Trace Windows 7 boot/shutdown/hibernate/standby/resume issues

[MagicAndre1981]

Thank you! Updating the BIOS did it

You're welcome. Enjoy your faster hibernation experience

[Haefen]

I have used this thread to fix all issues I have with booting Windows 7 except one. I have googled like crazy for a solution to this problem but I haven't even come across someone with the same issue. Everytime I try to start my computer using the power button I get the following message:

""reboot and select proper boot device"

Or, when I have booting from network enabled in the bios it does that instead. I've tried all kinds of combinations of settings in the bios (which has limited configuration options), I've updated to the newest bios firmware, I've reset it to the manufacturing settings. I've also disabled hibernating.

If I restart by chosing "restart" in Windows it restarts completely normally (and really quickly now that I've used this thread and the thread on speeding up the boot process), recognizes the hard drive and boots from it immediately. If I shut down the computer or set it to hibernate and have to start it up with the power-button I get the "reboot and select proper boot device"-message. When I use the power button I can only get the computer to boot to windows by entering the bios and changing ANY setting -- after that it starts up normally (and the bios always recognizes the hard-drive and lists it wherever I left it in the boot-order last time I was in the bios). No other buttons works, except F2 which gets me to the bios. None of the other F-buttons, the esc-buttons or any other buttons I've tried do ANYTHING at all once I've pressed the power-button and the computer starts up.

Since I've tried to change every setting I can change in the bios the only two options I can think of are problems with the hardware or in the windows settings. My laptop is Asus ul30a and my OS is Windows 7 64bit.

Any suggestions on how I can find out the cause of this power-button-induced problem using the methods from this post? Or any other method?

Edited April 22, 2011 by Haefen

[MagicAndre1981]

this is a BIOS issue, no Windows issue. Which motherboard do you have? Maybe the battery is low and forgets the settings.

[Haefen]

I thought that earlier so I checked and the battery is okay. It remembers the time, if I change the settings etc. My mainboard and bios sets are:

Mainboard

Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

Manufacturer : ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

MPS Version : 1.40

Model : UL30A

Type : Mainboard

Version : 1.0

Serial Number : BSN12345678901234567

Asset Tag : ATN12345678901234567

BIOS : 64-0100-000001-00101111-122809-Cantiga

Manufacturer : American Megatrends Inc.

Version : 212

Plug & Play Version : 1.00

SMBIOS/DMI Version : 2.50

(EE)PROM Size : 1MB

I'm starting to think that the problem is with SATA/AHCI. The last thing it says before I get the "reboot and select proper boot device"-message is "auto-detecting ahci port 0". Something fishy going on there...

[MagicAndre1981]

load the default BIOS settings and try again.

[Haefen]

I've done that several times. It makes no difference whatsoever. Not an easy nut to crack, this one.

[MagicAndre1981]

contact the ASUS support

[Haefen]

Thanks for your help. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that because I don't want to be without my laptop for that long, but at this point I feel I have tried all other available options.

[Hebram]

Andre:

You referred me to this thread after helping me speed up my Windows 7 boot times tremendously.

Would you mind analyzing the following traces and see if there is any room for improvement?

Shutdown Trace ETL:

http://www.mediafire.com/?a2ad4krtac8e799

Shutdown Trace Summary:

http://www.mediafire.com/?j3kj5z1jj1q3i8b

Hibernate/Resume Trace ETL:

http://www.mediafire.com/?abu42uyo7225u7o

Hibernate/Resume Trace Summary:

http://www.mediafire.com/?2o462vdfbi9hhb2

Hebram

[MagicAndre1981]

the complete shutdown takes 16s, stopping all services takes 5s and stopping all running apps takes 3.3s:

<timing shutdownTime="16302" servicesShutdownDuration="5098">
<sessionShutdown sessionID="1" startTime="402" endTime="3715" duration="3312">

the summary tells me that 4 services hang during shutdown:

- <unresponsiveServices numUnresponsiveServices="4">
  <unresponsiveService name="TrustedInstaller" /> 
  <unresponsiveService name="MsMpSvc" /> 
  <unresponsiveService name="SUService" /> 
  <unresponsiveService name="WSearch" /> 
  </unresponsiveServices>

Have you installed updates during the shutdown? Also the HDD is busy all the time which may also slowdown the shutdown.

the hibernation resume is fast, but the writing is a bit slow:

suspend time_unit="us" time_precision="us" 
hiberwrite="26548000"

hiberwrite - The total time that was spent writing the hiberfile to disk. Writing the hiberfile is performed by using a special driver stack because other drivers are currently in sleep.

26.5s to write the hibernation file to the HDD. The resume is fast:

resumecritical="286312"  resume="2877000">

this takes 2.9s.

[Hebram]

Is there any way to correct the hanging services?

No updates were being installed during the shutdown process. The HDD *is* busy all the time. If the computer is turned on, even when idle, every second or so the HDD indicator LED will flash. This is even after the laptop has been on for several hours and idle. I have been unable to determine what is causing this.

Is there anyway to speed up the write time of the hibernation file? Could this be due to having a large amount of memory installed?

[Hebram]

I think i found the culprit of my disk activity problem. Looks like it was the Intel Rapid Storage Technology package. I will repost traces later this evening.

[MagicAndre1981]

ok, I'm an AMD user so I don't know about Intel drivers. Upload the new traces and I look at them.

[Hebram]

ok, I'm an AMD user so I don't know about Intel drivers. Upload the new traces and I look at them.

Removing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software corrected the constant disk activity. However, after removal, the computer would not resume from hibernate. The computer would reboot shortly after displaying the "Resuming Windows" splash screen. I attempted to run the hibernation boot trace 4 times. In each case the computer would reboot during resume. I re-installed the Intel Rapid Storage driver (iastor.sys) alone, without installing the full software package. Constant disk activity became a problem again, but I was able to resume from hibernate. Strangely enough, if I remove the DVD burner from the laptop, I no longer experience constant disk activity with the iastore.sys driver. Disabling the DVD burner in Device Manager also correct the disk activity problem.

Attached are my new trace summaries with the DVD burner disabled. Let me know if you need the full ETL's.

summary_shutdown.xml

summary_hibernation.xml

Edited April 25, 2011 by Hebram

[MagicAndre1981]

the shutdown takes 11s (stopping the services takes 3.5s and stoping all programs takes 2.2s)

<timing shutdownTime="11418" servicesShutdownDuration="3448">

I need the ETl for the hibernation, but the time to write the file is still too long. I have no idea why you see this with the DVD burner and the Intel driver. Ask this the Intel Support