PC slow to reach BIOS splash screen

[TiZzla]

So my new PC seems to take way too long to reach the BIOS screen, sometimes around 10 seconds. Is this normal? Once it reaches the BIOS screen it boots instantly but the majority of my boot time is spent waiting for the BIOS to get going... Any ideas?

 

[Grayfox]

It depends on the PC but one common cause for this is a failing HDD.

Download and install a program called Diskcheckup by passmark
It is a free S.M.A.R.T monitoring tool and will tell you if any drives are failing.
Also run windows memory test to test for any possible ram issues.

http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

If these two things are fine, go into the BIOS and reset values to defaults and save
Check what the settings are just incase you cant boot back in.

 

[NLxAROSA]

There's no HDD access when booting into to BIOS (it's loaded from EEPROM). Anything on the HDD is accessed after the BIOS has loaded. I would also expect more issues when in your OS. RAM could be an issue, so it's worth to test that.

Some motherboards have an option for a quick or extensive POST test (diagnostics test on startup), make sure it's set to quick.

 

[DQuaN]

There should also be an option for quickboot or quickpost. Perhaps try updating your BIOS?

 

[Grayfox]

There's no HDD access when booting into to BIOS (it's loaded from EEPROM). Anything on the HDD is accessed after the BIOS has loaded. I would also expect more issues when in your OS. RAM could be an issue, so it's worth to test that.

Some motherboards have an option for a quick or extensive POST test (diagnostics test on startup), make sure it's set to quick.

The BIOS might not access the HDD, but it will still power it up and detect it and if the drive has issues it can cause this.
Seen it first hand.

 

[TenEightyOne]

So my new PC seems to take way too long to reach the BIOS screen, sometimes around 10 seconds. Is this normal? Once it reaches the BIOS screen it boots instantly but the majority of my boot time is spent waiting for the BIOS to get going... Any ideas?

Before resetting your BIOS check the boot order settings. Is the PC waiting for a USB or CD boot and then finally choosing HDD as another option?

My sister bought a new PC that had exactly this problem.

 

[TiZzla]

Before resetting your BIOS check the boot order settings. Is the PC waiting for a USB or CD boot and then finally choosing HDD as another option?

My sister bought a new PC that had exactly this problem.

Yeah since it's new and I have been adding hard drives I think sometimes it gets confused, I did set the boot order but sometimes it still has trouble. Booted up fine today though so hopefully it's all good.

 

[NLxAROSA]

You can always use the long POST check to see if it finds any errors or it's halting at some device.