Win 10 Boot Times Very Excessive

Hi,

I am now thinking that this might be a hardware issue perhaps?

I have reset my PC using Windows restore and with the bare bones it is still taking fifteen minutes to boot up. It is always successful in booting into windows but it is taking so long. My boot times used to be around 20-30 seconds.

I have performed a CHKDSK on my boot drive (C) and it came back that there were no errors.

I have performed a CPU test and a GPU stress test and these apparently were good.

I have posted logs and gone through the malware section on MajorGeeks with a clean bill of health.

Any idea what is causing these slow boot times please? Could it be a power issue and how would I check that? I have no electrical testing equipment.

Operating System
Windows 10 Professional (x64) Version 21H1 (build 19043.1320)
Install Language: English (United Kingdom)
System Locale: English (United Kingdom)
Installed: 27-Feb-18 9:23:44 PM
Servicing Branch: Current Branch (CB)
Boot Mode: UEFI with Secure Boot disabled
System Model
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a
3.70 gigahertz Intel Core i7-8700K
384 kilobyte primary memory cache
1536 kilobyte secondary memory cache
12288 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (6 total)
Hyper-threaded (12 total)
Main Circuit Board b
Board: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING Rev X.0x
Serial Number: 171012522002722
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. 0416 10/19/2017
Drives
6752.44 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1970.96 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW UH12NS30 [Optical drive]

Crucial_CT512M550SSD1 [Hard drive] (512.11 GB) -- drive 1, s/n 14140C10A6E3, rev MU01, SMART Status: Healthy
KINGSTON SV300S37A240G [Hard drive] (240.06 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 50026B723905661D, rev 60AABBF0, SMART Status: Healthy
SanDisk SSD G5 BICS4 (1000.20 GB) -- drive 2, s/n 202517800264, rev 415000WD, SMART Status: Healthy
ST3000DM001-1CH166 [Hard drive] (3000.59 GB) -- drive 3, s/n Z1F4EB4Y, rev CC29, SMART Status: Healthy
WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 [Hard drive] (2000.40 GB) -- drive 4, s/n WD-WCAZA6618041, rev 51.0AB51, SMART Status: Healthy
Memory Modules c,d
32696 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM2' has 16384 MB (serial number E372FAB1)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM2' has 16384 MB (serial number E372FC97)
Local Drive Volumes
c: (NTFS on drive 0) * 239.41 GB 97.52 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 3) 943.72 GB 101.40 GB free
e: (NTFS on drive 3) 943.72 GB 104.24 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 3) 1113.02 GB 425.59 GB free
g: (NTFS on drive 4) 2000.40 GB 1085.65 GB free
h: (NTFS on drive 1) 511.98 GB 128.10 GB free
j: (NTFS on drive 2) 1000.20 GB 28.45 GB free
* Operating System is installed on c:
Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details)
local user accounts last logon
_ashbackuppb_ 09-Nov-21 7:12:40 AM (admin)
sf192 09-Nov-21 12:30:21 PM (admin)
local system accounts
X Administrator never (admin)
X DefaultAccount never
X Guest never
X WDAGUtilityAccount never
X Marks a disabled account; L Marks a locked account
Printers
HP Laser 103 107 108 on WSD port
Microsoft Print To PDF on PORTPROMPT:
Microsoft Shared Fax Driver on SHRFAX:
Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 on PORTPROMPT:
Controllers
Intel(R) 300 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller
Display
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT [Display adapter]
DELL U3419W [Monitor] (34.1"vis, s/n GB226T2, January 2020)
Bus Adapters
Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller
ASMedia USB3.1 eXtensible Host Controller
Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft)
Multimedia
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Realtek High Definition Audio
Steam Streaming Microphone
Steam Streaming Speakers
SteelSeries Arctis 7X
Virus Protection
Windows Defender Version 4.18.2110.6
Scan Engine Version 1.1.18700.4
Virus Definitions Version 09-Nov-21 Rev 1.353.701.0
Realtime File Scanning On
Group Policies
None detected
Communications
↓ Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Status: Cable unplugged
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: 00:1A:7DA:71:15
Connection Speed: 3 Mbps
↑ Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V
primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.0.10 / 24
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Dhcp Server: 192.168.0.1
Physical Address: 2C:FD:A1:6D:7C:95
Connection Speed: 1 Gbps

Networking Dns Servers: 194.168.4.100
194.168.8.100
Other Devices
3 - DELL U3419W (AMD High Definition Audio Device)
Headphones (SteelSeries Arctis 7X)
Line In (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Microphone (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)
Microphone (SteelSeries Arctis 7X)
Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)
Speakers (Steam Streaming Speakers)
Generic Bluetooth Radio
Corsair K40A Gaming Keyboard (2x)
USB Mouse
Xbox 360 Controller for Windows
USB Storage Use in past 30 Days
None detected
Hosted Virtual Machines
None detected

 

Have you tried placing the RAM in the A slots rather than having 1 in A & the other in B?
Have you tried a clean install of Windows? This means booting with the Windows installation media & deleting all partitions on the Windows drive (excluding any data partitions) & allowing the media to create the partitions it requires.
What programs are running at startup? Have you disabled any non essential ones to see if Windows boots up quicker? Does it take the same time if you boot into safe mode?

 

Hi Bastet. Thanks for the reply.

I have not tried any hardware solutions as of yet. I'll try that tomorrow though.

The RAM is in the recommended slots according to the motherboard manual, but I can change them or try different combinations to see if that makes a difference. I'll report back tomorrow.

No, I haven't done a true clean install of windows. I don't have the media disc. It was an OEM copy with a code. I used the recovery method and kept my personal files. I tried downloading the files but it didn't work so I had to use the option to use existing system.

Shall I wipe my SSD completely and download a copy of Windows 10 and use my code again? Is that how it works? I haven't installed windows in so long.

I loaded Windows in safe mode and it took just as long. I'm just installing essential programmes atthe moment so I can keep using the PC.

Startup programmes currently are Windows Security, realtek HD Audio, Chrome, Sticky Password and github update?

Thanks for your help

 

You can download the media creation tool & use this to create installation media.
Clean installing would remove everything including the OEM recovery partition. When installing Windows you would skip entering a key as this should be registered under your Microsoft account if you sign in with one. I’d suggest putting this option to one side at the moment.
I’m suspecting a hardware issue as the startup is the same when booting into safe mode.
Is the Windows drive the first in the boot list? I’d double check to ensure there’s no other drive/s before it.

 

Something really weird happened last night. It booted into Windows as normal, and this morning it has done the same thing. Ten - fifteen seconds and I was on the desktop.
I have had four or five days of slow bootups and all of a sudden it is now working again, and I haven't touched anything.
I just don't understand what has changed since I restored Windows. It wasn't working straight after the install and I have not touched anything since, but now it is back to its usual boot times.
Fingers crossed it lasts!
Have you any idea why this has suddenly rectified itself? I'm not a religious man.

 

Yesterday was patch Tuesday so it may have downloaded a fix or repaired the problem somehow.
Or it’s just one of the ‘wonderful’ quirks or Windows.

 

Yeah it's come back again. I'll just cross my fingers for a fix I think.

 

Has anything changed since yesterday - any other Windows updates, driver updates, software updates etc?
Do you use fast startup? If yes then please disable this & restart the PC.

 

I did update my graphics card and did some Windows updates.
I made a manual restore point when everything was working and went back to that but it is still going slow.
The fast boot was on. I just turned t off. I'll reboot in a sec and see what happens.

Should I delete my windows.old file?

 

I wouldn’t delete it yet.
Hopefully the restart will fix the problem. If not then there may be a hardware fault.

 

I thought you might be interested in the conclusion of my saga haha.
It is now resolved. It was caused by my mechanical hard drive failing. It wasn't even the boot drive, just some hard drive I had data stored on.
As soon as it went properly and was no longer showing on the drive list then Windows started booting fast again and behaving normally. Weird how a failing hard drive can have such a detrimental affect on performance and boot times.

 

Thanks for the update. It is strange.

 

I had similar problems with my comp running win 7 Five minutes or more to boot.. I stumbled on to a failed case fan while doing a deep clean. After unplugging the dead fan, normal boot times were restored. I would never considered looking for something like that.

 

I had the exact same problem, so I cloned a solid state hard drive it and installed it in my computer. This speed up was dramatic the computer doesn't go any faster just the boot up.