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LogIn Problems on NT

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19 replies

by john.a

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Our NT Workstation will frequently lockup during the login process. No errs are generated, Dr. Watson indicates nothing and the event viewer also indicates nothing amiss. When the waorkstation locks up, the mouse is movable and the keybaord softwarerepsonds with sound to the pressing of keys, but is otherwise dead. Ctl-Alt-Del does nothing and the computer must be rebooted with the reset switch. I have also noticed, that once this has happened, the station can be pinged with an ip address, butwith the computer name. I would like to know what is happening and to how to fix it. This is NT for Workstations 4.0 service pack 4, running on a 450MHz PIII.

19 replies

by natecasp

Need more info......

What does your logon script look like?
What programs are running in it?
What is loading in the startup group?
What happens if you disable the logon script for a specific user and try logging on as that user?
Do you have aBDC? Is replication enabled?

by john.a

We have no log on script. No unusual programs running. We have a few services running, including two programs from Veritas, BackupExe and TeleBackup. Startup loads Daemon syslog and 3Com NIC diagnostics; nothing else.

by wpatrey

Monitor cpu usage and available ram with performance monitor (and any other you think applicable). You might need some more ram or their is not enought room for the swap file. Try moving the swap file to a different location. You won't see any error messages b/c it cannot write to the event viewer when it is locked up.

by john.a

128 MB RAM, 13GB hard drive with 80% free. Swap file is setup and configured automatically.

by Member 21361443

I can't state for certain, since there is not enough information, but I can take a wild guess.

Sometimes, a system will load up the screen (press CTRL+ALT+DEL to login) before it loads the supporting services necessary to actually log in. Try powering on your computer, then (when it reaches the CTRL+ALT+DEL screen) wait a minute or two (I'll walk away and get a drink of water or use the restroom). When you get back, try to login. If it works consistently, then your computer is just not loading the necessary services fast enough.

To fix it, you will probably need to perform standard system maintenance, defrags, etc. and possibly upgrade a few items, like RAM to boost the load-up times a bit. It is just a poor design, really.

Hope this helps!
Brian Lusk

by rmiller

Have you tried replacing the keyboard? Can you toggle numlock and capslock? I'd also try reinstalling SP4 or newer.

by john.a

Brand new Compaq keyboard. We can toggle the key states. We are running SP4.

by rogerndgreen

I'm with Brian Lusk on this one, I've had the same experience, especially with 3Com NICs talking to 3Com switches in auto-negiation 10/100 mode. They just seem to take ages!
If this is the case, try locking down both ends of the network connectionto the same speed, or try another NIC (Intel are pretty good at solving this problem)
HTH
Roger Green

by rdubrey

This may seem too simple but when you try to log on to NT and make a mistake 3 times in a row the machine will lock you out temporarily, I am not sure on the time period. Everything else will be working fine but you won't be able to log in for a period of time. Short period of time though.... less than a couple of mins....
Maybe that is the answer.... try it.
Rob

by nettek

I think you were trying to say in your question that you can ping the workstation by ip address, but NOT by name. You do not say whether or not you are running WINS, but I have seen behavior like this when a WINS database is corrupt. The workstationmay be receiving information from WINS that is incorrect, and it is causing it to lock up as the workstation attempts to communicate using that corrupted info.

WINS corruption can cause a great deal of network problems, and it is easy to misconfigure WINS servers. Check the MS Knowledge Base article Q185786 for more information.

by bcross

Sounds almost like a hardware problem. Pull all the memory out, place in one stick (or two depending on what kind) and boot up. See if it locks up. If it does, try a different stick or combination. I recently had a problem where a new Dual P-III 500with 512 MB of ram was locking up randomly and was able to boil it down to the memory. It could be any component, but I'd start there.

by james_randy

The only thing that will cure a nagging lockup is a B-A-H! - Big A** Hammer

It'll make you feel better, too.

jr

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