No.

when you say start up - do you mean after the operating system is running, and you get a clear desktop to run things on?  Or do you mean you are looking at the Windows logo for 5 minutes?

Some things to check:

Make sure your Hard disk is operating correctly.  If you get anything like a "smart" error, or other memory-related errors, you may have a bad HD.
Make sure you have enough power  and air circulation;  do you hear the fan spin up as soon as you apply power? Is the system free of blockages all around, to allow air flow?  Disconnect any external devices that might draw power, especially things like USB and FireWire drives & connections.
Do you have multiple network connections?  Network cards, Wireless cards, even firewire cards and USB may have drivers installed for networking - your system will drag if it can't get a clear idea of each lines' exact function. Disconnect everything you can.  When you reconnect them, make sure you have the most current drivers for each device.
If its a laptop - is it getting hot?
Make sure you have no CD's or Disks in drives.
Do you watch the RAM count up to 5million?  Use or to get into setup, and enable/turn ON Fast Boot in the BIOS.
If you have a mis-registered or non-registered version of the XP operating system, it might take long to boot while it tries to sort out the registration error.

 

When I say start up, I mean when I first turn the unit on. I am windows 2000.  As for the balance of your suggestions they are in good working order.

Make sure the unit is not starting in Safe mode.  For some reason (I'm not clear why) Win2K can take excruciatingly long to start in safe mode.

Also make sure that you have the proper devices installed in the System Devices folder:
 WinKey + Break - Hardware - Device Manager

_or_ Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager

Check the hardware to make sure you DON'T have un-intentional devices installed.
I had a bunch of GX260's come to me out-of-the-box with 5 or 6 RAID drivers installed, plus some other hardware that wasn't even on our wish list, and certainly not in our purchasing budget.

Failing that - has the PC ever booted up "normally"?  If yes, can you think of any possible change since then?
( New hardware/ software?  New network installed?  New security procedure like drive encryption?
Now AOL/MSN version upgrade? - anything?)