Long startup (~13 seconds) on brand new machine
Long startup (~13 seconds) on brand new machine
I recently assembled my own computer (and had a lot of fun with the process), but I noticed it often takes an extremely long time to start up. My previous machine, which was eight years old, booted much quicker than this one. After experimenting with various solutions and performing numerous tests, I thought about sharing this here. This system runs Windows 11 64-bit (clean install) on an m.2 SSD (SeaGate FireCuda 530 2TB) paired with an MSI Z690-Edge WiFi motherboard. It doesn’t come loaded with many programs—just the essentials since it’s brand new, and except for my antivirus, Windows Defender and iCue for lighting, everything is turned off at startup. I made sure fast-boot was activated both in the control panel and in the BIOS. My BIOS also includes an MSI Fast Boot feature, but after reading online reviews, it doesn’t seem to offer much benefit when booting from an SSD. Both Windows, my BIOS and all the drivers on my PC are fully current. If you have any tips to shorten my boot time or want to check anything I haven’t addressed yet, please leave a comment. Appreciate your support!
You're at the login screen or desktop. The process appears to be slower than expected, possibly due to system load or configuration delays.
Using the timer on my phone, from pressing the power button until the desktop appears, it takes roughly 23 seconds. The split seems balanced between POST and Windows startup, with the latter slightly delayed. In contrast to my old PC, the POST and BIOS entry took a few seconds instead of a second or two. This used to be quick, now it's about eight seconds. Added note: there’s an odd screen during startup that just shows a blank space for around four seconds before things resume.
The BIOS usually offers a setting to adjust the startup delay. This typically occurs when the system loads the bootloader or operating system from the correct drive.
The 23 seconds feels reasonable. My previous setup with a SATA SSD started in about 20 seconds, and a newer NVMe SSD matches that timing. It’s likely there’s always some flexibility for fans warming up and different motherboards completing their POST process. You might want to see if Windows uses the hibernate option, which can save data to the drive before booting up more quickly.