Longer Than Usual Boot Time on Windows 11 PC

[kaeden1100]

Hey everyone, wanted to see if anyone had any advice on why my system's boot time has drastically increased lately. For starters, here are specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzel 7 3700X
• GPU: Asus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
• MOBO: MSI MAG B550 Gaming Plus AM4
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance PRO 3200Mhz CL16
• STORAGE: Intel 660p Series 500GB SSD (Boot/System Drive), WD Black SN850 PCIe Gen 4x4 1TB SSD (Games Drive), WD 2TB HDD (Games/Other Overflow)

The system runs incredibly well with just about anything, and for basically ever has had a boot time of probably no more than 12 seconds. What I mean by boot time also, to clarify, is the time from the moment I hit the power button until I'm at the Windows logon screen. A couple of months ago, I noticed that my computer has started taking somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 seconds from the time the power button is pressed before it even shows the boot screen (MAG Logo with Prompt to Enter BIOS or Boot Menu), and then probably another 10 seconds from there before it loads into Windows. According to Windows, my latest boot time was 36.4 seconds. I can't think of anything that was changed with the system either physically or with software that I may have added/removed around the time it started behaving this way. It's pretty frustrating though staring at a black screen for so long on boot with a decent spec machine. Anyone have any tips or advice on where to look?

Thanks so much in advance.

[HopelessGPU]

24 minutes ago, kaeden1100 said:

Anyone have any tips or advice on where to look?

Have you tried putting it in rice?

[kaeden1100]

2 minutes ago, HopelessGPU said:

Have you tried putting it in rice?

Yeah... now it just smells like rice. Still takes forever to boot. Rip

[HopelessGPU]

27 minutes ago, kaeden1100 said:

I can't think of anything that was changed with the system either physically or with software that I may have added/removed around the time it started behaving this way.

There could be a few possible causes. It's worth checking if there are any unnecessary programs or services running on startup that could be causing a delay. You can do this by opening the Task Manager and going to the Startup tab. You can also try updating your BIOS to the latest version, as this can sometimes improve boot times. Finally, it's worth checking if there are any hardware issues, such as a failing drive or a loose cable connection. 

[HopelessGPU]

Check your BIOS settings: Make sure that your boot drive is set as the primary boot device in your BIOS settings. You may also want to disable any unnecessary startup processes or devices.

Update your drivers and BIOS: Make sure all of your drivers, including your motherboard drivers and BIOS, are up to date. This can help improve system stability and performance.

Check for malware: Run a virus scan to make sure your system is not infected with any malware that may be slowing down your boot time.

Disable unnecessary programs at startup: Open the Task Manager and disable any programs that you don't need to run at startup. This can help reduce the amount of time it takes for your system to boot.

Check your hardware: Make sure that all of your hardware components are properly connected and functioning correctly. You may also want to check for any hardware conflicts or issues that may be causing your system to slow down.

Try a clean boot: Perform a clean boot to eliminate any unnecessary software or drivers that may be causing your system to slow down at startup. This can help identify any problematic software or drivers that may be causing the issue.

 

If any of these things don't work, it could possibly be that the issue is with your mobo since I've heard supposedly that some have slow start up times but idk.

Edited May 14, 2023 by HopelessGPU
grammar fix

[shoutingsteve]

I encountered a similar problem with a media server I haul around and it turned out to be a faulty cooling fan.  The BIOS would pause for 30 seconds to alert me that the there was a fan fault then would do it's normal boot process.  The problem is, it was just a black screen at that point of the POST because it was attached to a non-standard display (1024x2400 resolution) so I thought it was just be sluggish.  It wasn't till I attached it to a normal monitor that I saw the fault.

[kaeden1100]

So for what it's worth, I remembered that the board has MSI's "EZ Debug LED" feature, so I took a peak at the board while it was booting while on this blank black screen it does, and the VGA EZ Debug light stays lit for probably 10 seconds before it switches to the Boot LED and then that stays on for probably 5 seconds before boot screen shows.

According to the manual that "indicates GPU/ PCIE/ M.2 device is not detected or fail", but my GPU works and all of my drives are being picked up so I'm a bit confused on that one. The reason I mention drives is because both of my SSDs are M.2