Question 55 regarding second bios time on a new PC with fast-boot activated
Question 55 regarding second bios time on a new PC with fast-boot activated
I recently assembled a high-performance PC but am dealing with extremely slow boot times that are really annoying.
Components used: Ryzen 5 7800x3d, ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming Wifi Motherboard, RTX 4070 TI, EVGA Supernova 850 GT Gold PSU, Gskill Trident z5 neo ddr5-6000, WD-Black SN850X NVMe SSD.
Initially, Windows reported boot times around 45 seconds. I turned off all startup applications in Task Manager. Fast-boot was set by default in BIOS; only EXPO was enabled and integrated graphics was disabled. After updating everything to the latest versions, the BIOS time rose to 55 seconds. I then reset the BIOS settings but saw no improvement, so I re-enabled EXPO and turned off iGPU again.
I suspected an SSD problem, so I tried using my old boot NVMe from a previous Windows 10 system. It worked fine but wasn’t recognized as a bootable drive. Eventually, it increased the BIOS time to 90 seconds.
I’m feeling disappointed and frustrated, with no clear solutions.
This discussion seems to suggest the problem might be with the motherboard itself. Is there any chance it’s not fixable?
I’m hoping to find fixes that don’t require replacing the motherboard.
Check your RAM type—XMP or EXPO. If it's XMP, turn it off in BIOS and observe if performance improves, then consider switching to EXPO. If EXPO is present, it likely isn't the problem, but you might test disabling it to see if it affects things.
Yes, the Trident Z5 Neo is working fine during EXPO, but problems still occur within the BIOS settings whether it's active or not.
You're right, I've been checking the bios to find a stable number. After adjusting the settings and replacing the RAM, it still took 40 seconds to boot. I'm still puzzled—was it just a lucky start? Could it be related to the RAM issue? Is my motherboard behaving strangely?
on every mainboard the memory is retrained during a cold boot. On AM5 this process is referred to as Memory context restore, and you should have it activated. There are two configurations—one from your mainboard and another from AMD. Use just one, not both. ASUS offers it in AI Tweaker or Extreme Tweaker under DRAM timing control; scroll down if you find memory context restore there, then enable it. Proceed to Advanced, AMD CBS, and look under UMC common options for another memory context restore entry, disabling it if it’s already active.
I experimented with using just one RAM stick and achieved a few more BIOS times of 9 seconds.
I replaced the second stick, rebooted several times to help the RAM settle, and turned on ASUS memory context restore while disabling AMD's version (both were initially set to auto).
After three more reboots, the BIOS time remained at 60 seconds.
According to Bob.B, both RAM sticks are functioning properly and all four slots are working well. It looks like this combination is the solution.