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Slow start with Latitude D600 and Win2K and odd command prompt issue
When starting, it takes an extraordinarily long time to start windows. The boot goes through the "starting windows" screen quickly enough, but then it shows a blank desktop screen (just before the Login prompt) for about 2 minutes.
The machine is fast enough and has enough RAM. I assume that there must be some registry key that is incorrect.
Second problem is that the command prompt comes up to a mapped drive, N: which shouldn't be a problem, but when I try to do a ping use any other system tool, it indicates that the command doesn't exist...until I change the drive to c:\winnt\system32\ I cannot use any of those commands.
The "path" in the command prompt:
PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Fi
les\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adaptec Sha
red\System;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN;C:\aereader\BLUE
Any ideas on either problem?
ramiv
12 Posts
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August 5th, 2003 10:00
bpless
2 Posts
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August 5th, 2003 11:00
M5807
4 Posts
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August 7th, 2003 15:00
We recently purchased 9 D600s, and all of them are having the slow boot symptoms the OP mentioned. I can say with confidence now that it's because of the Windows Critical Updates. Dell and Microsoft need to collaborate on this issue and fast.
TO DELL : Take a D600 out of a box with Windows 2KP, and boot it up. No noticeable problems. Then download all of the MS Critical Updates, and then see what happens. I'll bet money it'll happen to you too, and then you'll realize there's a real problem.
Mike
ramiv
12 Posts
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August 11th, 2003 05:00
I experimented with a clean factory image and installing just SP4 from windows update causes the problem of no login screen for 1-2mins. We have 6 D600's and it would be nice to get a fix.
jfronza
2 Posts
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August 25th, 2003 15:00
Brummer
2 Posts
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September 4th, 2003 11:00
1) Update your BIOS to A06
2) In BIOS: Switch Wireless Control to "Always Off"
3) Deactivate the "Adapter Switching Service"
4) Uninstall the Bluetoth network adapter
5) Deactivate "Lan Connection 2" ("Intel(R) Pro/Wireless 2100 LAN miniPCI Adapter")
Now the time the blank screen appears should be reduced to 20sec. The Problem is not fixed completely and my hints do not help you if you need WLan on your notebook. But perhaps there are some poeple who can use my tips, and 20sec. are better than 110sec.
Walterk1
2 Posts
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September 4th, 2003 16:00
Thanks Brummer - that reduced my boot time tremendously. Since we do not use a WLAN here, I disabled the wireless NIC prior to SP4. I had boot issues, so tried BIOS upgrade. I looked at MS and Dell KB, and no clues. Your tips helped me.
I did not know about the switching service. Eventlog reported that hanging. Making that manual did it, but I disabled in BIOS for extra good measure. I am sure there will be a Dell/MS fix sometime to rightly resolve the issue, but you saved me some face with the users. ("you bought us a slow computer...")
For extra good measure, I went My Computer/Properties, and changed the boot delay to 5 seconds instead of 30.
Walter
AKTJ
2 Posts
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September 23rd, 2003 16:00
jfronza
2 Posts
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September 23rd, 2003 16:00
DELL-MichaelC
1.3K Posts
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September 23rd, 2003 18:00
All,
You can also post this in the Portables boards and see what others there can tell you.
AKTJ
2 Posts
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September 23rd, 2003 22:00
Where might I find the Portables board?
ramiv
12 Posts
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September 24th, 2003 05:00
Disabling the adapter switching service alone did the trick for me - didn't disable WLAN or bluetooth. I am using C400 with internal WLAN and it doesn't have that service at all, only the D series does. The Intel driver even has an option for disabling the adapter switching.
In summary the WLAN still made a connection to an AP even if the switching service was disabled. Hope this is of any help.
Brummer
2 Posts
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September 24th, 2003 10:00
Bohemoth
8 Posts
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January 15th, 2004 13:00
Firstly the motherboard wireless configuration appears to greatly affect the time to boot to the login screen. Disabling this component in the BIOS brings the boot to the login up to a acceptable speed. The speed of login is then influenced by something else. Initially, I found that disabling the Print Spooler in the services resulted in the 45 second pause post login to disappear. Loading the spooler manually runs fine, so you could script the start and stop of the service to get round this problem. But, that's not where the problem seems to be. Getting desperate, I trashed the disk and started again, reinstalling Win 2k SP4 and then adding in the device drivers one by one, rebooting in between. Install the ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 driver (A03) and all of a sudden you have a 45 second pause post login. Remove the drivers and everything's fine again. So it looks like Dell need to sort out the drivers - presumably there's some kind of interaction between the dll's used by the print spooler and the video driver, but they have quite a few in common. For the time being, my users will be having a 45 second wait at login and I'm going to be in touch with our Dell Account Manager to get him to lean on tech support there for a solution. Oh, and don't try getting drivers elsewhere, they won't work, so it looks like we have to wait for Dell to sort themselves out.
JohnneyBoy
2 Posts
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February 2nd, 2004 17:00
I cannot find this "Adapter Switching Service" anywhere on my system. I have checked the Services area and also BIOS. Can anyone tell me what I am missing here? Got several D600's that need to use wireless.
HELP Soooooo SLoooooooooooooow when booting.