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    New Owner - Need help with boot time

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by BrightStar, Mar 4, 2011.

  1. BrightStar

    BrightStar Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hiya

    Just thought I'd ask a few questions after getting my M17x R2 delivered this week.

    First of all, it's a WUXGA with RGB screen so I am very happy with the colours :D Hard disk is Seagate 500GB 7200rpm 16MB cache.

    Trouble I am finding is it's boot time. It takes a lot of time to boot, almost 2 minutes. I have attached a screenshot for the times.

    2 days ago was when I disabled almost starting services but still it took a lot of time. Today's boot is false as it was in sleep mode hence logged in quickly.

    Any ideas how to reduce the boot time and if I buy an SSD drive, would that bring it down to under 30s or so?

    Thanks in advance :)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    BrightStar, Mar 4, 2011
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  2. Vanti

    Vanti Notebook Enthusiast

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    In your Startup and Recovery options in Windows it allows to select how many processors should be used during startup. By default, it's set to 1. Change that number to 4. Should work nicely after that. Also, make sure your RAM allocation numbers are correct. Manually set how much RAM you want to dedicate to specific functions. Hope this information helps.
     
    Vanti, Mar 4, 2011
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  3. BrightStar

    BrightStar Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the suggestion Vanti. How do I set increase the number of CPUs from 1 to 4? Should it be in bios? Also havent got a clue what to do with ram allocation or how to do it?

    Pardon my ignorance.
     
    BrightStar, Mar 4, 2011
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  4. VoiceInTheWilderness

    VoiceInTheWilderness Notebook Consultant

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    Daku,

    Go into the "Administrative Tools" utility under "System and Security". Once there, open the "System Configuration" tool, go in the "Boot" tab, and there is an "Advanced Options" button. Click it, and you will get a panel for setting the number of processors.
     
    VoiceInTheWilderness, Mar 4, 2011
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  5. Vanti

    Vanti Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes, sorry about that. I should have added more details about how to actually do it. Sorry. VoiceInTheWilderness is spot on though. Those instructions will get you to where you want to go.
     
    Vanti, Mar 4, 2011
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  6. Doctor Magneto

    Doctor Magneto Notebook Consultant

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    Hi

    I've tried to do this, changed the number of processors to 4 in Boot Tab, but after restarting the machine HWinfo shows only 2 cores instead of 4..

    I rolled settings back and now only one core shows up in HWinfo.. What happened? :confused:
     
    Doctor Magneto, Mar 5, 2011
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  7. Harryboiyeye

    Harryboiyeye Notebook Deity

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    That was....amazing. The boot time was so fast!
     
    Harryboiyeye, Mar 5, 2011
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  8. Empty|

    Empty| Notebook Geek

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    hello.

    i am really interested in reducing the boot time, too.
    problem is: i have a german windows and i can not find "Administrative Tools"

    could you make a screenshot?

    and what is with doctor's problem?

    EDIT: found a guide

    Reduce Windows 7 Boot time:
    •Run msconfig.
    •Navigate to the Boot Tab in the System Configuration window that appears on running msconfig.
    •Click Advanced options...
    •Click the check box on Number of Processors and select the number of cores your processor have.
    •Click OK Then Apply.
    •On rebooting you will be able to see the difference.
     
    Empty|, Mar 5, 2011
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  9. deltawing

    deltawing Notebook Evangelist

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    I changed it to 4 from 1 and it froze immediately upon loading Windows, weird.

    I did have 1-8 as a choice, should I have gone with 8?
     
    deltawing, Mar 5, 2011
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  10. Doctor Magneto

    Doctor Magneto Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, I've solved it. I should set the number of processors in Boot tab to 8 in order to get all cores to show up in HWinfo, and when rolling back I should uncheck the box, as 1 processor and checked box resulted only one core to be shown. This number means logical processors I think, so I set it to 8, the boot time increased significantly and now all cores are shown in HWinfo.

    Cheers
     
    Doctor Magneto, Mar 5, 2011
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  11. deltawing

    deltawing Notebook Evangelist

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    Just changed it to 8, didn't freeze upon booting, weird. Didn't notice TOO much of a difference.
     
    deltawing, Mar 5, 2011
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  12. Doctor Magneto

    Doctor Magneto Notebook Consultant

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    Strange that it froze.. I tried 4 and 1, it booted without freezes but there was reduced number of cores. Now I'm on 8 too, and feel very pleasant improvement in boot time :)
     
    Doctor Magneto, Mar 5, 2011
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  13. VoiceInTheWilderness

    VoiceInTheWilderness Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah, I should have said as well: Max it out with respect to thread count on your processor. I think for the majority of us, that's 8.
     
    VoiceInTheWilderness, Mar 5, 2011
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  14. Vanti

    Vanti Notebook Enthusiast

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    Neat trick huh? @Empty, even the German version of Windows has to have this settings tab. Follow the directions given and you will ultimately find the tab that will allow you to change how many processors used during startup. Hope it all works out. Do keep us in the loop.
     
    Vanti, Mar 5, 2011
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  15. BrightStar

    BrightStar Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well my boot time is now 40 sec but changing processors from 1 to 8 didnt make any noticeable difference at all.
     
    BrightStar, Mar 5, 2011
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  16. p5795

    p5795 Notebook Geek

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    How do i allocate RAM? I have 8gb installed, how much should I use? I changed the CPUs from 1 to 8 and did not notice any difference in boot time. :(
     
    p5795, Mar 6, 2011
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  17. BrightStar

    BrightStar Notebook Enthusiast

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    Dont know myself how to allocate ram
     
    BrightStar, Mar 6, 2011
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  18. p5795

    p5795 Notebook Geek

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    To the right of the setting where you set the amount of cores to use there were an option for the RAM. I maxed it out but i can still not see any difference in boot time. My neighbour just bought a new laptop and that one boots up in about 5 sek and he does not have SSD. My have never been quick, not even when it was brand new.
     
    p5795, Mar 6, 2011
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