Crucial M4 128gb slow boot

[HelixLegion]

System specs:

Windows7 64bit
Gigabyte Z68 XP UD3 rev 1.3
Intel i5 2500k
G.Skill Ripjaws X 8gb 1600Mhz
Crucial M4 128gb on Sata 600 port 0
Seagate 1TB 7200rpm on Sata 600 port 1
Also have an esata port connected to one of my sata 300 ports but not being used.

For now I have an old Nvidia QuadroFX card until I buy a new one. Using the mobo HDMI for main monitor and Quadro for a second monitor. Also installed Lucid Virtu but don't think it is doing anything.

Seagate was the original drive and gave good boot times for HDD. Got the m4 and step 1 I upgraded to the latest 309 firmware. I then installed windows on M4. I have to do the double install method since my copy of windows 7 is an upgrade copy. So either i install my xp copy and then install 7 on top, or install 7 once and then again. I still do the custom(clean) install, so this isn't an upgrade install, but because of double install I get a windows.old folder which I just deleted.

After the install, I formatted my seagate to get rid of windows and everything else on it. Deleted the 100mb partition, but that just made it unallocated space. I dont' care for it.

My first issue was once the m4 had windows, the new 100mb partition showed up as a drive in my computer. So I had 3 drives in my computer, m4, 100mb partition and seagate. So I reinstalled windows again and this time 100mb partition was hidden.

I initially had seagate in IDE mode, but I switched to AHCI right before installing windows on m4. I see the ahci driver load after bios screen real quick and as ssd shows iostor for M4 which I believe is the intel ahci driver.

My total boot time to being able to use my mouse is 90 seconds. 30 seconds to get to windows '4 circle logo' and a full minute from then to be able to use windows. This includes mouse circle load thing. Honestly this doesn't seem any better than my seagate was performing during boot. AS SSD bench looked alright, 490ish read, 175mb/s write. Don't have all the numbers on me but I think final score was 760ish.

Sorry for long post but wanted to give all the details.

 

[Dereck47]

Are you positive that you have to do the double install method for Win7 upgrade?

I thought all you had to do was insert the Win7 and it would inform you that it was an upgrade disk and ask for a prior version disk for verification.

You would pop out the Win7 disk, insert the XP disk, Windows would verify that it was a valid version, you would then pop out the XP disk, reinsert the Win7 disk and the installation would proceed without having to install XP.

That's the way it works with the Windows Office programs. You don't have to install the prior version if you wish to do a clean install.

 

[HelixLegion]

Yes. There is no option to enter an old disk or old key with Windows 7 installation. If you just do a clean install on a clean hard drive, the key is invalid. Basically, Windows knows that it is an upgrade key and it is expecting to see a previous version of Windows already installed on the hard drive. So you have to double install and the 2nd time Windows accepts the key.

Anyway, my bootup is even worse today taking close to 3 mins on multiple tries. It simply hangs at the 'starting windows' screen for a good 45 seconds before doing the 4 circle animation. Then the screen goes black for a bit before blue windows screen shows up with mouse circle for sometime. Finally desktop shows up after all that.

I had a tv tuner installed but I uninstalled the drivers for it so media center can't see it anymore, but this hasn't helped.

 

[Meganano]

Yes. There is no option to enter an old disk or old key with Windows 7 installation. If you just do a clean install on a clean hard drive, the key is invalid. Basically, Windows knows that it is an upgrade key and it is expecting to see a previous version of Windows already installed on the hard drive. So you have to double install and the 2nd time Windows accepts the key.

Anyway, my bootup is even worse today taking close to 3 mins on multiple tries. It simply hangs at the 'starting windows' screen for a good 45 seconds before doing the 4 circle animation. Then the screen goes black for a bit before blue windows screen shows up with mouse circle for sometime. Finally desktop shows up after all that.

I had a tv tuner installed but I uninstalled the drivers for it so media center can't see it anymore, but this hasn't helped.

Can somebody confirm or refute this? If it's true I'd be inclined to avoid Windows upgrades and wait for Windows 10. At least they didn't make you install DOS first.

 

[HelixLegion]

Update for anyone else who may face this. I also had a USB external HD connected and I disconnectd that and total boot time went from 3 mins down to 45 seconds. Everything is pretty fast now until after windows 4 circle animation. I still get stuck at the blue windows screen for a good 15 seconds with mouse circle spinning. I think I should be able to get that a bit faster with some tweaks but the main culprit is the external HD.