Delayed Boot

danyjr · 24 Sep 2011 at 17:51

Hi there,

This problem has been occurring recently on a constant basis. I turn the computer on, there is around a minute (sometimes longer/shorter) until my 'Starting Windows' screen even shows up.

There has been no change in the hardware I've been using and I'm quite positive I haven't changed anything on my computer (I could be wrong) before this problem started happening.

MB: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
CPU: Inter Core i7 2.80GHz
GPU: Gigabyte nVidia Geforce GTX 285
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

This is the image I see as I wait (the first one most of the time)

BIOS problem? Motherboard problem? or could it be the GPU? it has been going on the blue screen a couple of times when I've been playing games.

Fanatic · 24 Sep 2011 at 17:53

Do you have any USB storage plugged in during boot? I know this make my PC take a lot longer to boot.

Sin_Chase · 24 Sep 2011 at 17:54

Always the same time or random?

Check you have not somehow got HardDisk Pre-Delay enabled in the BIOS. (Intentionally delays boot prior to disk initialisation to allow disk to power/spin up read for detection)

If you do not use any IDE drives, disable the controller.

danyjr · 25 Sep 2011 at 10:05

Fanatic said:
Do you have any USB storage plugged in during boot? I know this make my PC take a lot longer to boot.

I unplugged the USB storage now. It hasn't made a difference, except I get the delay after checking for USB-HD.

Sin_Chase said:
Always the same time or random?

Check you have not somehow got HardDisk Pre-Delay enabled in the BIOS. (Intentionally delays boot prior to disk initialisation to allow disk to power/spin up read for detection)

If you do not use any IDE drives, disable the controller.

The problem isn't always the same. Sometimes I don't have to wait at all. Sometimes I have to wait 1-2 minutes. Sometimes I'll have to wait forever (which I just keep resetting until it works).

I don't have HD Pre-Delay in BIOS (it is 0 seconds).

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe both my Hard Disks and also DVDs are connected via SATA (the small L-shaped ones are SATA right?). But how come in this screen it says that I'm using IDE? (IDE Channel 0 Master/Slave and IDE Channel 1 Master). Also why things have suddenly gone this way? Could it be a faulty motherboard? I think I still got 6 months left of my warranty.