Slow to boot, shadow copy problem.
Hello,Since building my Win 7 PC, it's been really slow to boot up. After looking in the sytem event log, I found this error:"The shadow copies of volume C: were deleted because the shadow copy storage could not grow in time. Consider reducing the IO load on the system or choose a shadow copy storage volume that is not being shadow copied."I followed the link for this and I just gave me info about the error in Windows Server 2003 (not very useful). After digging round in System Protect, I found the allocated space for shadow copies on C: was set to 0%. I changed it to 15% and this fixed the problem.But now its started happing again, I've checked the System Protect settings and they have not changed, I can also manually create a system restore point with no problem.HELP ME!
January 4th, 2010 2:03pm

Hi Nick,As you have two different issues, it's better to focus on your issues one by one, so that you can find a resolution as soon as possible. Now, it's better to focus on the issue related to shadow copy error message first.First, please let us know the current useage for system protection. As this error may occur if you have used most of the space for the restore points. In my opinion, it's better to check if there are other system restore points in your computer, then test if you can perform system with the old restore points. If the system restore function works fine, you can safely ignore the error in the Event log, and delete your old restore points. Of course, you can change the %15 to %20 too. I hope this can help you.John
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January 5th, 2010 12:40pm

You misunderstand me. There is only 1 problem, the slow boot time is because of the shadow copy problem. When I boot the PC, the error that I put in my initial post is then followed about 1 minute later by this error: "The shadow copies of volume C: were aborted during detection because a critical control file could not be opened." So on boot up the PC is waiting around for a shadow copy operation to happen (which fails) and then gives up. In answer to your question, the current usage for System Protection is 0 bytes. If I click on System Restore, it says "No restore points have been created on your computer's system drive." If I then manually create a restore point, I can see it in System Restore and can also restore my PC to that point. However, if I then reboot my PC, System Protection goes back to 0 bytes and I have no restore points.So it seems when I switch my PC off, something is deleting all my restore points!?
January 5th, 2010 7:49pm

It's better to perform check disk to determine if the hard drive is fine, you can tryto run the following command.CHKDSK /R I hope this can help you.John
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January 6th, 2010 1:09pm

Hi, follow my guide here: http://www.msfn.org/board/trace-windows-7-boot-shutdown-hibernate-standby-resume-issues-t140247.html and compress the etl file as 7z or RAR and upload it to your Skydrive and post the link here. I take a look at the trace, maybe I see what's wrong with your Windows. André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 6th, 2010 4:50pm

Yeah, tried the disk check and it came back with no errors. So its not that.
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January 7th, 2010 3:45pm

OK Andre,I've done a boot trace and shutdown trace, just to be sure and put them here:http://cid-38d021adba20ab6b.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/TracesThe boot trace cam in at nearly 0.5Gb, so I compressed it and split into 2 RAR files. Hope that's OK.Thanks,Nick
January 7th, 2010 4:00pm

Hi Nicholas, the trace doesn't contain all data. Have you placed your Pagefile from C: to a different partition? If not, what's the size of the page files? Increase the size and make a new trace! André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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January 7th, 2010 6:33pm

Hi AndreI have a slow boot problem where 1 boot I will have the desktop up and running, the next boot it will take 15 minutes to get it up and running. I have done 2 traces (all within 3 reboots) and have started a thread here. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprogeneral/thread/4198172e-d69f-4230-b3b0-5d8d65934314I don't want to hijack this one, if you wouldn't mind having a look there and helping me I would appreciate it.
January 8th, 2010 12:00pm

Hello Andre,I had the minimum size page file on C: (I think Windows says it needs 445Mb on the boot drive) and had 18Gb set for the D: drive (I have 2 physical disks in the PC, 1 for OS and programs, 1 for data). I've removed the page file from D: and set C: to System Managed size and re-run the trace. However the size of the .etl is the same as it was before, I've uploaded it under traces in a new folder ("Boot Trace 09-Jan-2010") anyway, so let me know if it contains all the data you need.Regards,Nick
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January 9th, 2010 4:29pm

Hi Nick, 9521138 Events were lost in this trace. Data may be unreliable. This is usually caused by insufficient disk bandwidth for ETW logging. The same error. Disable the pagefile from D: and increase the size of the pagefile on C: André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 9th, 2010 6:23pm

I've disabled pagefile on D: and increased the pagefile size on C: to 16Gb (3x physical RAM) and re run, but i'm now getting an error from Performance Analyzer when the trace stops:"Gave up Waiting for Win7RTM physical prefetcher after 300 seconds.Could not wait for prefetcher.Couldn't find kernal logger in active logger list.Couldn't find user-mode logger in active logger list."There are some trace files generated, so I've uploaded them.
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January 10th, 2010 2:41pm

Set the size of the pagefile to 4 GB on C: this should be ok. "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 10th, 2010 3:59pm

OK Andre, I've done that and overwritten the trace for 10-Jan-2010. Have a look and let me know if its OK.
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January 10th, 2010 11:32pm

still the same. A lot of data or lost and so I can't see the details I need. The solutions I discovered was 1) moving pagefile to C: and 2) increazing the size. Both doesn't work for you :( So I don't know how what is causing the data loose. Which hdd do you have? How fast? Have you installed the latest drivers? Are you using AHCI or IDE Mode? André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 11th, 2010 12:21am

The HD is a Samsung Spinpoint HD403LJ 400Gb drive which runs at 7,200RPM.Just to make sure, I've uninstalled and re-installed the SATA driver and the chipset drivers (they were already the latest ones available) and re-run the trace and put it in a new folder on my Sky Drive (Boot Trace 12-Jan-2010).They're set to IDE mode in the BIOS, out of curiosity I changed it to AHCI and tried to boot and it failed (it got to the Windows logo and then reset)Nick
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January 13th, 2010 1:44am

They're set to IDE mode in the BIOS, out of curiosity I changed it to AHCI and tried to boot and it failed (it got to the Windows logo and then reset) try this to change to AHCI: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/ the issue is still the same. several events are lost."A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 13th, 2010 2:42am

OK, I've changed the HD's to AHCI and re-run the trace. Note I've done 2 traces now. One where a restore point is present and one there isn't (it boots much faster with no restore points).Take a look and see what you think.Nick
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January 15th, 2010 2:00am

Hi Nick, the trace without restore point is ok. It contains all events. The trace with the restore point is still not complete. I've checked the working trace. It is far away from beeing well. Nearly all subphases take too long: < interval name =" PreSMSS " startTime =" 0 " endTime =" 14932 " duration =" 14932 " > The PreSMSS subphase begins when the kernel is invoked. During this subphase, the kernel initializes data structures and components. It also starts the PnP manager, which initializes the BOOT_START drivers that were loaded during the OSLoader phase. When the PnP manager detects a device, it loads and initializes the device’s drivers in the following sequence: 1. Detects a device. 2. Loads the drivers into memory and validates the driver signature. 3. Calls the DriverEntry function of the device driver. The driver code executes. 4. Sends an IRP_MN_START_DEVICE I/O request packet (IRP) to the driver, which notifies the driver to start the device. The driver code executes. 5. Sends the IRP_MN_QUERY_DEVICE_RELATIONS IRP to the driver to enumerate any child devices. The driver code executes. The PnP manager repeats these steps for each enumerated child device. It continues to iterate through child devices until it has enumerated and initialized the full device tree. So it takes 15s to start all drivers for the boot required. This is mostly caused by the Marvel RAID driver ( mv61xx .sys ) < interval name =" SMSSInit " startTime =" 14932 " endTime =" 27397 " duration =" 12464 " > - < perProcess > - < perProcessCPUUsage name =" Idle " time =" 12132 " percentOfInterval =" 97.33 " > < cpuUsage priority =" 0 " time =" 12132 " cumTime =" 12132 " ofProcess =" 100.00 " ofInterval =" 97.33 " cumOfProcess =" 100.00 " /> </ perProcessCPUUsage > - < perProcessCPUUsage name =" System " time =" 161 " percentOfInterval =" 1.29 " > < cpuUsage priority =" 8 " time =" 25 " cumTime =" 25 " ofProcess =" 15.53 " ofInterval =" 0.20 " cumOfProcess =" 15.53 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 9 " time =" 2 " cumTime =" 27 " ofProcess =" 1.24 " ofInterval =" 0.02 " cumOfProcess =" 16.77 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 10 " time =" 1 " cumTime =" 29 " ofProcess =" 0.62 " ofInterval =" 0.01 " cumOfProcess =" 18.01 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 12 " time =" 33 " cumTime =" 62 " ofProcess =" 20.50 " ofInterval =" 0.26 " cumOfProcess =" 38.51 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 13 " time =" 28 " cumTime =" 91 " ofProcess =" 17.39 " ofInterval =" 0.22 " cumOfProcess =" 56.52 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 14 " time =" 2 " cumTime =" 93 " ofProcess =" 1.24 " ofInterval =" 0.02 " cumOfProcess =" 57.76 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 15 " time =" 66 " cumTime =" 159 " ofProcess =" 40.99 " ofInterval =" 0.53 " cumOfProcess =" 98.76 " /> </ perProcessCPUUsage > - < perProcessCPUUsage name =" csrss.exe " time =" 145 " percentOfInterval =" 1.16 " > < cpuUsage priority =" 13 " time =" 143 " cumTime =" 143 " ofProcess =" 98.62 " ofInterval =" 1.15 " cumOfProcess =" 98.62 " /> < cpuUsage priority =" 14 " time =" 1 " cumTime =" 145 " ofProcess =" 0.69 " ofInterval =" 0.01 " cumOfProcess =" 100.00 " /> </ perProcessCPUUsage > </ perProcess > - < perPriority > - < perPriorityCPUUsage priority =" 0 " time =" 12132 " ofInterval =" 97.33 " > < cpuUsage process =" Idle " time =" 12132 " ofPriority =" 100.00 " /> </ perPriorityCPUUsage > - < perPriorityCPUUsage priority =" 13 " time =" 172 " ofInterval =" 1.38 " > < cpuUsage process =" csrss.exe " time =" 143 " ofPriority =" 83.14 " /> < cpuUsage process =" System " time =" 28 " ofPriority =" 16.28 " /> </ perPriorityCPUUsage > </ perPriority > - < diskIO readBytes =" 351946752 " readOps =" 6175 " readTime =" 11727 " avgBytesPerRead =" 56995 " medBytesPerRead =" 65536 " writeBytes =" 21241344 " writeOps =" 90 " writeTime =" 102 " avgBytesPerWrite =" 236014 " medBytesPerWrite =" 16384 " totalBytes =" 373188096 " totalOps =" 6265 " totalTime =" 11830 " > - < byFile > < file name =" Unknown (0x0) " readBytes =" 255193088 " readOps =" 4331 " readTime =" 5563 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 255193088 " totalOps =" 4331 " totalTime =" 5563 " /> < file name =" SOFTWARE " readBytes =" 50319872 " readOps =" 2 " readTime =" 611 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 50319872 " totalOps =" 2 " totalTime =" 611 " /> < file name =" nvlddmkm.sys " readBytes =" 27390464 " readOps =" 427 " readTime =" 1515 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 27390464 " totalOps =" 427 " totalTime =" 1515 " /> < file name =" boot_BASE+CSWITCH+DRIVERS+POWER_1_km_premerge.etl " readBytes =" 0 " readOps =" 0 " readTime =" 0 " writeBytes =" 17825792 " writeOps =" 20 " writeTime =" 70 " totalBytes =" 17825792 " totalOps =" 20 " totalTime =" 70 " /> < file name =" win32k.sys " readBytes =" 3125248 " readOps =" 113 " readTime =" 203 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 3125248 " totalOps =" 113 " totalTime =" 203 " /> < file name =" dxgkrnl.sys " readBytes =" 1969152 " readOps =" 40 " readTime =" 36 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 1969152 " totalOps =" 40 " totalTime =" 36 " /> < file name =" boot_BASE+CSWITCH+DRIVERS+POWER_1_um_premerge.etl " readBytes =" 0 " readOps =" 0 " readTime =" 0 " writeBytes =" 1048576 " writeOps =" 2 " writeTime =" 6 " totalBytes =" 1048576 " totalOps =" 2 " totalTime =" 6 " /> < file name =" ReadyBoot.etl " readBytes =" 0 " readOps =" 0 " readTime =" 0 " writeBytes =" 1048576 " writeOps =" 4 " writeTime =" 9 " totalBytes =" 1048576 " totalOps =" 4 " totalTime =" 9 " /> < file name =" Segment0.cmf " readBytes =" 970752 " readOps =" 28 " readTime =" 16 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 970752 " totalOps =" 28 " totalTime =" 16 " /> < file name =" rpcrt4.dll " readBytes =" 815104 " readOps =" 32 " readTime =" 63 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 815104 " totalOps =" 32 " totalTime =" 63 " /> < file name =" BootCKCL.etl " readBytes =" 0 " readOps =" 0 " readTime =" 0 " writeBytes =" 786432 " writeOps =" 7 " writeTime =" 4 " totalBytes =" 786432 " totalOps =" 7 " totalTime =" 4 " /> </ byFile > - < byExtension > < extension name =" (none) " readBytes =" 306215936 " readOps =" 4451 " readTime =" 6627 " writeBytes =" 151552 " writeOps =" 25 " writeTime =" 6 " totalBytes =" 306367488 " totalOps =" 4476 " totalTime =" 6633 " /> < extension name =" .sys " readBytes =" 37473792 " readOps =" 1040 " readTime =" 2259 " writeBytes =" 8192 " writeOps =" 2 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 37481984 " totalOps =" 1042 " totalTime =" 2259 " /> < extension name =" .etl " readBytes =" 6656 " readOps =" 4 " readTime =" 21 " writeBytes =" 20913664 " writeOps =" 49 " writeTime =" 93 " totalBytes =" 20920320 " totalOps =" 53 " totalTime =" 114 " /> < extension name =" .dll " readBytes =" 4949504 " readOps =" 376 " readTime =" 1431 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 4949504 " totalOps =" 376 " totalTime =" 1431 " /> < extension name =" .cmf " readBytes =" 970752 " readOps =" 28 " readTime =" 16 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 970752 " totalOps =" 28 " totalTime =" 16 " /> < extension name =" $Mft " readBytes =" 720896 " readOps =" 176 " readTime =" 1091 " writeBytes =" 8192 " writeOps =" 2 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 729088 " totalOps =" 178 " totalTime =" 1092 " /> < extension name =" .exe " readBytes =" 434688 " readOps =" 27 " readTime =" 59 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 434688 " totalOps =" 27 " totalTime =" 59 " /> < extension name =" .DAT " readBytes =" 307200 " readOps =" 10 " readTime =" 16 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 307200 " totalOps =" 10 " totalTime =" 16 " /> < extension name =" .regtrans-ms " readBytes =" 266240 " readOps =" 6 " readTime =" 46 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 266240 " totalOps =" 6 " totalTime =" 46 " /> < extension name =" .Sys " readBytes =" 234496 " readOps =" 25 " readTime =" 31 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 234496 " totalOps =" 25 " totalTime =" 31 " /> < extension name =" .nls " readBytes =" 163840 " readOps =" 5 " readTime =" 8 " writeBytes =" 0 " writeOps =" 0 " writeTime =" 0 " totalBytes =" 163840 " totalOps =" 5 " totalTime =" 8 " /> </ byExtension > </ diskIO > </ interval > The SMSSInit subphase begins when the kernel passes control to the session manager process (Smss.exe). During this subphase, the system initializes the registry, loads and starts the devices and drivers that are not marked BOOT_START, and starts the subsystem processes. SMSSInit ends when control is passed to Winlogon.exe. < interval name =" WinlogonInit " startTime =" 27397 " endTime =" 49871 " duration =" 22473 " > The WinLogonInit subphase begins when SMSSInit completes and starts Winlogon.exe. During WinLogonInit, the user logon screen appears, the service control manager starts services, and Group Policy scripts run. WinLogonInit ends when the Explorer process starts. The services are taking 17s during WinlogonInit to start. Explorer Init is ok. The time to launch all your startup apps is too high (34seconds). Do you really need the Adobe Acrobat prelauncher and the other tool at startup? If not disable them with AutoRuns. Overall your Windows needs 60s till explorer (shell) is started and 93s to completely startup your system. Currently your ReadyBoot prefetcher doesn't work. It loads, but there are mostly misses. Try to optimize your Windows: http://www.msfn.org/board/speed-up-boot-process-under-windows-vista-windows-7-t140262.html André "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 15th, 2010 3:40am

Hmm, my restore points are no longer being deleted. This seems to be down to 2 critical Windows Updates that were installed on Friday and Saturday (I haven't changed anything and had not gone through the steps you've given me above).I've now done the 2 things you wanted from your last post and have uploaded another trace (Boot Trace 17-Jan-2010).Let me know what you think.Nick
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January 17th, 2010 12:42pm

Hi Nick, the PreSMSS is now 30s. SMSSInit is 10s. WinLogonInit is 57s! Now your system boots in 100s to Desktop and 124s when all startup applications are started and boot is done. This is really bad :( I think this is a driver issue with your HDD. Check the Chipset drivers for updates. Have you run the optimization? André "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 17th, 2010 2:40pm

Yep, I've run the optimisation and I'm up to date with chipset drivers and the SATA controller.I think there may be an issue with the way I'm logging the trace, because those numbers don't seem to tie in with what I'm experiencing.If I manually time it between the Windows Logo first appearing and the logon screen, that takes about 35 secs (not great, but acceptable) and about 5 secs from logging in to seeing the desktop (which I think is fine).When I run the trace a window pops up counting down from 120 secs with a cancel button on it, which I leave this to count down to zero. Is that correct????
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January 17th, 2010 6:10pm

When I run the trace a window pops up counting down from 120 secs with a cancel button on it, which I leave this to count down to zero. Is that correct???? This is correct!"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
January 17th, 2010 7:31pm

Hmmm, OK. Like I said, boot times are okay-ish now and more importantly my restore points have stopped being deleted (probably due to a windows update).So I'm happy to check periodically for driver updates from the motherboard manufacturer's website, and hopefully they'll release an update that speeds things up.Case closed, thanks for all your help!
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January 17th, 2010 9:59pm

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