Long BIOS boot time

I've now experienced several Dell computers (different models) that takes forever from you hit the power button until they produce the characteristic BIOS beep and the Windows boot commences!? The windows boot itself seems to proceed at normal speed and everything works fine, without conflicts and stuff!
My first thought was that the machine(s) BIOS might be looking for some hardware or that communications with some component is faulty, but it even happens to very new machines, and I can't find any faults! In one case it seemed to be after installation of a Compaq wireless network, but in most cases I can't see any reason whatsoever!??

...Does anybody have a clue to what this might be caused by and how to solve it? I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice on the matter!

BIOS soft might be looking for installed hardware...
Some of hardware could be changed since last boot and BIOS software has to update DMI pool data according to the changes in hardware config (during that some data will be written into flash IC).
So, if You have BIOS chip write protected, it can take You forever wait for that DMI updating... just a quick thought... ;)

Good luck!

You could obviate this whole thing by simply holding down the SHIFT key before you cliclk restart. That way you bypass the bios and don't have to wait as long.

Orangeman

Orangeman....I don't think I'm following you!?? :confused:
...If you hold down shift, while restarting in WinME, windows will just bypass your startup files and boot directly to safe-mode??...Which has nothing to do with the BIOS boot!?
If you do it in WinXP, you will just change the standby button into the hibernate button, which doesn't help much eather!

Anywho, this is not at all what I'm looking for! I'm looking for a permanent solution to make the computer start the boot process as fast as it used to!!...and off course find the reason why this happens in the first place!



Ruslan....that sounds pretty reasonable, but how do you 'un-writeprotect' it? (I have also encountered the problem on other machines, so its not just Dells computers who does it!)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chrej
Ruslan....that sounds pretty reasonable, but how do you 'un-writeprotect' it?

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There should be an option in BIOS settings like"Flashing BIOS - enabled/disable" or something like that (almost every branded PC with Phoenix BIOS I have seen did have that as one of security options).
Some of PCs have hardware BIOS write protection switch on-board,though (some of Siemens Nixdorf PCs, for example). Check it out - refer to the motherboard's manual.
You can also try to set an option in BIOS settings - "Reset user configuration data = Yes " (or enabled) . Set it as Yes (enabled), if it was previously set as "No" (disabled).
This will force BIOS software to update DMI info according to current hardware config. Then next time it will take much less time to boot...
But, once again, make sure You have BIOS write-enabled.

Another thing (You may have already known) - enable quick POST (Power-On-Self-Test) option in BIOS settings (by default it may be set as "disabled")...

Thanks for your advice Ruslan, I will examine the BIOS closer as soon as possible! :cool: