Boot Degradation

RaynorRaynor
edited March 2008 in Hardware
Alright. I posted this originally in the other thread, however, I got no responses and the problem has become much more serious.

I've had my computer for about 45 days. When I first installed Vista 64 it was screaming fast. I could get from beep to login in under 15 seconds.

About two weeks ago:

DiskCheckup Version: DiskCheckup V2.1 Build: 1001
SmartDisk DLL Version: SmartDisk DLL SDK v1.0 Build: 1013
Time of export: 17:25:40 26-Feb-2008
Device ID: 0
Device Capacity: 476937 MB
Serial Number: 5QM0RCLH
Model Number: ST3500320AS
SMART HISTORY:
Attribute ID: 7 Attribute Name: Seek Error Rate
Date Value Worst
Sat Feb 23 14:41:47 2008 100 253
Sat Feb 23 14:51:47 2008 100 253
Sat Feb 23 16:31:02 2008 100 253
Sat Feb 23 16:32:28 2008 100 253
Sat Feb 23 17:25:49 2008 60 60
Sat Feb 23 17:35:52 2008 60 60
Sat Feb 23 17:39:57 2008 60 60
Sat Feb 23 19:19:30 2008 60 60

I don't know how important that is... but it seems to have impacted my performance. So this happened: I watched it. It didn't get any worse. I figure I have 5 years so for now I'll just enjoy my computer.

About a week ago I pressed the power button and the fans spun up, but the beep (followed by the Foxconn splash screen and POST) never came. I had to flip the power switch on the PSU to get it to turn off. When I tried a second time it booted properly. Over the last week I had that issue 3 times, out of 10 or so boots. I posted in the PC help forum, never got a response.

Last night I went to boot my computer, it beeped, POST'd, and then sat at a black screen for ~5 minutes. I hit Reset. It beeped, POST'd, went to the windows loading bar... and took about 5 minutes to load.

I just started it today, after school, and I had it stick on the black screen twice before it booted properly. It took 5 minutes to get to the login screen and another 4 for the windows welcome screen to appear (This would take 15 seconds and 5 seconds when I first got the computer.)

I'm willing to give you guys extra information as asked for, so ask if you need more info.

Computer:

Foxconn MARS mobo
Q6600 G0 @ stock
Enermax Liberty 500W PSU
4x1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
EVGA 8800GTS (G92) 512MB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB
D-Link Extreme-N wireless PCI card
ASUS Combo burner

Comments

  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    Looking over other topics I have a few additional pieces of info:

    AEGIS Panel (Foxconn Utility) is reporting voltages:
    +5V as 4.92V
    +12V as 11.97V - Dropped to 11.88 for a moment while I had it open. doubt it is significant.
    +3.3VSB as 3.34V
    CPU as 1.08V
    DRAM as 2.18V

    The Foxconn MARS mobo uses all solid capacitors. Presumably that reduces the likelyhood of having bad ones.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    First thing lets try and rule out some hardware. Obtain a linux live cd like Ubuntu Desktop 7.10 Boot up with the cd in the drive and it'll boot a live version of linux. What that means is that it won't access your hard drive at all.

    This is a good first step. It does two things. If it works we've narrowed down the problem, if it doesn't work well you've eliminated the hard drive as the problem. The Ubuntu disk also has memtest86 on it which is another good tool because it'll check your ram for errors.
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    Unfortunately tonight I don't have time for testing it, but tomorrow afternoon I'll be running all suggestions, so keep 'em coming :)

    Event Viewer has logged the boots. This is the most recent:

    Windows has started up:
    Boot Duration : 339446ms
    IsDegradation : false
    Incident Time (UTC) : 3/7/2008 1:06:03 AM

    <TABLE style="CURSOR: hand" onclick=Toggle(this)><TBODY><TR><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>EventData</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootTsVersion</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">2</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootStartTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">2008-03-07T01:06:03.687Z</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootEndTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">2008-03-07T01:11:53.909Z</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>SystemBootInstance</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">30</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>UserBootInstance</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">28</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">339446</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>MainPathBootTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">183755</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootKernelInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">18</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootDriverInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">1025</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootDevicesInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">91324</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootPrefetchInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootPrefetchBytes</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootAutoChkTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootSmssInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">32396</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootCriticalServicesInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">6116</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootUserProfileProcessingTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">1206</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootMachineProfileProcessingTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">2</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootExplorerInitTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">29278</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootNumStartupApps</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">12</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootPostBootTime</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">155691</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootIsRebootAfterInstall</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">false</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootRootCauseStepImprovementBits</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootRootCauseGradualImprovementBits</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootRootCauseStepDegradationBits</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootRootCauseGradualDegradationBits</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootIsDegradation</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">false</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootIsStepDegradation</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">false</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootIsGradualDegradation</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">false</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootImprovementDelta</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootDegradationDelta</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD noWrap width=15></TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'" noWrap width=130>BootIsRootCauseIdentified</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-FAMILY: 'Segoe UI'">false</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    I had a moderately similar problem, but I'm not sure they're related. Mine was where the comp would only intermittently boot, and it was often fixable by completely unplugging the PSU and letting it sit, but that was only a temporary fix, and eventually it degraded to the point where it would never boot. I tested everything I could and eventually settled on "motherboard issue," which I thought from the signs I saw was more specifically a capacitor issue. Ended up replacing the mobo and everything's doing swimmingly.

    I at least hope this isn't the same problem you're having, fixing software is cheaper than replacing a mobo.
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    MJancaitis wrote:
    I had a moderately similar problem, but I'm not sure they're related. Mine was where the comp would only intermittently boot, and it was often fixable by completely unplugging the PSU and letting it sit, but that was only a temporary fix, and eventually it degraded to the point where it would never boot. I tested everything I could and eventually settled on "motherboard issue," which I thought from the signs I saw was more specifically a capacitor issue. Ended up replacing the mobo and everything's doing swimmingly.

    I at least hope this isn't the same problem you're having, fixing software is cheaper than replacing a mobo.

    It is under warranty, but the mobo is the hardest piece to replace (take everything apart and redo it.
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    First thing lets try and rule out some hardware. Obtain a linux live cd like Ubuntu Desktop 7.10 Boot up with the cd in the drive and it'll boot a live version of linux. What that means is that it won't access your hard drive at all.

    This is a good first step. It does two things. If it works we've narrowed down the problem, if it doesn't work well you've eliminated the hard drive as the problem. The Ubuntu disk also has memtest86 on it which is another good tool because it'll check your ram for errors.

    Downloading the iso now. I'll see if I can dig up a blank CD.

    Burning iso.

    Gonna boot up and run memtest. I'll be back when I finish.

    Memtest is running.

    While I was restarting it didn't give me any issues. It seems only have boot problems from a "cold start." Once the computer warms up I don't seem to have issues. After memtest finishes I'm going to explore this possibility.
  • revorocksrevorocks England, East Sussex, Hove Member
    edited March 2008
    Well, replacing a mobo, isnt that much fuss, just disconnect every cable, and screw, pull it out and pop in the new one, since everything just slots in i wouldn't call it a hassle.

    Im no computer expert, so i cant help you on your pc. i was merely commenting on what you said about the mobo. :)
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    I've got 1 pass with no errors. I'm gonna let it finish a second pass then call it good.

    I don't think it is the RAM.
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    First thing lets try and rule out some hardware. Obtain a linux live cd like Ubuntu Desktop 7.10 Boot up with the cd in the drive and it'll boot a live version of linux. What that means is that it won't access your hard drive at all.

    This is a good first step. It does two things. If it works we've narrowed down the problem, if it doesn't work well you've eliminated the hard drive as the problem. The Ubuntu disk also has memtest86 on it which is another good tool because it'll check your ram for errors.

    To really test this I'll have to try tomorrow morning. The issue only seems to appear after having left the computer off overnight (or for several hours). It is my suspicion that after a few minutes of choking, the computer warms up, and begins working properly. Prolly drops to 55-60F at night. That shouldn't be an issue.
  • RaynorRaynor
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    First thing lets try and rule out some hardware. Obtain a linux live cd like Ubuntu Desktop 7.10 Boot up with the cd in the drive and it'll boot a live version of linux. What that means is that it won't access your hard drive at all.

    The Live CD doesn't seem to work.
    If I select:
    Start or Install
    Start in Safe Graphics Mode
    or
    Check CD for Defects

    It says loading kernal,
    says
    kernal is live,

    then the screen goes black and nothing happens.

    Memtest passed twice over 90 minutes with no errors.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    The screen will sometimes go black for a bit while it tries to identify video hardware. However if it doesn't come back then that could be a hardware problem.

    There are plenty of times that the Live CD won't boot up because it can't understand your video hardware, that's not uncommon. But in every case I've experienced of that it'll usually put crap all over the screen and other random video fragments. it still will boot up it just can't load the gui.

    So if yours is crashing out during the kernel load you may have a bad mobo.

    Have you tried doing a repair install of Vista yet?
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