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Solving POST delays

VeerK
Level 9
Hey guys,

One of the main reasons I went ROG over other companies other than the quality was the increase in boot speed, power button to Win8 log in screen. Upon first installation, enabling Fast Boot, Fast Hardware Boot, MRC Fast Boot, DIsable CSM with onboard iGPU, I clocked about 8.8 seconds in what I define as boot time. Since I use a discrete graphics cards without a UEFI bios (Sapphire 7950 Boost) I am accustomed to about 10.4 seconds of boot time. After installing Windows 8.1 Preview, I noticed my boot time drop to about 11.4 seconds, and also my read and write speeds on my 840 Pro 256 GB decreased as well, so I did a secure erase and fresh install, since all my data is on my WD Black 1 TB. However, I have noticed that even though I have all fast settings enabled, other than CSM disable (I currently have CSM enabled, and everything on Ignore, and legacy for PCIE) I am still hanging at POST with 0 seconds delay enabled in the BIOS for about 10 seconds, bringing my total start time to about 23 seconds. After testing, I realized this is due to my 1 TB HDD, and without it I am back to booting in about 11.8 seconds, and I believe AMD's graphics driver is adding about 1-1.5 seconds, so once I solve that I am back to about 10-10.5 seconds.

There was no problem with my HDD until I did the secure erase, is there any reason why my HDD is now causing a POST delay? I plan on defragging, but I don't think that will solve it.
The Guardian

OS Windows 8.1 CASE Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition CPU Intel i7 4770k MOBO Asus Maximus VI Hero GPU EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ACX FAN Phanteks PH-TC14PEBK RAM G.skill Snipers 2x8 16GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD WD 1 TB Black OPTICAL Asus BW12BST PSU XFX P-1750B BEFX SOUND Creative SoundBlaster ZxR
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14 REPLIES 14

Chino
Level 15
Did you verify that the first boot device is the Samsung 840 Pro? And disable the option to boot from any other SSD/HDD?

VeerK
Level 9
Well, I installed Windows 8/8.1 in UEFI mode so GPT style, and Windows Boot Manager has Boot #1 priority and nothing else. Is there any way to check to make sure Windows Boot Manager doesn't have the HDD set as a potential boot drive?
The Guardian

OS Windows 8.1 CASE Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition CPU Intel i7 4770k MOBO Asus Maximus VI Hero GPU EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ACX FAN Phanteks PH-TC14PEBK RAM G.skill Snipers 2x8 16GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD WD 1 TB Black OPTICAL Asus BW12BST PSU XFX P-1750B BEFX SOUND Creative SoundBlaster ZxR

Chino
Level 15
Well, this is taking place during the the post process so you should look in your BIOS to verify the settings in my previous post. It wouldn't dwell so long with the HDD normally unless it has another Windows installation on it or a leftover boot loader.

VeerK
Level 9
Yes, it is the SSD Windows Boot Manager that has top priority, the HDD neither has a boot loader/windows installation on it, nor does it show up in the Bios under boot option priorities.
The Guardian

OS Windows 8.1 CASE Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition CPU Intel i7 4770k MOBO Asus Maximus VI Hero GPU EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ACX FAN Phanteks PH-TC14PEBK RAM G.skill Snipers 2x8 16GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD WD 1 TB Black OPTICAL Asus BW12BST PSU XFX P-1750B BEFX SOUND Creative SoundBlaster ZxR

Chino
Level 15
Not sure how much difference there is between the Maximus VI series and the Maximus V series. But basically what I do is disable the HDD in the Boot Option Priorities so that the BIOS only detects my main SSD.
25019

Then what I'm going to do is go into the Hard Drive BBS Priorities also and disable the HDD there too.
25020

Also which SATA port are you using for your HDD?

VeerK
Level 9
Well, there is no option #2 to disable, and I no longer see Hard Drive BBS properties either. The HDD is plugged into the SATA 3 port right next to my SSD, on the Intel controllers side, I do not have anything plugged into the AsMedia Controller and have it disabled. I'll head into the Bios again, see if a reboot and replugging of the SATA devices does anything, will report in a few minutes.
The Guardian

OS Windows 8.1 CASE Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition CPU Intel i7 4770k MOBO Asus Maximus VI Hero GPU EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ACX FAN Phanteks PH-TC14PEBK RAM G.skill Snipers 2x8 16GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD WD 1 TB Black OPTICAL Asus BW12BST PSU XFX P-1750B BEFX SOUND Creative SoundBlaster ZxR

Chino
Level 15
Well, that would lead me to think that something is wrong with your HDD. If you have it plugged into one of the SATA ports, you should see it on the boot list regardless if it's empty or if you have an OS on it.

VeerK
Level 9
Well, I no longer see a delay at the POST screen, it is instantaneously gone, as per the 0 seconds. Instead, I see an increased time that the circles rotate at the ROG screen, which is supposed to indicate the Windows load time. It should be 1.5 rotations, but now is about 4. HDD still doesn't show up in BIOS for BBS properties in the Boot section, but overall boot time is down to 14 seconds from 23.

What effect do the options in CSM have? I have it enabled for my non UEFI GPU, boot device set for UEFI, boot from network devices at ignore, storage devices ignore/uefi, and pci at oprom/uefi? Could they be having an adverse affect on boot time, and what should they be? Many thanks for your help thus far.
The Guardian

OS Windows 8.1 CASE Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition CPU Intel i7 4770k MOBO Asus Maximus VI Hero GPU EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ACX FAN Phanteks PH-TC14PEBK RAM G.skill Snipers 2x8 16GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256GB HDD WD 1 TB Black OPTICAL Asus BW12BST PSU XFX P-1750B BEFX SOUND Creative SoundBlaster ZxR

BangBangPlay
Level 7
Do you by any chance use an external USB drive or other device? I noticed that I got significant delay caused by an external WD 1 TB hard drive I use for backups. I used Turbo USB 3.0 in AI Suite 3 to make the drive transfer faster and it takes longer for the computer to recgonize it at boot. It also causes a delay at the Windows login screen and it effected other USB devices like my keyboard and mouse. Sometimes they wouldn't respond for a few seconds so I couldn't enter my password.

I changed the USB 3.0 Boost from Turbo to Normal and it posts as fast as it should normally. Also no more delay at the Windows login screen. I figured that i'll just have to manually change it to Turbo when I do backups or large file transfers and then change it back. When I was having these issues I tried all of the fast boot and post delay settings in BIOS and nothing seemed to work. Hope this helps...