My fairly new computer has an Intel Core i7-14th Gen processor, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a KLEVV M.2 SSD as the Windows boot drive, a SanDisk SATA SSD, and two mechanical hard drives. Most of the time it starts normally, but occasionally booting takes up to 15 minutes. When Windows finally loads, the entire system is extremely sluggish, even though Task Manager does not show anything obviously maxed out. I see the ASUS startup screen, then sometimes a black screen, followed by a mouse pointer with a spinning cursor before eventually reaching the lock screen. The issue happens after both cold starts and restarts, and it has recently gotten bad enough that Windows may not load properly. What should I check?
4 Answers
Because the machine is only a few months old, updates could explain occasional activity, but they would not normally cause repeated 15-minute boots and severe sluggishness. Try booting into Windows recovery or Safe Mode. If Safe Mode is also slow, focus on storage, firmware, cables, and hardware diagnostics; if it is fast, investigate startup programs, drivers, and recent updates.
Since removing the hard drives did not immediately solve it, check the firmware boot order. Enter the motherboard setup and manually select the M.2 SSD as the first boot device. Old boot partitions on another drive can sometimes confuse the firmware, although the black-screen delay could also indicate a Windows or SSD problem.
Temporarily disconnect both mechanical hard drives and test the computer with only the boot SSD connected. Windows can stall while detecting or reading a failing drive, even when Windows itself is installed elsewhere. If the problem disappears, reconnect the drives one at a time and check their health and cabling.
Watch for a drive showing 100% activity with almost no transfer speed once you get into Windows. That often points to a failing or badly misbehaving disk. Use a SMART health tool to check every drive, and back up anything important before running intensive tests.
I’ll try this, although it has gotten worse and I sometimes only reach a black screen with the mouse pointer.
The delay happens on both a completely cold start and a restart. I’ll verify that the M.2 drive is the selected boot device.