New Athlon 64 system....3 min boot?!?!

[AmeenR]

Im running an A64 3000+ with a seagate baracuda sata 160 gig hd with a fresh install of win xp. Why does it take 3 minutes to get into windows once i turn on my computer? Is there a specific file or files that i can look at or edit to quicken this?!

 

[MaxFusion16]

are you running in ata100 mode?
you could be using an ata33 cable which limits throughput to 33mb/s

where does the boot process take the most time? bios check, os loading?

 

[silverpig]

He said he's using SATA, so there wouldn't be any ata100/33 stuff.

For starters you have to detect the SATA controller which adds time. As for the rest, try going into device manager and seeing if there are any problems/duplicates etc.

 

[AmeenR]

Originally posted by: silverpig
He said he's using SATA, so there wouldn't be any ata100/33 stuff.

For starters you have to detect the SATA controller which adds time. As for the rest, try going into device manager and seeing if there are any problems/duplicates etc.

My mobo has two different sata controllers on it, and I've disabled the one I am not using. Now that you mention it, about 50-60% of the boot time is before the windows loading screen is even displayed.

 

[silverpig]

Could also be your 256 of ram. Check the device manager for any probs.

 

[yhelothar]

run bootvis... search ms' site for it

 

[CTho9305]

PIO vs DMA? In the device manager, look at the "advanced settings" for your IDE controller,and make sure it's in DMA mode. PIO on the fastest cable in the world is going to be slower than DMA even in ATA33.

 

[AmeenR]

OK...I've tinkered around with some bios settings and managed to get my boot time down to roughly a minute. Now, most of the waiting is on the loading screen for windows xp.