IE 8 and Chrome Hangs on Clean XP Install following Boot

LucianH

I've just done a complete clean install of XP SP3. Following many a boring hour this morning on doing windows update again and again and again and... until all updates were downloaded and installed I now have a weird issue with IE8 (and also with Chrome).

Basically, IE8 was one of the updates. Now, immediately following a boot-up, when I open IE8, the windows opens but it hangs on the "connecting" for about 80 seconds. I did not have this problem with IE6 following the initial install.

I thought I'd try to uninstall and re-install IE8. Before I did though, I installed Chrome. And discovered that this has a similar problem. Except, when I double click on the Chrome shortcut, nothing appears to happen (although an instance of chrome.exe appears in Task Manager). If I wait nearly for over a minute then the Chrome window appears.

So, I uninstalled IE8 and rebooted. I can now open IE6 immediately and start browsing but Chrome still hangs for ages before opening the window. By the way, I've disabled all plugins for Chrome.

Following a reinstall of IE8 still the same problem. If I try start both IE8 and Chrome immediately after I boot-up then IE8 opens and sits there saying its connecting and Chome does nothing - then after the delay Chrome springs into life and IE8 connects to the web page.

HOWEVER, if I re-boot and wait for a couple of minutes then both IE8 and Chrome respond immediately. So what could be going on in the background that prevents these apps from connecting to the internet (where IE6 can). There could be one clue - I've got no AV yet and I've noticed that, following a re-boot, both Chrome and IE spring into life at the same time that the little warning bubble pops up telling me my PC could be at risk.

I've ghosted the partition following the inital install (and before all the updates) and could revert back to that and slowly do each update in turn to see what's causing the problem but I fear that's going to take ages. Any ideas would be really welcome.

Hardware wise - complete new system ASUS P8Z77 Pro with 16gig RAM so that should not be the problem.

closed

Ie, tools, internet options, lan settings - are all boxes blank (they should be)

turn off windows update, reboot, and retest.

Are all drivers installed in device manager?

wired and wireless is the same?

on a different note, chrome will have cluttered your freshly built machine with google update amongst other things.

LucianH

In the end, couldn't suss it out. Went back to a fresh build and slowly introduced the updates (ghosting a bit more often this time!). Have done all updates with the exception of the following and it now seems to be OK:

- Windows Search 4.0 for Windows XP (KB940157)
- Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile for Windows XP x86 (KB982670)
- Microsoft Base Smart Card Cryptographic Service Provider Package: x86 (KB909520)

My suspicion is something to do with Windows Search but I can't see any connection. But since it's now working, I'll just put this problem down to another one of those Microsoft quirks.

By the way, just for info for others, when I say "ghosting" I'm not using Norton Ghost - I used to but now I'm a Macrium Reflect convert - it's a brilliant package and the Image Explorer function works an absolute treat.

One bit of advice - I'm building a multi-boot machine and found the Macrium install option of Recovery Boot screwed up the MBR. I deselected that option and run the Restore via a USB pen drive.

And another by-the way. Since my first install took ages because of all the downloads, I'd thought I'd be cute the second time around by moving all the downloaded files from the folder \WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download from the previous install to the new clean install hoping that Windows Update would recognise that the file had already been download. Unfortunately it didn't and still went through the whole process of re-downloading them. The word bummer sprang to mind!