System hangs on startup trying to load AFD.SYS

My XP home system hangs on startup at least 50% of the time. The bootlog ends with multiple attempts to load AFD.SYS, which according to the file's Properties dialog box is an "Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock."
I have multiple entries in the ntbtlog.txt file like the following, and that's where the log ends:

Did not load driver AFD.SYS
Did not load driver AFD.SYS

Even when the machine boots successfully, this particular driver seems peculiar -- it loads, then Windows attempts to load it again. The log looks like this:

Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys

Can anyone provide any insight into what might be causing the system to hang while trying to load this driver? This boot hang problem is incredibly annoying and time consuming.

Thanks,
David

David,
Have you installed the latest Sp1, or SP2 for windows Xp? Have you added any software recently to this system? Have you made any changes whatsoever?

Does this machine have an external PCI NIC? Or is the NIC on the motherboard?

Couple of suggestions:

One, click start, click run, and type:
sfc /scannow

Make sure you have the XP home disk ready. It will check your system files and make sure they are not corrupt. If it finds a corrupt file, it will replace it.

Another thing, are you using Zone Alarm? If so, uninstall it, reboot, and tell me if you are getting the same issue.

Lastly, click start, click run, and type
msconfig

On the screen that pops up, select diagnostic startup. If that fixes your problem, then something that is loading during startup is causing the boot hangs. Slowly add the items from the startup tab in msconfig, until you get the problem again.

Once you find the item that is hanging your system, post it up here, and we might be able to help you further.

Thanks. The machine came with XP SP1a and I have not yet installed SP2, as I want to get this thing relatively stable before I add another level of uncertainty.

I had already run sfc /scannow and found no problems. I am not running ZoneAlarm, though I am running PC-Cillin with firewall enabled. The boot hang is erratic -- sometimes it boots, sometimes not, so the disable-items-in-msconfig thing isn't really helpful, as it does not reliably hang. What is reliable is that when it hangs, it hangs trying to load AFD.SYS, as noted in my original post. That seems to be the problem item. It may be that AFD.SYS is interacting poorly with some other item, but if so it happens only at boot time, and not at every boot. Perhaps if I knew more about what AFD.SYS does, it would help me to eliminate a problem. From your ZoneAlarm question, I'm wondering if the PC-CILLIN firewall could be an issue; what's your reasoning?

Thanks,
David

The thing is, Sp2 may fix the problem that you are having.. but then again it may make matters worse...

You can try the msconfig diagnostic startup, and if you get the problem with the diagnostic, then you can pretty much rule out any software on startup causing the afd.sys issue.. no matter how random it may seem.

The reason I pointed out zonealarm or a firewall is because afd.sys handles tcp/ip communications amongst other functions. The firewall could be preventing afd.sys from loading..

One other check would be to uninstall your NIC and reinstall it in the device manager. That or disconnect the cable from the internet and see if you are getting this problem.

Could be a conflict with your NIC and afd.sys.. could be a lot of stuff.

Sorry to have to show my ignorance, here, but what's a "NIC"?

I'm connecting to the Internet through a dial-up, so I'm not sure that's an issue, but I understand what you're saying, now, about eliminating all the startup stuff and seeing if I still have a problem. I'll try that. My intuition on this, for what that's worth, is that this is some kind of timing issue -- Windows trying to do too many things at once. Just adding boot logging, whch I added to track down the problem, eliminated reboot issues for a while, though they have since returned.

I'll let you know if I get anywhere with disabling startup programs and drivers in msconfig.

Thanks,
David

NIC: network interface card For broadband users.

Bootvis is a tool for tracing boot performance:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs...otVis-Tool.exe

Let us know how the msconfig diagnostic startup works.