Vista slow boot with USB external drive

"Bob" wrote:

> "Casey" <Casey.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:32437ECC-FFEB-4752-A691-25044A5F5750@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> > If my Western Digital MyBook 250 GB drive is connected when I boot Vista,
> > it
> > takes ~3 minutes longer to boot than normal. Does anyone have an idea
> > what's
> > going on with the drive during the startup process?
> >
> > Booting without it connected, startup moves quickly from the green
> > progress
> > bar screen to the windows "orb" screen, and so on.
> >
> > Booting with the drive connected, the screen goes black for a few minutes
> > after the green progress bar screen disappears. I can hear disk activity
> > on
> > the drive, but I don't know what Vista is doing with it. Vista then starts
> > normally.
> >
> > I've tried the following, to no avail:
> > - Changing the boot order in my BIOS such that only my internal hdd is
> > listed and booting from other devices is disabled.
> > - Turning on/off legacy USB 1.1 support
> > - Disabling indexing on the drive
> > - Disabling readyboost and some other services
> > - Deleting the drive's partition and doing a complete format
> >
> > When booting with the usb connected, I see in the ntblog.txt that
> > hidusb.sys
> > and mouhid.sys are loaded. Without the usb connected, those two .sys files
> > aren't loaded, but cdfs.sys is.
> >
> > I would appreciate any and all help.
> >
>
>
> You can check to see what Vista reports as far as performance,
> startup/shutdown issues:
>
> Control Panel
> System Maintenance
> Performance Information and Tools
> in the left pane, Advanced tools
> cause of long startup/shutdown should be near the top under performance
> issues.
> Bob
>

Here's the info from the Diagnostics-Performance error on startup (see
comments below):

BootTsVersion 2
BootStartTime 2007-03-23T04:21:38.700Z
BootEndTime 2007-03-23T04:25:11.006Z
SystemBootInstance 42
UserBootInstance 41
BootTime 127688
MainPathBootTime 86088
BootKernelInitTime 27
BootDriverInitTime 2428
BootDevicesInitTime 4690
BootPrefetchInitTime 28491
BootPrefetchBytes 331677696
BootAutoChkTime 0
BootSmssInitTime 63080
BootCriticalServicesInitTime 2460
BootUserProfileProcessingTime 781
BootMachineProfileProcessingTime 1078
BootExplorerInitTime 8442
BootNumStartupApps 3
BootPostBootTime 41600
BootIsRebootAfterInstall false
BootRootCauseStepImprovementBits 0
BootRootCauseGradualImprovementBits 0
BootRootCauseStepDegradationBits 0
BootRootCauseGradualDegradationBits 0
BootIsDegradation false
BootIsStepDegradation false
BootIsGradualDegradation false
BootImprovementDelta 0
BootDegradationDelta 0
BootIsRootCauseIdentified false


The entry " BootPrefetchBytes 331677696 " looks suspicious. Is SuperFetch
throwing prefetched data onto my USB hard drive? The ReadyBoot tab in the
drive properties states that my drive doesn't have the required performance
to speed up my system, and I have the box checked to "Stop retesting the
device when I plug it in". Any thoughts?

Thanks!
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

See the thread below entitled 'Readyboost deletes cache on reboot'.

Some people's systems seem to delete the Readyboost cache, reformat the
drive, and rebuild the cache on every boot. It isn't happening on all.

This is presumably a bug.

Does anyone know how to report Vista bugs to MS??

Steve
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

"Steve Thackery" wrote:

> See the thread below entitled 'Readyboost deletes cache on reboot'.
>
> Some people's systems seem to delete the Readyboost cache, reformat the
> drive, and rebuild the cache on every boot. It isn't happening on all.
>
> This is presumably a bug.
>
> Does anyone know how to report Vista bugs to MS??
>
> Steve
>

Thanks for the information. Sounds like that could be the same thing I'm
seeing. It would seem like disabling the ReadyBoost service would have some
effect on that, but it doesn't seem to, at least on my setup. If the service
was disabled, would Vista still be creating/deleting the cache as described
in that thread?

BTW, another other odd thing is that within the last day or so, I don't hear
activity on the external disk during the 3 minute period of blank screen. I
used to. I scanned the disk for errors just in case and it came back as
being error-free.

Thanks for your input.
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

"Casey" <Casey DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> Hi,
> If my Western Digital MyBook 250 GB drive is connected when I boot Vista,
> it
> takes ~3 minutes longer to boot than normal. Does anyone have an idea
> what's
> going on with the drive during the startup process?
>
> Booting without it connected, startup moves quickly from the green
> progress
> bar screen to the windows "orb" screen, and so on.
>
> Booting with the drive connected, the screen goes black for a few minutes
> after the green progress bar screen disappears. I can hear disk activity
> on
> the drive, but I don't know what Vista is doing with it. Vista then starts
> normally.
>
> I've tried the following, to no avail:
> - Changing the boot order in my BIOS such that only my internal hdd is
> listed and booting from other devices is disabled.
> - Turning on/off legacy USB 1.1 support
> - Disabling indexing on the drive
> - Disabling readyboost and some other services
> - Deleting the drive's partition and doing a complete format
>
> When booting with the usb connected, I see in the ntblog.txt that
> hidusb.sys
> and mouhid.sys are loaded. Without the usb connected, those two .sys files
> aren't loaded, but cdfs.sys is.
>
> I would appreciate any and all help.

It's a BIOS issue and depends on the external drive. I have that effect in
XP (in a dual boot with Vista though the effect was there before Vista was
installed), where one external drive causes a delay and two others don't.
None of the drives causes any delay in booting Vista.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

"Rock" wrote:

> "Casey" <Casey.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> > Hi,
> > If my Western Digital MyBook 250 GB drive is connected when I boot Vista,
> > it
> > takes ~3 minutes longer to boot than normal. Does anyone have an idea
> > what's
> > going on with the drive during the startup process?
> >
> > Booting without it connected, startup moves quickly from the green
> > progress
> > bar screen to the windows "orb" screen, and so on.
> >
> > Booting with the drive connected, the screen goes black for a few minutes
> > after the green progress bar screen disappears. I can hear disk activity
> > on
> > the drive, but I don't know what Vista is doing with it. Vista then starts
> > normally.
> >
> > I've tried the following, to no avail:
> > - Changing the boot order in my BIOS such that only my internal hdd is
> > listed and booting from other devices is disabled.
> > - Turning on/off legacy USB 1.1 support
> > - Disabling indexing on the drive
> > - Disabling readyboost and some other services
> > - Deleting the drive's partition and doing a complete format
> >
> > When booting with the usb connected, I see in the ntblog.txt that
> > hidusb.sys
> > and mouhid.sys are loaded. Without the usb connected, those two .sys files
> > aren't loaded, but cdfs.sys is.
> >
> > I would appreciate any and all help.
>
> It's a BIOS issue and depends on the external drive. I have that effect in
> XP (in a dual boot with Vista though the effect was there before Vista was
> installed), where one external drive causes a delay and two others don't.
> None of the drives causes any delay in booting Vista.
>
> --
> Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
>

Rock,
Thanks for the input.

Why would a BIOS-related issue behave differently in XP vs. Vista? I would
think that such a thing would be OS-independent. (Yours has the effect in XP
and not Vista, while mine shows the delay in Vista but not XP.)

My BIOS is the most recent release for my motherboard, and since my
motherboard is older, I don't expect that there will be any new BIOS releases
made. Is this the kind of thing I can ever expect a fix for in Vista?

Thanks,
Casey
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

"Casey" <Casey RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote

> "Rock" wrote:
>
>> "Casey" <Casey RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
>> > Hi,
>> > If my Western Digital MyBook 250 GB drive is connected when I boot
>> > Vista,
>> > it
>> > takes ~3 minutes longer to boot than normal. Does anyone have an idea
>> > what's
>> > going on with the drive during the startup process?
>> >
>> > Booting without it connected, startup moves quickly from the green
>> > progress
>> > bar screen to the windows "orb" screen, and so on.
>> >
>> > Booting with the drive connected, the screen goes black for a few
>> > minutes
>> > after the green progress bar screen disappears. I can hear disk
>> > activity
>> > on
>> > the drive, but I don't know what Vista is doing with it. Vista then
>> > starts
>> > normally.
>> >
>> > I've tried the following, to no avail:
>> > - Changing the boot order in my BIOS such that only my internal hdd is
>> > listed and booting from other devices is disabled.
>> > - Turning on/off legacy USB 1.1 support
>> > - Disabling indexing on the drive
>> > - Disabling readyboost and some other services
>> > - Deleting the drive's partition and doing a complete format
>> >
>> > When booting with the usb connected, I see in the ntblog.txt that
>> > hidusb.sys
>> > and mouhid.sys are loaded. Without the usb connected, those two .sys
>> > files
>> > aren't loaded, but cdfs.sys is.
>> >
>> > I would appreciate any and all help.
>>
>> It's a BIOS issue and depends on the external drive. I have that effect
>> in
>> XP (in a dual boot with Vista though the effect was there before Vista
>> was
>> installed), where one external drive causes a delay and two others don't.
>> None of the drives causes any delay in booting Vista.
>>
>> --
>> Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
>>
>
> Rock,
> Thanks for the input.
>
> Why would a BIOS-related issue behave differently in XP vs. Vista? I
> would
> think that such a thing would be OS-independent. (Yours has the effect in
> XP
> and not Vista, while mine shows the delay in Vista but not XP.)
>
> My BIOS is the most recent release for my motherboard, and since my
> motherboard is older, I don't expect that there will be any new BIOS
> releases
> made. Is this the kind of thing I can ever expect a fix for in Vista?

No, I wouldn't think so.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

I am seeing the same slow boot problem as Casey. The machine is dual boot with XP PRO and VISTA ULTIMATE. No problem on XP. With the WD external drive plugged in during boot on VISTA, it takes 'forever'.

Machine is an HP1350N.

Update: Did some crude timings

XP boot with USB drive adds 5 seconds
VISTA boot with USB drive adds 34 seconds

Just so happens these times are also the same amount of time it takes for each system to recognize the drive when plugged on a running system.
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive 

"Bill" <none RemoveThis @000.com> wrote
>I am seeing the same slow boot problem as Casey. The machine is dual
> boot with XP PRO and VISTA ULTIMATE. No problem on XP. With the WD
> external drive plugged in during boot on VISTA, it takes 'forever'.
>
> Machine is an HP1350N.
>
> Update: Did some crude timings
>
> XP boot with USB drive adds 5 seconds
> VISTA boot with USB drive adds 34 seconds
>
> Just so happens these times are also the same amount of time it takes
> for each system to recognize the drive when plugged on a running
> system.

> "Rock" wrote:
> > "Casey" <Casey RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> >
> > > "Rock" wrote:
> > >
> > >> "Casey" <Casey RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> > >> > Hi,
> > >> > If my Western Digital MyBook 250 GB drive is connected
> > when I boot
> > >> > Vista,
> > >> > it
> > >> > takes ~3 minutes longer to boot than normal. Does anyone
> > have an idea
> > >> > what's
> > >> > going on with the drive during the startup process?
> > >> >
> > >> > Booting without it connected, startup moves quickly from
> > the green
> > >> > progress
> > >> > bar screen to the windows "orb" screen, and so on.
> > >> >
> > >> > Booting with the drive connected, the screen goes black
> > for a few
> > >> > minutes
> > >> > after the green progress bar screen disappears. I can
> > hear disk
> > >> > activity
> > >> > on
> > >> > the drive, but I don't know what Vista is doing with it.
> > Vista then
> > >> > starts
> > >> > normally.
> > >> >
> > >> > I've tried the following, to no avail:
> > >> > - Changing the boot order in my BIOS such that only my
> > internal hdd is
> > >> > listed and booting from other devices is disabled.
> > >> > - Turning on/off legacy USB 1.1 support
> > >> > - Disabling indexing on the drive
> > >> > - Disabling readyboost and some other services
> > >> > - Deleting the drive's partition and doing a complete
> > format
> > >> >
> > >> > When booting with the usb connected, I see in the
> > ntblog.txt that
> > >> > hidusb.sys
> > >> > and mouhid.sys are loaded. Without the usb connected,
> > those two .sys
> > >> > files
> > >> > aren't loaded, but cdfs.sys is.
> > >> >
> > >> > I would appreciate any and all help.
> > >>
> > >> It's a BIOS issue and depends on the external drive. I
> > have that effect
> > >> in
> > >> XP (in a dual boot with Vista though the effect was there
> > before Vista
> > >> was
> > >> installed), where one external drive causes a delay and two
> > others don't.
> > >> None of the drives causes any delay in booting Vista.
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
> > >>
> > >
> > > Rock,
> > > Thanks for the input.
> > >
> > > Why would a BIOS-related issue behave differently in XP vs.
> > Vista? I
> > > would
> > > think that such a thing would be OS-independent. (Yours has
> > the effect in
> > > XP
> > > and not Vista, while mine shows the delay in Vista but not
> > XP.)
> > >
> > > My BIOS is the most recent release for my motherboard, and
> > since my
> > > motherboard is older, I don't expect that there will be any
> > new BIOS
> > > releases
> > > made. Is this the kind of thing I can ever expect a fix for
> > in Vista?
> >
> > No, I wouldn't think so.

In this system the delay only occurs in XP, and it's about the same as you
see, 30 seconds. Also of two USB drives only one delays the XP boot. It
doesn't matter what the BIOS settings are set to re legacy USB.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
 >> Stay informed about: Vista slow boot with USB external drive