Solved Strange boot problem...

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

I have 2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (2.5") SSDs. One has Windows 10 on it, and the other has Windows 11 on it.
I only hook one of them up at a time via the power and data cables.

The Problem...
1. I get the BIOS splash screen during a cold start, but I don't always get it anymore during a restart.
2. The boot sequence proceeds normally until just after I type the password. Then there is a delay from 2-20 seconds (spinning wheel) until desktop.
3. Sometimes the desktop pops right up, sometimes it seems to struggle, coming up partway. Like taskbar will be slow to pop up.. sometimes.

Once I'm "on" the desktop completely... everything seems fine.
I'm on Windows 10 at the moment. (Same problem on Win 10 and Win 11)
Macrium Reflect "restore" does not help. I went back to Nov 9th (post WU), and Nov 02 (pre WU).

This is my normal BIOS splash screen...

For a start at troubleshooting, I cleared Event Viewer completely, then rebooted. I got these three Errors, and none critical.

Normally I don't pay attention to the Event Viewer, that often, so I can't say whether these are normal "events".
I have the latest BIOS, and chipset drivers. Device Manager shows no problems.
Power supply voltages are within range and stable. Temps are normal. Bitdefender scan comes up clean, as does Hitman Pro one time scan.

barman58 · Nov 14, 2021

Can you replace the cable for testing? a "lot" of changes could damage the connector slightly but enough to cause startup glitches

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

barman58 said:
Can you replace the cable for testing? a "lot" of changes could damage the connector slightly but enough to cause startup glitches

Sorry. I already did. It was feeling loose on the SSD end, and since I'd been switching it between drives for almost 3 months, I replaced it with a brand new locking one. One of the ones that came with the motherboard (May2020), never been used.

My monitor is a DELL U3011 (not cheap), but it is about 8 years old, but like I said... once on the desktop, everything works fine.
I just set TranslucentTB back to default settings...brb reboot.

Note: I did try Revo uninstall of TranslucentTB... that didn't seem to help.
Also, I have a "Profile" saved in the BIOS from when I flashed to the latest version about... 2 months ago.
I've restored to that as well.

Almost forgot. Both SSDs show 98% "GOOD" in CrystalDiskInfo

This "boot" issue, just started last night, say, 8-9 hours ago.

barman58 · Nov 14, 2021

I would not worry about the boot sequence showing differently between a warm and cold boot - I've seen a few systems that purposely do that to speed up the boot on a warm (reboot) Boot

I would probably check the power cable, if you have a Molex / sata conversion, to be sure but that should not cause what you're seeing.

All I can suggest is an inplace upgrade although it's passing the tests so probably not needed :think:

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

barman58 said:
I would not worry about the boot sequence showing differently between a warm and cold boot - I've seen a few systems that purposely do that to speed up the boot on a warm (reboot) Boot

I would probably check the power cable, if you have a Molex / sata conversion, to be sure but that should not cause what you're seeing.

All I can suggest is an inplace upgrade although it's passing the tests so probably not needed

Ok... Power supply is OLD, but was very expensive. It has 2x SATA power cables, 4x 15pin SATA power connectors each.
I use #3 on my SSDs and HDDs cable for the Win 10 SSD and #4 on that same cable for the Win 11 SSD.

So each of the SSDs has it's own 15 pin SATA power connector.

This is an old pic, but you get the idea...

I also get these two warnings as well, they are normal for me...
The top says my Intel Gigabit internet is disconnected
The bottom says I don't use Hello for Business (why not !!!)

barman58 · Nov 14, 2021

That looks fine, I have seen connection issues with Molex to SATA connectors as the molex is not a modern design the White connector shown here is an unlocked, open, friction fit so is susceptible to corrosion and can vibrate loose.

I can only think that the checking of the missing software blocks mentioned in the messages you uploaded are the reason for the delays

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

barman58 said:
That looks fine, I have seen connection issues with Molex to SATA connectors as the molex is not a modern design the White connector shown here is an unlocked, open, friction fit so is susceptible to corrosion and can vibrate loose.

View attachment 13581

I can only think that the checking of the missing software blocks mentioned in the messages you uploaded are the reason for the delays

Yeah, if you look at the pic of left side of comp (above), you'll notice in the lower right corner is where I bundled up and hid all the molex connectors. Power supply is non-modular ofc.

FreeBooter · Nov 14, 2021

@Ghot have you speed test SSD drives to see if it's the cause of the problem.

CrystalDiskMark

About CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software. Download Standard Edition Aoi Edition Shizuku Edition System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64 Key Features Important Notice -> FAQ Unit M...

crystalmark.info

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

barman58 said:
I can only think that the checking of the missing software blocks mentioned in the messages you uploaded are the reason for the delays

Yeah, that's kinda what it feels like. I found this Googling the very top error-pic above...

SCEP Certificate enrollment initialization Failed Event ID 86 Errors - Windows 10 Help Forums

Hello all. I'm getting the messages below at every boot. I usually get two or three each time all similar with the exception of the IDs changing. I've

www.tenforums.com

Also, I run Bitdefender Internet Security AV/Firewall, which gets updated late at night all the time. It could possibly be related to that... but I haven't gotten any internal notifications from the program.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

FreeBooter said:
@Ghot have you speed test SSD drives to see if it's the cause of the problem.

CrystalDiskMark

About CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software. Download Standard Edition Aoi Edition Shizuku Edition System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64 Key Features Important Notice -> FAQ Unit M...

crystalmark.info

I've run this a few times since I got this SSD... this seems about normal to me...

SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series 2.5" 500GB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-76E500B/AM - Newegg.com

Buy SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series 2.5" 500GB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-76E500B/AM with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

This is from sometime in July 2021... when I got the 2nd one.

This is just run... now, on the older Win 10 SSD which I am on right now...

Keep in mind that I have this boot issue on both the Win 10 and Win 11 SSDs, which are both Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (2.5")

The only things common to both the Win 10 and Win 11 SSDs are...

SSD cable (just changed for a new one)
The Computer itself
The monitor
Software on both is identical... the Win 11 install is an In-Place upgrade of the Win 10, done on Oct 5th 2021.

Problem started late last night, affects both Win 10 and 11.
I've restored from Macrium FULL backups from Nov 9 and Nov 2... same problem.

Once I make it to the desktop everything is fine. :)

Just cleared Event Viewer again... brb gonna reboot, see if anything changed.

Got two new Errors, top one (7009) is...
A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the Connected Devices Platform Service service to connect.

Bottom one (10005) is...
DCOM got error "1053" attempting to start the service cdpsvc with arguments "Unavailable" in order to run the server:
{284CACFE-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-A7ACC835xxxx}

FreeBooter · Nov 14, 2021

Execute Perfmon /report to see Windows detects any problems.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

FreeBooter said:
Execute Perfmon /report to see Windows detects any problems.

It's still "collecting Data for 60 seconds... " it's been about 2 minutes.
Still "collecting". Is there a normal amount of time this should run?
Does this require a Service, does it have dependencies? It's still collecting. LOL

I only have 37GB on the C:\ drive. It could have collected all of it, by now.

I'm on the only user account (local Admin). While this has a nice throbbing green progress bar.... does this EVER complete, or is it just something that's fun to look at?

FreeBooter · Nov 14, 2021

Ghot said:
It's still "collecting Data for 60 seconds... " it's been about 2 minutes.
Still "collecting". Is there a normal amount of time this should run?
Does this require a Service, does it have dependencies? It's still collecting. LOL

I only have 37GB on the C:\ drive. It could have collected all of it, by now.

I'm on the only user account (local Admin). While this has a nice throbbing green progress bar.... does this EVER complete, or is it just something that's fun to look at? :)

Same happening here, i think it's a new bug we just found.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

FreeBooter said:
Same happening here, i think it's a new bug we just found.

Well... I just stopped it.

Isn't there some program that monitors the boot sequence? My problem seem to only show up during boot.

OK... break time. I need to eat and take a shower, etc. Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far. :)

Btw, these are my only Startup programs... and the bottom one is disabled.

FreeBooter · Nov 14, 2021

Exercise 2 - Evaluate Fast Startup Using Windows Performance Toolkit

While the Fast Startup assessment is an easy way to get measurements in an easy to read report, it requires you to install the ADK, which takes some time to execute.

docs.microsoft.com

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

FreeBooter said:
Exercise 2 - Evaluate Fast Startup Using Windows Performance Toolkit

While the Fast Startup assessment is an easy way to get measurements in an easy to read report, it requires you to install the ADK, which takes some time to execute.

docs.microsoft.com

Well, I attempted that, succeeded actually. Too complicated for me to analyze the results.
Went through the whole thing... installed ADK, ran WPR, etc., saved the results to the desktop. Opened the results with WPA,
and got brain damage. :)

Anyway, I think I may have fixed the problem.

Inserted my MR USB stick, rebooted into MR and restored my Nov 09 full backup.
After that finished, I ran MR's Fix boot problems tool. After that finished, I rebooted into Windows with no issues.

BIOS splash screen was there, and no delay on the Welcome screen, after entering password.

Now I'm gonna try a reboot again, without the MR USB stick in there...

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

Ok... after reboot I still didn't see the splash screen. So at the lock screen, I rebooted and set the post delay in the BIOS from 2 seconds, back to 5 seconds.

Then F10 to save and exit, and it booted normally.
Now to try to reboot again...

/edit

Problem is still there. No BIOS splash screen and a 15 second delay after I type my password at Welcome screen.
Then the desktop opens like this...

Normally it opens like this...

After about 10-15 seconds...everything pops up normally.

Rebooted again... same problem.

I noticed this the other day...I can't explain it. I used Minitools Partition Wizard on that storage disk, and can't find that 1024KB anywhere...
And it's not on my other storage disk.

Disk 1 has 4 partitions, just like Disk 2. But in Minitools, I right clicked each partition and chose resize/move.
All four partitions has 0 before and 0 after.

Also found this the other day. About 4-6 days ago?

This pic is from Just now. After I ran MR's "Fix Boot Problems".
But it's been this way (that I know of) for about 6 days, probably way longer.

The 1st loading circle you see during boot should be a perfect circle. Mine is very slightly oval.
It's been that way since I converted from MBR to GPT, about 2-ish months ago.

The "damaged" ESP partition is probably from that time.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

So now....

I'm using the media creation tool to make the Windows 10 installation media (USB).
Then I'm gonna delete all on the SSD, then do a clean install of Windows 10.
THEN, I'll boot from the Macrium USB stick and restore JUST the C:\ partition to the clean install.

Before I do the clean install, I'll unhook the other drives, and the internet. :)

What a fun way to spend the weekend.

/edit

Ok...and we're off to the races.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

@barman58

@Brink

@Kari

Ok I did what I said in the post just above. But it didn't work out very well.
As you can see from the screenshot, my EFI partition is on the USB stick that has the Windows installer on it.

So I guess I need to "create" an EFI partition on Disk 1 ??

Disk 4 is the USB stick with the Windows 10 install media.

@FreeBooter

What I just got done doing...

I'm using the media creation tool to make the Windows 10 installation media (USB).
Then I'm gonna delete all on the SSD, then do a clean install of Windows 10.
THEN, I'll boot from the Macrium USB stick and restore JUST the C:\ partition to the clean install.

This is what I did, but it wouldn't boot from the SSD. It kept booting from the Macrium USB stick.
So I did MR's "fix boot problems", and it only gave me two choices for boot files...
The Macrium USB or the Windows USB.

I think I need to create an EFI partition on Disk 1 and somehow transfer the boot data from Disk 4 to the new EFI partition???

I'm gonna reboot real quick and see if I have the original problem in this post fixed.

I still don't have the BIOS flash screen, but there's no delay after typing the password on the Welcome screen.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2021

What do I have to do, to get an EFI partition on Disk 0 (Disk management numbering)

I just assigned Disk 4 the drive letter S:\

When I try to Eject the USB stick with the Windows 10 install media, I get this...
It's using something on this stick to boot Windows ( C:\ )

If I physically remove this USB stick, then the SSD with C:\ ...won't boot.

This was @NavyLCDR 's plan. I think I messed it up somehow. :)

This is what started all this... Before I tried any of this... this is what Disk Genius said...