Sloooooow Win 7 Boot Times... Need Help!

[Dark Shade]

Hey All, I have been having some boot issues for quite a while now, but I have reached the end of my tolerance levels...

I have a pretty decent system (specs in sig), but the computer takes FOREVER to boot. I hit the power and it take ~1 min to hit the p/w screen. I type it in, hit enter and, assuming I didn't enter it wrong, it begins to boot. This can take anywhere from ~5-10 minutes before I can run things... Now I know about MS Config etc, I have a bit in my start up but they are mostly things like the programs for my gaming mouse/keyboard/keypad, sound card, etc. Non-Microsoft services aren't too many either. I have seen AMD E-450 based laptops boot faster than this thing... Throw a game on it after its running though and I have yet to play the game that brings it to its knees

I have done some light research into the topic and have found that the only two people having issues similar to mine were motherboard failures... Pleeeeeeeease don't tell me my MB is failing... Though if it is, please give it to me straight up I know that this MB really wasn't top-of-the-line, but I didn't think it would kill the computer this bad... Could it be the MB?

The two times I have done a complete fresh install of win 7 on this machine, it worx great for about 1-3 days and is a downhill slope over the next ~7 days or so... This really is confusing the hell out of me and I really am getting tired of it. So much so, that now I am resorting to rather than waiting for windows on this comp, I will fire up my old laptop with Ubuntu on it and an old AMD Turion 64 X2 @1.6Ghz for simple web browsing. Although not having the ability to fire up a game on demand is kinda irritating.

Oh if it is the MB, can I use the key for the system builder edition of Win 7 that I bought on a new MB if I was to buy one? Would Gigabyte replace this one? Is this unusual (please say yes... )?

Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Random comments? I welcome all responses.

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[EarthDog]

Reinstall windows is my suggestion.

 

[Dark Shade]

As I said earlier though, it's only about a week before it's slow again. Reinstalling fixes the issue only for a very short time.

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[EarthDog]

Switch SATA ports? Have you tried your install on the other drive and see if it does the same thing?

 

[Dark Shade]

I could try SATA ports, I haven't tried the other drive yet no, but when I bench the drive it shows up fast and even slightly faster than the other (why i haven't tried the other one). Now this may be just my lack of knowledge here, but that would mean it's good right? Right? xD I have attached the CrystalDiskMark results for both drives to this post.

Edit: Another issue I just recalled about switching up drives and whatnot, I don't have any other large HDDs to back up my data to... xD

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[jediman]

may sound dumb but my antivirus program (avira) was causing terrible boot times. switched to avg and shaved like 4 minutes off my boot.

 

[EarthDog]

LOL 4 minutes? Was it running a scan upon boot?

 

[neo668]

My guess is that it might be a HDD problem. Windows could take a long time to boot if it has to check a problem drive first. Try checking each drive with the respective manufacturers' software tool to rule this out.

 

[Dark Shade]

If it helps at all, the slow boot is seen mostly when transitioning from the password confimation thing when it says loading or whatever, to getting the taskbar/desktop to load and being able to open a program. I am running Norton 360 Everywhere (the pc edition is the same as premiere), as I can get it free through work. I was previously running Kaspersky Internet Security, and the booting was slow then too, so I doubt it is AV based. OOC, where is Samsung's drive test tool? I have found that Samsung's site links to SeaTools... Is this correct? I have used SeaTools before, and it hasn't shown anything, but I am running it again just in case. Edit: It came up good to go on SMART, Short Drive Self Test, and Short Generic.

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[neo668]

Seagate has bought Samsung's HDD division. Seatools also checks Samsung drives now. Do the Long Test. This way every sector of the drive will be checked. Did you check your WD drive as well using the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics? If you want to be absolutely sure, do the Long Test. You only have a total of 1.5TB of drive space. It shouldn't take too long.

 

[raident30]

Seagate has bought Samsung's HDD division. Seatools also checks Samsung drives now. Do the Long Test. This way every sector of the drive will be checked. Did you check your WD drive as well using the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics? If you want to be absolutely sure, do the Long Test. You only have a total of 1.5TB of drive space. It shouldn't take too long.

can it be used on other brand HDD?

 

[neo668]

Only Seatools can be used for other brand HDDs.

 

[raident30]

thanks man!

 

[Dark Shade]

I haven't run the long test, as it said it would take 3.5 hrs and I am still using the comp... I might run it overnight though. I am mildly considering maybe replacing the motherboard and going all-out with a small (60GB-128GB) SSD for a boot drive, or just the SSD and stick to the Gigabyte motherboard I have now... IDK... Would my current copy of windows migrate to a new motherboard without dealing with M$? Or would I have to call and say my motherboard died or some other likely sounding and convincing story...? xD Also is a Z75/Z77 chip set motherboard backwards compatible with an Intel sandy bridge i5-2500k? Oh and No, I have not used WD's utility. I might try that tomorrow...

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[neo668]

Windows will check ALL drives in a system before booting. It doesn't have to be the OS drive. If there is one bad drive it will take forever checking it and then only will it boot. I'm not saying this is your case. Just suggesting that you eliminate all variables one at a time. In the end it could very well be your motherboard. But at this stage you cannot be sure.

 

[Dark Shade]

Okay so I ran the long test on both drives and it came up clean. I am gonna download and run WD's utility later on today. Edit: ran the WD test, both short and long came up fine. All the drives look good in this case.

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[neo668]

With the HDDs out of the way it's time to try to narrow down the culprit still further. If you don't find out what exactly is causing your slow down the same could happen if you change over to an SSD.

Do you have the latest motherboard BIOS? I would try using another BIOS (up or down 1 version) which you have not used before and see if that helps. I've also read that the Intel drivers can be rather picky.

 

[shadowdr]

If you are sure the hard drives are eliminated, I would take a look at the startup programs. You say you have a lot on the taskbar and that could easily be the problem if some of the programs have only compatible drivers, not to mention all the program updaters. I would install Startup CPL by Mike Lin, and at least look at the items starting with windows. If you say you have a bunch there are a lot you don't even know about. Disable the ones you don't want at start up and if the problem continues, disable the ones you do one at a time untill you find a possible problem.

 

[Dark Shade]

You say you have a lot on the taskbar and that could easily be the problem if some of the programs have only compatible drivers, not to mention all the program updaters. ... If you say you have a bunch there are a lot you don't even know about. Disable the ones you don't want at start up and if the problem continues, disable the ones you do one at a time untill you find a possible problem.

When did I say this? There is nothing I don't want in my startup pane of MSConfig. Only a bunch of my drivers and other things like that. I even ended up cleaning out services. Would installed programs be an issue (games)? Cause I have about 220+ installed programs, although as I said, very little starts at boot.

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[shadowdr]

My bad, when you said " I have a bit in my start up but they are mostly things like the programs for my gaming mouse/keyboard/keypad, sound card, etc", I read it as slang for quite a bit, just a difference in dialect I guess. I really doubt that it is your mobo as you say it starts off ok and gets slower later. This sounds like a bad driver or start up program that is hanging or even a bad sata plug.