The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Alienware 17 R3 50second boot

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by pinco000, Jan 4, 2017.

  1. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hi guys, Im having a unpleasant situation with my laptop booting for 50 seconds or more.
    I just freshly installed win10, but didnt install the drivers in the correct sequence as some of the drivers downloaded from dell website didnt work strangely. So had to let microsoft to install the missing ones and then update them with dell ones.
    My boot time is long now. When I got my laptop first, it fully booted in 15 seconds.
    I have disabled all additional software in startup, reset bios to default, cleaned the hardive and defragged at the end. No help. It boots in 50 seconds at best so wondering what could I do except do a fresh install again...Please see below my specs
    Thank you

    [​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 4, 2017
    #1
  2. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,815
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Are you using RAID or AHCI?
     
    Vasudev, Jan 4, 2017
    #2
  3. el_pitaya

    el_pitaya Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    29
    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    You sure you installed win 10 on the ssd?
     
    el_pitaya, Jan 5, 2017
    #3
  4. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    ahci


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #4
  5. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    100%


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #5
  6. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    when the windows is loading, it gets stuck at the sign in screen, however I havent set up a password. The cursor becomes the working blue ring and once all the hassle is over it boots into win. I know this laptop is super fast. When I got it first, it was fully loading in 10-15seconds.
    Thanks for all your advice guys


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #6
  7. rinneh

    rinneh Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    854
    Messages:
    4,897
    Likes Received:
    2,191
    Trophy Points:
    231
    Never defrag an SSD!
     
    rinneh, Jan 5, 2017
    #7
  8. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    why?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #8
  9. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,815
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Stick with MS Windows Defrag tool for NVMe because 3rd party still considers NVMe as HDD and stick to Optimize Only. Have you checked your offset/alignment values for SSD?
     
    Vasudev, Jan 5, 2017
    #9
  10. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Im gonna switch off automatic defrag for my ssd. With regards to the offset values, you need to tell me where to find this, please


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #10
  11. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    please see my bios settings below [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #11
  12. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Ok, i just found out the partition starting offset. It is set to 1 048 576 bytes


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 5, 2017
    #12
  13. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,815
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Alignment is OK. Have you disabled Hibernate or Fast Startup? Just open cmd in elevated mode, type powercfg -h off. Try this out.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 5, 2017
    #13
  14. rinneh

    rinneh Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    854
    Messages:
    4,897
    Likes Received:
    2,191
    Trophy Points:
    231
    Because its not ment for ssd's they work very differently and actually shortens the ssd lifespan.
     
    rinneh, Jan 6, 2017
    #14
  15. abdullah_mag

    abdullah_mag Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    472
    Likes Received:
    71
    Trophy Points:
    41
    dude, i have the 17r3 with no ssd, and it still boots very fast from the HDD
     
    abdullah_mag, Jan 6, 2017
    #15
  16. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    guys, Im gonna make myself look a fool now but I always admit my mistakes.
    So the problem is that my win 10 is not installed to my ssd...


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 6, 2017
    #16
  17. nicholb

    nicholb Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Physical hard drives read data by moving read heads over spinning platters. It takes time to move the heads from one part of the disk to another. If the data you read is contiguous the head does not have to move to get the next chunk of data. A defrag makes all/most of the data contiguous.

    SSD have no moving parts so there is no read delay caused when you have non-contiguous data segments. So defrag has no performance gain. SSDs also have a limited lifespan in the number of times you can write to them. Doing unnecessary rewrites in a defrag reduces the life of the drive.
     
    nicholb, Jan 6, 2017
    #17
  18. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    thanks for the explanation, I will disable defrag on my ssd.
    Have one more question...

    I would like to safely erase the ssd now that my windows is my slow hdd. Heard that the best way is to use Samsung Magician as my ssd is from Samsung.
    However there isnt a version of it on samsungs website that supports my harddrive. Any advice what to do? Thanks


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 6, 2017
    #18
  19. nicholb

    nicholb Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    6
    If you just want to blank the disk to keep using it, format it.
     
    nicholb, Jan 6, 2017
    #19
  20. abdullah_mag

    abdullah_mag Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    472
    Likes Received:
    71
    Trophy Points:
    41
    one thing to note, the HDD shpuld still pretty fast, do a Debra's g and error check
     
    abdullah_mag, Jan 6, 2017
    #20
  21. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I did all of that when trying to solve the low boot speed but no help...


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 6, 2017
    #21
  22. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    my intension to do a proper delete like a Gutman method or similar so the hardrive would in pristine condition


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 6, 2017
    #22
  23. abdullah_mag

    abdullah_mag Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    472
    Likes Received:
    71
    Trophy Points:
    41
    omg my reply got auto corrected to **** xDDD

    on topic: dp you have tye OS on a small partition on its own?, i split my HDD 200/800 with windows on the smaller partition.
     
    abdullah_mag, Jan 6, 2017
    #23
  24. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I have two hard drives, one is ssd other is 7200rpm. They are C and D, not split. I accidentally installed the win on the 7200rpm so no wonder its slow compared to ssd. The ssd is as a storage now ( until i swap )


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 6, 2017
    #24
  25. abdullah_mag

    abdullah_mag Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    472
    Likes Received:
    71
    Trophy Points:
    41
    hard disk drive = HDD, Solid State Drive = SSD, they aren't both Hard Drives.

    i know you installed the os on the 1tb HDD, but did you create PARTITIONS on the HDD after that? (i.e you created D:/ for everything and left C:/ for the OS only)
     
    abdullah_mag, Jan 7, 2017
    #25
  26. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    no partitions on the HDD


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 7, 2017
    #26
  27. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,815
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Just quick erase will do for an SSD and a simple overwrite with 1 pass is enough to restore spinning drives to factory defaults. Try imaging with Macrium Reflect or Acronis and perform a hardware dis-similar restore and use Fix Windows Bootup option in Macrium Reflect or Acronis after restore.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 7, 2017
    #27
  28. pinco000

    pinco000 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    16
    did it in diskpart territory, installed win 10 , all is running well. Thanks guys


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    pinco000, Jan 7, 2017
    #28
    Vasudev likes this.