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Richard Clark · Feb 21, 2002, 12:04 AM

I had to re-install OS X a couple weeks ago including the updates to get it up to 10.1.2. It working fine. Everything is ok except that at startup with the splash screen it gets to Initialize Network and sits there for almost an entire minute. I've checked my networking settings in the System Preferences. Everything looks fine.

More importantly everything works fine. But it never hung on that part of the startup in the past.

I waited to post this until 10.1.3 was out. It's been installed and it still takes about a minute for the startup to move from Initialize Network to the next part.

Any thoughts, ideas, tips, tricks or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: Richard Clark ]

raia · Feb 21, 2002, 01:16 AM

are you on a network or using a modem?

are you using pppoe?

--
raia

Richard Clark · Feb 21, 2002, 01:23 AM

Originally posted by raia:
are you on a network or using a modem?

are you using pppoe?

--
raia

The system is a G4/450, 768 MB RAM, Two 10 GB HD, internal Zip, DVD RAM
I'm using a 56k v90 internal modem to connect to the internet.

No, not using pppoe.

I do have a network hub - four port ethernet. It's used to hook to my LaserWriter II and my son's 7200. Do I need to disconnect it and startup???

[ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: Richard Clark ]

Apfhex · Feb 21, 2002, 01:23 AM

Sometimes OS X takes a really long time on "Initializing Network" for me also. Not alyways, though.

It should be noted that I DO have a PC attached to my Mac VIA ethernet (using PC/MAC LAN 7.2 for AppleTalk file sharing). However, I have yet to determin if having the PC on/off affects OS X startup time.

Richard Clark · Feb 21, 2002, 01:28 AM

As mentioned I do have a four port hub. But the printer is rarely on. And the 7200 is on only on the weekends.

Camelot · Feb 21, 2002, 01:32 AM

Originally posted by Richard Clark:
As mentioned I do have a four port hub. But the printer is rarely on. And the 7200 is on only on the weekends.

How is your ethernet port setup? Have you manually assigned a static IP address to it, or is it set for DHCP?

If set to DHCP, where is your DHCP server? The system will pause while waiting for a reply from a DHCP server.

Also, check Preferences -> Network -> Active ports and turn off any ports you're not specifically using (e.g. Internal Modem and Built-in Ethernet)

Kate · Feb 21, 2002, 04:03 AM

Originally posted by Camelot:

The system will pause while waiting for a reply from a DHCP server.

..interesting, so why doesn't it wait when connected to a LAN using DHCP? 10.1.2 did not show this behaviour. When moving around with my iBook I am usually on a LAN (DHCP and static IP) or at home using Airport. The NetworkInitializing pause occurs at home, because the system tries to connect with the internet using the airport base station.

It repeats doing so when accessing the users pane and login pane of system preferences, and when opening NetInfo. The lookupd search order is as normal, e.g. cache first and so on.

Originally posted by Camelot:

Also, check Preferences -> Network -> Active ports and turn off any ports you're not specifically using (e.g. Internal Modem and Built-in Ethernet)

If you have to manually disable ports and reenable them all times to avoid minute long delays I consider this a bug. At least for mobile computing. Weird. :-(

Camelot · Feb 21, 2002, 02:58 PM

Originally posted by Kate:


If you have to manually disable ports and reenable them all times to avoid minute long delays I consider this a bug. At least for mobile computing. Weird. :-(

First rule of troubleshooting... eliminate possibilities one by one. rinse, repeat until problem no longer exists.

I'm not saying that IS the problem, just trying to work out where the problem lies

Camelot · Feb 21, 2002, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by Kate:

..interesting, so why doesn't it wait when connected to a LAN using DHCP? 10.1.2 did not show this behaviour. When moving around with my iBook I am usually on a LAN (DHCP and static IP) or at home using Airport. The NetworkInitializing pause occurs at home, because the system tries to connect with the internet using the airport base station.

Are you on a NetInfo network at the office? if so, your system might be trying to locate the NetInfo server when you're at home, hence causing the delay while it times out.

Check /Applications/Utilities/Directory Setup/ and see if 'NetInfo' is checked under 'Services'. If so, unlock Directory Setup and use the Configure button to change your settings for your home and office network locations.

Dr Evil · Feb 21, 2002, 03:06 PM

I also had this problem on my Quicksilver. I found that the automatic network selection was the reason my startup was SOOO slow. I made a specific lan setting instead of leaving the settings in my automatic settings. Startup was noticablly faster. Hope this helps

SYN · Feb 21, 2002, 03:48 PM

You aren't using a network time server, are you?

yukon · Feb 21, 2002, 10:33 PM

I have no idea what it's doing at that point (I should check verbose mode). anyone know exactly what's happening at that point?

try verbose mode, and watch where it slows down.

Kate · Feb 22, 2002, 06:09 AM

Originally posted by Camelot:


Are you on a NetInfo network at the office? if so, your system might be trying to locate the NetInfo server when you're at home, hence causing the delay while it times out.

No, I'm not.

Originally posted by Camelot:

Check /Applications/Utilities/Directory Setup/ and see if 'NetInfo' is checked under 'Services'. If so, unlock Directory Setup and use the Configure button to change your settings for your home and office network locations.

It is at its default setting LDAP with NetInfo off. LDAP cannot be switched off, if I do so it switches on after saving the settings.

What is weird is, that now that I have tested all possible configs, the hang is not repeatable. What is repeatable however, is that if I disconnect the Airport Base Station from the phone net, the Base Station will be detected by the System during startup, but since it does not connect to the phone line it will wait then to time out (approx.90s) .

In all other instances the hang has disappeared.

I'm officialy stunned.

iSore · Feb 22, 2002, 08:51 AM

Do you have BrickHouse installed: Brian Hill, the author, has noted that after installing 10.1.3 network initialization is taking an awfully long time. The problem, however, only occurs on the first boot post installation.

iSore · Feb 22, 2002, 08:52 AM

Oops, didn't notice that your problem predates 10.1.3.

The DJ · Feb 22, 2002, 09:18 AM

The solution is probably quite simple.
In your network settings open the "show" droplist and select "Active Network Ports"

Now change the order of your ethernetport and your modem. That worked for me.

DJ

LK · Mar 16, 2002, 08:51 PM

Hi all,

I think I can second Kate's situation. I have a QS 733 (10.1.2) hooked up through ethernet to an Airport Base Station (1.0), which connects to the internet through the modem. If the modem is not connected, I get extremely long login/logout timeouts, but no problems if the modem is connected. I'm not quite sure if I get long startup/logout times in other situations since it's also not quite repeatable in my case.

Is there a way to shorten the time the computer spends looking for network connections as a workaround?

Thanks much for the suggestions,
LK

PS. On an unrelated note, is there a way to control the base station dialing the modem from the QS? I have to tell it to dial with my ibook. (I turned off the "automatically dial" option in the base station because I share a phone line -- otherwise the QS constantly tries to dial in when it's started up, when Mail.app is opened, etc., thereby disrupting other people's connections/conversations.)

Marook · Mar 16, 2002, 09:52 PM

Hi All.

OK, the waiting you all see, is absolutely time-outs waiting to happen. The thing is, what timeout is it?
DHCP sends a broadcast on the active ethernet ports. It does not send on AirPort/Modem ports, unless there is an active 'link'. You can test this by setting the only active port to one of them, and see how Mail.app reacts (it automaticly sets itself into Offline when the PPP connection is disconnected, or you are not member of an AirPort network). This means that the system knows about the network state, when these connection methods are used.
Ethernet, on the other hand, is always active, it always have an internal address and if there is no DHCP server, it assigns one itself.

The timeouts you (should be able to) get, is DNS reverse lookup and NetInfo, if set up.
Hope it helps...

gunnar · Mar 17, 2002, 09:23 PM

Network Time Synchronization does that for me. I have no special net connection other than PPPoE. I think it just times out because it can't find a connection.

NeilCharter · Mar 17, 2002, 11:06 PM

This is something definitely to do with the Network system looking for a response from a server.

It would happen to me if my network was down either via my cable modem at home or the LAN at work.

Not too sure how to fix this though. Try blocking your all your active ports and see what happens when you restart.

Next activate only those that you need and do each one at a time.

If you only need some ports on a certain times then maybe you could set up different locations settings.