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I installed Windows 7 Prof 64 bits OEM (Spanish) on my new machine. As I wanted my Windows to be in English, the web shop where I bought the DVD recomended me to download an ISO file with the same Windows version (but in English), burn it on a DVD and install it. And that I should be able to use my registration code. Location ISO: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65805/X15-65805.iso

I've done this and everything works (I have not activated my Windows yet but I expect no problem there).

Just one thing: its startup is MUCH slower now! Have a look at my PC specs (bottom).

On my first install (Spanish), it was like:
- motherboard splash screen -- shows for a second or two
- list of found drives -- a few seconds
- the text "Windows starting" -- about a second before the dots appear
- four collored dots form the Windows logo -- a few seconds after the logo is fully formed it moves on to the login screen.

On my second install (English):
- motherboard splash screen -- shows for 15 seconds
- list of found drives -- a few seconds
- the text "Windows starting" -- shows for 40 seconds before the dots appear
- four collored dots form the Windows logo -- now it moves on to the login screen about equally fast as before.

Ones it's up and running it seems to be as responsive as before, although it's possible that I'm not noticing the difference.

I did the first install on the virgin SSD drive straight from the box. The second time I let the Windows installation program format the drive first to get rid of the old installation. I noticed that there were two partitions on my SSD: partition 1, 100 Mb, "reserved for the system" and partition 2, 111.7 Gb. I only formated the big partition, and I left the system partition untouched.

Between the two installs, I didn't open the computer so everything is connected to the same port. I did not change anything in BIOS.

Has Windows not recognized my SSD as an SSD but as a normal HDD. I suspect that Windows has not done the neccesary automatic configuration settings that it should do for SSD's (but that's just a hunch). How do I get my SSD back into its virgin state, as if it came right from the box, so I can go for a 3rd attempt to install windows. Should I use DISKPART? Other ideas are welcome.

Specifications:
mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
CPU: i7-2600K
SSD: OCZ Agility3 2,5"
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4
mem: Kingston HyperX DIMM 8 Gb DDR3-1600

4 Answers 4

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I've found the cause. Thankfully I don't need to reinstall Windows again. As I mentioned, I never opened the case and everything was connected to the same port. What I forgot to mention however, was that during the 2nd installation (and subsequent boots) I had an external USB HDD connected. I disconnected it and startup is super fast again. And when I connect it (even without switching it on), startup is slow again. I guess there will be a way to deal with this in the BIOS settings, but anyway this is a problem of a different order.
Thanks for your responses.

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  • Usually there is a setting that tell BIOS to wait X seconds before timing out the USB ports on bootup. Look for something like that.
    – surfasb
    Jul 1, 2011 at 11:11
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AFAIK, the OS cannot affect the CPU splash screen time. Perhaps the cause is not what you suspect but since the system is as responsive as before once the OS is loaded, it is indeed bizarre. When you re-installed the English version, you should have delete d both partitions, even the reserved one, but I don;t see how leaving it would affect the system so much. It is however the only thing you said that gave me pause. If the system is new, you might just want to re-install and get rid of every partition on the system disk. Also, during the OS install, if you redo it, unplug the HDD, just in case it sees it as drive 0 and tries to do stuff to it. I've seen weirder things.

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I did have a similar issue a few weeks ago and I found that the issue was that my Wireless network adapter had to make it's connection to my network before it would finish starting. This was due to me having mapped network drives. Any drive that it could not connect to also caused an issue.

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The 15 second splash screen tells me it is a hardware issue, then when the bios hands off hardware to windows, windows has the same problem with the hardware.

Some helpful links http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?306-SSD-ABC-Guide

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php

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