SLOW startup

[imported_Harbinger]

The problem is that for some unknown reason pc takes too long to start loading windows.
Below I describe in steps startup and after that my sata/ide configuration.


POST -ok
Via on board sata/raid controller detects hdds (none) -ok
Promine on board sata/raid controller detects hdds , finds 2 disks -> 1 raid0 array -ok
so far so good.
Logically one would expect windows to start loading but no ..
the screen goes blank , only a cursor blinking on top-left for about 20 secs or something
After that, windows startup and everything goes fine from that point on.

This is not a problem that accured out from nowhere. it always existed, from the very first moment I built the pc. even before defining and formating array.
Here is how my disks are located.

PATA Primary Master : WD80BB
PATA Secondary Master : NEC ND3500+ DVD-RW Drive
PATA Secondary Slave : Lite-ON DVD-Rom Drive
Via Sata : None
Promise Sata : 2x WD160JB @ Raid0

Mobo is Asus A8V Deluxe Rev2.0, bios is 1005.27 (tried 1007 and 1008.02 beta , same s**t)
Windows XP Pro with SP2 (with SP1 was the same)

I think thats all. Anyway its not really a "problem" since no instabilities or low performance are occured from this but its REALLY annoying to wait for
such a fast pc to boot (I really aviod restarting by all means coz of this.. )


P.S. This was posted to the Tech Support forum but not much help there..
P.S.2 Some ppl say that having 2 optical drives on the same channel is bad and can cause problems. By the time I build the pc there was only 1 drive though (NEC DVDR) on sec. master and still the problem occured so I am positive that it has nothing to do with the optical drives.

Thanks in advance

 

[Rhagz]

I had a similar problem when I was using a borrowed CD-RW drive. My CD drive went bad and I took an HP drive from one of their prebuilt machines. I didn't change any drivers, just used the standard Windows ones. The drive worked great, but I noticed my startup from off to ready took about 1:30 minutes opposed to the usual 30 seconds. After my new replacment drive came in, I switched them and I was back to booting in 30 seconds. I don't know how made the HP drive, but it was clearly the source of my long boot times. Perhaps it is something with a device driver that is taking an unusual long time to load. Try booting with just one optical drive, then switch them and boot with just the other, and see if you can narrow it down that way.

 

[Squally Leonharty]

Experiment with the PC. I'm guessing it's the fault of one of the optical drives.

Disconnect all drives, including the optical ones, except the boot drive with XP. Boot up and see if you get delays. If not, connect one optical drive, boot up, check. If you experience delays, then it's that drive. If not, connect the other optical drive, etc.

If you experience slowdown when the RAID0 drives are attached, then try switching to VIA's RAID solution. Might work.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

First of all thanks for the extremely quick reply I will try starting-up with no optical drives connected at all. There is no need to isolate nec and start only with lite-on since I am positive that lite-on is not responsible for the slow startup. Because of some downloads and a bit boredom I will try that a bit later

 

[Squally Leonharty]

Ah, you replied while I was editing my previous post. Please read it again. It's now a completely different post. xD

 

[imported_Harbinger]

I wish I could change to via's sata. My gainward gets on the way I would have to cut-off some metal off the aluminum casing. Its only for about half a cm but its enough to render 2 sata ports unusable.

 

[Squally Leonharty]

The card is that large? *_* If I look at my motherboard, that's quite insane. That sucks, though.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

Believe me the card is THAT LARGE And yes it sucks because its only for a mere half centimeter

 

[Squally Leonharty]

I'd really like a picture of your card and the motherboard, including the SATA portion of the motherboard, so I can see how the card is blocking the ports. If you have a digital camera, that is.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

http://www.geocities.com/dimp_13/sata.JPG

I know the photo is a bit bad but its an old one since I dont have a digital camera right now. But I think you can see what I was talking about. I really tried to squeeze the connectors there but no luck, totally impossible. Like I said I have to remove some metal from the card

 

[Squally Leonharty]

Damn, that's huge! That CPU fan is huge, too! What the hell? I've never seen such big things. xD Good job.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

Dont take me wrong , I dont have obsession with "huge" things or something I guess you havent seen a XP-120 before ?

 

[Squally Leonharty]

Nope, never saw an XP-120 before. *shudders* In my opinion, it doesn't look good, such a huge thing. I prefer Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu with its nice copper/aluminium heatsink and good fan. It's just my opinion; I have nothing against your equipment or whatever.

 

[HappyCracker]

How are the jumpers setup on your drives? I recently did an OS install for a friend and he had a WD drive jumpered for either 'cable select' or something and it took a good minute for it to boot. I took the jumper off because that's 'single drive' mode and BAM! no more waiting.
And yes, that XP120 is a monster

 

[imported_Harbinger]

WD is primary master , jumper on single drive/master. the other discs are sata. didnt touch jumers there.

 

[IZGS04]

The small wonders of internet. I typed the words "ASUS A8V slow boot" in yahoo search, and this was the second hit in the list. I had the exact same problem. So I removed the jumper from my HD, and Windows starts up really quick again.

thx guys!