Extremely slow POST and boot with Gigabyte EX58-UD5 Rev. 1

[DefRef]

Am I? My numbers seem really slow in comparison.

On a hunch, I downloaded Defraggler to check the defrag status of the C drive. Windows reports 0% fragmented, but Defraggler reported 13% fragmented, over 130GB of files! Yikes! I let it run for 10 hours and it was only 28% done, only down to 12% defrag. However, investigating what was frag'ed, it was giant 1-2GB The Old Republic and music sample libraries that were the biggies. It currently has 193 fragmented files, 816 total fragments, 103.2GB.

I am super leary of doing an in-place reinstall because I'm currently tied up with my old WinXP box at my g/f's which is stuck in a loop where at some point of the install, reboots and does a full 5-stage CHKDSK. Not sure WTF is going on with that box, but it's annoying the hell out of me.

 

[DefRef]

This leaves the still slow boot speeds to contend with. I ran CrystalDiskMark on the new Toshiba drive, 3 passes of 1000MB and the Read [MB/s] and Write [MB/s] results are:

Sequential - 112.5 / 89.98
512K Random - 14.68 / 34.79
4K Random, Queue Depth=1 - 0.272 (66.5 IOPS) / 0.680 (166 IOPS)
4K Random, Queue Depth=32 - 0.637 (155.5 IOPS) / 0.647 (158 IOPS)

I don't know how to interpret these numbers. They seem hella better than before (Sequential Read/Write speeds were 86MB/s and 70.76MB/s. 4K random, Q=1 read/write were 0.227MB/s and .0377MB/s) but someone will have to tell me if they actually are.

I moved my nearly 400GB Steam folder over today and just reran the benchmarks and here are the latest numbers:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 110.878 MB/s
Sequential Write : 109.822 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 41.100 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 58.474 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.527 MB/s [ 128.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.272 MB/s [ 310.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 1.057 MB/s [ 258.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.476 MB/s [ 116.2 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 67.8% (1263.1/1863.0 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2013/07/11 4:14:30
OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Why are some of these numbers double the previous runs, while others are a little lower?

 

[sdougal]

I had an issue with a system a year or so back, where it wold take about 7-8 mins to boot up. The problem started when I upgraded my VGA card. Turns out that the VGA BIOS and motherboard BIOS were having issues. Upgraded to the new motherboard BIOS and it would then boot to Windows much, much faster.

New version for your board is F13... worth a look.

 

[DefRef]

Here's what's weird about the BIOS: I'm currently running F13j dated 08/02/2010, but the F13 BIOS listed on the Gigabyte site is dated 2011/01/11. There is no BIOS on the site which matches the displayed date. It doesn't help that the date format is unclear, though the site appears to be YYYY/MM/DD.

 

[hackerballs]

A consideration for you is that you have a hidden VIRUS making it load slow.............FORMAT the darn thing first before digging into the BIOS, then after that make sure you have the latest BIOS.......A format never hurts, takes just a couple hours total to have everything loaded back in.

When was the last time you did this?

 

[DefRef]

If you read the thread, you'd know that the PC is nearly four years old and I'm not going to be reloading all that setup in a couple of hours. I've already explained that I'm not one of those people who does nothing with his computer but wipe it. To blow up the entire system and spending DAYS to try and get back working over flashing a BIOS makes zero sense.

 

[hackerballs]

disagree....like a rug that never is moved still will have dirt under it after 4 years.....does not matter how long (4 years is WAY too long to go without a Format, Do you not know how to do this?) or how much you have in it or how many programs you have.....................MAXIMUM 3 hours to totally do it all...........What would you do for "days"

You choice if you want to have this problem forever , then so be it

 

[hackerballs]

I will however, offer to help you with some links or help you along with a format if you change your mind

ps........because I am a new member here, I am not "new" to PC's building (since 1969 and punch cards)

 

[DefRef]

I can do without the presumptive arrogance. Three hours? Right. Pffft.

 

[hackerballs]

Look.................not trying for arrogance.............

But you have problems with your PC, and to say that you "I've already explained that I'm not one of those people who does nothing with his computer but wipe it"

I suggested a possible fix for your PC and was trying to gently tell you that maybe........but you already have your mind made up that it is some other problem.....possible............but if you have not ever Formatted your PC in 4 years, I would consider it might need to have a fresh install just to clear out the bugs first and go from there if the problem is not solved............

This is a simple solution to try first........and yes, I could transfer all your DATA and install OS and reinstall all programs in 3 hours...........done it for clients many times.........why you think it takes days when you have not even attempted it for 4 years makes me think you are a little behind the times.......(no arrogance intended there)....trying to be helpful to YOU

Have a nice day

 

[DefRef]

Native Instruments Komplete 8 comes on 12 DVDs, installing up to 110GB in its full install form and takes 2-3 hours to load. That's ONE program. I'm not just running Office and Firefox.

 

[dmoney1980]

DefRef - not trying to be a smartass here, but think about how much time you already spent trying to diagnose the issue....

It sounds like you tried everything under the sun besides a reformat, and it looks like this may be your only option left at this point.

 

[DefRef]

With one BIOS setting and a new hard drive, I've cut the boot time in half (not that it's great) and caught that my hard drives were getting sketchy. The problem I'm having with the "just reformat, dude" people is that they don't have to burn their computers down and rebuild years of programs and workflow. It's like telling a guy to dump his girlfriend because she can't make a decent pancake, but is wonderful otherwise. What if I reformat and it's still slow? I'm screwed over and the peanut gallery gets to shrug and say, "Oh well. Sucks for you." Nice.

And I haven't tried EVERYTHING - I haven't updated the BIOS, but that's because I'm not sure WTF is up with the versions.

 

[hackerballs]

from "just reformat, dude" not sure if you mentioned that you tried to go into BIOS and set default mode and try that. If you OC, maybe a setting is off where it need to be on.............This would only take 15 seconds and not days and days to try. Or try optimal settings after the default........you should have F13 Bios but should not be required cause it was working before

 

[DefRef]

Is it really so hard to read the thread? Sigh...

In the process of trying to fix things I tried loading the optimized defaults. What was so brutal in the early phases before I shut off USB detection was that it took 90-120 seconds before I could even press Del to enter BIOS setup and then another two minutes before it would even start booting up.

I've combed through the auto-starts and what's so weird is how the display acts as if the video signal has cut off and goes to sleep for a couple of minutes during the boot sequence. That's why the suggestion there's a conflict between the video card BIOS and the mobo has a ring of possibility.

EDIT: I downloaded the F13 BIOS dated 2012/01/11 and checked my download folder and found that I had this F13j BIOS - which sounds like a beta thing because I also have a 13K - that I downloaded 8/25/2010 or about a year after I built the rig in September 2009 in preparation for Windows 7's release. (I built it and stablized the OC and got acclimated with the RTM beta and then wiped and started fresh with final retail disc.)

Judging from BIOS release dates, it must've come with F7 and been updated to F9 in early 2010. IIRC, the menus changed substantially between F9 and F13 to the point that my photos I took of my settings didn't match the layout afterward. Bother.

 

[hackerballs]

Almost starting to sound like a capacitor in your MB or GPU or Monitor might be going......lol...just what you need, but as a thought, have you looked?............check takes 15 seconds for MB and 10 minutes for GPU and 10 minutes for Monitor....could be done in the time it takes you to boot 3 times

I had something almost similar with monitor not coming on display. Keep getting worse till it reached about 5/10 minutes before it came on. Flickered some also.

This took about 6 months to get bad enough before I checked. I took the monitor apart and it was 2 caps. Soldered out the old and replaced with 2 new ones for 50 cents each............Time took was 1/2 hour

But darn it all to heck, if it's the MB @ 4 years old OC'ed @ 3.6 (which is hugh by the way, nice)

and yes you did try optimized settings so I assume you tried the default setting also

have you tried another older gpu (4 years old to match your i7)

 

[sdougal]

Here's what's weird about the BIOS: I'm currently running F13j dated 08/02/2010, but the F13 BIOS listed on the Gigabyte site is dated 2011/01/11. There is no BIOS on the site which matches the displayed date. It doesn't help that the date format is unclear, though the site appears to be YYYY/MM/DD.

F13j will be one of several 'beta' releases which will have culminated F13 as the final release. Give it a wizz... might just do the trick mate.

 

[DefRef]

@hackerballs - The monitor doesn't blank out at any other time but during the boot or when it's supposed to after its time out. It's also only 13 months old, replacing a 7 or 8-year-old Dell 2405 whose inverter appears to have failed. The video card is only about a year old; whenever the GTX 670 launched is when I bought it. Also, I've run virus/rootkit/malware scans and they've been clear.

I wasn't able to flash my BIOS with Q-Flash just now because I've got USB disabled (that 90-second thing, remember) and it couldn't see my key drive. Bother. Gonna have to muck about with that some other way.

Here's a couple more things which may trigger some thoughts:

* When the display and keyboard go out for 2+ minutes while Windows is supposedly loading, the HD activity LED goes almost completely inactive - dark with only the barest flickers every so often. When the display comes back up with the keyboard, it lights up solid like you'd think it should. My HD LED is showing more activity now while I'm typing with just Firefox open than during boot. It's as if the HD is going to sleep for a couple of minutes in the middle. Hard drive narcolepsy?

* What brought this to my attention in the first place (remember, I rarely cold-boot my PC) is that I had a couple of instances of my computer simply shutting down without warning. I'd think it was a power hiccup, except my rig is on a UPS and nothing was wrong with that. (Only 4-6 months old.) I wasn't gaming; just surfing the web. So I booted into BIOS and went to the PC Health area and it showed the CPU temp was 97C!!! Did the water cooling fail? I checked everything and while it started to cool down with the case open, it was still in the upper-60s and that seemed awfully high for idle

I didn't see any dust accumulated on the radiator, but vacuumed it as I normally do periodically but it was still running high. While researching the Corsair cooler, I saw a post mentioning checking the exhaust for blockage. Nothing was on the back of the case, so the only place there was left to look would be in between the radiator block and exhaust fan. I unscrew the screws and pull the radiator off and this is what was there:

O! M! F! G! I reached for my phone on the desk to snap a shot of this since no one would believe it. Holy lint trap, Batman! After cleaning it, it's nice and chill like it used to be.

While the system was shutting down to keep the CPU from frying, I don't believe there should've been any other damage to the system. In general, this has been a reliable and rock-steady box all along. The only times I've had problems have been goofy times when I've pushed some sort of OC'ing too far or didn't wait for the USB interface for my guitar to unload before yanking the plug and BSODing the box. Other than these ridonkulous boot times, it's pretty much OK.

 

[DefRef]

Flashed to BIOS F13 (no letter) which was pretty miserable going because it took 90-120 seconds to be able to have a split-second window to slap Delete otherwise I got a blinking cursor and have to reset. After 3-4 times (do the math on how long that took), I got it flashed. Rebooted, loaded optimized defaults, rebooted, then went in and set everything back to how it was OC'ed before.

Disabled USB storage and mouse, left USB keyboard active. Rebooted and here are the milestones:

0:00-0:15 - POST and detects drives and starts into Windows; fastest yet. It takes 45 seconds with USB storage enabled.
0:45 - After 30 seconds of solid HD LED, the monitor goes to sleep, however the keyboard remains lit. HD activity goes nearly dead.
2:35 - Monitor comes back on and HD LED comes to life.
3:25 - Wallpaper appears
5:00 - PC sorta usable.

The mystery is what's going on during that minute and a half when the hard drive takes a coffee break. That the keyboard is staying on during this interlude is new, but I'm still stumped.

 

[Meghan54]

While researching the Corsair cooler, I saw a post mentioning checking the exhaust for blockage. Nothing was on the back of the case, so the only place there was left to look would be in between the radiator block and exhaust fan. I unscrew the screws and pull the radiator off and this is what was there:

O! M! F! G! I reached for my phone on the desk to snap a shot of this since no one would believe it. Holy lint trap, Batman! After cleaning it, it's nice and chill like it used to be.

Not getting involved in the boot time discussion, but just wanted to mention....your cooling rad/fan combo is operating as an intake, not exhaust, which is why the dust built up between the rad and fan (if the rad/fan was operating as an exhaust, the dust buildup would be on the opposite side of the rad than you show). But with a rad/fan cooling setup, you've actually got it oriented "properly" for best performance, which is drawing outside cooler air across the rad instead of exhausting already heated air from inside the case through the rad.

I'd make sure your top mounted fan is set up as an exhaust, not as an intake.

 

[Shmee]

Hey, I had a UD5, while it is not as fast as a UEFI board, it should not be this slow. You already updated to the latest bios, which is good.

Assuming it is not the windows install just being slow on the HDD, (which a reformat may help, as mentioned,) you can try turning off uneeded features and controllers, such as the GSata, and only use the ICH10R. Make sure it is on AHCI.

Of course, it is possible it is just a mobo issue, but I would try fiddling in bios a bit more.

 

[DefRef]

Weird. My post last night didn't make it up.

For the life of me, I thought I had the radiator fan blowing OUT, but it appears I set it up to drag air in as you're supposed to. The case top fan is blowing out. The problem is that there's a kickboard in the back of the desk's foot well, so there's not much space back there and the air is warmer because it's got the heat coming out of the top getting trapped in there. That said, the problems aren't heat related.

I don't think it's a matter of the different SATA controllers because all the drives were on the ICH10R ones to begin with and I only added the drivers for the GSATA when I realized those ports were dead to Windows and I had to load the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers after switching from IDE to ACHI.

I ran CCCleaner and it fixed over 1300 missing DLL etc issues and cleaned 6GB of lost temp files and cruft, but other than losing my Firefox history and saved tabs (I had to Google this thread!), there was no improvement.

The one BIOS setting that I see causes an effect is the USB Storage switch. Off it POSTs in under 20 seconds, on it takes 45 seconds (down from the 90-120 seconds). Otherwise, nothing has changed.

What's baffling me is why the HD seems to take a 90 second nap in the middle of loading Windows. I'm wondering if there is something happening with USB detection. I remember when having a USB mouse was the only thing you'd have, but now it's keyboard, mouse, the hub in your monitor, the connection from the UPS, external hard drives, printer, iPod dock, etc. I guess the next step is to unplug everything but the mouse and KB and see how fast it boots.

 

[hackerballs]

OH darn..............I had thought you had tried a bare bones boot first, my error

Ya, try unplugging everything and time your boot

try This next http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1718............

and if that is that full of lint, when was the last time you also reapplied Thermal Paste? and battery check? Lots left to try

and yes, it could be a hardware component

 

[hackerballs]

and if in the far distant future, if you ever decide to do a format and if it fixes everything, please send me 12 cents, lol

change battery if you are not sure it is good, just a reset BIOS so no worries there

 

[DefRef]

I'm pretty certain that this is a Windows/USB hiccup. Since it POSTs like a shot and the video is working except during the blackout, I'm not sure what those other factors would be. This isn't a "no POST, no boot, no video" issue. It's a vaguely indeterminate slow boot with odd behavior issue.