Taskbar Hangs on Startup

[EchoLynx]

Preliminary Information: Upon boot and login explorer.exe (which, to my knowledge, is the taskbar and desktop) partly freezes for a minute or two before the login sound plays and the computer is functional. This is a new development ie the machine didn't always do this.

Information about the machine in question:
Solely used for internet browsing and videogames.
<<< System Summary >>>
  > Mainboard : Gigabyte EP43-UD3L
  > Chipset : Intel P45/P43
  > Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3000 MHz
  > Physical Memory : 4096 MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
  > Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
  > Hard Disk : WDC (640 GB)
  > DVD-Rom Drive : SONY CD-RW  CRX320EE
  > Monitor Type : LCD MONITOR - 15 inches
  > Network Card :  RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
  > Network Card :  RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
  > Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
  > DirectX : Version 9.0c  (April 2009)

I will happily post more upon request.

More Information:
Process of problem -

1 Machine boots, user logs in.
2 Desktop icons appear. Taskbar is functional for a few seconds.
3 Taskbar freezes. All open applications are functional, and you can interact with the desktop, but the taskbar (and the menu) remains in a hung state that lasts roughly a minute.
4 Taskbar unfreezes and machine is operable once again.

If you are quick, you can launch the task manager with the run prompt before it locks up. (As Ctrl Alt Del is unresponsive until after the freeze.) From there you can sometimes kill explorer.exe and restart it. When restarted, it functions as it should.

I am fairly confident that this is not caused by a virus, as I scanned the machine with pretty much everything (legitimate & free) and while I did get some hits, repeated scanning until deemed clean has not affected the problem.

Running the System File Checker also did not yield any results.

I have no idea where to go from here, and dread a reinstall.

[jason2074]

A Malware Specialist will help you here : http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,46313.0.html

[EchoLynx]

Are you certain that this is caused by malware? If so, what gave it away?

I just want to know for future reference.

Thanks for the lightning-fast reply.

[Allan]

No, it doesn't sound like a virus to me (though I guess it could be). Sounds like something loading that's causing the problem. As a test, boot to safe mode - does the same thing happen? If not, download and run Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) and uncheck any startup items with which you are not familiar and reboot. OR - do a selective startup with msconfig.

[EchoLynx]

I used Safe Mode for many of my virus scans, and the problem does not persist there.

I have modified the startup programs with msconfig many times before, and my current setup is -supposed- to be only drivers, AV, Firewall, and Java updates, but I am definitely going to try Mike Lin's Control Panel. Thanks for recommending it - I will post a list of my startup items shortly.

[Allan]

I did not mean to run anything in safe mode. I want to know if the problem occurs when you boot to safe mode. Ditto msconfig. Please don't try to read my mind, just let me know what happens when you either boot to safe mode or do a selective startup.

[EchoLynx]

Sorry, I worded that badly. I didnt mean to try and "finish your sentence". I really appreciate your helping me.

What I meant was that the problem did not persist in safe mode, but it does persist even under selective startup. The other information was supposed to mean that I done both before, and that I got the above results. I also was trying to be sincere about the recommendation - I am always up for a new, better solution to anything, particularly software.

Sorry about that.

[Allan]

No problem. If the problem does not occur in safe mode it should not happen with a selective startup. I know you said you've tried it, but please try again. Open msconfig and choose selective startup, allowing NOTHING to load with the OS - then reboot. What happens?

[EchoLynx]

When I deselect everything, the radio button switches to Diagnostic startup. Upon clicking okay, a message appears:

"An Access Denied error was returned when attempting to change a service. You may need to login on an Administrator account in order to make the specified changes."

I used an Administrator account to try this, contrary to what the message may claim.

In curiosity, I relaunched msconfig to see what persisted - it was the avast! UI. Here is it's startup entry.

Startup Item: avastUI
Command: C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast5\avastUI.exe /nogui
Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Rebooting in the near-diagnostic mode (with the Avast UI) still resulted in a slight hiccup, but nothing longer than a second and certainly nothing abnormal. In other words, the diagnostic startup removed the problem.

On a side note, the avast! UI did load, but it reported all services as down.

What do you think?

[Allan]

If the problem disappears with a diagnostic startup the solution is simple but a bit time consuming. Start re-enabling startup items one or two at a time, rebooting each time, until the problem recurs. Once it does, you'll have identified the offending process.

[EchoLynx]

Thanks! I will be sure to do this - later. I don't have the time at the moment to wait for that many reboots.

I'll be back with results!

[EchoLynx]

I tried your suggestion and found out the only time it happens is when the Microsoft Services are enabled. (Startup and non-microsoft services didnt affect it.) I was about ten services in when I realized that if they are Microsoft services, they MUST be protected by the system file checker. So I tried it again and it needed the disc again.

Once it finished, I tried it again on a hunch - yep, it needed correcting again, at the same spot on the progress bar too. Something must be running interference with the SFC...

Is there any hope that I wont have to go through the rest of the services?

Also, I noticed that the Remote Procedure Call services wouldn't disable, unless in safe mode. Could they be the culprit?

[Allan]

I didn't quite follow your last post, but okay. Let's try a repair install. Boot to the XP CD and choose the SECOND repair option and allow XP to reinstall on top of itself. All changed or missing system files will be replaced or overwritten. After doing the repair, you'll need to go to Windows Update and reinstall all updates. Please let us know if this helps.