Recurring Problem with Computer

[LoC]

ok, this started happening with my current rig, in signature, about a month and a half ago. it happened when i was overclocking and used a program to adjust memory timings. six hour story, it took that long to fix, in shortened form, i had to system restore. however one problem continued, windows loads perfectly fine however when it reaches the login screen it takes several minutes after clocking on the icon for the cursor to show up and after i type in my password it takes another 3-5 minutes before my desktop loads. if i open task manager the system usage hovers around 0% with an occasional 1-2%. when windows finally loads the desktop it shoots to 100% as normal and the system is fine and runs fast as ever. to fix this i tried the sfx.exe file core file scan and copy. this did nothing. then i repair installed but to no effect. i am really annoyed at how long it takes to startup, 5-8 minutes!!!!!

[EzyStvy]

Do you have any USB devices connected to it?

Is the pc on a network or use to be on a network with mapped drives and the mapped drives aren't there anymore?

[LoC]

what are mapped drives? and yes this PC is connect to a network but before it worked fine. this happened after the overclocking incident with the program.

EDIT: and there is only a USB mouse connected.

[toomyg]

Not to sound dumb but is there anything in the BIOS that you changed that would cause this

[LoC]

i dont think so because i have reset the CMOS several times in the past since the occurnece of the problem and that hasn't solved it.

EDIT: when i did the XP repair installed i checked the primary hard drive (one with XP Pro) and it said it had one or more errors. also, do you think that if i reformat it could solve the problem? i am reluctant too because the vast amount of time required to do so.

[glc]

If the drive had errors, you should run manufacturer's diagnostics on it. It may have defects and should be replaced on warranty if this is the case.

Then again, it may have just been file corruption due to overclocking and if that's the case, it definitely should be reformatted if the diags come up clean.

[LoC]

but even after i repair installed the problem persists. if it was due to overclocking that SHOULD have fixed the corrupt files.

EDIT: i just compeleted a diagnostic test using the WD Lifeguard tools and the drive passed.

[EzyStvy]

It "should" have fixed corrupt Windows files. Do you have anyother programs loading at startup?

[LoC]

yes, zonalarm, nortion anti-virus, microsoft anti-spyware, ai booster (temperature/voltage program by ASUS) and nvidia display. also lsass.exe periodically asks for allowance (zone alarm). i realize this is an OS program but for some reason zone alarm does not store the fact that i selected 'remember this setting.' but the past couple of starts havent resulted in lsass.exe asking for permissions. may this have any part of it?

EDIT: i just restarted without any programs on startup and the problem persisted, although one program remained called rundll32.exe (nvcpl) which i assume are the nvidia drivers.

[LoC]

any more suggestions?