Ultra Fast Boot not so fast

[dandy55]

Hi,

First my specs:
z77 extreme4 Bios 2.40
ssd: force GT 120Gb formated as gpt (by windows setup) with windows 8 installed in UEFI mode ( I did a secure erase and allowed windows setup to use the whole drive)
3tb hdd for data
8gb ddr3
i5 3570k
HD 7970

I have recently installed Windows 8 RTM as my main OS and wanted to enable Ultra fast boot, just to test is out.

I made my internal GPU my main graphics card and connected my monitor to my Mobo DVI-d. I enabled Ultra fast boot, booted into windows and then I shut it down, to complete a cycle.

Then I was waiting to be amazed by the boot time... I am still waiting.
The boot took 17 seconds (one second more then the "fast" mode, which was 16 seconds. With fast boot disabled it takes 22 seconds.


So what am I doing wrong?

edit: I have disabled the full screen logo in bios so I can see when it changes from POST to windows loading screen:
it takes 13 seconds to POST and only about 3.5 seconds to boot to start screen.

[parsec]

Good question. All Ultra Fast Boot (UFB) does is skip some POST operations, which does not seem to be happening in your case. There is even a new ASR utility program that must be run to get into the UEFI when UFB is enabled. Given your 13 second POST, where you can no doubt get into the UEFI, UFB does not seem to be working.

Could it be that Win 8 RTM is the cause, since I read there have been updates between RTM and the final public release.

I tried setting that option to Fast, with Windows 7 on two SSDs in RAID 0. That seemed to cause a double POST, and was slower than usual. Set it to disabled and it seems faster than ever.

[dandy55]

I can't go into UEFI by pressing del, I have to go through Shift+restart, in Windows to get to it. I have the windows version that is offered for free by Microsoft with 90 says trial. enterprise edition.

[parsec]

Yes, I know what version of Win 8 you have. The actual Windows booting portion time is not slow IMO, at 3.5 seconds, or do you feel that is slow?

Your POST time seems typical to above average, and depends on how many drives you are using, if the ASMedia SATA controller is enabled, if the OROM display is enabled, etc.

It seems like Ultra Fast "Boot" is not so fast after all, I don't know what else to tell you.

[dandy55]

it turns out that if I disconnect the 3TB HDD and leave only the ssd, then the boot is really fast. both are connected to the same controller. It probably has to load some special driver for it... too bad.

[parsec]

Two things possible, or both. HDDs take a while to start up, longer than a SSD does. Five seconds minimum for a HDD, probably longer.

The download page for your board, in the Windows 8 section has this: ASRock 3TB+ Unlocker Utility ver:1.1. That's needed for large HDDs to be seen correctly by Windows, do you have that installed? If not, it might help with the POST time, if you do then it is dealing with that HDD, and can't get better.