Philippeam

Thanks. Will do. Also I removed "system protection" from G: (The external HD) and it improved a bit (I don't know why it was ever on for that drive). Amitiés P.Meyer

MagicAndre here is the new trace boot with the external drive unplugged (and a fast restart). the "press esc for BIOS" disappears nearly immediately instead of staying displayed for several minutes. Do you think you can find what the BIOS is doing with the external drive (used for file history and system image) when it is attached? Thanks a million. https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=19E695D9D72F8B9!347&authkey=!APSfIS8DIcyns1A

OK MagicAndre Through test and trial I found the major culprit: it is my external USB 2T external drive WD1021. If I disconnect it we are back to a normal restart time. I cannot explain it but I remarked activity on it during the initial period of the boot as if the BIOS was trying to load the OS from that drive. The BIOS order is Laptop HD first, then DVD/CD drive then USB so I do not understand. As far as AHCI is concerned I am pretty sure it is not used and I could not verify that the default for the AMD SATA controller is AHCI although some posts seem to suggest it is. The HD is Toshiba MK6476gsx. So much for tonight PM

The HP Laptop Pavilion DV6-6C10US (I think all DV6) does not allow access to that level of BIOS (Locked by HP) and looking the "storahci" in the registry I am pretty sure AHCI is not in use. Nevertheless I have learned thanks to you quite a few things: How to use MSFN (and I love it), How to use the xbootmgr and I also got the corresponding MS analyser which may help. Strangely I cannot either access the UEFI.(which seems limited on DV6 anyhow, see attached) I'll work on the issues and will keep you posted. Many thanks P.M.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=19E695D9D72F8B9!346&authkey=!AEByUwkdzU5LcsM Should be better!!

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=19E695D9D72F8B9!346

Magicandre I lack experience with the forum. Just noticed it says "0 bytes of your 500K global upload quota used (Max. file 500K) "but the zip is 92 Mega (the boot .etl is 750 Mega before compression). How can I resolve the issue? Thanks P.M.

Thanks for your patience Magic Andre. My stupid mistake was that I never pushed "Finish" on the "Delay for 120 seconds" panel and xbootmgr continued to trace and did not modify the autorun, hence the ginormous files, the impossibility to start another trace and the trace restarting after a restart! For each trace I got two files one .cab and one .etl I have enclosed all for in the Zip as well as the Xbootmgr logs. Thanks Philippe Meyer

MagicAndreHope this can help Philippe Meyer

Not sure what happened: 1) Started–trace boot: went well gave me two .etl files in C:\TEMP 2) Tryto start -trace hibernate got a message -trace hibernate cannot get started 3) Irestarted the computer and the –trace boot restarted spontaneously leaving twofiles in C:\TEMP Boot_base+CSWITCH+DRIVERS+POWER_1.cab 2MEG and Boot_base+CSWITCH+DRIVERS+POWER_1.etl 553 Meg!! What were my mistakes?? Thanks

MagicAndré, 1) No your two questions 2) Apologize for the length of the message, my cut and paste did not work the way I thought it would 3) I have upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8, which I understand may give different results in the boot operations (?). I will have to do a clean install in the future because of that and a few other desktop/metro conflicts, but I just don't have the time now. 4) I now understand that the "cold" boot in W8 is because in fact it is a wake up from hibernation. I assume that when it is a restart, they have to go through the BIOS/UEFI loop (??). In W7 both cold start and restart were slow. 5) I have been trying to find back your tutorial for tracing the boot process. Will it apply to W8 6) There is in W8 an option for Boot logging, would that help? Based on an old sysinternal I assume, but cannot be sure, that there is some HP health program involved???? Thanks for your help. Amitiés Philippe Meyer

HP Pavilion DV6-6C10US 6G RAM Windows 8 (I had same problem under Windows7) Cold boot is acceptably fast (10-15sec. to Welcome Screen,no BIOS prompt) but boot after restart takes 3 to 5 minutes and there is a BIOSprompt. I do not understand where the differencecomes from. If more info is needed can Iuse the “BIOS logging” of Windows 8)