can I prevent ethernet polling in XP Home?

[joe555]

I have a problem with a HUGE (20 seconds+) delay when I try to 'dialup' my DSL connection in XP Home. The hangup happens when I try to open "connect to" from the start menu, or click a shortcut to my DSL connection.

OK I barely know what I am talking about, but my friends who do have gotten me this far: The problem seems to be that XP is polling for my IP address the moment I try to get inside "connect to". However, since I have a PPPoE DSL connection to an ATM network ... with a dynamic IP address ... there is no IP address to find until after I make the connection! So the polling hangs me up until it times out. Once it gives up, I can make my connection no problem.

So my question is ... is there a way to prevent ethernet polling for my IP address when I am not connected, without breaking the autodetect that happens when I do connect?

Hope that makes sense. Any clues appreciated!
-Joe

[joe555]

If anybody's interested ... I prevented the lag by entering fake IP address values for my Local Area Connection. Thus:

control panel -> local area connection -> right-click, select properties -> select internet protocol (tcp/ip), click properties button -> click 'use the following ip address button' and enter bogus values.

This keeps XP from automatically polling for LAN IP values, which is apparently what was causing my lag. Since my DSL line goes out my LAN port I have to keep it Enabled ... even though I have no LAN (this is my home machine).

Cheers,
Joe