network shares and mapped
drives.

Could the elections for the master browser cause problems such as this? The
slowness problem has been ongoing for quite some time but just recently my
Win2k box has been displaying some errors related to the browser elections.
Wouldn't think it'd be related as I would have thought it'd be displaying
them all along. See below for several of the event log entries. I tried
to research the log entries but hadn't come up with anything related to what
I'm experiencing.

Thanks again,

Greg

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MRxSmb
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8003
Date: 11/18/06
Time: 4:26:53 PM
User: N/A
Computer: WIN2K
Description:
The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer
WINXP that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on
transport NetBT_Tcpip_{2F2452EF-081E-4CAE-. The master browser is stopping
or an election is being forced.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: BROWSER
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8021
Date: 11/18/06
Time: 10:45:58 PM
User: N/A
Computer: WIN2K
Description:
The browser was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master
\\WINXP on the network
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{2F2452EF-081E-4CAE-A148-641020EAF87B}. The data is the
error code.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: BROWSER
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8032
Date: 11/18/06
Time: 10:46:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: WIN2K
Description:
The browser service has failed to retrieve the backup list too many times on
transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{2F2452EF-081E-4CAE-A148-641020EAF87B}. The
backup browser is stopping.

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GO - 22 Nov 2006 04:51 GMT

>>> Hello,
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 94 lines]
> \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{2F2452EF-081E-4CAE-A148-641020EAF87B}. The
> backup browser is stopping.

I forgot to mention prior to posting...
There are no browser election entires in the WinXP event viewer, or any
other out of the ordinary errors.

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Malke - 22 Nov 2006 13:02 GMT

> Hi Malke,
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> tried to research the log entries but hadn't come up with anything
> related to what I'm experiencing.

Check to make sure all mapped drives and network shares have correct
permissions. Try unsharing and disconnecting mapped drives. Reboot both
machines. Try sharing again - one resource at a time. Does that fix
things?

Malke

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Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

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GO - 23 Nov 2006 04:48 GMT

>> Hi Malke,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Malke

Hello again,

I was using the administrative shares so permissions were not a problem
(yeah, I know I know...shouldn't use the admin shares :). The shares have
been disconnected and machines rebooted. I created a proper share on my
Win2k box and mapped to it in WinXP Everything seemed ok so later this
evening I mapped the second share, still to the Win2k box (XP is rarely used
for sharing as my Win2k box is essentially acting as my file server).
Things are working fine for the moment but I'm not convinced this solved the
problem just yet as the problem is somewhat intermittent and seems to occur
after the machine has been idle for a while (side note: I do not have any
power saving features activated). I'll play around again with the machine
tomorrow and see what happens.

Thanks again for the assistance.

Greg

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GO - 30 Nov 2006 03:45 GMT

>>> Hi Malke,
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> saving features activated). I'll play around again with the
> machine tomorrow and see what happens.

Well, I've played around with the system over the last few days and it
doesn't look like it has really helped. The system seems marginally better
but it's still no where near as peppy as it should be. Looks like I'm back
to the drawing board.

Thanks again for all your help.

Greg

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