CF-52 MK2LL slow to boot - new info

As the title suggests, this topic has been approached before. Unsuccessfully according to the search results I have come accross. First a review of the problem, then a brief rehash of the suggested troubleshooting, then a few new observations that might (hopefully) bring an ahaa moment to someone that could lead to a real solution.

The problem:
A few forum members have reported CF-52GXXXXXXX models that boot slow. Taking over 30 seconds or so to get to the flash screen, then maybe another 60 seconds or so to load Windows, regardless of windows version. Once the units boot, they reportedly run fine. Not any slower than those units that boot without the delay.

Suggested troubleshooting:
First suggestion is to enter BIOS and select load defaults.Then reboot. Rarely does this matter.

Second, remove all drives and external cards, enter BIOS and disable all ports - at this point it was presumed that the machine would boot more quickly. Then it was suggested to turn on one port at a time in BIOS until the long boot time shows up and then manage around that discovery. In my experience, this doesn't work. Sorry. It make no difference. Whatever the machine is thinking about while it tries to boot is unaffected by BIOS settings.

Third suggestion is that there is a bad port, so test all ports. Again, that might be the problem for some users, but not for this issue.

Fourth suggestion is that the mobo is bad. That too might be the problem for some, but not for this issue.

New observations
I now have three of these machines in inventory.
#1 CF-52GCMBXAM
#2 CF-52GFNBPAM
#3 CF-52GFNBX2M (after turning all ports off, then rebooting, model showed as CF-52GGNBX2M, how odd?)

I've had others before, but gave up on them and either parted them out, or just discounted them to sell knowing they were slow to boot. Here is the rub, I only had one (#1) until I took the BIOS chip out of a good machine (#2) and tried it in the slow machine (#1). It made little to no difference (I didn't time the boot time in the beginning) in the slow machine. I tried a second BIOS chip taken from another good machine (#3), thinking that the BIOS chip from the first good machine was just not compatible. Nope, same results, no quicker to boot, might even have been slower.

NOTE HOWEVER, when I put those BIOS chips back into the good machines, they too were then slow to boot. The chips were exchanged with all power removed, both battery and AC, but the BIOS battery was still connected. I then disassembled machine #1 and disconnected the BIOS battery and drained all power from the board hoping it would forget all the additional BIOS settings it appears was being read. Nope, no such luck.

I have also observered that when the units reboot, as is often the case when doing windows updates, that these machines can't complete the reboot. They shutdown okay, then try to reboot as they should, but then have to shut down again (on their own) before finally rebooting.

These machines are clearly confused. It takes them forever to decide what should be loaded in the BIOS. I'm guessing that the BIOS settings are on the mobo, and on the BIOS chip. And if you install a BIOS chip that is different from the original, there must be a record made on the mobo. Then, even if you put the original chip back, the mobo is confused. Whatever BIOS settings they came from the factory with, are the BIOS settings they expect to see in the BIOS chip, but apparently, the unit remembers any BIOS chip that has been installed.

Any ideas?

 

Did you disable wwan , wlan, network port etc?
Do you have a POST card for notebooks?

 

I had this same problem with one last year and it was the hard drive , well I think it was because it went away after I installed the SSD

 

Hi Shawn,
I appreciate all responses. I thought I addressed your first question. Yes, disabled ALL ports available in the BIOS. No difference. However, unit #2 and #3 have WWAN cards. I think I'll try physically removing them.

What is a POST card for notebooks? I don't recognize that terminology.

Thanks again,
Joe

 

Not sure we are on the same page here, but are you saying pulling the hard drive (no hard drive) made a difference. Because that is not so here. But, if you are saying that installing the SSD then changed the condition of the boot to BIOS, that is significant. Please confirm. Thanks, Joe

 

What I did was take out the standard harddrive and put in a new solid state drive (SSD) intel model 320 . 120GB and it booted up in 38 seconds into windows. My mk4 boots up in 20 seconds

 

From my understanding of what Blair is suggesting is to try other harddrive not necessarily an ssd. It maybe possible that the existing hdd may run into retirement. Other suggestion is to try a much faster ram like pc2 6400 and etc. then try one slot at a time. You may pinpoint either the ram or the ram slot of the unit has a problem.


ohlip

 

here is the wiki..

POST card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is a random mfg page..

product list of Sintech debug card expert PC laptop motherboard diagnostic post debug tester card

Here is a fleabay ad..

PCI Analyzer Diagnostic Post Test Card for PC Laptop | eBay


Nu PC Laptop Motherboard Chip CPU RAM VGA BIOS Post Qiguan Diagnostic Card Kit | eBay

 

I got the one on the top of the second picture but have yet to even take it out of the wrapper yet. Haven't had a need, yet.

 

Shawn & Ador, thanks for the education and tip. I'm going to pull the trigger on one of those after doing a bit more research.

In regard to these CF-52 machines, I'm pretty sure there is nothing physically wrong with hardware. Two were working fine until, while trying to fix the first, I swapped the BIOS chips. It was only then that those first two became slow. I'm pretty sure the issues are all in how the BIOS chip and motherboard communicate. The motherboard is/was expecting to see a particular BIOS chip and when it didn't, apparently, it made an image of the "wrong" chip and then even when the original chip was reinstalled, the mobo can't execute the commands efficently. I'm looking for ways to remove that confusion. Reinstallation of the BIOS might work.

Is there an image of the BIOS for the MK2LL that is available?

 

I have one from my machine...I am not at home right now. I will dig up the image and contact you later....OR you can just send me one of those x tra cf52's you have.....