Author: parsec
Subject: Turbo Boot With 8.1 Problem
Posted: 18 May 2016 at 1:11pm
As the description for the Ultra Fast setting of Fast Boot states, you can't get into the UEFI/BIOS the standard way when using Ultra Fast.
That is why the ASRock Restart to UEFI program exists. For some reason it is not included in the Win 8.1 section of the Download page for the Z77 Extreme4 board. It is listed in the Win 8 and Win 10 sections, same version for Win 8 through Win 10, 1.0.5. It works fine, I use it to restart into the UEFI as a convenience all the time, no more banging on the Del key:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Download&os=Win864
A UEFI booting Windows installation will be GPT formatted, that is what it should be. There are actually four partitions created by the Windows installer, three used by Windows and the Primary partition for Windows and our use. Don't try to delete any of the three partitions used by Windows, they need to be there.
As I said in my last post, a UEFI booting Windows installation will work in EFI or Legacy mode. Legacy mode is with the UEFI/BIOS set to defaults. You won't brick the drive by using the default UEFI settings, which includes CSM set to Enabled.
You can set CSM to Enabled any time you like, and start the PC in Legacy mode, and then switch back to UEFI mode, CSM Disabled.
You can see the difference in the resolution of the ASRock POST screen, and other screens shown during POST, when starting the PC in Legacy or UEFI mode. You mentioned that in your first post.
I hope you are using an Intel SATA III port for your OS drive, with the Intel SATA mode set to AHCI. If you are using an ASMedia SATA port, your startup time will be slower, and your SSD will not be performing at its full potential.
Your experience with using the Ultra Fast setting is strange, but you may now have learned one of the secrets of the Ultra Fast "boot" setting. That is, it is mainly a much faster POST process. Starting a PC includes POST and booting Windows, two distinct things.
The PC starting, then stopping, and then starting again from a cold start is NOT normal for Ultra Fast, or really anytime except when starting the PC after a UEFI/BIOS update, or some type of OC, CPU or memory. I don't know why your PC is doing that, something is not right.
Do you have a POST beep speaker connected to the board, and POST beep enabled in the UEFI? It sounds like you have all the POST screen displays disabled in the UEFI.
Win 10 is the worst OS to use as an example of fast "booting". The actual time to the desktop is very long sometimes, usually from a cold start, and at other times it is very quick. Win 10 does some housekeeping, etc, sometimes when it starts, very annoying. Windows 8.1 has the MSoft fast startup feature enabled by default, did you disable that?
I've seen a few of the two second PC startup videos, but I don't trust them. There are many tricks to make that happen, including disabling many Windows services that are started but are idle normally. They also will have one SSD connected to the PC, simple wired mouse and keyboard, integrated graphics in use. The fastest starting PC I ever used was an ASRock Z87 Extreme6 board, with a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD as the OS drive, UEFI booting, and one other SSD for storage. X99 boards are slow to POST, Z170 is pretty fast, depending upon the memory being used.
It's usually other devices connected to the PC that cause slowdowns on startup, like USB flash drives or USB connected external drives. If you have any HDDs in that PC, you can forget super fast startups. All drives must pass POST checks before Windows even begins to boot, and HDDs are slow to wake up from a power off situation. Optical drives also slow down POST.
I considered telling you that you might not be impressed with the Ultra Fast setting, it's not magic that can remove the realities of starting a PC. So many variables affect that. But you would not have believed me.
Subject: Turbo Boot With 8.1 Problem
Posted: 18 May 2016 at 1:11pm
As the description for the Ultra Fast setting of Fast Boot states, you can't get into the UEFI/BIOS the standard way when using Ultra Fast.
That is why the ASRock Restart to UEFI program exists. For some reason it is not included in the Win 8.1 section of the Download page for the Z77 Extreme4 board. It is listed in the Win 8 and Win 10 sections, same version for Win 8 through Win 10, 1.0.5. It works fine, I use it to restart into the UEFI as a convenience all the time, no more banging on the Del key:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Download&os=Win864
A UEFI booting Windows installation will be GPT formatted, that is what it should be. There are actually four partitions created by the Windows installer, three used by Windows and the Primary partition for Windows and our use. Don't try to delete any of the three partitions used by Windows, they need to be there.
As I said in my last post, a UEFI booting Windows installation will work in EFI or Legacy mode. Legacy mode is with the UEFI/BIOS set to defaults. You won't brick the drive by using the default UEFI settings, which includes CSM set to Enabled.
You can set CSM to Enabled any time you like, and start the PC in Legacy mode, and then switch back to UEFI mode, CSM Disabled.
You can see the difference in the resolution of the ASRock POST screen, and other screens shown during POST, when starting the PC in Legacy or UEFI mode. You mentioned that in your first post.
I hope you are using an Intel SATA III port for your OS drive, with the Intel SATA mode set to AHCI. If you are using an ASMedia SATA port, your startup time will be slower, and your SSD will not be performing at its full potential.
Your experience with using the Ultra Fast setting is strange, but you may now have learned one of the secrets of the Ultra Fast "boot" setting. That is, it is mainly a much faster POST process. Starting a PC includes POST and booting Windows, two distinct things.
The PC starting, then stopping, and then starting again from a cold start is NOT normal for Ultra Fast, or really anytime except when starting the PC after a UEFI/BIOS update, or some type of OC, CPU or memory. I don't know why your PC is doing that, something is not right.
Do you have a POST beep speaker connected to the board, and POST beep enabled in the UEFI? It sounds like you have all the POST screen displays disabled in the UEFI.
Win 10 is the worst OS to use as an example of fast "booting". The actual time to the desktop is very long sometimes, usually from a cold start, and at other times it is very quick. Win 10 does some housekeeping, etc, sometimes when it starts, very annoying. Windows 8.1 has the MSoft fast startup feature enabled by default, did you disable that?
I've seen a few of the two second PC startup videos, but I don't trust them. There are many tricks to make that happen, including disabling many Windows services that are started but are idle normally. They also will have one SSD connected to the PC, simple wired mouse and keyboard, integrated graphics in use. The fastest starting PC I ever used was an ASRock Z87 Extreme6 board, with a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD as the OS drive, UEFI booting, and one other SSD for storage. X99 boards are slow to POST, Z170 is pretty fast, depending upon the memory being used.
It's usually other devices connected to the PC that cause slowdowns on startup, like USB flash drives or USB connected external drives. If you have any HDDs in that PC, you can forget super fast startups. All drives must pass POST checks before Windows even begins to boot, and HDDs are slow to wake up from a power off situation. Optical drives also slow down POST.
I considered telling you that you might not be impressed with the Ultra Fast setting, it's not magic that can remove the realities of starting a PC. So many variables affect that. But you would not have believed me.