2.5 min boot delay

[themacguy]

I have the subject system (HP ENVY Desktop - 750-055xt). 2x4GB, 2x8GB, Samsung 850 SSD boot drive.

When I boot the machine, it takes about 2.5 minutes sitting at the "hp" logo before it actually boots. If I press the Escape key prior to the bios(?) config screen appearing (which is after that 2.5 min), I do get the menu with the option to enter BIOS, etc.

I've checked in the BIOS but there's no option to disable RAM checking. Whether I set the Windows "fast start" on or off (in the Control Panel), the cold boot take the same time. Likewise, a restart takes the same time. I notice shutdown and restart both take about 35 seconds until the "hp" logo appears on the screen (and then there's the 2.5 min delay before the spinning dots for the actual windows boot happens (and that only takes 5-8 seconds).

I know there's some misconfiguration somewhere but I did reset the BIOS to the factory defaults in an effort to rectify this (and that didn't work). The machine is running Windows 10 Home build 1903. (It was doing a similar delay with the 1809 build.)

Advice and assistance gratefully accepted. Thank you!

Barry

[Grzwacz]

Greetings,

Welcome back to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

Long Windows load times can be caused by a couple of different things. When did this symptom start happening?

Check Tak Manager, Startup. How many startup items do you have?

You have a SSD so the PC should startup quickly and run smoothly.

Have you changed any BIOS settings? Try loading BIOS defaults or reset CMOS to see if this helps.

Do you have a lot of USB peripheral devices connected to the PC? Try booting wth only a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

Run a system file check (Link).

There is a Windows 8.x 2015 BIOS update for your PC (Link). There is a BIOS "hang" fix, don't know if this applies to your situation. HP W8.1 BIOS updates usually work on W10. Don't interrupt this update, do not prematurely shut down the PC during the BIOS update or you can break the PC.

HP is not supporting Windows 10 on your PC so all system drivers must come from Microsoft.

Regards

[themacguy]

The issue happens before Windows even begins to load. Once I see the spinning dots, it only takes 5-8 seconds to get to the sign-in screen (just like my other PCs). So:

1. This is not a "Windows load" thing.

2. As such, nothing to do with Startup items. (I have almost none.)

3. SSD - yes; but this delay occurs in POST, not boot.

4. Reset BIOS to factory defaults. Having trouble finding where the "CMOS Reset" jumpers are located on this Kaili2 mobo.

5. Keyboard, mouse, monitor only; yes.

6. Ran BIOS update you linked; no change in behavior.

I'll stress that I'm certain this is not a "Windows" issue because, once the Windows spinning dots appear, it's only 5-8 seconds to get to the boot screen (and this is about the same as my laptop). If I press Escape repeatedly during the 2.5 minute delay, eventually I get to the screen where I may choose to enter the BIOS; we know that loads before any sort of OS might be started.

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Reset CMOS by removing the CR2032 motherboard battery.

Let the PC sit for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Try a new motherboard battery. An inexpensive potential fix.

Maybe you have a mis-behaving component (connected to the MB or a faulty integrated MB component) that is causing POST component enumeration problems.

Reseat the RAM and other connected MB components.

Disconnect SATA devices and front USB MB connections including the card reader. Do a barebones POST.

That's all I have.

Regards

[themacguy]

Thanks. I'm about ready to dig in and remove the battery if I can't find a reset jumper. Hopefully, this should fix things. Everything else (once booted) runs like a top. I'll advise results. Again, thanks!

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

You're very welcome.

Good luck, hope you solve it.

I get crazy when I can't solve this type of problem. I would (after verifying it is not a hardware problem) reinstall  Windows clean on a different HDD or SSD to see what happens.

Regards

[themacguy]

Unplugged the unit from power. Yanked the battery and let it sit for about 20 minutes. During this time I also depressed the power button for about 20 seconds (thinking this would also help drain any capacitors of residual power). I then power up and got exactly the same results; 2.5min delay at post screen. I went into the BIOS and switched the "logo only" to "post screen"(?, whatever it was that causes CPU type & speed, RAM size and type, and BIOS revision to appear - v80.13 is current BIOS which is what it was prior to using the one you linked originally).

Once the Windows logo and spinning dots appeared, it only took about 6 seconds to get to the login screen. I see nothing in the BIOS about turning off RAM checking and, frankly, I don't think this is what's going on; but, of course, who am I to know?

This will just speed up my decision to re-purpose this machine and order that new Zen 2 Ryzen 9 3900X machine. It won't be an HP, of course.

[themacguy]

Sonuvagun! Found the culprit. Totally my fault. The mention of USB stuff and another post (from another thread at another forum) which also stressed how weird USB stuff can foul things up finally had me check all USB-attached devices. There was one: An Apple Cinema Display. I had both the RF mouse dongle and a USB keyboard connected to the Display's built-in hub. Once I unplugged the Display's USB cable and plugged the mouse dongle and keyboard directly into the HP, the boot delay vanished. It takes about 8 seconds until Windows begins to load, then another 6-8 seconds until the login screen appears. I guess the USB hub in the Display was fubar'ing the initial POST until it finally gave up trying to identify the device and then just continued on to Windows. 

I did it to myself. Mea maxima culpa. Thanks, all, for listening to my whining and making good suggestions (which I guess I almost ignored).