Windows 7 Annoying IDLE BOOT Phase

[gphantom]

Hello SEVEN FANS,
I dont know how to start this but, a month ago, I ordered an OCZ VERTEX 30G SSD. I installed Windows7 on it and I'm Stunned at the overall Performance. but there is just One thing that annoys me. And it's this IDLE phase in boot-up before it picks up drivers/services from the SSD.

Let me explain, When MasterBootRecord is first read, there appears the text that says "STARTING WINDOWS".

Normally, Soon as you see that, the Pearls(droplets) appear and they start to fall onto the screen. but in MY Case, It stays IDLE at the point where it say "STARTING WINDOWS".

It will stay IDLE for like 4-5 seconds and THEN when the pearls appear, afterwards the boot is just INSTANT, Because thats when the SSD starts to read what it has to load.

So basically, its like an IDLE PHASE before the pearls appear. I installed WINXP and it had the same idle phase situation so i traced my boot with BOOTVIS, which I would like to share it's screenshot. You can notice the IDLE phase there, which is the same case with the windows7 I'm running currently.

I dont see the processor usage nor any HD usage, what could possibly be causing that?

I'll be grateful if you help me shave off these 4 seconds off my boot load.

Thanks.

EDIT: the Idle phase was the same even when i had windows installed on an HDD. So it's nothing relevant to the SSD. I also found this WinBootInfo known to trace boots in vista/7 but that doesn't count the idle phase at all. I traced it and it wont capture that idle phase.

Screenshot of BOOTVIS in XP -

 

[whs]

I supppose you are talking about the BIOS phase. The length of that phase is determined on how many devices the BIOS has to check. Since I installed my SSD, I also noticed a prolonged BIOS phase. There seems to be a lot of checking going on. On the other hand, it may also only appear a lot longer in light of the instant boot cycle from the SSD.

 

[gphantom]

I think you're right. It's relevant to the BIOS. Sorry I was never sure if BIOS also checks for devices too but, That might actually be the common factor when the idle phase lies in both win7 and XP. I hear there are some BIOS TRICKS to make BOOTup Faster. Although I have enabled FAST-BOOT in my BIOS.

EDIT: It's the Phase where i can see the TEXT "STARTING WINDOWS" But NO pearls.

 

[IggyAZ]

Does BootVIS work with Win7?
I thought it didn't.

 

[gphantom]

Thats a screenshot from XP, I tried WinBootInfo for win7.

 

[alphanumeric]

I think you're right. It's relevant to the BIOS. Sorry I was never sure if BIOS also checks for devices too but, That might actually be the common factor when the idle phase lies in both win7 and XP. I hear there are some BIOS TRICKS to make BOOTup Faster. Although I have enabled FAST-BOOT in my BIOS.

EDIT: It's the Phase where i can see the TEXT "STARTING WINDOWS" But NO pearls.

There are some things you can check in BIOS that may or may not speed things up. On top of enabling fast boot check your boot order and make sure your SATA drive is first in line. You want something like SATA > IDE >DVD Drive not DVD Drive > IDE > SATA. I personally disable any hardware I not using. I don't have any IDE devices connected so I've disabled my IDE controller in BIOS. If it's enabled the BIOS is going to spend time looking for devices that aren't there. If your motherboard has a floppy drive connector but no floppy drive you want to disable that too.

 

[gphantom]

I think you're right. It's relevant to the BIOS. Sorry I was never sure if BIOS also checks for devices too but, That might actually be the common factor when the idle phase lies in both win7 and XP. I hear there are some BIOS TRICKS to make BOOTup Faster. Although I have enabled FAST-BOOT in my BIOS.

EDIT: It's the Phase where i can see the TEXT "STARTING WINDOWS" But NO pearls.

There are some things you can check in BIOS that may or may not speed things up. On top of enabling fast boot check your boot order and make sure your SATA drive is first in line. You want something like SATA > IDE >DVD Drive not DVD Drive > IDE > SATA. I personally disable any hardware I not using. I don't have any IDE devices connected so I've disabled my IDE controller in BIOS. If it's enabled the BIOS is going to spend time looking for devices that aren't there. If your motherboard has a floppy drive connector but no floppy drive you want to disable that too.

Bundle of thanks for that. I Do remember trying different configurations for Windows XP. One setting i remember was that, I had IDE disabled in the first place when i used to work on XP. But whenever IDE was disabled in BIOS/ a PROGRESS BAR would appear in BIOS just before booting to XP. Almost like 2 seconds loading bar but THAT was removed with just enabling IDE. Once enabled, the XP would pick up without any loading bars.

Anyways, I specifically wanted to find out from the professionals about "WHAT normally happens as the first thing when the text "starting windows" appear during booting. We talk about BIOS here but, Is that relevant? when i can see the text saying STARTING WINDOWS on the screen? isn't that just about the windows at that point?"

I mean the IDLE PHASE basically = the time before the PEARLS APPEAR. So what does windows do at that point? Look for connected devices? More like a question for OS programmers.

I should mention that During that IDLE phase - my keyboard doesnt work (cant toggle caplock/numlocks). I have Razer Mirror Lycosa and, So I actually watch the backlight in the keyboard. When the idle phase is over, the lights shutdown and the keyboard starts to respond. Thats when the idle phase is over and the SSD picks up. Although the keyboard works before the boot - in bios though.

Thanks again for the help. I'm grateful.