Wireless networking and startup performance of Windows XP

I have a question concerning wireless network adapters in combination with
LAN network cards in a laptop (in my case a Dell Latittude D600).

When Windows XP SP2 is in the process of starting up (message screen:
preparing network connections), it takes a long time before it finishes the
process and shows the logon screen (Ctrl + Alt +Del). The reason for this is
that it tries first to find the domain controllers for the domain via the
fixed LAN connection (but that one is not connected) and secondly via the
wireless interface (and that one also has no network connection because there
is no access point in the neighorhood). I just want to logon wih cached
credentials.

Is there some way to speed up the process? Now it waits for a time-out on
the wireless networking interface, which takes a while.

I know that a hardware profile will fix the problem (disabling the wireless
networking interface), but I wonder if there is another method.

Thanx in advance...

you are probably seeing the result of a 'fix' your network admins turned on
for some other domain related problems. in the beginning the default for
winxp was to not wait to find the domain server and connect before doing a
user login, but this caused problems in some environments. The 'fix' was a
policy change that tells xp to wait for the network to be initialized (or
time out) before allowing user login. check with your admin and see if they
did that and if it can be reversed, that 'should' help.

"Helmuth Snoeijen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:37889613-1566-4610-91D6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a question concerning wireless network adapters in combination with
> LAN network cards in a laptop (in my case a Dell Latittude D600).
>
> When Windows XP SP2 is in the process of starting up (message screen:
> preparing network connections), it takes a long time before it finishes
the
> process and shows the logon screen (Ctrl + Alt +Del). The reason for this
is
> that it tries first to find the domain controllers for the domain via the
> fixed LAN connection (but that one is not connected) and secondly via the
> wireless interface (and that one also has no network connection because
there
> is no access point in the neighorhood). I just want to logon wih cached
> credentials.
>
> Is there some way to speed up the process? Now it waits for a time-out on
> the wireless networking interface, which takes a while.
>
> I know that a hardware profile will fix the problem (disabling the
wireless
> networking interface), but I wonder if there is another method.
>
> Thanx in advance...

I have a similar problem with my own laptop (uses a wireless access point for
broadband), recently upgraded from win 2000 to xp pro. So I know there were
no admin fixes applied but still, it hangs on the 'starting network
connections screen'. If I take out the wireless network PCMCIA card, it hangs
for about two minutes. If the card is left in, it can hang for a half an hour.

How do I check to see what the problem is, and fix it? I've read the
following may help:

- Hard wire DNS lookup (no idea how to do that)
- Upgrade to SP2 (did that, got worse)
- Disable wireless networking (don't want to do that)

Thanks anyone



"Dave" wrote:

> you are probably seeing the result of a 'fix' your network admins turned on
> for some other domain related problems. in the beginning the default for
> winxp was to not wait to find the domain server and connect before doing a
> user login, but this caused problems in some environments. The 'fix' was a
> policy change that tells xp to wait for the network to be initialized (or
> time out) before allowing user login. check with your admin and see if they
> did that and if it can be reversed, that 'should' help.
>
> "Helmuth Snoeijen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message news:37889613-1566-4610-91D6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have a question concerning wireless network adapters in combination with
> > LAN network cards in a laptop (in my case a Dell Latittude D600).
> >
> > When Windows XP SP2 is in the process of starting up (message screen:
> > preparing network connections), it takes a long time before it finishes
> the
> > process and shows the logon screen (Ctrl + Alt +Del). The reason for this
> is
> > that it tries first to find the domain controllers for the domain via the
> > fixed LAN connection (but that one is not connected) and secondly via the
> > wireless interface (and that one also has no network connection because
> there
> > is no access point in the neighorhood). I just want to logon wih cached
> > credentials.
> >
> > Is there some way to speed up the process? Now it waits for a time-out on
> > the wireless networking interface, which takes a while.
> >
> > I know that a hardware profile will fix the problem (disabling the
> wireless
> > networking interface), but I wonder if there is another method.
> >
> > Thanx in advance...
>
>
>