Author Topic: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981  (Read 22464 times)

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Crashman

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Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« on: April 16, 2007, 08:42:31 AM »
Greetings, all...

Just a quick question to see if anyone else has experienced a slow startup of parts of Windows XP SP2 since the update to .981.  With the previous version, on booting up, the desktop would appear, then a second or two later the XP taskbar would appear and the tedious XP startup sound would play simultaneously; startup programs would immediately run, and the avast tray icon did not display the red slash that shows up when one of its components is not functioning.  In other words, it was a nice, crisp, clean startup.

But since the update to .981, the taskbar appears immediately, but the startup sound occurs about 10 -15 seconds later, and during this period the avast icon in the tray shows the red slash (or whatever it is) until the sound plays. I guess .981 doesn't like something about my system...

My specs:  Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 on Asus P5L-VM 1394, 1 GB memory, Windows XP SP2, firewall is XP's built-in thing.  No other security apps run at startup, and in fact the only other things set to run at startup are NeroCheck (version 6) and Nero InCD (version 4.3.something);  I don't allow Creative's X-Fi startup crap to run (yes, I'm very anal retentive).  Hardware drivers include Intel chipset software, most recent X-FI driver (ONLY the driver is installed, not the other bloatware) and Asus/Attansic LAN driver, and NVIDIA Forceware 93.71.  All drivers are WHQL certified.

This is not a major crisis, of course, but I'm curious about what might be causing this.  Any insight would be appreciated.

Regards,
Crashman

Offline Vlk

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2007, 08:55:36 AM »
Hi Crashman, and welcome to the avast forums.

Could you please try this: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=27733.msg226219#msg226219 ?

Thanks
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2007, 09:22:08 AM »
Hello, Vlk!!!

I deleted that value from the registry and the boot process seems just about normal again.  The only remaining hint that there was an issue is that the red slash hangs on for a few seconds, but desktop, taskbar, and startup sound all materialize at virtually the same time again.  I think you got it...

Thanks for the welcome to the forum, the great help, and the quick reply!

Offline Vlk

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2007, 09:48:46 AM »
Well, this is in fact an interesting problem that we intend to analyze a bit deeper. Would you be willing to do some more tests for us? The problem is, we're unable to simulate the problem on any of our machines.

The thing is - we seem to know the cure but don't know the cause. That is never good in software engineering, and makes us a bit nervous :( :)


Cheers
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2007, 10:09:35 AM »
Greetings again, Vlk,

I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Your interest in tracking down and fixing the issue is admirable, and it's well worth the time to carry my share of the water in that process.  ;D

Best regards,
Crashman


Offline Vlk

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2007, 12:13:50 PM »
Thanks.

To start, I'd like to know if the problem still happens if you:

- put back the Groups reg value (to do this, you can use the following reg file http://public.avast.com/~vlk/avast-fast-start.reg), AND
- uninstall all the avast on-access providers except for Outlook/Exchange (to do this, please head to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Avast antivirus, Change/Remove, Change and untick the boxes next to each of the items under "Resident Protection", except for "Outlook/Exchange" [that's the only one that should stay with the green check mark]).

The reboot and see if it has any effect on the issue.

Thanks
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2007, 04:13:15 PM »
Vlk,

With only Outlook/Exchange installed and the "groups" value ENABLED, the boot delay is back.  But I should also note that on my original installation, with only Internet Mail, Network Shield, Web Shield, and Standard shield installed (no Outlook/Exchange, P2P, Instant Messaging or skins installed) and only English language modules, the boot delay DOES occur.

I will await your next instructions.

Crashman

Offline Vlk

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2007, 04:16:55 PM »
Thanks. Interesting, so it seems the problem is not related to any of the providers.

Two more questions:
- do you have a fast Internet connection?
- do you have a PS/2 keyboard (as opposed to USB)?

Thanks
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2007, 04:22:39 PM »
Vlk,

Yes to both questions.  I'm on 768K DSL broadband which require a dial-up-like logon process.

Crashman

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2007, 04:33:28 PM »
Just a thought here...

Could the services Windows XP runs at bootup have something to do with this?  I know that disabling the Web Client service had no effect on the boot lag when I tried that yesterday, but the SSDP Discovery service is set to "manual" but still runs at Windows startup anyway (apparently because of Windows Media Player 11 being installed on this computer).

I might also note that I have .NET framework 2.0 installed as well.

Crashman
« Last Edit: April 16, 2007, 04:37:49 PM by Crashman »

Offline Vlk

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2007, 04:42:48 PM »
What I'd need is a full memory dump of the machine at the time it is "stuck".

The procedure is described here: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71

It's a bit time-consuming (you have to do some config changes, reboot, then generate the dump, reboot again, and then upload the dump to our ftp site, which usually takes quite long). If you don't have time to do it, no problem! ;)


Thanks
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2007, 04:53:47 PM »
Vlk, no problem, but I'll need about 20 minutes or so.  I'll reinstall avast! with the Standard, Web, Network, and Internet Mail shields enabled, and the groups registry value in place, then follow the full memory dump procedure.

Back to you soon,

Crashman

Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2007, 05:32:57 PM »
Vlk,

I have the complete memory dump, but I've never sent anything using FTP. How do I use XP's FTP client to send the file to ftp.avast.com/incoming? 

Thanks,

Crashman

Offline DavidR

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2007, 05:41:36 PM »
With IE or a clone, Upload them to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming - Connect to the link and drag the file into the Right pane and drop it, that starts the upload, you don't have read access to this folder.
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Crashman

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Re: Minor but annoying XP startup issue with 4.7.981
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2007, 05:50:07 PM »
DavidR,

Thanks for the info.

Before I could read your reply, I think I figured out how to use XP's ftp client.  I'm currently sending the file as the binary file crashman.dmp (hope this was right!).

Regards,
Crashman
« Last Edit: April 16, 2007, 05:53:26 PM by Crashman »