Solved Losing Drive After Sleep Mode

[centaur78]

Previously, before BIOS upgrade and with the SSD and 2x HDDs connected, boot time was approx 25secs.......
... It does seem like something happened since the BIOS update.

For heavens sake if you still feel its BIOS problem.... please by all means go back to F6.. its better that way...Once you change.... Follow below.

The downside of this is that the boot time has increased dramatically. With just the SSD plugged in, boot time was around 17secs and got slightly longer when D:\ was plugged in. As soon as E:\ is connected as well, the boot time goes right up. Unplug E:\ from the AMD controller and boot time drops. This has me puzzled - and I hope this "explanation" hasn't puzzled you!

Ok now why this is happening i will explain..... Your E:/ partition is misaligned.. which means the performance drops by 20%. Hence the long boot time.

If you need to check if the Partition has been misaligned ....

1. click "Start" and then "Run" .
2. Type Msinfo32.exe
3. Head to Components > Storage > Disks. Look at each drive and find the "Partition Starting Offset". If this number is divisible by 4096 (that is, if dividing it by 4096 reveals a whole number and not a decimal), your partition is correctly aligned.

To correct this using MiniTool Partition Wizard - Home Edition and follow the steps mentioned here to align it properly.

Please understand you will never get 17sec on the SSD alone..continuously.. it will change with time as you will have installed software and things like that....

In the same way SSD and HDD are two different technologies.. when you get them together .. it will surely increase you boot time.. depending on your usage.


So once you have done with above... The next best thing is to do a clean install of Windows... This time only install drivers and then measure the boot.


Let me know how this goes.

 

[dumfy]

All this because I had disappearing drives when using Sleep Mode. Wish I'd stuck to Shutdown or Hibernate

Also, I'm not after the fastest booting PC on the planet and trying to shave off milliseconds here and there. I'm trying to get back to where I was.

OK - It's great that you've discovered an issue with the E:\ Drive being mis-aligned and will slow boot times. I understand that - BUT - the E:\ drive isn't connected at the moment as you instructed.

So, to my BIOS issue theory . . .

Using F8N with just the SSD connected and NOTHING else - really long boot time
Using F6 with just the SSD connected and NOTHING else - really long boot time

I understand what you say about adding HDDs into the mix will slow things - especially with my E:\ drive having an issue. But they have no influence now as I'm running with just the SSD.

Also, I fully understand that loading software and programs onto a disk with slow things at boot. I haven't installed anything on the PC for weeks!

Now - here's something else to ponder . . .

With ALL devices connected to the mobo and using BOTH bios versions, why does the following happen??

If, during boot, I do a soft-reset to force the selection screen "Launch Start Up Repair or Start Windows Normally" and I select "Start Windows Normally" the PC will boot as fast as it's ever done?? - No hang up or waiting whatsoever.

Now, I may not be anywhere near the guru status of you guys here, but I am a technical maintenance engineer and have a very good understanding of fault finding techniques - hence me running with the SSD in isolation, on both BIOS versions, with no software installed for weeks to slow things down and boot is still ridiculously slow.

What happened previously with E:\ and the quotation of mine you provided, I do not know as start up was good eventually.

So now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The boot is rubbish on both BIOS versions even when running with just the SSD connected . . . .

 

[centaur78]

Dumfy...

Now with only the SSD connected .. you have a long boot time ?????? I thought with it only connected.. you had 17 sec a day back !!! Now with that alone it take ages ??

Ok since you are a technical maintenance engineer.... I hope you have a multimeter lying around... could you measure the voltage of the CMOS battery on your motherboard.. Let me the voltage


And for me having a guru status or a Star doesn't mean anything to me... For me its about resolving a problem...

 

[dumfy]

Correct - with the SSD connected on it's own I have a long boot time - irrespective of BIOS choice, drives that are attached etc. I did mention this earlier in the thread . . . .

Hi centaur78,


So - using the updated BIOS with Native IDE.
Plugged in the SSD to the mobo on it's own. No other devices connected. Long boot time. This is the same on both the AMD and Gigabyte controllers. Have tried all Sata sockets.

I do indeed have a multimeter and will check the CMOS battery. What DC voltage should I be looking at for a healthy battery?

I wasn't having a dig at you or anyone else with the guru comment. You indeed are, as are so many others here that help out. I wish I had the PC knowledge of you all. Part of the reason for me being here is to learn. I guess your For Heaven's Sake comment touched a wee nerve . . .


Thanks for the help

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Dumfy

For the CMOS battery ... any voltage above 3.0 V or above is good to go... anything below it ...not good and consider replacing the battery, even if it is before the intended replacement time.

Also when you are at it do check the Power supply as well ..the Antec 650W.. (not sure what model you have)

Let me know the voltage at each of the rails 3.3V , 5 V and 12 V..

Well do understand i don't have physical access to your system... The advices are based on experiences and also trial and error method... thats why after every advice i ask for your feedback...so my next advice is based on the it....I'm a Controls and Automation Engineer by profession but all what i have learnt on computers is because of my passion and self taught and based on experience..... as with all the ppl who help others in this forum ...

 

[dumfy]

Now that's quite ironic. I too started out as a controls & automation engineer and am now working in semi-conductor manufacturing . . . but I digress . . . .

CMOS battery voltage = 3.1V

Rail voltages under full load, that is with all drives connected . . .

3.3V = 3.4V
5V = 5.15V
+12V = 12.19
-12V = 12.02V

What are your thoughts on this comment I made earlier . .

"If, during boot, I do a soft-reset to force the selection screen "Launch Start Up Repair or Start Windows Normally" and I select "Start Windows Normally" the PC will boot as fast as it's ever done?? - No hang up or waiting whatsoever."

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Well voltages look ok...

What are your thoughts on this comment I made earlier . .

"If, during boot, I do a soft-reset to force the selection screen "Launch Start Up Repair or Start Windows Normally" and I select "Start Windows Normally" the PC will boot as fast as it's ever done?? - No hang up or waiting whatsoever."

Dumfy

Well as informed before... you would need to do a clean install

So once you have done with above... The next best thing is to do a clean install of Windows... This time only install drivers and then measure the boot.

 

[dumfy]

A fresh install it is then. It'll be a few days before I can report back so a couple of questions first if I may . .

Not sure if this going to be a major issue as I never knew there was a problem before. Have used Partition Wizard as suggested, but I can't align the E:\ drive. There was an unused 8mb partition at the start of the drive which I thought may be the problem so merged it in to E:\
Had a run around for a while and then everything appeared OK. Partition Wizard said the drive/partition was aligned. However, if I go to msinfo32.exe, check the partition offset and divide by 4096 I still can't get a whole number. Have tried a few times to no avail.

For a fresh install of Windows on an SSD. . .
Is there a recommended method I can follow?
Should I install with all drives connected or just SSD and CDROM and add the other drives after? All on the AMD controller?
Besides move page file off the SSD and move Docs/Music/Pictures to a HDD is there anything else? Does it matter if I use Native IDE instead of AHCI etc?

Will report back and update

Thanks

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Not sure if this going to be a major issue as I never knew there was a problem before. Have used Partition Wizard as suggested, but I can't align the E:\ drive. There was an unused 8mb partition at the start of the drive which I thought may be the problem so merged it in to E:\
Had a run around for a while and then everything appeared OK. Partition Wizard said the drive/partition was aligned. However, if I go to msinfo32.exe, check the partition offset and divide by 4096 I still can't get a whole number. Have tried a few times to no avail.

Since the above didn't work you could follow another step here . Its bit a long procedure.. but should get the job done

1. Do the above first... before you do the clean install...

2. Follow this if you want for clean installation. .. but its just the basic..

3. Don't do anything after the install .... just the installation of drivers...

Once you finish let me know.. and then i will advice you to do some more tweaks...

 

[dumfy]

I'll have a go at the re-align first.

As I'm doing a fresh install, I want to get this right, so when you say "Don't do anything after the install .... just the installation of drivers..." I'm not quite clear.

Do you mean just finish the install and that's it - don't install anything else like MS Security Essentials ? What about WIndows Updates? Should I not do those?

Thanks

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Well install windows, then install the drivers, then the updates..Once done i want you to measure the boot with all the SSD, HDD and dvd drive and other peripherals connected.

Check for the disappearing drives ... your initial problem... Let me know how it goes..


Then after this you can start installing all the softwares.. like MSE,and others which you use on a daily basis..

 

[centaur78]

Hi Dumfy

any update ??

 

[dumfy]

Hi Dumfy

any update ??

Hi centaur78 - indeed there is. Finsihed a few things off beofre work and am now ready for a fresh Windows install when I get back in the morning.

Was unable to get E:\ aligned. Didn't want to spend too much time on it as I wanted to press on. Will look again at it later. Had a spare HDD so have utilized that for my E:\ drive instead. So SSD and 2 HDDs are correctly aligned.

All devices are now on the AMD controller on the mobo. Still have very slow boot which should be corrected with fresh install. However, have been testing Sleep Mode and not a single drive has disappeared - either HDD or optical. Great result there. Also still with the latest F8n BIOS.

I hope you get this before I start the Windows install . .

Should I set the BIOS to AHCI or keep as Native IDE?

I intend to keep all devices connected to AMD controller at install and will make sure the install goes on to the SSD and not one of the HDDs. Is this a good idea?

Lastly, on drive alignment, it seems I had a very small unallocated partition at the start of the drive - 8MB.
This was the case with a spare drive I had and Partition Wizard aligned it - but using MSINFO32 showed it wasn't (with the 4096 calculation). I deleted the partitions to unallocated space and reformatted. Then drive was aligned - both in Partition Wizard and MSINFO32. Does that small 8MB segment upset everything?? Is there a way to crrect with having to delete partitions and format?

Let me know what you suggest re AHCI/Native and I'll report back once Windows is installed. I'll not install anything else apart from Windows Updates and will test for boot time and disappearing drives.

Thanks again for keeping on this. I'm learning a lot!

Cheers

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Should I set the BIOS to AHCI or keep as Native IDE?

Well Native IDE is default setting in the BIOS.. Native IDE is used because it has more compatibility with hardwares used in your system but it doesn't have the features of AHCI

AHCI on the other had has features like Hot swapping, Native Command Queuing (most useful in multiuser/ server environment.). There is a slight performance improvement using this ... but those are only noticable in benchmarks...

You can use either one of them ... but you need to select them prior to installation of Windows. Because if you install windows with Native IDE and then later change to AHCI..... Windows will not boot .. because it needs the AHCI drivers to do so....

It is possible to change to AHCI later even after installation of windows... but its bit complicated and sometimes the AHCI drivers are know to cause issue with incompatible hardwares.

I intend to keep all devices connected to AMD controller at install and will make sure the install goes on to the SSD and not one of the HDDs. Is this a good idea?

Yes thats ok.

Lastly, on drive alignment, it seems I had a very small unallocated partition at the start of the drive - 8MB.
This was the case with a spare drive I had and Partition Wizard aligned it - but using MSINFO32 showed it wasn't (with the 4096 calculation). I deleted the partitions to unallocated space and reformatted. Then drive was aligned - both in Partition Wizard and MSINFO32. Does that small 8MB segment upset everything?? Is there a way to correct with having to delete partitions and format?

You donot need to format the partition... it should have worked with Partition Wizard or the other solution using Gparted.


All right keep me posted.

 

[dumfy]

Right,

Now I'm stuck/baffled.

Have done a fresh install of Windows on the SSD. Decided to keep to Native IDE and Normal Port Multiplier in Smart Boot Menu.

Windows takes as long to boot as previous, that is, the fresh install has made no difference. Unable to test for disappearing drives as the Sleep option is greyed out.

Disconnected all devices from mobo and had the SSD on it's own connected. Once again long boot.

Had a suspicion that the SSD could be at fault. Disconnected this and in its place used a 1TB HDD. Fresh install of windows to this.

Still a very long boot time as before and Sleep mode greyed out so can't test for disappearing drives.

Am now back with the SSD and all devices connected. All on AMD controller.

Also as before, if I perform a soft-reset during boot to force the "LaunchStart Up Repair or Start Windows Normally" selection screen and I select "Start Windows Normally" the PC boots as fast as ever with no delays.

Hope you have more ideas centaur78, cos I'm now baffled.

Cheers

Dumfy

ps . . . a couple of windows updates occured while typing this, one of which was for my graphics card. This enabled the Sleep function to be used so tested it and no drives disappeared which is a positive result.

 

[centaur78]

Ok could you reset the bios to the optimal default setting..

Dont set the port multiplier or anything.... just the default and reboot and check

 

[dumfy]

The BIOS Optimized Defaults loaded, but still have long boot time . . .

Cheers

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Could you also use HWmonitor and post the snapshot here

then do the below.

1. Download Process Monitor. Unzip the file and open Procmon.exe with administrative privileges:
2. Stop Process Monitor from logging all the current events by clicking on “File/Capture Events.” Now go to “Options,” where you will find the crucial entry: “Enable Boot Logging.” Enable it, click on “Generate profiling events” and click “OK.” and close Process monitor
3. Now reboot your PC. After the startup process is done completely, launch Process Monitor again and click on “Yes” once you see the message:
4. Save the boot log where ever you want (on your desktop, for example). Process Monitor now generates a huge list of basically each and every boot event.
5. Upload the bootlog.pml file... Since this is going to be a big file.... Zip the files and upload it dropbox or skydrive and post a link here

Last but not the least Could you a Memtest for the RAM. Do the test for each stick on each slot individually for at least 7 to 8 passes.

 

[dumfy]

OK - will get to work on that but for Step 5 . . .

1. Upload the bootlog.pml file... Since this is going to be a big file.... Zip the files and upload it dropbox or skydrive and post a link here

. . . is there an alternative way to get the file to you as I have never used either Skydrive or Dropbox

Thanks

Dumfy

 

[centaur78]

Dropbox is easy just register your good to go .... or put it up any other online services..