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Starting Windows takes 3 min.

Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
3,558 (0.51/day)
Location
Enschede, The Netherlands
System Name Lian Li Carbon fiber ed.
Processor Intel i5 2500k 4.6Ghz 24/7 Max OC 5Ghz
Motherboard Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Cooling Swiftech blocks, 360 Xflow rad, Swiftech 120 rad, Liang with XSPC res/pump top.
Memory 8Gb Mushkin 1600Mhz 8-9-8-24
Video Card(s) Sapphire HD6950 2Gb
Storage OCZ Vertex 4 128 / Western Digital 160
Display(s) ASUS 25,5" wide VW266h
Power Supply Corsair HX620 modular
Software Windows 7 64
Booting up takes 3 min.

Hi there.

I got a problem with starting up Windows. It takes about 2/3 min.
I don't get any error messages, just a black screen and then after a few minutes it turns on.
After it turns on no problems at all.
Replaced ram, videocard and hd. Loaded default bios. No change. Checked all the connectors and replaced the Sata cable with a new one. Loaded default bios.

I got this Asus board just a month back. I called the shop where i got it and they thought that it could be the Sata controller. :confused:

Does any off you have a idea what it could be? Or do i have to rma the board?

Thanks
 
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Is this a "three minutes for windows to load" problem or a "three minutes until the computer finds windows" problem?
 
Did you try to boot from a live CD/DVD (Knoppix, PE etc.)?
 
Is this a "three minutes for windows to load" problem or a "three minutes until the computer finds windows" problem?

I think it is the second one. After three minutes it starts with loading Windows.
 
Most likely some software issue. Does the same problem exist in safe mode?

Dan can you tell me how to get in to safe mode, i have no idea with this board. But i can only get into safe mode when the bios screen comes up. That is after the three min.

I have tried with another hard disc with Windows on it. But no change.
 
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you have a nforce mobo? uninstall all nvidia drivers and reinstall them again....
 
Look at my specs.:D
 
F8 doesn´t work for safe mode ???
 
No. If i press F8 a screen appears were i can choose which device to boot from.
 
Okay, then just wait a little bit longer with pressing it.
 
you need to wait a little longer before pressing f8.after it has done the bios display on first power up.

you beat me to it peach1971 lol
 
Yeah, almost like the short delay audio FX in F.E.A.R. Combat, when two players respawn nearly at the same time saying "IN POSITION!" :roll:
 
you need to wait a little longer before pressing f8.after it has done the bios display on first power up.

you beat me to it peach1971 lol

Yes but as i say. When the bios screen loads the three minutes are past. And from the moment the bios screen loads everything is normal.

I should have changed the title.:D
 
Yes but as i say. When the bios screen loads the three minutes are past. And from the moment the bios screen loads everything is normal.

I should have changed the title.:D

so it's more a :"loading boot problem" ;)
i bet your mobo is dying
since the long time in booting up to the first bios screen has nothing to do with software ;)
 
Okay, ELECTRONICALLY BROKEN, I´d say then.
Especially, because you did all stuff like CMOS clear.
 
didn't Microsoft make a nice graphical boot analyzer??? damn! forgot the name of it.
 
so it's more a :"loading boot problem" ;)
i bet your mobo is dying
since the long time in booting up to the first bios screen has nothing to do with software ;)

That is what i thought to. But why is it performing just nice after loading?
Tomorrow the shop is open again. So i want a new one.;)
And no rma. I want them to give a new board on the spot.:D
Before the vacation i called and the lady promissed me to exchange to board for a new one.
 
FOUND IT!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BootVis

program is called BootVis, and is made from Microsoft so that you can view your boot log graphicly and see what services is taking to much time for the boot.

Mmm. I don't really know the program is not longer supported by MS.
To be honest i am not such a fan of those kinda programs. Also saw some reviews about boovis that people could no longer boot up after use. But thanks anyway. :toast:
 
my advice is to boot from your windows cd
go into console recovery and run chkdsk /p
then run fixmbr
then run fixboot
then restart, i have see this happen to windows b4 and most times(99/100) its because the boards having a problem due to an hdd error, if you can do full hdd wipe(use the tools from ur hdd maker site to zero/lowlevel the drive) then reinstall, be sure to use ntfs.
this is the best way to be sure if its a hardware or software issue.

could also be that ur hdd is starting to fail, my buddy had crashes and buggy boots/shutdowns and such turned out his wd drive was starting to die, after about 3 days i swaped my backup drive in (imaged his os to it) and started testing and it all cleared up!!!!

i also found that maxtor 2mb cache drives are faster then wd 8mb cache drives(both 7200rpm and ata133) and by faster i mean in every way, seek time, latancy,transfer speed min/max, and the drive was over a year older then the wd :P


well sorry about the rammble but ur best bet honestly is to do what i said, try the windows cd thing first, if it dosnt help try an hdd wipe(ur os drive) and fresh install, i have seen this on MANY systems with xp, its not uncommon, most people learn to deal with it or just put up with it.
whats funny to me is that nt4,2k and 2k3 have NEVER done that in my exp, but xp has done it MANY MANY MANY times!!!!!!

oh last peice of advice, update bios, and dont dissable onboard sound, this has been linked to slow boot times, your board should have the adi1988 soundchip, use kets drivers and give it a try, mines working 100% with his moded driver set and gives better perf then my audigy3,sblive,cmi8738,ess allegro cards do(the adi specs are acctualy better in many ways then x-fi if you read the white papers, the problems up till now have been due to asus being slow as hell updating drivers)

im on an m2n-sli delux board(68bucks open box) after bios update it works great orignal bios where SHIT!!!!!!!!! if you tryed to overclock they would just not boot or freeze on restart, if you dissabled onboard audio it took 3-5min to boot into windows(known bug) honestly, i wish they had the tforce550 in stock when i was ordering, less hassles better clocking stability!!!!
but then again the adi hd audio 1988 kicks the realtek hd audios arse :D
 
Mmm. I don't really know the program is not longer supported by MS.
To be honest i am not such a fan of those kinda programs. Also saw some reviews about boovis that people could no longer boot up after use. But thanks anyway. :toast:

i have used it alot on systems for clients, if they couldnt boot after using it they are morons, the most you have to do if theres a problem is f8, boot with last known good config and bam its fixed, last known fig is a reg backup done regularly to save you from bad reg hax or tweaks(like a bad driver or app install) that wont let you get into windows.

bootvis isnt "the bees knees" as many thought, but if you got a system thats taking a LONG time to get into windows then taking a LONG time to be useable and your sure its not ram or cpu related it can be a real help, i have cut boot time from 4min(4min from the time windows loading screen hits) down to 30sec using bootvis and msconfig :)
 
Thanks man. I will give it a try. One question.
If i do "fixmbr" it says that i will have a risk losing my partitions. Do i?
 
i never have lost anything, and i been using that command since 2000 rc1 came out(sometimes multi os would bugger up with pre rtm windows 2k)

anything you do in wise of disk matanance risks loosing data, but the risk is small and you can alwase use active@ partition recovery if it looses the partition (i keep it around for use with xp systems that are installed with fat32, seen alot of them loose the partition on a simple restart)
 
If I was in this predicament I'd disconnect everything not important to booting up.I've had it before where a dodgy cd-rom stopped me booting up.Took that out and it was fine again.

Do a minimum build and if it goes OK then start adding things back in one by one until you find the cause.
 
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