Solved PC Boot Time now 15+ minutes, no indication of problems..

[aeris]

Alright, so this is a very recent problem I'm having with my desktop (working from laptop currently).

For the past week or so, I have had my desktop on for extended periods of time, maybe 12+ hrs straight on multiple occasions, all without issue. Given that typical start-up times used to be 10-12 seconds, I am extremely surprised to find that it now takes the desktop almost 20-25 minutes to finish booting (it remains stuck at the Windows logo screen, with the HDD light showing HD use).

Specs:

Win7 64bit, i72600K 3.4Ghz, 160GB Intel SSD, 16 GB DDR, ATI Radeon 6870, Bigwater 760, ASRock P67 mobo

any other specs needed?

I also managed to make a boot trace file (*.ETL format) and I have uploaded it to:
Boot_Trace.rar


It's not as if I have any scans scheduled for boot time, so I have no idea how this ballooned from a perfect 10-12 sec to an astronomical 25 min or so.


Please help!

 

[Brink]

Hello Aeris,

You might see if using the tutorial below may be able to help ID what the cause is.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[aeris]

One question: in your tutorial, when you click on the disabling of all services other than MS services, it turns out that both the "Load startup items" and "Load system services" end up as unchecked on the main MSConfig screen: was that your intent? I ask because in the earlier screenshot on that thread, you mention that only the "Load startup items" box should be unchecked, showing the "Load system services" as still checked implying that is how it should be.

In the procedure you outline, both boxes end up unchecked, and the net result is a having chosen a 'Selective Startup' with nothing under it except the "Use original boot configuration" box, which cannot be unchecked.

 

[aeris]

As for the latest update on the situation: I ran the tutorial, did not really see a major improvement in boot time.


However, I do want to point out that the average boot time for the last 3-4 boot ups has been about 3.5 minutes each. This 'shortened' time (from the original, ridiculously long 15-25 minute boot ups) came after Windows installed its most recent couple of updates.

After restarting the desktop with all services enabled (Normal startup), it was still about 3 minutes, so I do not think the issue is in either the startup or background services.

Most currently, I just ran the SlimDrivers freeware to see if drivers were updated, and it found updates on about a dozen different aspects of the desktop (audio, SATA controller, etc). The most recent boot was about 2 minutes, so it seems to be slowly getting back down to its original value, but what in the world would cause it to take so long at the Windows logo screen? I just can't imagine what kind of change was made to the PC that would result in anything like that happening.


Edit:

I also wanted to point out that shutdown times have been very quick, maybe 5-8 seconds max. This is in line with what I expected my start up time to be, and at 10-15 seconds, it was working precisely as expected. Now with this sitting at the Windows logo screen....I just don't get it

 

[Brink]

So far so good.

The "Load startup items" check box is not as important so long as the startup items are actually enabled again.

About 2 minutes is not so bad, but you might also look at least the # 7, 15, and 17 options in the tutorial below to see if they may be able to help some.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

 

[whs]

Maybe gathering some info would help: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...down-sleep-hibernate-reboot-trace.html?filter

 

[aeris]

@WHS: I have run the boot trace, it's link is located in the first post

Can you diagnose it for me? I cannot make much sense of the data.

 

[gregrocker]

I've asked trace author Cluberti to look at your trace.

Meanwhile work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

 

[whs]

Thanks Greg. Analysing this thing is not obvious.

 

[aeris]

Alright, as soon as the desktop decides to finish starting up, I'll work on the checklist.

As a thread update, boot times are back up to 10+ minutes, the problem only abated for a short time. I have no clue what could be causing this, but I think it is something quite simple.

I want to point this out, in case someone can spot a possible inconsistency:

I have 3 drives connected to SATA ports for the boot order: the SSD is first, the DVD-RW is second, and the 2nd HDD is third. I noticed that when I had the SSD connected to the 2nd SATA slot in the motherboard, it would not want to boot first, even though it was set as such in the BIOS. I found that putting the drive that was supposed to boot #1 into the SATA slot designated as "1" would cause it to be the first drive the PC looked to boot from. This didn't make too much sense, as before I thought that as long as all drives were connected, regardless of to which SATA port, they would all boot according to how the BIOS was set. As it turns out, and maybe newer motherboards have me wrong in this assumption, the placement on those SATA ports does matter and even supersedes whatever settings the BIOS has. In this case, the BIOS (it is the UEFI one for ASRock mobos) has the 2nd HDD listed as first and the DVD drive as second. This is odd to me, given that with these settings, the desktop would boot from the SSD still in maybe 12 seconds just a few weeks ago. If the problem did originate from the BIOS/boot settings, why would it take until now to manifest? That's why I don't think that is the issue directly, but it could be something I don't see. It is also possible that the motherboard needs a BIOS update, which I am not very sure of how to do (pointers would be much appreciated). Also, shouldn't the SSD show up in the BIOS settings as a possible drive in the boot selection?

Edit: I know that the settings in BIOS originally were set to SSD as first, but the observations of the current settings found something different...I have no idea how they would change, as neither myself or anyone else accessed the boot order to change it.

 

[aeris]

Thanks Greg. Analysing this thing is not obvious.

What do you mean? (just trying to understand the boot trace better)

 

[gregrocker]

Try only the OS SSD plugged into the port it wants, set to boot first. Does the problem persist?

Do you have Legacy BIOS enabled? Most UEFI BIOS require the UEFI boot manager to be set first if you've installed in UEFI mode to a GPT disk using 64 bit: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

Check your Manual on the PC or mobo's Support Downloads webpage for how UEFI must be set as its slightly different on each mobo.

Next try pulling the plug on the DVD drive.

 

[aeris]

Try only the OS SSD plugged into the port it wants, set to boot first. Does the problem persist?

Do you have Legacy BIOS enabled? Most UEFI BIOS require the UEFI boot manager to be set first if you've installed in UEFI mode to a GPT disk using 64 bit: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

Check your Manual on the PC or mobo's Support Downloads webpage for how UEFI must be set as its slightly different on each mobo.

Next try pulling the plug on the DVD drive.

Ok, I went into the UEFI BIOS (it's already setup on the system), and I found the option that let me set the SSD as boot first priority (it wasn't listed on the main "Boot" screen, but under another tab like "HDD/SSB Priorities" or something).

The first boot after this change took about 15-20 seconds, which is very good. But my concern is this: not only is the SSD already set at the first SATA slot on the motherboard, but it was already set in the BIOS as the main boot drive - all months ago. I never changed those settings, but yet somehow the BIOS seemed to revert back. How does this happen? Can anything cause the BIOS to change its settings, without user input? I don't understand what differences there are between boots, and why the times should vary at all. There is nothing majorly different with the system, it is the same setup as it has been when it booted 10-12 seconds. Everything was perfectly stable, and now I have this variance which caused me some concern earlier, but I can tell the system is not 'hanging' nor is anything adverse happening...just seeming to take forever to load something while sitting at the Windows logo screen (the logo does its flashing/glowing thing as usual). I can't comprehend this.

I'm trying to understand it as much as I can, have any experience like this?

 

[gregrocker]

This is a pretty common setting which designates the primary HD so that in BIOS Boot order it is that HD which becomes set first to boot.

The complication is UEFI which is new enough and varies enough per model we are having to relearn many of the boot fixes.

 

[aeris]

Alright, this is really strange. (Boot times are back up to 10+ minutes, after that one brief moment of 15seconds)

I checked that link you gave me about the UEFI and installing Windows 7 with it; at first it didn't seem applicable to me as my Win7 was already installed and I'd already accessed the UEFI interface from boot. When I tried the check from the administrative Command Prompt to see how it was working, it turned out this was the path of the Windows Boot Loader: "..../winload.exe". Based on what the article said, it is supposed to be ".../winload.efi". How do I change this?

 

[gregrocker]

EFI mode requires having EFI or WIndows Boot manager set first to boot in BIOS setup, Legacy BIOS disabled, and install to a GPT formatted HD.

If you have a GPT disk it will show this when you rightclick on the panel shown in screenshot:

click to enlarge

If you don't have each of those then you have Legacy BIOS with a normal install to MBR disk.

Unplug all but the SSD to see if the slow boot persists.

 

[aeris]

That is the case, it is a legacy BIOS with a normal install to the MBR disk.


After testing on your advice of unplugging all drives except the SSD, the boot times went right back to normal 10-12 seconds. This happened on 4 consecutive boots, and it leads me to believe would be the case for now.

Why would this happen, if the other drives are unplugged? Is there a conflict between the legacy BIOS and the UEFI BIOS where I was able to change settings? How can I access the legacy BIOS to correct this?

On another note: is it worth it to re-install the OS just to have the disk as GPT and full use of UEFI? There doesn't seem to be any apparent benefit for me, as my main disk of SSD is smaller than the allocation limits freed by GPT over MBR would help.

How do I get to re-add those drives, without having such issues? (I really need to get access to this Legacy BIOS...from boot, pressing F2 takes me straight to the UEFI interface, so what option is there?).

 

[gregrocker]

I avoid UEFI until we know more about, and since every BIOS is different there's a lot to learn.

What we do know here are MBR installs. The reason I asked you to unplug all other HD's is to see if one is interfering. So plug the others back one at a time until you find the one delaying the boot.

In about half of the cases moving the files off of that drive to wipe the boot sector of conflicting code using Diskpart Clean Command
should solve the problem unless there are other issues as yet undiscovered.

You can also become more familar with your system and hardware working through the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

 

[aeris]

I avoid UEFI until we know more about, and since every BIOS is different there's a lot to learn.

What we do know here are MBR installs. The reason I asked you to unplug all other HD's is to see if one is interfering. So plug the others back one at a time until you find the one delaying the boot.

In about half of the cases moving the files off of that drive to wipe the boot sector of conflicting code using Diskpart Clean Command
should solve the problem unless there are other issues as yet undiscovered.

You can also become more familar with your system and hardware working through the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

Given your experience in the matter, I'm glad to say I'll be holding off on any experimentation with UEFI/GPT for awhile.

The weird thing about unplugging the other drives is: the DVD drive was empty, and I have yet to put any files whatsoever onto the 2nd HDD (desktop is about 8 months old, wasn't needed to use yet). So, I do not see how a boot sector could exist on those drives as I never installed anything there.

I feel there are still many things about this I need to figure out. I'll follow through with the Troubleshooting steps next time I am able.


Do you know of any occurrence like this?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, we deal with it regularly. I guess I need to repeat the steps.

As I said the procedure is to unplug all other drives to see if it boots correctly.

If so then plug back in each drive to see if it causes the startup delay.

Once you discover which drive causes the startup delay, wipe it with Clean command to check again.