I've been trying to find out why Win XP is unable to run any applications for as long as 3 mins after a fresh startup. My hard disk and processor remained idle for as long as 3 minutes before MSN Messenger would load up and I'm able to load up my dialup dialog. Can somebody please advice? Thanks

i advise you to list all your hardware and software on this site

Have you got it set up on a network? If yes, then it is probably trying to handshake with the server. Another option is if you are using the Internet Sharing Protocol and your pc is a client, it is trying to obtain an ip address from the Internet Sharing computer.

Are you running Norton 2002? If so this will do the trick. 1. Click on start button. 2. Select control panel 3. Open “Network Connections” 4. Under “LAN and High-Speed Internet”, right-click on your “Local Area Connection” and select “Properties” 5. Under “General” tab, select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and select “Properties. 6. Select “Use the following IP address:” 7. Under “IP address” enter following : 192.168.0.1 8. Under “Subnet Mask:” enter following : 255.255.255.0 9. Click “Ok”

My Hardware List: - Pentium III 1Ghz processor - Gigabyte GA-6VXC7-4X series VIA VT82C686B chipset Motherboard - SoundBlaster Live! Value Soundcard - Gainward Geforce 2 MX400 Golden Sample video card - Maxtor 40GB Hard disk - DLink DFE-538TX Network card - US Robotics 56K Faxmodem Software - Windows XP Professional - Office XP Pro - Netscape 6

Bob, based on the description of the problem, I think your advice is right on. Henry's issue is probably caused by a network/ethernet issue. But I have a question: doesn't setting the IP address to an internal IP mess up your internet connection?

I was Running Xp On A 1 gig P3 with 96 mb RAM an had the same start up delay, then I got another 128 mb of RAM Now it all works fine. failing that Just Keep Hibernating it everytime you turn of ya putter +++++++++++++++++++++147++++++++++++++++++++