Help! New build, Boot REALLY slow! SSD Problem???

[euphoria4949]

Hi everyone, I really need some help with this please.

I have just built my new gaming rig, spent a hell of a lot on it as I wanted it to be great, and it "Should" have been a MASSIVE improvement over the piece of junk I was using for the past few years......... BUT, it pains me to have to say I am really disappointed, there must be something wrong, surely!!

The problem I'm having is the boot up, it takes forever! I wasn't expecting it to boot up in 5 seconds flat, but it's taking nearly 2 minutes, surely that can't be right!?! I am a complete noob regarding SSD's but I have been reading up so I knew what to do when I first installed it, like TRIM and AHCI are enabled, but other than that I'm lost with how to set them up or what to check.

Typical boot goes like this: power on, 3 seconds MoBo splash, windows splash 8-10 seconds, desktop screen.................. 1 minute 30 seconds later it's loaded and it's ready. I don't have a million programs trying to run at start up just a few like the ASUS AI Suite II, Intel Rapid Storage Tech which I haven't disabled yet. I benched it and the results are included.

So what could it be, I'm really lost as to why it's taking so long???

This is my build: 3570k (stock clock at the moment), 8GB Corsair Vengeance, Samsung 830 256GB SSD, ASUS Z77 Sabertooth.

Please any help would be amazing,
Thank you.

 

[larrym]

ok, just a few things...

Did you install the OS with just the SSD connected (no other HDD's connected) to the MOBO in the number 1 SATA 3 slot?

Did you install the Sata 3 drivers for the MOBO?

Do you have the SSD connected to the SATA 3 number one slot?

 

[euphoria4949]

ok, just a few things...

Did you install the OS with just the SSD connected (no other HDD's connected) to the MOBO in the number 1 SATA 3 slot?

Did you install the Sata 3 drivers for the MOBO?

Do you have the SSD connected to the SATA 3 number one slot?

Thank you for replying, I really appreciate it.

Right, first answer is "yes" I installed the OS with "Only" the SSD connected. In fact I haven't even bothered to connect the HDD's yet as I was concerned over this boot up problem.

Second, "Yes" I installed the ASUS MoBo SATA drivers off the disk that came with the MoBo.

Lastly, I have just checked and the SSD in connected to the Intel SATA3 6GB/s "port 2". I read the manual and it said the OS drive should be connected to an Intel SATA3 and not the ASMedia ports but it didn't say which one :-\

Thanks again

 

[euphoria4949]

Errrr, I'm not sure if this is a stupid question or not, but here goes. Are the 2 "Different" versions of the Samsung 830 256GB??? i.e. Laptop only version and a Desktop only version. Or is it just the kit they come with, i.e. SATA cable or USB cable???

 

[larrym]

The 830 will work in either. You should be using the SATA cable. I have the same SSD and your scores were similar to mine. I do get about a 10 second start up. did you try switching the sata port?

 

[odiervr]

I'm a fellow noob. I have an Intel SSD ... off to on is about 30 seconds with password entry.

My guess:

1. Try a different SATA 3 port on the mobo.
2. Update SATA drivers off the ASUS website (more up to date)

You have quality equipment (samsung and ASUS).

That's all i got I'm afraid. Good Luck

 

[larrym]

One other trick you can try is disabling the DVD drive as a boot drive. This has helped other before.

 

[euphoria4949]

The 830 will work in either. You should be using the SATA cable. I have the same SSD and your scores were similar to mine. I do get about a 10 second start up. did you try switching the sata port?

Right, thank god for that. I thought I had cocked up, I had to get the 830 Laptop version as the Desktop wasn't in stock, I thought at the time the only difference would be the kit that came with it, but then when I started getting really slow boot times I thought maybe there WAS a difference! Panic over =)

Ok, I'm going to try updating the SSD firmware although I pretty sure I have the latest version as the Samsung site says the latest is (CXM03B1Q) from January 2012 and mine is showing on AS SSD as CXM0 so I think that's the same firmware.
Also I will try moving the SSD to the Intel SATA3 port 1 and try that. If that doesn't improve things then I will try a fresh install and update the drivers slowly one by one to see if any of them are causing the issue.

In your opinion would it pay me to update the MoBo BIOS??? I'm worried about doing that as I've never done it before and heard horror stories about it going wrong, but would it be worth the risk if it might speed things up???

 

[odiervr]

+1 to Larrym above (BIOS boot drive priority)

 

[euphoria4949]

One other trick you can try is disabling the DVD drive as a boot drive. This has helped other before.

Thanks for that, funny enough I just read that same thing on a different thread. So do you mean just have the SSD as the primary and solo boot, then if I need to boot something from CD/DVD like Windows for instance just enable the optical drive if and when I need it. Is that what you mean???

 

[larrym]

I would leave the MOBO bios alone, and try to disable the dvd drive in the boot order first. I would also talk to asus about the bios and the ssd boot speed before I attempted a bios update. I am sure asus has had calls on this before and may have a quick solution for you and if it requires a bios update or not.

 

[larrym]

Thanks for that, funny enough I just read that same thing on a different thread. So do you mean just have the SSD as the primary and solo boot, then if I need to boot something from CD/DVD like Windows for instance just enable the optical drive if and when I need it. Is that what you mean???

yes, exactly

 

[euphoria4949]

yes, exactly

Well one handy thing, I found out through Magician that my SSD is running the latest firmware so that's one less thing. Gonna try it all out now and maybe give ASUS a call.

Also before I forget, I read that SSD's should "NEVER" be fully formatted and only ever quick formatted. So if I do a fresh W7 install, when selecting the drive to install the OS, should I click format or not??? If I remember correctly thats a quick format I think, but either way best to do it or not???

 

[euphoria4949]

Well so far just updating the MoBo drivers have shaved 22 seconds off the boot time =) It's a good start, so now gonna try the SATA3 port 1 and disabling the optical drive.

[EDIT] Well moving the SSD to the Intel SATA3 port 1 and disabling the optical drive didn't do anything to the boot time.
As it stands now: Power on - Windows desktop appearing 19 seconds but Desktop appearing to the few programs being loaded about 50secs/1min. Totally = 1:10/1:20 :-\

Gonna try a fresh install later. But I still need to know if I should format the drive when re-installing W7???

 

[Scott_D_Bowen]

Did you do a fresh install when the SSD was installed, or migrate an existing Windows 7 installation to it?
- SSD's can be very picky about the 4KB alignment, and dare I say even 64KB or 1MB alignment of partitions.
- Might decay the SSD faster.

Generally a fresh install with one format won't kill an SSD, and in your case it might even help... (It would take THOUSANDS of ZERO-FILLs to wreck and SSD, and even then I have my doubts).

 

[euphoria4949]

Did you do a fresh install when the SSD was installed, or migrate an existing Windows 7 installation to it?
- SSD's can be very picky about the 4KB alignment, and dare I say even 64KB or 1MB alignment of partitions.
- Might decay the SSD faster.

Generally a fresh install with one format won't kill an SSD, and in your case it might even help... (It would take THOUSANDS of ZERO-FILLs to wreck and SSD, and even then I have my doubts).

Yeah I did a complete fresh install on the SSD. I've narrowed it down to either the drivers or the ASUS MoBo programs such as AI Suite II, Intel Rapid Storage and Network iControl. I'm going to do a quick format on the SSD and slowly re-install the drivers one by one to see if there is a specific one that is causing it.