After performing a clean reinstall of Windows 7, I did a dozen restarts and it seems like my problem is gone! You were right, it's like having a new computer :)
Thanks for everything! I will keep an eye on my computer to see if the problem is still there but so far it seems like it's gone.
Sadly, the problem is still there. This morning, I had trouble booting up my machine. Do you have any other suggestions on how to get rid of it? Thanks for your time.
Did you reset the BIOS to defaults, taking note of the SATA controller setting first?
Make sure the hard drive is also set first to boot in BIOS setup.
Any old floppy drive that needs physically removing?
Can you pinpoint any program or change you made that induced the problem?
Test the hardware from Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 then continue working though those steps so you'll know you've gone over the PC thoroughly.
I've noticed that there was an element called UEFI over the hard drive in the boot priorities. I changed the hard drive boot priority so it will boot first as you said. I did that after I noticed that my monitor "goes to sleep" for 3-4 seconds during the boot procedure.
The machine dosen't stop the boot process. It happends right after the Windows 7 animated logo and then [monitor goes to sleep] then the Welcome message appear and Windows has finished booting up. It started doing this not long after I reinstalled my programs such as Office, Kaspersky, Windows updates, etc.
Apart from that and the intermittent boot problem, my system is blazing fast.
Also, I don't have any floppy drive.
I don't think I have any programs that are susceptible or causing the problem. However, do you think that the fact that I have an external hard drive connected to my pc (where almost all my programs are installed) all the time can somehow affect my boot procedure?
Anyways, I will test the hardware and I'll reset the BIOS to defaults and I will keep you in touch. Thanks.
The presence of UEFI means you have a UEFI BIOS. But your Disk Mgmt screenshot shows you have Legacy and not UEFI install, by the presence of the System Reserved instead of a EFI System partition.
For this reason I'd not reset BIOS to defaults which may be UEFI settings, until taking full account of what the UEFI related settings are now.
Another setting may be askew in BIOS setup so post back pictures of Advanced, Security and Boot tabs so we can see what the related settings are for UEFI, CSM, Legacy BIOS, Secure Boot, and BIOS Boot priority.
The BIOS settings are not very complete for UEFI, so there may be a new BIOS update. But I'm guessing you don't have a UEFI install. Let's confirm that by posting back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image.
If you were to install to UEFI, you'd most likely set UEFI device first to boot in BIOS (or access it if a flash stick using the one-time BIOS Boot menu key). If you look below the BIOS Boot Priority settings there are settings to prioritize each device of that type, so you'd want to make sure the EFI DVD drive or flash stick was prioritized correctly, then set to boot first above.
But if you don't have a UEFI install (which will be revealed by Disk Mgmt screenshot) then setting your present OS hard drive first to boot, and keeping EFI devices out of the boot order, may be enough.
The EFI device was first to boot before I switched it with the hard drive.
You don't have a UEFI install without UEFI System partition.
Do you have a newer BIOS Update for your mobo or PC model?
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