Win 8.1 really slow start

SavellM · 7 Oct 2013 at 09:25

Hey guys,

So my current specs to make it easier:
Intel Haswell i5 4670T
Asus Gryphon z87
8gb Kingston 1600 ram
256gb Samsung 840 PRO SSD

I am using it as my media PC with Win 8.1 installed so I can use a few features for XBMC.

Its been running perfectly fine for about 3 weeks, and booted so quick I never even saw the Windows 8 icon with the spinning dots.

But now all of a sudden, since about 4 days ago it has started to take about 6mins to boot.

It just sits there spinning.
Once it boots its perfectly fine and works like normal.

I have not installed anything new, as its setup the way I want.

So maybe there was a Windows update.
Is there anything I can check to try and get my boot times quick again?

Raumarik · 7 Oct 2013 at 09:36

Had a look through the event viewer for any warnings or errors? Might be trying to tell you something.

SavellM · 7 Oct 2013 at 09:46

Good point, will do

paradigm · 7 Oct 2013 at 10:09

Also, try running msconfig and disabling all the non-microsoft startup items.

If that fixes the boot speed, turn them all back on 1-by-1 to locate the cause.

SavellM · 7 Oct 2013 at 10:10

Thanks Paradigm...

paradigm · 7 Oct 2013 at 10:13

I should point out, that I'm wrong anyway, as these are now in task manager

SavellM · 7 Oct 2013 at 10:14

HAHA ye thought so

Raumarik · 7 Oct 2013 at 11:15

Perhaps an old legacy driver has sneaked on? I had this back when Windows 8 was just out, I put on an outdated motherboard chipset driver without realising when installing, despite having downloaded the new Windows 8 one /facepalm.

SavellM · 7 Oct 2013 at 11:27

Thing is its been working perfectly for the last 2 weeks or so.
So unless Windows update, updated some driver.

SavellM · 9 Oct 2013 at 10:48

Ok so I took a look in event viewer and nothing stands out as our of the ordinary.
In fact it looks pretty clean.

I also checked startup programs and disabled 1 or 2 things but nothing of importance...

I installed and ran CCleaner and cleaned out files and reg.
But still nada, taking 6-7mins to boot.

So freaking annoying.

Does this mean a rebuild just because?

bledd · 9 Oct 2013 at 11:53

I'd update each driver for the main components one by one (with a restart between each) and see if it fixes the issue.

gfx
sound
chipset
network

Unplug and non essential USB devices too.

Check eventviewer for hard drive problems

Glaucus · 9 Oct 2013 at 12:08

Yeah broken usb devices are a prime culprit for slow starts.

LizardKing · 9 Oct 2013 at 13:17

Check the boot performance logs before going through a step by step process

Event viewer > Applications and service logs > Microsoft > Windows > Diag Performance

It tells your the boot time of each component and whether or not its taking longer than usual.

SavellM · 9 Oct 2013 at 13:36

Cool...

Thanks guys. Will do

SavellM · 9 Oct 2013 at 17:41

LizardKing said:
Check the boot performance logs before going through a step by step process

Event viewer > Applications and service logs > Microsoft > Windows > Diag Performance

It tells your the boot time of each component and whether or not its taking longer than usual.

So took a look and this is a critical issue:
Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance
Date: 09/10/2013 18:09:52
Event ID: 100
Task Category: Boot Performance Monitoring
Level: Critical
Keywords: Event Log
User: LOCAL SERVICE
Computer: MediaHTPC
Description:
Windows has started up:
Boot Duration : 136443ms
IsDegradation : false
Incident Time (UTC) : ‎2013‎-‎10‎-‎09T17:06:16.702824200Z
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance" Guid="{CFC18EC0-96B1-4EBA-961B-622CAEE05B0A}" />
<EventID>100</EventID>
<Version>2</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>4002</Task>
<Opcode>34</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000010000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-10-09T17:09:52.154019400Z" />
<EventRecordID>184</EventRecordID>
<Correlation ActivityID="{DDD2F212-C511-0003-8AF2-D2DD11C5CE01}" />
<Execution ProcessID="1104" ThreadID="2352" />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational</Channel>
<Computer>MediaHTPC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-19" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="BootTsVersion">2</Data>
<Data Name="BootStartTime">2013-10-09T17:06:16.702824200Z</Data>
<Data Name="BootEndTime">2013-10-09T17:09:50.307752700Z</Data>
<Data Name="SystemBootInstance">34</Data>
<Data Name="UserBootInstance">33</Data>
<Data Name="BootTime">136443</Data>
<Data Name="MainPathBootTime">125343</Data>
<Data Name="BootKernelInitTime">20</Data>
<Data Name="BootDriverInitTime">156</Data>
<Data Name="BootDevicesInitTime">120253</Data>
<Data Name="BootPrefetchInitTime">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootPrefetchBytes">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootAutoChkTime">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootSmssInitTime">1469</Data>
<Data Name="BootCriticalServicesInitTime">158</Data>
<Data Name="BootUserProfileProcessingTime">180</Data>
<Data Name="BootMachineProfileProcessingTime">66</Data>
<Data Name="BootExplorerInitTime">2853</Data>
<Data Name="BootNumStartupApps">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootPostBootTime">11100</Data>
<Data Name="BootIsRebootAfterInstall">false</Data>
<Data Name="BootRootCauseStepImprovementBits">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootRootCauseGradualImprovementBits">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootRootCauseStepDegradationBits">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootRootCauseGradualDegradationBits">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootIsDegradation">false</Data>
<Data Name="BootIsStepDegradation">false</Data>
<Data Name="BootIsGradualDegradation">false</Data>
<Data Name="BootImprovementDelta">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootDegradationDelta">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootIsRootCauseIdentified">false</Data>
<Data Name="OSLoaderDuration">414</Data>
<Data Name="BootPNPInitStartTimeMS">20</Data>
<Data Name="BootPNPInitDuration">120372</Data>
<Data Name="OtherKernelInitDuration">115</Data>
<Data Name="SystemPNPInitStartTimeMS">120480</Data>
<Data Name="SystemPNPInitDuration">94</Data>
<Data Name="SessionInitStartTimeMS">120583</Data>
<Data Name="Session0InitDuration">951</Data>
<Data Name="Session1InitDuration">222</Data>
<Data Name="SessionInitOtherDuration">295</Data>
<Data Name="WinLogonStartTimeMS">122052</Data>
<Data Name="OtherLogonInitActivityDuration">189</Data>
<Data Name="UserLogonWaitDuration">160</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Any idea?

SavellM · 10 Oct 2013 at 16:59

Anyone have any thoughts?

bledd · 10 Oct 2013 at 17:49

I've not seen a log file for that before, but this line stands out to me..

<Data Name="BootDevicesInitTime">120253</Data>

Sounds like one of your devices is causing the issue.

What do you have connected?
list your hardware

SavellM · 11 Oct 2013 at 09:12

Sooo....
I ran a chkdsk /r /f last night.
It got stuck at 10% for AGES, and then hurried through.

I removed my only 2 USB things which was a Flirc receiver and a Logitech receiver.
After I restarted a few times and it was good as normal.

Put both USB receivers back in and restarted and still quick again

It MAY be that it only slow boots from a cold off, as in shut down and on again another day. So will see when I turn it on tonight if the problem is gone for now.

Bledd:
My Hardware:
Asus Gryphon Z87
Intel Core i5 4670T
8GB Kingston Ram
256GB Samsung 840 Pro
Flirc Dongle
Logitech Receiver for KB/Mouse
Using onboard GPU for XBMC and connected to AV reciever via HDMI.

Think that's all I have connected, its a simple box.