XP-Pro "pausing" unpredictably when accessing domain-controller 1

[techydude]

I have a 6-month-old Dell Dimension 2200 PC (Celeron 1.3GHz) running WinXP-Pro (no SP initially).

It was initially connected to a WinNT4 Domain Server. It is the only WinXP-Pro workstation connecting to the domain (all others are Win95/98/NT4/2K).

However intermittently and unpredictably and virtually immediately after commissioning, when browsing shares on the NT4-Domain Server (or when accessing almost any other kind of network resource), XP-Pro would "pause" for approximately 20-30 seconds. All other apps on the PC were fine. I could even have a ping of the NT4-Server running in a DOS box the whole time, never skipping a beat even though the app accessing the network was frozen for 20-30 seconds.

The NT4-Server has now been replaced by a new Win2K AD domain controller, and the troublesome Dell PC had WinXP-Pro + SP1 reinstalled (formatted hdd first) today. But the problem remains.

This troublesome Dell (and all other workstations) access the internet via a Netgear RM356 56K Modem-Router, and they all have their DNS IPs set to that of our ISP, not that of the domain controller.

Any ideas what might be causing the 20-30 second pauses?

Thanks & regards,
Anthony.

 

[bcastner]

Try this:

1. Open up regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace.
3. Find a key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
4. Right click on it and delete it.
5. Restart

 

[cbrider]

I had the same problem, and now after that fix it seems to be fine.

What does removing that key do? And how does it work?

 

[bcastner]

Win2k had this applied in a service pack, but it somehow never made it to XP.

By removing this key you tell XP not to check the network for scheduled tasks on network resources. Print Queues on servers are a big slowdown, and there is little need to cache that informtion when all you want to do see is a network shared folder for example.

 

[techydude]

thanks bcastner,

unfortunately that didn't change a lot. it does seem to have alleviated another quirk i had with the "Applying Security Settings" stage during logon taking a long time (2+ minutes), but my main problem remains:

after a cold boot, i log in, the login script executes (only sets time and deletes then re-maps drives), then i open Windows Explorer and click on one of the mapped drives - the contents do not show for 20+ seconds. sometiems, if i'm fast enough, it will show the root contents of the first mapped drive i click on, but the 2nd drive will experience the 20+ second delay. subsequent browsing proceeds OK, until sooner or later another 20+ second pause is experienced.

i've tried adding the IP of the domain controller into my DNS TCPIP settings for the network card, but to no avail.

 

[CalvinTse]

Hi guys, I have the same problem here. Do you guys come across any fixes yet? Thanks

 

[bcastner]

Some things to consider:

1. SMB signing, opportunistic locking issues:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814112

2. Anti-virus Programs that scan every file open action.

Discussed above, and here:

http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xf113543254bfd611abdb0090277a778c,00.html

3. Autdisconnect Parameters to0 short on server:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q138365

4. Problems with the default /persistant:yes on Net use and mapping commands.

http://www25.brinkster.com/ChicagoTech/

See the discussion under Mapping problems.

 

[techydude]

Hi Calvin Tse,

I re-posted this issue a few weeks later on thread 779-540802, and received another 2 responses, both of which had positive effects, particularly Mr Magic BCastner's information regarding WinXP's need to have its DNS server setting pointing to the domain controller (which can also do DNS forwarding to an authoritive DNS for wider internet name resolution), rather than pointing directly to your ISPs DNS, because WinXP is unique in that it - contrary to all previous versions of Windows - it now uses DNS for all name resolution *first*, rather than NetBIOS/WINS/etc.

So if you run a winNT/2k domain controller, and have your ISPs DNS set on a XP PC, it'll go asking your ISP for the whereabouts of LAN resources, and of course not receive any meaningful result, but which will take 20+ seconds until that request times out before resorting to the other name-resolution methods.

 

[bcastner]

DNS is always a concern. See this thread: thread779-540080