On startup network adapter slow to start

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I’m wondering if anyone can help me determine why it takes so long for me to have network access when my Windows 7 PC starts up?

Upon startup the desktop appears and the network adapter icon in the system tray shows that the adapter is not ready. After the system grinds for a bit I will see all 21 of my desktop icons turn white and then they will reappear with the correct icon image. Shortly after this event occurs the network adapter icon will change indicating that the network is now available and I can successfully access the internet. Once the network is available it works flawlessly and my internet speed thru several speed tests indicates that the problem is not with my internet speed. When I check my adapter looking for issues, none can be found. From all indications it looks to me like upon startup the network adapter is waiting on something before it will start up but I have no idea what the adapter is waiting on or how to fix this. What really bugs me is that this is a wired network adapter and it should boot faster than my wireless connected laptop connected to the same ATT modem/router but my laptop is ready almost immediately when the PC starts.

Any help on how to resolve this issue and make the network available more quickly would be greatly appreciated.

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You could start with reinstalling/updating the network drivers but I found that changing the computer’s adapter DNS servers to Google’s 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 for a while did the job and when I changed back later, I didn’t have the problem.

However, the problem returned recently and found that no longer worked, so changed the router’s DNS servers to Google as well as the computer and that seems to have done the job for now.

Depending upon the router, it may require a reboot to effect.

To change the computer Network adapter’s DNS servers, press the Windows key, type ncpa.cpl – press enter then right click on your Local Area Connection and select Properties.

Click on (TCP/IPv4) then on Properties and check the bottom radio button for Use the following DNS server address.

Enter 8 into each box of the upper row then 8.8.4.4 into the respective lower boxes.

Click on Validate upon exit – OK – Close – and if the Troubleshooter says it cannot find anything wrong, then you are good to go.

Have you downloaded anything recently that has inserted itself into the Start up menu in msconfig ?

You could run a clean boot should any of the Start up items or non MS services are the cause and if this is just a recent issue for you, then using your restore points back to when you think it was okay would be something else to try.

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You could start with reinstalling/updating the network drivers but I found that changing the computer’s adapter DNS servers to Google’s 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 for a while did the job and when I changed back later, I didn’t have the problem.

I wasn’t aware that Google had DNS servers. Periodically, I’ve run DNSBench from Gibson Research to verify that I was getting the fastest name resolution base on my location. I can certainly try the Google DNS servers and see what happens.

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You might download and run Autoruns from Sysinternals to see what is being loaded at startup…

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Enabled the VirusTotal scan for each item in Options > Scan Options.

You can save the results and post them if you have questions.

I’ll give that a try. I’ve looked at my MSConfig and unchecked a number of things that didn’t need to run but it didn’t seem to resolve my problem. I’ve also run AutoRuns and unchecked a few items there two and that didn’t solve anything either but I didn’t run the scan you were talking about and never ran it upon startup only from my desktop. I’ll give your suggestion a try as well. Thanks.

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OK, I changed the DNS providers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and it didn’t seem to change my symptoms. After the change I ran DNSBench on my system and it told me that my original DNS configuration was much more efficient for me than using the Google Servers in this region so I ended up switching back to my original configuration. Not saying your wrong as you may be living in a region where they would work better than my DNS servers from BellSouth and ATT. If you’ve never run DNSBench from Gibson Research (https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm) you may want to experiment around to see if what you have configured is optimal. Steve Gibson is a pretty smart guy and DNSBench is a free download. Hopefully, someone else may still have a solution for me.

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Your machine is just being slow to boot, which could be driver(s), software (anti virus) or hardware (a slow disk). Try starting the machine in Safe mode with networking to see if that makes any obvious difference. Also let us know what you find via Autoruns.

cheers, Paul

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Have a look in Event Viewer to see if you have any DHCP or other connectivity related Errors recorded.

In Device Manager/View/Show hidden devices/Network adapters do you have a MS Virtual Miniport listed.

If you have, the delay could be because of DHCP attempting to assign it an IP address.

If you aren’t using VPN then you don’t need the Miniport.

To disable the Miniport, run a command prompt as an admin by pressing the Windows key, type cmd then right click on cmd and select Run as administrator – accept the UAC and enter

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow

While you are in Device Manager/Network adapters in extended view, you may have incremented MS ISATAP adapters.

Windows creates a new one whenever it has problems connecting and as you only need the original you can right click on each of the incremented ones and select Uninstall.

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Have a look in Event Viewer to see if you have any DHCP or other connectivity related Errors recorded.

In Device Manager/View/Show hidden devices/Network adapters do you have a MS Virtual Miniport listed.

If you have, the delay could be because of DHCP attempting to assign it an IP address.

If you aren’t using VPN then you don’t need the Miniport.

To disable the Miniport, run a command prompt as an admin by pressing the Windows key, type cmd then right click on cmd and select Run as administrator – accept the UAC and enter

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow

While you are in Device Manager/Network adapters in extended view, you may have incremented MS ISATAP adapters.

Windows creates a new one whenever it has problems connecting and as you only need the original you can right click on each of the incremented ones and select Uninstall.

I didn’t see any MS Virtual Miniports. I did notice that I have a “Microsoft ISATDAP Adapter” and a “Microsoft ISATDAP Adapter #2” is the #2 what you were referring to by an incremented Microsoft ISATDAP Adapter?

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Yes, they are the ones but it isn’t critical the incremented ones be uninstalled – Windows will go through what is there to make the connection and having uninstalled any with # will probably return as long as there is a delay in connecting.

Have you done anything about the drivers or checked Event Viewer – if any of the services have problems starting they’ll normally be listed in there.

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You might download and run Autoruns from Sysinternals to see what is being loaded at startup…

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Enabled the VirusTotal scan for each item in Options > Scan Options.

You can save the results and post them if you have questions.

OK. I’ve done a number of things on my PC that cleared up some events in my event log, removed some tramp data in my registry and reinstalled some apps that didn’t appear to be running correctly. After doing all of this and defragging my hard drive I restated my system and things are pretty much the same as they were before. I ran autoruns and nothing really appears to be out of the ordinary. I’ve attached a copy of my latest Autorun so that some of you can take a look and see if you find anything that I’m missing.

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OK. I’ve done a number of things on my PC that cleared up some events in my event log, removed some tramp data in my registry and reinstalled some apps that didn’t appear to be running correctly. After doing all of this and defragging my hard drive I restated my system and things are pretty much the same as they were before. I ran autoruns and nothing really appears to be out of the ordinary. I’ve attached a copy of my latest Autorun so that some of you can take a look and see if you find anything that I’m missing.

What did you use to create that .ARN file .zip as I have 7-Zip on my laptop but it cannot open it, unless I’m not selecting the right option.

I don’t normally have problems opening .zip attachments as I normally just extract them and then open, but this one doesn’t want to know.

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.ARN is the default type for Autoruns – once you’ve downloaded and used Autoruns, a double-click will open it.

My preferred method of using Autoruns runs a number of checks and lists only the unsigned Windows entries plus all non-Windows entries and allows direct checking of any Virustotal ‘positives’:

Run Autoruns as Administrator, once it starts, hit Esc to stop the scanning, from the File > Options menu, select only the following:
Hide Empty Locations
Hide Windows Entries
From the File > Options > Scan Options menu:
Verify Code Signature
Check VirusTotal.com
Submit Unknown Images.

Click the Refresh icon or press F5 for the scan to restart and any uploading to VirusTotal to begin. Allow time for any VirusTotal results to be returned, check the VirusTotal column, right side of the main panel, for progress, each entry should contain a x/xx (eg. 0/57, number of positives/number of scanners used).

Once data checks are complete, File > Save As > Autoruns.ARN (the default file type), zip that saved file (Send to > Compressed folder from the mouse right-click menu) and then the Autoruns.zip can be uploaded and attached to a reply for checking.

For more info and uses of Autoruns, see here: http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson6/all/

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.ARN is the default type for Autoruns – once you’ve downloaded and used Autoruns, a double-click will open it.

My preferred method of using Autoruns runs a number of checks and lists only the unsigned Windows entries plus all non-Windows entries and allows direct checking of any Virustotal ‘positives’:

Run Autoruns as Administrator, once it starts, hit Esc to stop the scanning, from the File > Options menu, select only the following:
Hide Empty Locations
Hide Windows Entries
From the File > Options > Scan Options menu:
Verify Code Signature
Check VirusTotal.com
Submit Unknown Images.

Click the Refresh icon or press F5 for the scan to restart and any uploading to VirusTotal to begin. Allow time for any VirusTotal results to be returned, check the VirusTotal column, right side of the main panel, for progress, each entry should contain a x/xx (eg. 0/57, number of positives/number of scanners used).

Once data checks are complete, File > Save As > Autoruns.ARN (the default file type), zip that saved file (Send to > Compressed folder from the mouse right-click menu) and then the Autoruns.zip can be uploaded and attached to a reply for checking.

For more info and uses of Autoruns, see here: http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson6/all/

OK………

I ran a fresh Autoruns this morning with the settings you suggested. One thing I noticed when I looked at the VirusScans column was that there were some codecs’s that were flagged as being positives. Both of the software products associated with these codecs are commercial products. The first is a program called Media Go from Sony Corp that allows me to manage media that I place on my Sony MP3 player and to play back music on my PC as an alternative to other media Players. The second product is Honestech Audio Recorder 3.0 Plus which is a product that allows me to convert cassette audio tapes to an MP3 format. I checked the Honestech web site and there was no update available for their product but there was for Media Go from Sony. After installing the new update, I restarted my machine and did notice a significant decrease in the time it took for the network to be available but when I ran another AutoRuns it was still showing positives being flagged on both products. I’m wondering if I should really be concerned about these or not. The HonesTech recorder I could remove because I simply don’t use it that often but the Media Go software I do used frequently and I would be surprised if what I’m seeing is really a concerning issue or just a false positive. The latest Autoruns (V2_WCH-Ultra-7.zip) is the run that was made after updating the Media Go software.

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.My preferred method of using Autoruns runs a number of checks and lists only the unsigned Windows entries plus all non-Windows entries and allows direct checking of any Virustotal ‘positives’:

Run Autoruns as Administrator, once it starts, hit Esc to stop the scanning, from the File > Options menu, select only the following:
Hide Empty Locations
Hide Windows Entries
From the File > Options > Scan Options menu:
Verify Code Signature
Check VirusTotal.com
Submit Unknown Images.

Click the Refresh icon or press F5 for the scan to restart and any uploading to VirusTotal to begin. Allow time for any VirusTotal results to be returned, check the VirusTotal column, right side of the main panel, for progress, each entry should contain a x/xx (eg. 0/57, number of positives/number of scanners used).

Once data checks are complete, File > Save As > Autoruns.ARN (the default file type), zip that saved file (Send to > Compressed folder from the mouse right-click menu) and then the Autoruns.zip can be uploaded and attached to a reply for checking.

OK. I ran Autoruns again with the parameters you specified and based on your previous post I noticed that there were a number of codecs entries that were flagged as positive for viruses but that was all. A number of them were files that are a part of a software package called Media Go from Sony Corp. Media Go is a tool that I used to load MP3 files onto my Sony MP3 Player and is an alternative media player on the PC. The other program is the Honestech Audio Recorder 3.0 Pro that allows me to convert audio recordings on cassette tape to MP3 format. Not to say that either one of their files might be infected but I kind of doubt it, especially the Media Go package from Sony Corp. That being said, I did find an update to Media Go that I downloaded and installed. Upon reboot I noticed that there was a noticeable improvement in the speed in which the network icon in the tray indicated that the network was ready. I didn’t find a newer update for the Honestech software so I left it as is.

At this point, I’m curious as to whether you see anything more on the Autoruns report (see attached) that I created after the Media Go software was updated. I could remove the Honestech software as I seldom use that recorder but I use the Media Go product a lot and would hate to lose that one. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc?

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That shows me how to create one Andy, but I’m trying to view the one attached in Post #12.

Or do I have to download Autoruns so that it is on the computer before it will open the .zip ?

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Download Autoruns, extract the ARN, open with Autoruns – although I get incompatible file format in Autoruns 13.2.

cheers, Paul

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Download Autoruns, extract the ARN, open with Autoruns – although I get incompatible file format in Autoruns 13.2.

13.40 is the current version, probably the same version that MoonDoggy is using – many updates to the Sysinternals tools include upgrades, it pays to keep it updated unless you only use it on your own system.

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The VT ‘positive’ results seem to be false positives, wrongly flagged by poor heuristics, probably because of the tools used to create/compress them.

Before ripping out Norton, stop PerfectDisk from auto-defragging at boot, it’s really not needed. Unless your disks are over 75% full, you don’t need to run anything but the autodefrag built-in to the OS, if you prefer to do it manually with PD, try PD at boot once a month and a normal defrag weekly. I’ve also seen PD and other boot time defraggers being implicated in BSODs.

Plenty of lesser tweaks you could also do later but try the above first.

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I’ll download Autoruns later when I have a bit more time to play with it – it seems a bit of a 7**7 when you have to install another program to open something that you would normally expect Windows Explorer to open.

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….it seems a bit of a 7**7 when you have to install another program to open something that you would normally expect Windows Explorer to open.

Why would you expect WE would open a Autoruns file? Unless you mean the zip file is not opening in which case that is on your end because both opened fine for me too (though I use 7zip and updated Autoruns which needed it 11.1).

Didn’t really see much to add other than I would dump the HP Updater in Startup though it has nothing to do with this problem other than slowing boot time.

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It extracts the.zip okay, but previously I’ve been able to go on to open the file, but Windows said it couldn’t open it and to browse the computer etc. but only gave me Notepad – didn’t know a .ARN was Autoruns as I tend to use Process Explorer.

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See my post #18, made in reply to your earlier auto-moderated post (I hadn’t noticed it had been moderated).

Other than PD boot defrag, it’s really up to you, I’d keep things cleaner but you might prefer more automation.

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See my post #18, made in reply to your earlier auto-moderated post (I hadn’t noticed it had been moderated).

Other than PD boot defrag, it’s really up to you, I’d keep things cleaner but you might prefer more automation.

Well, I think I found the culprit (PerfectDisk). I opened PD tonight, selected the SealthPatrol tab and disabled the Optiwrite and Auto-Optimization. Optiwrite is supposed to provide real-time defragmentation while Auto-Optimization is supposed to run invisibly in the background to improve the system when the system is idle. When I restarted my system the network Icon in the System Tray was displayed and almost immediately, the icon indicated that the network was ready for use whereas previously the icon indicated that it was doing something or waiting on something to finish before the network was ready. I’ve been a bit suspicious of PerfectDisk in recent years. In the “good old days” you previously went out and periodically defragged your hard drive and now PD has added all of these bells and whistles to their product and even when I am doing a periodic defrag I’m not 100% sure if the defrag is any better than the defrag tool that comes with Windows 7. I guess I’ll see what the impact of turning these two options off in regard to my system. A big thank you to everyone that offered their help and advice. It was most appreciated.

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The OP, as was my linked earlier post, the OP being the only person here that’s ‘missing’ a post that he’d written.

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Good catch, the correct post was #19.

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I’d remove PD completely, Windows does a perfectly good job of defragmenting – assuming PD hasn’t disabled it.

cheers, Paul

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