taskbar "freezes" for a few minutes after dialup?

this is driving me crazy already...

i've searched the internet and it seems a lot of people have this problem but none of the proposed solutions didn't work.

I've got a clean install of winxp sp2 (slipstreamed) on a stable computer (abit be7-raid, p4 2.4, 512mb, gf6600gt) which worked perfectly with sp1 .Only a few programs currently installed. No viruses, spyware etc. No other problems.


symptoms: as i stated in the title, computer occasionally "freezes" after connecting to the internet with modem or ISDN. After 3-5 minutes it "unfreezes" and works perfectly normal after that. i guess i'ts some kind of 100% cpu usage loop. i don't know which program/process causes that. (i'll acquire wintasks pro 5.0 and try to find - anyone knows is there something better for detecting process usage history?) looking at the event viewer afterwards doesn't help - no errors, warnings etc.

During those few minutes, except it freezes taskbar, i cannot start any program, not even ctrl-alt-del, but browsing my computer works - weird.

first time i noticed this behaviour was after i removed windows messenger. i installed it back but it didn't help. i also disabled all automatic updates - windows, norton 2005, even internet time - those were suggestions i found on the internet. but it didn't help.

one thing that i hate the most is that the problem is chaotic apparently, it only happens on about 30-40 % occasions. Usually the first time i connect to the internet on a particular day.

i would love to learn what causes this, rather than reinstall windows...

thanks

 

This is just a shot in the dark but if it only happens occasionally, could it be that you have Outlook Express open at the time? There's a setting in OE to log onto MS Messenger when you start OE. If that got left behind after the uninstall I could see that possibly causing a problem. In OE click tools>options and on the general tab look for a line that says "automatically log onto windows messenger ". If it's there and it's checked, uncheck it.

Also, if something is maxing out your cpu, you can probably track it down by opening task monitor before you connect with the modem. Right click on the taskbar>task manager. In task manager, click on the processes tab and then click options>always on top. Then connect with the modem and if it freezes on you, watch task manager to see if you can identify the process that's hogging the cpu.

 

TonyT, yes, i did all that ;-)

Zander, i removed that annoying windows mesenger many times before and i'm quite aware of the problems it causes with OE. You can avoid slow starting of OE by deleting values in registry:

CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541}
delete values in:
InProcServer32
LocalServer32

but, i don't use it anyway

BTW, great idea putting task manager "always on top ", i just hope it won't freeze also. I''l try that as soon as i get home. (i'm 'working' now, actually surfing ) )

thanks!

 

Ok. Guess we'll have to wait and see if task manager shows anything. Hope it doesn't freeze up too. If it does, hopefully you'll get lucky and be able to see the offending process without having to scroll but the way these things work I suppose that's maybe asking too much.

Sorry the Messenger thing was of no help. As I said, it was just a shot in the dark. It was just something that crossed my mind when I read those two lines that I quoted. Thought I'd mention it just in case.

 

Zander, i was not able to test your suggestions till now.

It seems it's not any kind of 100% cpu usage problem at all!

I tested it thoroughly:

1. ONLY thing it "freezes" is taskbar + I cannot start anything new - newly started applications are shown in task manager but not on the screen/taskbar!

2 windows explorer works OK - windows pop up, I can browse my computer etc.

3. task manager (which i started beforehand) is working just fine, i can kill processes, view different tabs etc. - but if I turn it off I cannot start new one. during the whole "freeze" phase cpu is practically idle.

4. Applications I started before "freeze" do work, I can access them by Alt-Tab

I still didn't figure it out what triggers those "freezes" (except that they occur when i connect to internet). Today for example it worked without hickups for a few hours and than frozen a few times in just about an hour.

What annoys me the most is that event viewer reports NOTHING.

Sigh...

 

I'm using the same Asustek ISDN driver as I used before with no problems. BTW, i'll try the old setup for a few days to eliminate the possibility that the problem is in fact because of some weird hardware error. (i bought a new disk and installed winxp sp2 on it, the old disk is still intact (with sp1) - all i have to do is put it back on ide0 )