DHCP problems w/Win 7

[Guy Wilson]

Odd problem with Windows 7.

When I login to a user after a fresh boot the login process is very slow
- it even goes to a black screen for a while then eventually shows the
users desktop and all is fine then. Subsequent logouts and logins are
fine unless I restart the PC.

Using safe mode - no problems.

Using safe mode w/networking - same slow login

This suggested to me an issue w/networking. So I tried using a fixed IP
address (I was using DHCP on the network) - bingo the login process is
fast with no black screen. This happens on all my Windows 7 PCs. Its
not SP1 related as it happens both with and without SP1 installed. I do
wonder if another Windows update messed something up?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Guy

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

Odd problem with Windows 7.

When I login to a user after a fresh boot the login process is very slow
- it even goes to a black screen for a while then eventually shows the
users desktop and all is fine then. Subsequent logouts and logins are
fine unless I restart the PC.

Using safe mode - no problems.

Using safe mode w/networking - same slow login

This suggested to me an issue w/networking. So I tried using a fixed IP
address (I was using DHCP on the network) - bingo the login process is
fast with no black screen. This happens on all my Windows 7 PCs. Its not
SP1 related as it happens both with and without SP1 installed. I do
wonder if another Windows update messed something up?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Guy

Sounds like the device acting as your DHCP server, usually the router,
needs to be rebooted.

Since the routers are actually PC based internally they can get
partially confused or have other programing problems that a reboot will
flush out.

Other things that can affect DHCP on multiple PC's on a home network is
a defective Ethernet cable streaming crap into the router, same for a
Ethernet port going bad on one of the devices attached to the router.

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

Odd problem with Windows 7.

When I login to a user after a fresh boot the login process is very slow
- it even goes to a black screen for a while then eventually shows the
users desktop and all is fine then. Subsequent logouts and logins are
fine unless I restart the PC.

Using safe mode - no problems.

Using safe mode w/networking - same slow login

This suggested to me an issue w/networking. So I tried using a fixed IP
address (I was using DHCP on the network) - bingo the login process is
fast with no black screen. This happens on all my Windows 7 PCs. Its not
SP1 related as it happens both with and without SP1 installed. I do
wonder if another Windows update messed something up?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Guy

Sounds like the device acting as your DHCP server, usually the router,
needs to be rebooted.

Since the routers are actually PC based internally they can get
partially confused or have other programing problems that a reboot will
flush out.

Other things that can affect DHCP on multiple PC's on a home network is
a defective cable streaming crap into the router,

 

[Guy Wilson]

Sounds like the device acting as your DHCP server, usually the router,
needs to be rebooted.

Since the routers are actually PC based internally they can get
partially confused or have other programing problems that a reboot will
flush out.

Other things that can affect DHCP on multiple PC's on a home network is
a defective cable streaming crap into the router,

Gave that a try - still the same issue. One PC is dual boot XP/W7 -
using XP seems to work fine.

Guy

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

Gave that a try - still the same issue. One PC is dual boot XP/W7 -
using XP seems to work fine.

Guy

Hmmm, Multiple Windows 7 machines having problems getting DHCP from the
same router. Could be some kind of strange Windows update problem but I
would expect a much larger roar from the crowd if that kind of problem
was ongoing.

If you power off all of the other devices attached to the router and
boot only one Windows 7 machine what happens? What does a command
window's ipconfig /all show for the IP address, Subnet Mask, default
gateway, and DHCP Server? If it comes up normally power it down and try
another until either they all have worked individually or a problem
machine shows up.

The fact that it works when booted by a machine running XP might point
to a bad Ethernet driver in the Windows 7 machines but they would almost
all have to be the same motherboard or Ethernet card for a bad update to
affect all of them.

It could be some form of Virus has infected them all as well but one
hopes not. Pick a machine and run a couple of scans using different
anti-virus programs than what your normally have installed so see if
your existing protection has missed something.

 

[Paul]

Gave that a try - still the same issue. One PC is dual boot XP/W7 -
using XP seems to work fine.

Guy

The basics of the service are mentioned here. I was hoping there was
a log file, but none is mentioned here.

http://www.blackviper.com/wiki/DHCP_Client

The poster here, seems to be implying DHCP logs things in the Event log.

http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/93173-dhcp-client-errors-event-log.html

Some suspect third parties are mentioned here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3259-63-windows-slow-obtain-dhcp

Paul

 

[VanguardLH]

Odd problem with Windows 7.

When I login to a user after a fresh boot the login process is very slow
- it even goes to a black screen for a while then eventually shows the
users desktop and all is fine then. Subsequent logouts and logins are
fine unless I restart the PC.

Using safe mode - no problems.

Using safe mode w/networking - same slow login

This suggested to me an issue w/networking. So I tried using a fixed IP
address (I was using DHCP on the network) - bingo the login process is
fast with no black screen. This happens on all my Windows 7 PCs. Its
not SP1 related as it happens both with and without SP1 installed. I do
wonder if another Windows update messed something up?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Guy

Are their any mapped drives (by the user creating the mappings or using
a login script to run 'net use' to do the mappings on login)? If the
networked resources are slow, dead, or unreachable via the network,
there will be a delay before the attempt to log onto them gives up.

If mapped network resources is the problem, see if your apps can use UNC
pathnames instead of mapped resources. Just because you map a drive
doesn't mean that mapping is active later and the app will fail. Some
servers will idle timeout the mappings which means they are inactive
after awhile and the app may not wait for a reconnect. UNC paths don't
leave connections open and idle. They're only used at the time the app
wants to connect.

 

[Guy Wilson]

The basics of the service are mentioned here. I was hoping there was
a log file, but none is mentioned here.

http://www.blackviper.com/wiki/DHCP_Client

The poster here, seems to be implying DHCP logs things in the Event log.

http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/93173-dhcp-client-errors-event-log.html


Some suspect third parties are mentioned here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3259-63-windows-slow-obtain-dhcp

Paul

Tried some of the suggestions on one PC (Bonjour service on manual for
example), then found that the problem had gone on all the PCs - for some
unknown reason DHCP works again!

Guy