Windows 7 64-bit - Slow Boot & Black Screen With Ts 2015 (boot Trace Included)

Hello,

I'm using Total Security 2015 and I'm experiencing a slow boot and startup on my laptop with a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition.

After the initial boot phase there is a minimum 30 seconds black screen before the login screen is shown.

This is most likely not caused by startup applications since I reduced them to a minimum using msconfig. Plus the Tools->Startup Optimizer section in Bitdefender shows a 2 minute system start time and 5.5 seconds application start time.

Running Windows in Safe Mode speeds up things considerably.

I ran a boot trace on a normal startup using the Windows Performance Toolkit (part of ADK) and here some of the results:

1. VSSERV (main Bitdefender service) is launched on Winlogon Init and takes around 48 seconds. All services to the right wait for VSSERV to finish before doing anything.

2. During the VSSERV execution the disk IO goes crazy. The disk is defragmented but it's not a SSD.

3. Checking the UI Delays it seems vsserver.exe is waiting on a COM call while the bdagent is stuck on a MsgCheck. This happens a bit before logon (see center window for logon info) and after the VSSERV at point 1 stopped? This overlaps partially with the time when the black screen would show up.

Is all this caused by a slow disk or is there something I can do to optimize the boot time?

Thank you!

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Comments

Rohugh

Hello Aergistal,

The boot delay is caused by the early boot scan. You can remove this (you will still be fully protected) -

GUI>Antivirus (gear icon)>Tick the "Custom" box>Miscellaneous tab>Uncheck "Early boot scan.

Restart your computer and it should make all the difference.

Ro.

aergistal

Hello and thank you for the very fast reply, I tried your solution. Here are the results:

- boot time seems to be reduced indeed

- the black screen before logon is still there but a bit shorter followed by a Please Wait screen which didn't show before (you gotta love Windows)

- startup time after logon seems pretty much the same

- Bitdefender shows 2:05 system boot time (around the same value as before) and 4.9s application startup time.

I guess I'll have to run another trace later without the early boot option . I'll keep you posted if I find anything.

aergistal

Hello,

Here are the results of the new boot trace as promised. I highlighted the time when the black screen is shown: it starts at around 19s after boot and takes around ~30s to an end time of ~49s after boot.

1. Disabling the Early Boot scan doesn't seem to affect it. There are no services running in this timeframe.

2. Disk IO is going haywire during this timeframe. I don't have an SSD but the disk is in good condition (SMART OK, no reallocated sectors, error checked and defragmented).

Ignoring the IO caused by my own trace, the next hard hit is ReadyBoot.etl.

In conclusion: The black screen doesn't seem caused by Bitdefender. Startup time is another story as you can see spikes from Safebox and UI delays.

I wonder if it's the Prefetch since it doesn't do this on a clean Windows 7 SP1 install. I'm checking with Microsoft, I'll keep you posted if I find anything.

nietzsche

I disabled boot scan and comp was unusable until I reenabled it.