Windows starts up strangely

poshniallo

Hi

About 6 months ago I installed (on my PC) a Nintendo USB Wi-fi dongle for DS. It didn't work quite right so I uninstalled it, with some problems, and thought I'd try again when I had more time and less stress (which never happened).

Anyway, since then every time I start up my PC, I immediately get the 'Windows did not shut down properly' screen (even though it did, it did, it really did!) with the options for booting in safe mode and the 30 second countdown. Once Windows starts (whether I press a key to skip the 30 seconds or not) I have to wait another 30 seconds or so, as everything is unresponsive for a little while, despite Windows appearing to have started up.

I've looked at msconfig, tried selective boots etc but can't find anything that gets rid of it. My two theories are:

There's a flag somewhere in windows which tells Windows to go to that screen and it's ended up tripped when it shouldn't be

Windows is looking for a device that it shouldn't be, because it doesn't exist anymore - i.e. the dongle.

Any ideas? It's starting to really piss me off, and I'd like to add some bits to my PC (for me putting in a new GFX card etc is like brain surgery) and I'm worried this problem will make things go badly.

The Windows is XP, with the service pack. I'd tell you more, but I'm not sure what would be relevant - I don't know hardware a lot, but I'd be surprised if something like the RAM made a difference to this particular problem.

Thanks.

PirateJon

There should be some sort of info in the event logs. See anything meaningful?

Sonar

Does it give you the same problem if you start the machine without the dongle plugged in?

If you don't use the dongle at all from start up to shut down does it give you the problem?

poshniallo

I don't have the dongle installed or plugged in any more.

Where can I see an 'event log'? I tried to search but I couldn't find them.

harvest

Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Event Viewer to see the log

Start up in Safe Mode (F8 after POST) and check your Device Manager for the dongle, and uninstall it if it is present. You may need to do View->Show Hidden Devices to see it.

Your other problem about windows starting up unresponsive could be caused by a ton of stuff but sounds most like a driver timeout, i.e. the OS is waiting for a driver to report its status, but it never hears back. If removing the ghostly vestiges of your dongle in safe mode doesn't clear that up, an in-place upgrade/repair install will fix it. Boot off the Windows XP CD as if you were installing the OS, but when it asks you which partition to install on, hit R. None of your data or apps are affected by a repair.

poshniallo

I get these errors in the system log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7022
Date: 10/5/2007
Time: 10:26:19 PM
User: N/A
Computer: BABY
Description:
The Task Scheduler service hung on starting.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


and...


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Date: 10/5/2007
Time: 10:26:19 PM
User: N/A
Computer: BABY
Description:
The Automatic Updates service terminated with the following error:
General access denied error

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.



I tried to go into the repair console (I ended up with a c:windows prompt and a list of possible commands) but I wasn't sure which to do. Any ideas?

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'm getting near the problem - task scheduler I guess

harvest

You don't want the repair console, instead of hitting R at the first prompt where you can, hit Enter or whatever skips that page.

You can disable the task scheduling service in the Administrative Tools->Services applet, although that won't fix the Automatic Updates service.

Definitely try the Repair option though, let me link you the Microsoft Step-by-step on how to do it:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

poshniallo

Thanks for your help - I tried the windows repair but it didn't change anything.... not sure what to try next. Since the windows repair didn't help, I imagine re-installing windows wouldn't either.

Hmmmm...

Moe Fwacky

Reinstalling Windows, while a last ditch resort, would effectively fix the problem. If you are planning on upgrading the hardware in your machine, a reinstall might be a good idea anyway (plus it's good to reinstall Windows at least once a year).