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Incredibly slow boot up - new build

G

Goatie

Member
Hey,

I just finished building a system with these specs for a friend.

AMD 64 2800+
EPOX Nforce 3 mobo
512 MB of Kingston valueram
Radeon 9800
80 GB Western Digital HD (IDE)


However for some reason, boot up is incredibly slow. When I turn on the computer it checks the RAm and the CPU (And displays them correctly) Then I have to wait a good twenty five seconds or more for it to check the IDE devices (CDRW ad the HD, which it also displays correctly). During this time, if I hit the del key to enter bios nothing happens. After its detected the IDE devices, if I don't push anything, it will do nothing for another 20 seconds and then proceed to booting up. I haven't bought windows XP yet, I'm installing windows 64-bit now to test it. Is this normal? I've never seen boot ups this long with the two other computers I built, they booted up normally the second I built them. Any ideas on what the problem could be? All help appreciated, thanks.

Edit:

See my post a bit later in the thread and I reiterate what I wrote here slightly more legibly, heh.
 
Hi,

thanks for the reply. That isn't the problem. I just installed windows 64-bit now, however this happened before even installing an os. It happens during the bios screen. First before checking for ide devices, then right after it checks. It then takes it sweet time when it loads the "nvidia boot agent". Also, the black screen with te windowsxp logo (with that little blue bar moving back and forth) takes ages as well.

Strange thing is, once I'm actually in windows everything works as I would excpect. I'm VERY confused.
 
Just go into your bios and tell it not to detect ide drives......

If that doesn't work then turn your computer on...pour coffee into it and phone the insurance company!!
 
In the bios, I would make sure you disable any onboard ethernet controllers not in use as well as the onboard RAID/SATA controllers.
 
Yes Cylinder 38309, etc.

Edit:

Give me 10 minutes, I'm goign to move the cpu/monitor next to my computer so I can type here and meddle with the bios at the same time.
 
Ok I disabled S-ata because I'm not using it, howver I cuold not fnd anything in the bios to disable checking ide drives on boot-up. I'm SO confused.

The thing that confuses me most is that everything seems to be working. All the devices are being detected properly. So what the hell is causing the slow as hell boot-up time???
 
Originally posted by: Goatie
Ok I disabled S-ata because I'm not using it, howver I cuold not fnd anything in the bios to disable checking ide drives on boot-up. I'm SO confused.
Click to expand...

I never heard of that option myself. Im confused in what the member was trying to state. Anyway, If you are not using onboard lan you can disable that too as well as onboard RAID controllers. I think Nvidia uses RealTek Raid.
 
I am actually going to use the onboard lan to access the internet and update the cpu, so I can't disable that. If you all will just bear with me here I'm going to restate my problem in the hopes that it might jog someones memory.

I turn on the computer, it then flashes the Graphics card information and tests the RAM/CPU (correctly). This all takes the excpected amount of time. It then appears to feeze for a good 20 seconds or more, after this it displays a message stating chekcing IDE devices. This takes a normal amount of time, after which it appears to freeze again. t is at this point where if i hit DEL I can enter the bios (though its not instantaneous). If I do not hit del, when the "freeze" is done it proceeds to boot up. There is no freeze here, but it does take longer than it should. Lastly it displays the black windows screen and from here on out everythign appears normal.

I really appreciate all the help. Hopefully someone will be able to figure this out.

Edit:

I'm typing this edit from the new computer. Off Topic: Does anyone know of any decent 64-bit firewalls i can download, thanks.
 
Originally posted by: thorin
1) Disable SMART.
2) Do you have a floppy drive?
3) Does your system clock keep the proper time?

Thorin
Click to expand...

Ok back from calss:

1) Already done
2) yes
3) yes

I'm going to try updating the bios, see if that does anything. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Yes, on both accounts.

However it hangs at other points too.

For instance, after its done detecting the IDE devices it hangs at the message

"verifying dmi pool date"
 
A) Try flashing to the newest BIOS
B) Try a different HDD

If A or B don't fix it get a new mobo 😉 just what I would do.
 
Probably a long shot, but won't take more than a few minutes to try, try switching the hdd jumper to CS or, if it's one of the WD drives with seperate jumpers for standalone master and master with slave, try switching between the two.
 
About to flash bios as i type this

If that doesen't work, I'll try fooling around with the jumpers. It is that kind of WD drive by the way

Thanks for the help, If you see this post bumped back to the top of the forum, then you'll know it didn't work, heh.
 
Yeah, it should be the jumpers. Seen this thread a billion times before with people who just finished a build. Unplug the IDE drives and it should boot fine, if it doesn't, then it isn't HDD related. If it does boot fine and you reattach the IDE drives and get a slow boot, it's goota be jumpers.
 
Be sure to check the jumper info in the hard drive manual, but iirc, WD hard drives that are master with no slave on the cable need to have the jumper removed completely.
 
Have I metioned how much I love you guys at any point during this thread? No?

I LOVE YOU!

Sniff, that brought a tear to my eye. Yup, problem solved, it was the jumper. I removed it and everything went by lightening fast. I'm actually having trouble trying to get into the bios, yay. I was so scared I had screwed up the build some how, even though I knew I did everything right. My friend will be happy with his PC now. Next the overclock. I suppose a 2.0 on stock should be very doable, eh?

Thanks a lot for all the help, I appreciate it. Take care.
 
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