win 7 + SSD + p5q pro boot time

[David-Stephens]

Got a question, been running this for a while and its not a major issue, more like a funny one that us overclockers can ponder over. The issue is that the asus mobo bios screen, now that i am on my SSD takes MUCH longer to clear than before. Once thats gone then win 7 loads in under 18 seconds and the bios is about 10-12 seconds so as you can tell from off to full function and internet/msn/games in 30 seconds is not making me angry, but i want to know some more details. The only major change other than installing the SSD was:

Switch to ACHI mode for SSD benchmark wizzzzzzzz
Old HDD is now obviously my data backup drive
Bought a usb external for additional stuff

Trying to figure out what makes the bios aparently hang. Post some steps i could take to investigate if you would guys

System:
E8400 @ 4.05ghz
4870 51mb
Crucial 64mb M225
4gb Kingston ram
Asus p5q pro

Bios is NOT fully updated, flashing bios's is not something i want to do every month XD. But if thats a fix please lend me your theories

 

[gavinpoo]

Have you tried booting without the USB external attached? When I bought a new printer with built in card readers my computer used to take ages to POST. I resolved the problem by disabling legacy USB support in BIOS.

 

[Zarf]

AHCI is probably at fault, It has its own drive detection sequence to run through which takes a few more seconds. If you turn off "Splash Screen" or similar option in BIOS you'll see the extra stage AHCI adds to the POST sequence.

Not much you can do about it though, since SSD's are much faster with it enabled once you're actually in windows.

 

[gavinpoo]

Now I've re-read the first post I'm sure I'm wrong. I focused on the 'MUCH longer' rather than the 10-12 seconds bit.

 

[Dervious]

FWIW, I recently bought an Intel 80gb SSD. With my new Gigabyte MB and AHCI enabled, I get a 10-15 second delay after the Win 7 animation - the HDD activity light goes out. Not only that, the Gigabyte BIOS shows an AHCI drive detection screen, which also adds a few seconds to bootup time.

So, I switched to Native IDE mode, and the delays have gone. I benchmarked my drive with and without AHCI, and couldn`t see much difference, so I`m sticking with Native IDE mode for the time being. Apparently, some Gigabyte BIOS updates solved these issues, but there is no update for my MB (yet).

 

[Dervious]

Update -

I`ve "discovered" the AMD AHCI drivers, installed them, and the delay during the loading of Win 7 has gone. If only the BIOS wouldn`t faff around "detecting AHCI devices". Still, I`m now quite happy to continue to use AHCI mode.