Some programs lag for 30 seconds before loading (solved)

[Kyrra]

Solution: Had an invalid Network Share still mapped to a Drive Letter, causing the 30 seconds delay when the programs tried to access the drive letter.

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I've been searching all over the place for this, and doing as much testing as I could, but can't find if anything similar to this issue.

Problem: Two programs that I've noticed take around 30 seconds to load once they are launch. These 2 being iTunes and IZArc. I didn't notice it right away, so I don't know what system changes actually caused this problem to start showing up.

Detailed Information: I've been doing a lot of testing on my system, and tracked the issue down to me being connected to the internet. I disabled my connection in 2 ways (killing the DHCP Client service under the Window Services dialog, and the other was flat out disabling the network connect). Disabling the internet connection made these 2 programs load just fine without issue.

It should be noted, the first time I tried to disable my network connection, I was getting this message:

"it is not possible to disable the connection at this time. This connection may be using one or more protocols that do not support plug-and-play, or it may have been initiated by another user or the system account."

After I reinstalled my network driver, I was able to disable the network connection. It wasn’t an upgrade from what I had, just a reinstall of the driver.

For the 2 applications that lock up, they have some initial loading. iTunes gets to about 24 megs of used memory (according to Windows Task Manager), using the CPU for about a second. Then it will sit without using any CPU or changing used memory for 30 seconds. Once those 30 seconds are up, it will load normal. Same thing basically goes for IZArc. It gets to about 10 megs of used memory rather quickly, then sits there for 30 seconds before continuing to load.

During the 30 seconds while the programs are locked up, they don't seem to respond to any system calls. In the Task Manager, the programs aren’t yet listed under Applications, but they are in the Processes tab. If I try to send an “End Task” to the process while it is in that 30 second lockup, it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the process until those 30 seconds are up.

The only thing I can guess are these 2 applications that lock up when trying to talk to the internet for whatever reason. It should be noted that I’m behind a corporate firewall, so we have a “Automatic Configuration Script” for network connections. This is just a .pac file that describes what servers IE and other programs should use. Normally it just goes through a Socks 5 server. Odd thing is, no other application locks up in normal use. IE and Firefox behave themselves, and nothing else has ever given me an issue.

Question: So I ask, does anyone have any idea what is going on here? Can anyone suggest any tests I can run to try and narrow down the problem I’m seeing?

System Details:

Computer: Dell GX270 (spec)

Windows XP SP2 (fully patched)

Network Card: Intel PRO/1000 MT (Driver installed)

edit: added some details

Edited June 13, 2006 by Kyrra

[lsutiger]

I know that if Itunes is set to open in the iTunes store, it will take a bit longer to open. Try it by opening iTunes, select your Library, close, then reopen. Just a shot!

[Kyrra]

As a follow up. I ended up asking some friends, and someone suggested something when he heard me say "30 second timeout" and "disabling the Network Connection fixed it". 30 seconds is the default timeout for Windows File Share stuff.

So my problem was: I had a Network Share still mapped as a drive letter, and the network share wasn't valid anymore. So, I unmapped the invalid network share, and the delay went away!

Edited June 13, 2006 by Kyrra