Post startup delay before anything works. Help!

Hi there,

I have a big problem with XP.

I have just installed XP Pro on a brand new hard drive. The trouble is, after bootup and logon, some things cannot be accessed for about 2-3 minutes. For example, If I right click on My Computer and select 'Properties' nothing happens.
Then after a time, the System Properties box pops up and everything works fine again.
Also, the Norton Antivirus icon in the notification area has a cross through it during this time. Then suddenly the cross dissappears.
Some progs do not work for this time either, eg. Winamp.
After this 2-3 mins has elapsed, everything is as normal!
What's going on??

This is driving me nuts, especially as it's not my PC.
Please help!

The specs are:
ECS K7S5A m/b
Athlon XP1800+
512MB DDR-RAM
Geforce 4 MX
SB Live!

This is all brand new stuff except the sound card.

 

welcome to T.S.G flyboy:take a look here: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm something could be using all or most resources on boot up.
start/run,type msconfig.
disable startup items that you know you dont need.

reboot and see if its better.if not go here:

http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/
download "startuplist" run,copy/paste the result in this thread and someone will take a look.

 

Thanks, but I found the solution....

The network card (which I forgot to mention before) was causing the delay on startup. I removed it and the problem was gone.
Luckily, this PC does'nt need one anyway so it can stay out.


Cheers