If I boot my XP SP3 PC without the Dell wireless 1490 dual band WLAN minicard network adapter enabled, it boots normally – at least with only the “executing wgalogon” wait. However, if I boot with the wireless adapter enabled, once past wgalogon the desktop starts to load – some icons in the task bar, but the quick launch area shaded dark blue and blank desktop screen – but it freezes at that point for two to three minutes before completing the startup. This issue is independent of whether or not the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx gigabit controller network adapter is enabled at boot. Both adapters have activated: Client for MS networks, File and printer sharing, NWLink NetBIOS, NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS compatible transport protocol, and Internet protocol (TCP/IP). Nothing shows as a problem in Device Manager. I have reinstalled the drivers for both adapters. Broadcom wireless manager loads post boot. The Dell wireless WLAN tray service is set to Automatic (as are Automatic Updates, COM+ Event System, Computer Browser, Cryptographic Services, DCOM Server Process Launcher, DHCP Client, DNS Client, Network Connections, Network Location Awareness, Remote Access Connection Manager, Remote Procedure Call, Server, SSDP Discovery Service, Telephony, Terminal Services, and Workstation, among others). I’m using ZoneAlarm Free, COMODO BOClean, and Avast! with typical settings. I use WinPatrol to delay some start up programs post boot. BootlogXP shows too many applications taking a long time to load to be useful (to me). Post (eventual) boot all connections/programs seem to work fine. Any idea what’s hanging up the XP boot?

It could be that the drivers themselves are corrupted even though you have updated them. See if an older version might work better. Another issue is that you are possibly using an WPA authorization for the wireless and it must be verified and accepted before anything can be transmitted out....Does comodo firewall show any details of sent packets hanging? Change Is Good http://www.citizenlink.org/Stopligh...

Tx for your ideas. I just re-downloaded the latest driver from Dell, and ran the installation. Then I uninstalled the minicard, rebooted and reinstalled it. No joy re boot issue. I use Zonealarm as my firewall now (COMODO kept recognizing the network as a new one at each boot). I’m using WEP authorization. There is one other active laptop on this network, but I’ve removed all references to this and other PCs from Network Places. I’ve also “Disconnected network drives” references to My Documents on the other laptop.

SOLVED After some work, I isolated the issue to the TCP/IP protocol. I then followed these instructions to specify a fixed IP address: 1) Go to "Start" -> "Control Panel" 2) Click on "Network & Internet Connections" 3) Click on "Network Connections" 4) Right click on the icon for your wireless adapter -> Choose "Properties" 5) Click on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Click "Properties" 6) In the "General" tab check off "Use the following IP address" 7) Enter an internal IP address 192.168.xxx.xxx (replace the x's with a number of your choice - I used 1.11), also 198 can be used instead of the 168 8) Enter a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 9) Click "OK" 10) Click "OK" Hope this helps someone else