switch on, HP logo, black screen with rotating dots, no disk activity for 3 mins then boot

[AndreaCampi]

suddendly I got very slow boot time. The pc turns on, displays hp logo, then disk led shows no activity for about 3 minutes and finally comes back to life and takes another minute to complete the boot process and show Win 10 login screen.

I've checked the BIOS battery, reset BIOS to default, done a Win 10 clean install with no success.

Please help

Thanks

[WAWood]

@AndreaCampi 

OK, so first of all, why would you think forcing a clean installation of Win10 would automatically fix a boot issue?

What you have done by forcing that is actually making matters worse!  That is because when you do get the PC working again, since your PC is now weeks, if not months, behind in Windows Update, when you connect to the Internet, that will fire up and will lock up your PC for HOURS -- downloading and installing Windows Updates.

This issue is often due to a failing drive. So, let's check that first, because if it is failing, it would need to be replaced and there is no point then in doing anything else until we confirm that.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) Press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.

[AndreaCampi]

Hi WAWood, 

Thanks for the reply. 

I'll check your suggestions but I'm wondering why the disk has this anomalous behaviour during the first phase of the boot process and then works normally.

I'll keep you updated

[AndreaCampi]

Hi WAWood, no errors coming from the disk test, any other clue?

Thanks

Andrea