Maximus VII Formula, new build - very slow POST

[Black_Bear]

Hello,

I hope to get some help/good advice here. Just finished building a new PC on Maximus VII Formula, installed OS (Windows 7), drivers, etc. and stumbled over POST taking too long to go through (at least 20 seconds). Then Windows loads and shuts down too slow as well, up to 90 seconds to load. Once loaded, it works fine, but

When looking at the Q-Codes on mother board during POST, I noticed that it hangs on A2, IDE Detect, for the longest time. I only have one SSD connected at present to minimize the number of items to detect, so am wondering what's causing such a slow POST.

I then noticed that BIOS for whatever reason shows 2 keyboards and 2 mouse detected in the USD Configuration menue, however I only have one of each connected to the PC.

Has anyone come across a similar issue and what could be the resolution?

Thank you in advance.

P.S. Build details are as follows:
Case - Fractal Design Define XL R2
MB - Maximus VII Forumula
CPU - Intel i7 4790K
SSD - Intel 730
RAM - Kingston HyperX Savage Red, 4 ea x 8 GB
PSU - Corsair AX1200i
2 video cards - AMD FirePro W5100

[Puffnstuff]

Did you do a uefi install of windows? Is fast boot enabled?

[Nate152]

Hello Black Bear and welcome

You could try enabling fast boot on the boot tab in the bios.

[Black_Bear]

Did uefi install of Windows. Fast Boot enabled in the Bios.

I got improvement on POST time in the meantime by setting SATA Support to [Boot Drive Only] intstead of the default [All Devices] in the Boot menu of the Bios.

However, Windows still loads very slow: over a minute for the initial Windows screen, then a black screen comes up for a minute or so, and then the blue welcome screen runs through fairly OK.

[MeanMachine]

Hi Black Bear and Welcome to ROG

This may or may not fix your issue, as it very often depends on how you install windows, and I don't know how you have commenced your installation.

The issue with AHCI is it needs to be enabled in the BIOS prior to OS installation; doing so after you have installed the OS will disable the PC or cause your problem. The reason why, Windows disables the AHCI drivers not needed during installation.
If this is your situation, then this will show you how to enable AHCI after you have installed the OS if you didn't already have AHCI enabled in the BIOS when you installed the OS.

This method works for Windows 7 using the default DWORD string value in Windows 7. As as a precaution it would be a good idea to create a "System Restore Point" before you start this.

1. In the Windows Start menu search box type regedit, right click the entry, click Run as Administrator.
2. In regedit navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services.
3. In the left pane, click on msahci, in the right pane double click on Start to modify it.
4. In the window that opens change the value to 0 (zero), and click OK.
5. In the left pane, click on iaStorV (if there), in the right pane double click on Start to modify it as in step 4.
6. Close Registry Editor.

Restart the PC and go into the BIOS and enable AHCI. When Windows boots up, it will finish installing the AHCI drivers. You will need one final restart to finish the process after the drivers are installed.

Hope this helps and please report back.

MM

[Black_Bear]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and support.

To MeanMachine:
I had AHCI enabled prior to Windows install.


Here is an update on further developments. I tried re-installing Windows, carefully moving from step to step and observing what's hapenning. I did a uefi install from a USB with only the SSD connected to SATA. At some point everything was going well (by the way, I am comparing to my previous PC build on Maximus V Formula, where POST runs within 5 seconds, Windows loads in 8 seconds and shuts down in 3 seconds - that's already fully loaded with a bunch of heavy graphic applications). I got to the point where Windows was loading within 10-12 seconds after installation of the majority of ASUS drivers that came on a disc with the mother board. I have not yet installed the Bluetooth, though. The first symptoms of trouble came when I connected the first HDD (Hitachi 4TB) - it added another 10-15 seconds to the Windows load time. Load time extended further when I connected the other four HDDs (as well, Hitachi 4 TB).

On POST, the situation is still the same: it lasts for about 30-40 seconds with [All Devices] enabled in [SATA Support], but it takes about 1 second to run POST with [Boot Drive Only] enabled. However, it takes about 30 to 40 seconds to enter BIOS with either SATA Support setting - that's between the time when I start pressing the Del button and when BIOS screen shows up. Again, that's ridiculously long compared to what it takes to enter BIOS in my Maximus V Formula build.

In addition, a new item appeared in the Bios's Boot Menue: Set Up Prompt Timeout (see attached photo, right above the Fast Boot). This menu item is not even mentioned in the mother board's manual. Anyone knows where it could come from?

And another problem that I accidentally discovered with USB, most likely with USB 3.0. I use an ASUS WX470 cordless laser mouse and it's transmitter sits in USB 2.0 on the case's front panel. When I inserted a USB stick into a 3.0 slot on the front panel next to the mouse's transmitter, the mouse stopped working. As soon as I take the USB stick out, the mouse works again.

Then I noticed instabillity when trying to have the mouse transmitter connected to the USB 3.0 port on MB's rear panel. And realized it happens to any device connected to the USB 3.0 on the rear panel - the ports only work when I plug something in and hold the connection by hand. As soon as I take my fingers off the devices lose connectivity. As I was writing this message on a laptop, my RAID connected to the rear USB 3.0 port just errorred stating that Windows was unable to recognize a USB device.

I know I've written a lot but am trying to share the full picture as the above issues may be interconnected. Would appreciate further advice.

[255killer]

Not to ask such a simple question but which sata port are you plugged into? The ones that are numbered at the top are Intel, the ones with i believe letter H and then number are third-party. The third party sata ports will cause any device to run slow prior to boot.

[Black_Bear]

Am aware of the Intel vs. third-party ports. SSD was plugged into Intel's port 1 initially, but I already tried connecting it to all Intel's ports and also tried using a different SATA cable to eliminate the port/cable issues. No luck, POST still long and Windows loading time has gotten even longer.

Can anyone help, please?

[MeanMachine]

Hi Black Bear.
Maybe just grasping at straws here,Cause I'm at the bottom of the barrel.

What is your current Bios and have you updated Bios and chipset. If not I suggest you try that, as it has fixed some strange issues such as this and nothing to loose.

[Black_Bear]

I had the Bios updated twice - first time the store did it (I thought I may have made a mistake by agreeing to have the Bios updated then) and later I updated it myself as well in the hope that it would fix the problems.

I am increasingly suspecting a problem in relation to USB 3.0. Could be the USB 3.0 part of the mother board. Is there any reliable way to test the USB 3.0 functionality on the mother board?