win 2000 pro

It's probably busy trying to initialize the network make network connections.

Try uninstalling any network drivers and see if it boots any faster.

If that's the cause, there's not much you can do. If you're on a company network it probably uses DHCP. DHCP takes a bit of time to negotiate addresses when booting up.

If it hangs on preparing network connections, up 2000 to service pack 2 which fixes it.

Have you thought about disabling the automatic startup of unnecessary services?
I assume you have nothing in the system tray at the bottom right. Just because nothing is in startup doesn't mean you don't have things that start up automatically at startup (or so Mick Jagger told me).

Course, if you're in an office setting, you may be restricted from any of this.