5 min boot time--Why?

Ok so I bought a new pc back in July, and have had nothing but problems with it since. I have already sent it back once for repairs, and just recently had to get a new motherboard for it.The problem now, is from the time I turn on my pc from the power button until it hits the desktop, I am waiting over 5 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes less, but 5 seems to be the average. However once the computer has been on for a while, it seems to restart faster. Here are some specs:

Case (Coolermaster Ammo-533 Gaming Tower Case )

Case Lighting ( Cold Cathode Neon Light Blue )

Power Supply ( Enermax EG565P 535 Watt Power Supply [sLI-Ready] )

Processor ( [939-pin] AMD® Athlon-64 X2 4200+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )

Processor Cooling ( CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS )

Motherboard ( Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI-x16 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Dual PCI-E MB )

Memory ( 2048 MB [1024MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value

Video Card ( Nvidia Geforce 7900GT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Hard Drive (200 GB HARD DRIVE [serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 8M Cache] )

CD/DVD Drive (16X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive )

CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM + 52x32x52 CD-RW Combo Drive)

Sound Card (Creative Soundblaster 24 Bit Live )

Speaker System ( Sicuro RW360XL 2.1 Gaming Speaker System w/ Lighting

Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

Floppy Drive ( None )

Monitor (ViewSonic 19" VA912B TFT LCD Monitor [black] )

USB 2.0 Accessories ( Build-in USB 2.0 Ports )

Meter Display ( Thermal Temperature LCD Display Blue )

Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )

OS: MS Windows XP Pro Sp2

Not sure what else you might need, just let me know...I don't know a lot about pc's but I am a fast learner, and know some things.

Latest info also, I am trying to find some kind of diagnostics tester to check my video card, hd,mobo,ram, etc... as the last board fried, and I don't know if it screwed up anything else on the board, as I replaced the board, but no other new components. I did find a memtest86 for ram, and I got over 200 errors on the ram with only 4 tests run so far...so obviously my ram is bad as well... Any help at all would be great, And even bigger help would be if you know some kind of loop hole to get them to give me my money back for this pc, and I can start over and probably save a grand in the process would be great, I have had nothing but problems with this pc, and they said after 30 days I cant get my money back, its been 4 months, and I have had problems since day 1....

thanks guys,

Michael

Also here is a link to another forum I posted this in with some of their suggestions that I have tried and still no luck, I am waiting on a new hd and new ram from the company, it should be here by wed...

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=120007

My first suggestion to you is to defrag your hard drives, I had the same problem where my computer was taking ludicrous amounts of time to boot up. You'd be surprised how much a fragmented drive can ruin a system.

Edit: I'm surprised no one even mentioned defragmenting in that forum, I merely glanced over the posts but I saw almost no mention of any defragging. I saw a few tweaks I've used myself but nothing that would improve your boot times.

One other thing, theres a certain thing you need to turn off in BIOS for Memtest to run properly. I'm not sure if it goes for everyone but on my motherboard (Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe) you need to disable Legacy USB Support before running Memtest. Check if your mobo has the same thing, then run Memtest.

Test one stick at a time in each slot using Memtest86+ v.165, not memtest86. What timings / voltage is your memory currently set to?

Memory Voltage: 2.7-2.8 Volts (Warrantied up to, but not over, 2.90 volts)

All other settings to defaults.

Source: Corsair XMS Qualification and Testing Information

Also, try booting with just one stick at a time. May also want to try disconnecting all devices except for the HDD, and check the boot time. Replace the HDD's ide / sata cable as well. happen to have any other HDDs to test with?

may also want to test boot times with nothing connected except for memory.

sage, the hd has been reformatted and everything was reinstalled...so it shouldnt need a defrag...I am kind of leaning toward the bad mobo I had before this one possibly transferring heat to the hd making it spin at a slower speed, at least thats one suggestion I was given that seems to make sense...

wired, I am going to wait until I get the new ram and hd from the company I bought the pc from, it should be here on wednesday...if possible I would like your help with a step by step reinstall from scratch, I have another pc online that we could use a messanger or something to work with...basicly I want to start over with the new hd and ram, reinstalling xp, going through the bios and making sure everything in there is setup to the best possible settings, and then using like tweak ui to go through and optimize xp after everything is installed...

I've also noticed that it takes around 2-3 mins for my comp to shut down after I select shutdown from start menu...is this normal as well???

The company I bought the pc from when I called them about the boot time, the tech tried to tell me it was normal for this board, as it takes it a while to initalize all of the on board devices drives etc...and that theres nothing wrong with it...I tend to be skeptical, as this is supposed to be a fairly fast pc, and I have never had one take as long to get up and running as this one...

Sorry for all of the long replies lol

Even if you've reformatted, the HD can still be fragmented. Did you do a quick format or full format?

I did some testing with both methods before and I found the quick format basically just "Blanks" the disk, whereas the full format does a full blank of the whole disk, ensuring no fragments. Because of how the quick format works, it can make your entire drive fragmented after installing the OS.

Have you even tried to defragment it? Just try atleast once if you haven't, it won't hurt anyone, will it? ;):

Then again, I could be wrong.

Even if you've reformatted, the HD can still be fragmented.

Like I said before, it can happen if you do a quick reformat. This happened to me before. I reformatted my machine 4-5 times in a single day (Overkill I know, but I was testing a bunch of stuff) and each time I chose "Quick Format" which takes like, 15 seconds to complete. After the 5th time it started getting REALLY slow in either shutting down or starting up.

I could be wrong but I'm sure that quick format isn't a complete hard drive wipe like a full reformat does (That's why it takes so long) It only "blanks" the drive making it think it's empty. Then when you install the OS it starts throwing it all over the place instead of one uniform piece.

I have to experiment with this more later, I'm not completely certain whether this is the case or not.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

 

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

 

If you installed Windows XP on a partition that was formatted by using the Quick format option, you can also check your disk by using the chkdsk /r command after the installation of Windows XP is completed.

In otherwords, the only difference is the checkdisk it does on a full format. The actual formatting process is the exact same. Formatting your drive cannot fragment your hard drive, because fragmentation only occurs with data:

Your computer's hard disk is like a file cabinet—and while you are working, it can get pretty disorganized. When you install a program on your computer, the program's files are typically broken up over multiple locations on your hard disk. This is called fragmentation. Fragmentation slows the performance of programs on your computer. Disk Defragmenter reorganizes the files on your hard disk into contiguous blocks. This improves the performance of your programs because the files are arranged closer together.

Anyway, a format mainly flattend the FAT table, which is an index of data on the hard drive. When that's re-created, new information (OS install, whatever) is placed on the hard drive in a normal logical fashion, which is completely independent of how any data was laid out on the hard drive before the FAT table was located.

I would check the legacy IDE devices on your system from what you have posted. Make sure slave is the middle of the cable and master is the end. And please test the modules one at a time with http://www.memtest.org to be sure one is not failing After you set the memory voltage to 2.75 Volts and you may need to disable legacy USB as well.

I have a program called Ai Booster and it says my mem voltage is 2.6...I should change it to 2.75? and what exactly does it mean to disable legacy usb? and I thought that the top of the cable was master and the middle was slave? the hd is sata, the dvd/cdrw and dvdrw are the ide drives on this pc...I got my new ram today, its installed already, I am waiting on a friend to do a data transfer to switch out my hd's...we'll see how it is after that...also heres link again to other forum to see what some other people said on this issue as well...

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=1326801#post1326801

thanks for all the help so far though guys

yes, 2.75

master IS at the end, ram guy's confused, too much memory perhaps, memory controller blew up? :)

yes, 2.75

 

master IS at the end, ram guy's confused, too much memory perhaps, memory controller blew up? :)

ok so check this out...when I got my new hd I used a program to copy the old drive to the new drive and it was labeling it as j...silly me I forgot to unplug the usb card reader lol...so I did that and had errors copying, so I booted into xp with the old hd to do a chkdisk from dos, and low and behold it booted up in less than 15 seconds...so the problem is that when it boots its trying to read my mass storage devices ie the card reader and the card reader thats on the printer...so I disabled the one on the printer after the fresh install (the copy from one drive to the other failed) and just left my 12 in 1 card reader unplugged...and now it boots up fast...I dont want to leave my card reader unplugged, and I disabled it in the boot in the bios, but it was still trying to read the mass storage devices hence the 5 min boot time...is that what disabling the Usb legacy does? if so I will do that, but I would like more info on it please... thanks for all the help so far guys...great forum.

Yes I would try and disable legacy USB and see if that changes the boot time. I would also check with the MB maker to see if they might have a bios to address this.

my computer as posted above is running great...I havent changed the mem voltage yet, I was hoping to get a little more info on it from wired, as to what its purpose is and what it help/hurts...also I want to do a bios upgrade, but not sure if you can do it without a floppy disk drive, as I dont have one on this pc lol...I read around and found out that possibly my ram wasnt bad, it was a bios bug, and that the new 1303 version fixes that bug. Also more info on the usb legacy would be great, still a little hazy on that :P

Ok first of all WOW... Where to start. Well if anyone wants to argue these points then I would like to hear it.

1. The master and Slave

A. Master is at the end slave is in the middle the longer space goes towards the board. But it really don't matter cause he is running optical drives set on CS, and the HD's are sata.

2. Slow boot time

A. Boot sequence, HD order, retor defaults, go from there. Did ya'll read his specs, OMG NEW board, mem and proc.. Not hardware.... Software. Boottime is b4 windows loads. Sooo BIOS... Restore defaults . then set boot order, all settings for boot order thats it......

3. RAM

A. He did not ask how to overclock his system, nor does he need too, so why would you change the Ram voltage?... It is controled by sdp (leave it that way" unless there is a major flaw in your bios version there is no reason to manually set your memory, Keep it at automatic.

4. CPU speed 200 is your front side buss speed before your multiplier. cool and quiet is just what is says.... Cool and quiet.... If your CPU is hot it speeds up the fam making it loud, if it's cool it slows it down making it quiet.. It depends on how much "usage" your CPU is using....

5. hell I forgot the rest, but thanks and put some thought into it b4 you start giving advice like spelling athlon wrong OMG who cares

ya I am not worried about overclocking my system, as I feel it is fast enough, and I would hope that this pc lasts for a long time lol...My new question is...is there a way to flash my bios without a floppy? if not what exactly do I do?

there is a new bios update ver 1303 (mine is 1205) and from what I've found, it fixes the bios bug with the ram errors etc...Also still wondering if I disable the legacy usb will it keep from trying to read my mass storage devices so that I can plug them back in? or will it not affect that at all?

Thanks again :D

3. RAM

A. He did not ask how to overclock his system, nor does he need too, so why would you change the Ram voltage?... It is controled by sdp (leave it that way" unless there is a major flaw in your bios version there is no reason to manually set your memory, Keep it at automatic.

The memory voltage is not controlled by the SPD chip. Also, that memory is tested by Corsair @ 2.75 volts, warrantied up to, but not over, 2.90 volts.