Samsung PC slow boot after replacement of HDD by SSD

As a newbie, excuse me if I make any mistake against the rules of this forum.

I have replaced the harddisk of my Samsung NP535U3C-A03NL with a SSD:
- harddisk: Hitachi Z5K500-500
- SSD: Crucial M500 240GB

I executed next steps:
- I partitioned the SSD using Windows
- I cloned the HDD to the SSD using Macrium Reflect Free. I had to shrink the systempartition.
- I interchanged the HDD and the SSD.

The performance is improved very much!

Only one issue left: After switching off the PC, it takes about 90 seconds to start the PC.
More detailed description:
- I press the on/off button.
- After a couple of seconds, the Samsung logo appears
- The SSD led flashes slow (1 time every about 2 seconds).
- The logo and the led continue for about 90 seconds.
- After 90 seconds, the "dots running in a circle" show up.
- Windows 8 screen appears.

I have been looking around on this and other forums to find a way to reduce the 'boot' time.
I found that cloning is not the recommended options for replacement of the HDD by a SSD. Sorry, I had earlier good experience with this procedure.

I tried several options from the BIOS.
But I did not find a solution.
It even takes sometimes about 10 minutes (no typo!) after some changes before the Samsung logo disappears!

Does anybody have an idea what I can do?

Kind regards, Gert

 

I have also had a good experience cloning to SSDs so I don't think that is inherently the problem. You can check the SSD partition alignment but I don't think that could cause the problem you are describing.

I have to wonder if the BIOS is still searching for the HDD. First go into the BIOS setup (tap the F2 key a few times immediately after pressing the power button to start the computer) then (i) check the hardware is listed correctly then (ii) that the SSD is the first item on the boot order.

If those are OK then it might be worthwhile clearing the CMOS data. The quick method (which might not always work) is to disconnect the PSU, disconnect / remove the battery (if the battery is not easily removable there should be a hole in the bottom to operate a battery disconnect switch - see user guide), then hold down the power button for, say, 30 seconds. If that makes no difference then you will have to try the slow method which is the quick method + disconnect the CMOS battery + leave computer for 2 days). However, don't go that far until you've tried any suggestions from others.

John

 

John,

Thanks for the quick reply.
I have checked the BIOS boot settings.

The order was:
#1 Windows Boot Manager
#2 UEFI Crucial etc....

I tried to change this order, but even if I press 'Save and reset (restart?)', the setting is not stored. (I checked this immediately by entering the Bios again after the reset).

So I decided to disable Windows Boot Manager. This setting was stored.
But reset/restart of the PC also results in a 90 seconds delay.
A second start with boot override in bios also results in a 90 seconds delay.

Does this observation confirm your idea that my next stap should be to reset the CMOS?

Thanks in advance, Gert

 

I suggest you wait for Dannemand to comment.

He has a much better understanding of UEFI and the appropriate settings.

John

 

Hello Gert, and welcome to NBR.

As John said, cloning the HDD to the SSD should definitely not in itself be the problem. But something must have gone wrong with that cloning process. Maybe Macrium did not ensure consistency between the new Disk ID on the cloned disk and what is recorded in BIOS. UEFI/GPT and SecureBoot are very strict.

Basically you have four different options for getting Windows onto the new SSD (as described in this post).

If your computer came with Win8.x, it has the newer Samsung Recovery Solution 6 (SRS6) which has a built-in cloning feature that many members have used successfully (see this samsung guide). I would recommend you plug the HDD back in and use that feature to clone instead.

While you have the original HDD installed, I highly recommend you also create a bootable Factory Image backup -- which, BTW is one of the other ways to get Windows onto a new SSD (described in this post).

If you still have problems after cloning this way, there may indeed be something wrong in the BIOS, including the UEFI setup. Did you make any changes there, other than the Boot Priority page?

First thing I would do in that case is restore default settings in BIOS, save and reboot, then see if that solves it. That is a milder version of the CMOS restore that John suggested -- which should then be you next try.

 

John, Dannemand,

Thanks for the quick replies!
I really wonder about the possiblity of cloning a harddisk through software running from that harddisk on the PC itself, but ok....

I have tried to restore default settings in BIOS, save and reboot, but this doesn't help.
I also have already been searching for the location of the disconnection switch of the built-in battery as well as the CMOS battery.
Up till now, I didn't find, but maybe later.

I studied the SRS6 links, but it seems to require an SSD, which has more GB's than the HDD. I didn't buy that capacity. Maybe pennywise to buy a smaller SSD...

I just found,that after switching the PC to sleep mode, it takes only a couple of seconds to restart the PC again. For me, that is a brilliant workaround, because only in case of a (windows)update or another required PC-reset, I have to wait for 90 seconds. And normally I can schedule that myself.

I hope, I do not frustrate you in applying this workaround!
Thanks for your great support!

Kind regards, great forum, Gert

 

Cloning using the SRS feature is by far the safest approach -- and one of the few ways to also get Recovery cloned onto the new SSD (which I doubt you have now after the Macrium cloning). It doesn't "run" on the disk as if it were a Windows program: Recovery boots its own WinPE environment and runs entirely from RAM. But like with the Macrium cloning, you have to shrink partitions on the HDD so they fit on the SSD. Again, many users have done this -- even with smaller SSDs.

That said, I can understand if you don't want to swap the HDD back in. If you are satisfied with the setup you have, that's all that matters