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Windows 7 x64 Boot up time/issues.

coprocessor

coprocessor

Junior Member
Hi,

Been experiencing this issue for quite some time now, however, not repeatedly. I have four internal HDDs:

1. 60 GB SSD for the OS. (Connected to Sata controller P0 on the mainboard)
2. 160 GB WD hard drive for installing apps. (Connected to Sata controller P2 on the mainboard)
3. 2 x 1 TB WD hard drives for backing up data. (Connected to Sata controllers P3 and P4 on the mainboard respectively)

Controller P1 has my optical drive installed.

Boot options have been set to:

1. 60 GB SSD
2. Optical drive

At times when I power on the computer it takes a lot of time to go past the Windows startup logo screen (without the logo - would just say starting windows) and the HDD activity light keeps blinking for a long time. It takes about a minute for the windows logo to show up and then the system boots normally. I've also observed this activity light turned off totally during the Windows boot and the PC stays at a blank screen or the Starting Windows screen. About 2-3 times upon a manual restart it comes up with a message "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

What could be the issue? 😕
 
Is the MBR somehow corrupted? It's not unheard of and can sometimes cause the "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key" message.
Are you sure your boot drive isn't read to crap out on you? Have you run chkdsk on it?

I'm not sure what the exact problem is just throwing out ideas for you to look into.
 
Have swapped cables. CHKDSK did not come up with any problems. The SSD is new and Sata 3 capable. The motherboard is an ASUS M5A97 R2.0 which is Sata 3 capable too. I am using a Sata 3 cable. Checked Event Viewer, found this:

Event 41, Kernel Power
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 27-11-2012 21:16:13
Event ID - 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Cyborg
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />
<EventID>41</EventID>
<Version>2</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>63</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-11-27T15:46:13.103606300Z" />
<EventRecordID>3798</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Cyborg</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
 
Event 41 kernal power means the system was unexpectedly shut down. Not necessarily related to your problem or a big deal.

Do you have a good a/v and a/m plan in place? I recommend MSE, Malwarebytes, and ESET online scanner, to rule out any resource eating nasties.

After you have done that, open an elevated command prompt and run sfc /scannow.

After that, if your system is still exhibiting signs of slow start-up, you can try a repair install.
 
james7679 said:
Event 41 kernal power means the system was unexpectedly shut down. Not necessarily related to your problem or a big deal.

Do you have a good a/v and a/m plan in place? I recommend MSE, Malwarebytes, and ESET online scanner, to rule out any resource eating nasties.

After you have done that, open an elevated command prompt and run sfc /scannow.

After that, if your system is still exhibiting signs of slow start-up, you can try a repair install.
Click to expand...

This boot up issue comes up like once a while, mostly during the first power on. I'm using Kaspersky Internet Security 2013. Will run the sfc /scannow command and check.
 
I will have to check my memory, but if I'm not mistaken, connecting a sata 2 device to the sata 3 controller, will cause the other devices to default to sata 2. This would explain the slow cold boot. I had to eliminate a drive to stop this. Try disconnecting the optical drive from the sata 3 controller and run a few cold boots and see what happens.
 
james7679 said:
I will have to check my memory, but if I'm not mistaken, connecting a sata 2 device to the sata 3 controller, will cause the other devices to default to sata 2. This would explain the slow cold boot. I had to eliminate a drive to stop this. Try disconnecting the optical drive from the sata 3 controller and run a few cold boots and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Your mistaken.
You can have a sata 3 device and a sata device on same system, and they will both run at the rated speed.
 
james7679 said:
Not on the particular Marvell controller on my board.
Click to expand...

Actually, it was the Intel SATA 3 controller that was conflicted and downrating speeds. There is some info on the web about it, particularly Mushkin Forums. May not apply here, but it's worth a shot.
 
They wouldn't meet the SATA specs then.
Each port needs to be able to handle the rated speed.
Heck, even PATA drives are able to do this for a long time.
 
Elixer, I'm not going to get into a [redacted] contest, with you, about this. Take a few minutes and google "sata speed issues" or "sata iii running at sata ii speeds".

Op, do you have Intel Rapid Storage Technology on your board? If so, open it and see what it shows your drive speeds to be running at, please.

I don't like where this is going. Remember: this is a friendly help forum. Be excellent to each other.
-ViRGE
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Elixer, my apologies.

OP, you won't have IRST, as you have an AMD board. But;
Look at the 1st paragraph of page 2-9 of your motherboard manual.
Your DVD drive has to be connected to port SATA3G_5 or SATA3G_6; and the SATA mode of the port it is connected to has to be IDE mode.
After you change the SATA mode change the Type to "CDROM" (page 2-7).

Leave your SSD connected to port SATA3G_1 in AHCI mode.
 
Elixer said:
I would also get crystaldiskinfo (free) and post a pic of the SSD's stats.
Click to expand...

Here's the report:

wqszY.png


james7679 said:
OP, you won't have IRST, as you have an AMD board. But;
Look at the 1st paragraph of page 2-9 of your motherboard manual.
Your DVD drive has to be connected to port SATA3G_5 or SATA3G_6; and the SATA mode of the port it is connected to has to be IDE mode.
After you change the SATA mode change the Type to "CDROM" (page 2-7).

Leave your SSD connected to port SATA3G_1 in AHCI mode.
Click to expand...

Seems this has solved the issue:

Changed the Cabling to the following:

Sata6G_1 > P0 > 60 GB SSD
Sata6G_2 > P1 > WD 160 GB HDD
Sata6G_3 > P2 > WD 1 TB HDD1
Sata6G_4 > P3 > WD 1 TB HDD2
Sata6G_5 > P4 > Optical Drive

Set Sata 1-4 in AHCI mode and Sata 5-6 in IDE mode.

Will keep the PC under observation and update you guys in about a week. Thanks for all the assistance. :thumbsup:
 
Which drive has the caution attribute (drive F from that screenshot)? That isn't good, and that drive might just die at any time...
 
Elixer said:
Which drive has the caution attribute (drive F from that screenshot)? That isn't good, and that drive might just die at any time...
Click to expand...

Wow, good eye Elixer!

OP, I hope that is not one of the drives in your Raid array. If it is, you need to take care of it, immediately.
 
Elixer said:
Which drive has the caution attribute (drive F from that screenshot)? That isn't good, and that drive might just die at any time...
Click to expand...

Thanks. Here's another drive specific screen shot:

A0SFZ.png


What is "Current Pending Sector Count" supposed to mean? Anything that can be done to resolve it? Or you guys suggest an RMA?

Btw, today morning I powered on the computer and it took about 1 minute for the PC to boot up. It stayed at the 'Starting Windows' screen with the HDD activity light blinking continuously for about a minute after which the windows logo came up and then it booted to the login screen. 😕
 
coprocessor said:
What is "Current Pending Sector Count" supposed to mean? Anything that can be done to resolve it? Or you guys suggest an RMA?

Btw, today morning I powered on the computer and it took about 1 minute for the PC to boot up. It stayed at the 'Starting Windows' screen with the HDD activity light blinking continuously for about a minute after which the windows logo came up and then it booted to the login screen. 😕
Click to expand...

Yeah, RMA if you can.

That error means
Current count of unstable sectors (waiting for remapping). The raw value of this attribute indicates the total number of sectors waiting for remapping. Later, when some of these sectors are read successfully, the value is decreased. If errors still occur when reading some sector, the hard drive will try to restore the data, transfer it to the reserved disk area (spare area) and mark this sector as remapped. If this attribute value remains at zero, it indicates that the quality of the corresponding surface area is low
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the information. I'm running this utility on the WD Support page now. It's called Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows.

Will send the CrystalDiskInfo snap along with the diagnostic results for an RMA. 🙂
 
In continuation to the same issue.. things had been working fine for a while and then experienced the same issue again. My 160 GB has failed so had to remove that one.

As of now the sequence is:

Sata6G_1 > P0 > 60 GB SSD
Sata6G_2 > P1 > WD 1 TB HDD1
Sata6G_3 > P2 > WD 1 TB HDD2
Sata6G_5 > P4 > Optical Drive

Every time I come across the above mentioned error message, the SSD does not show up in BIOS until I shut down completely, drain flea power and power it back on after some time. I suspect it is the SSD.

Here is a snap of the SSD details:

oVE2h8C.png


Is there anything wrong with this SSD?
 
Last edited:
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