slow boot times again

  • Thread starter Thread starter JustinH
  • Start date Start date
J

JustinH

Hi

This is less a plea for help than an observation which may be of
use/interest to other people - albeit I don't know why it happens or
what to do to prevent it!!

I have a windows XPe image built on an IBM Thinkpad T23, which boots
from a DVD, using a batch file as the custom shell, which then starts
my program.

The original build, using a generic 1x DVD- would boot in just over 4
minutes. When moved to second machine it would also boot in 4 minutes,
albeit with a 'new devices messsage box being thrown up.

If the same .iso image was recorded on a TDK or a generic 8X DVD+, it
would boot from the second machine in 45 seconds, but still took 4
minutes on the original machine.

We then purchased some additional T23s and tried further tests. We now
had two models of Panasonic DVD drive and one Toshiba, however the
Toshiba drive would not read the 8X DVD+ disks at all.

With two T23s, using the same DVD drive and the same 8X DVD+ disk one
boots in 45" the other in 4'. The slow machine has been upgraded to
the latest BIOS and embedded controllers, and the drive has also had
its firmware upgraded, but this makes no difference. I am loathe to
upgrade the fast machine in case it slows it down!

Both T23s have the same major and minor model numbers.

I don't know what is going on, but it does cast some interesting light
on the reports that some people have made of having excessive (4' plus)
boot times.

Justin
 
Hi Justin,
It's curious, but not unheard of if the BIOS is reporting different ven dev
IDs to PnP for those drive controllers. Once you get to the desktop of the
two machines using the XPe image, run TAP and check those PMQs to compare
the HW config detected by PnP.

Check to see if there's any differences reported for those two drives. If
so, then probably what's happening is that on the fast machine, PnP is
finding a more compatible driver. On the slower machine, PnP is defaulting
to a more generic driver.

This is just a guess <grin> Good luck.

-andy
 
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