Slow Boot with USB Card Reader

[snorkel]

Hello. I have a Sandisk 12 in 1 USB Card Reader and when I attached it to a different PC at work, it took about 2 minutes to get to the "Starting Windows" screen. In other words, the POST process was delayed by having the card reader connected. Disconnect the device and reboot and things are back to normal. Note that the booting time of the operating system is not affected, just the time it takes to get to that point. Looked at all BIOS settings - disabled USB legacy support, made IDE HDD the only boot device. Nothing helps. Suspect that the motherboard is trying to boot from the card reader!?!?! There are no cards in the card reader slots. Motherboard = Intel D815EGEW in a Compaq EVO D300V. I have updated to the latest BIOS from Intel. Any help appreciated.

 

[ski]

Since USB is hot swappable, connect it after Windows has loaded.

 

[snorkel]

Not the answer I wanted to hear. This is a shared computer in an office and I can't educate users about this. Therefore, they will think the PC is broken and not booting due to the delay.

No other advice for FIXING the behavior????

 

[ski]

If there are any other BIOS boot device settings, like '2nd Boot Device', 'Boot Other Device', etc., then disable them.

 

[snorkel]

I have already disabled all secondary/tertiary boot devices. I'll accept your first answer, though not a technical solution, as what needs to be done.

 

[ski]

Or you can also warn the users of that system to be patient for an additional minute or so.

 

[Amos43]

Snorkel - you could disable POST. That would speed up boot time overall.

 

[snorkel]

Actually, there is NO option to disable POST. There is quickboot, but that doesn't make any difference ON or OFF. Our users will just need to live with a little slowness upon restarts.

 

[madtunes]

Try dissabling USB 2 support if it's possible on the mobo - so the ports run at USB 1 speeds. I've seen it affect POST times before, it's worth a try