Erratic boot time for XPS9000 (435T)

I have a 435T. This has been my only complaint about the system, and there are other posts about it. I reinstalled the OS and drivers to see if this would fix it. It seemed to help for awhile, but the problem returned. I also recently updated the BIOS, but this didn't help either. Some people have noticed that certain keyboards may prolong the boot time (e.g., a Logitech lighted keyboard), but I'm using a stock Dell keyboard.

Thanks for the reply, I was worried that this symptom was an indication of impending failure. Now it sounds a lot like a design issue. I am also using a stock keyboard but have my mouse plugged into a USB hub on my Dell monitor. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. The delay has varied from 1 sec to maybe 50 seconds....

Thought I would post an update to this... My BIOS was already up to date (A13) but I did update the Intel chipset drivers. This did not have any effect on the boot, it was still erratic. I went to the BIOS setup menu and checked the boot sequence. The system had added a flash mem that I use for backups. The flash is connected thru a USB hub on my monitor. Since HDD is default you would think the second device should not matter, but I think it might have. I disabled the flash as boot dev #2 and so far my boot up sequence has worked with NO delay between end of BIOS and beginning of OS loading. If this continues for the next week or so I'll consider this problem resolved...

I have a brand new Dell Studio XPS 435/9000 machine that has a very slow boot time.  I have not really used it yet because I have been trouble-shooting it online with Dell.  It takes about 2 minutes 15 seconds to get out of the BIOS screen and start loading windows.  Then it takes another 2 minutes to load Vista.  The first Dell rep told me to uninstall my virus protection... no diff.   The second rep tried a lot of things and we spent several hours on chat when he finally said that the 4 plus minute total boot time was normal for my system given it's 2TB hard drives.  ( I have two 1TB internal hard drives and 8G of ram)  The BIOS screen progress bar hangs at about 25% progress for about 2 minutes and then jumps up to full in ten seconds and starts loading Vista.  There are absolutely no DOS type messages telling me what the heck it is doing durring this time (very annoying).

Is this really normal boot time for these machines?  I have spent many hours with Dell Support and have NO applications installed yet because I can't believe that this is normal.  Most other posts on this site are mentioning 50 seconds as long.... my goodness, I would kill for a 50 second boot time! 

BTW, the system powers down FAST... about 5 to 10 seconds usually.

Dave in Mapleton, IL

The Dell rep told me the spec was "up to 90 sec" to completly boot. My BIOS load also stops at 25%, but only for a few seconds. My hang is after the BIOS load is complete and before the beginning of the OS load. I am still trying various things to see what helps. I have 6 gig of mem and a single 500gb HD. Do you see any action on the disk activity light while it is hung? Have you tried disabling one of your drives to see if the hang time changes?

Mike in Lincoln, CA

Any USB device that could be bootable will slow the boot down. Disconnect all USB devices except for the keyboard and mouse. Those should be plugged into the PC rear USB ports, not the monitor. Once done, check the boot time.

Just upgraded to Win 7 on Sunday. So far boots have been normal. I'll post again if I see the delay return.

I installed Win 7 Pro 64-bit a week ago. I am still getting occasional slow boot times. Nothing is connected to the USB ports other than the keyboard and mouse. This has been a problem with this system since I bought it 6 months ago.

Follow up to my previous post. LONG BOOT PROBLEM SOLVED.  Based upon my own research and some kind advice from other forum members I went out and purchased a new microsoft USB keyboard at Walmart for $20.  I unplugged the new USB Logitech lighted keyboard that Dell provided with my new Studio XPS 435T/9000 system, then I plugged the new Microsoft keyboard and powered up the system.  Now I boot fully in just over a minute instead of over 4 minutes!   Much much better now and when I get the time I will contact Dell and ask them to take back the Logitech lighted keyboard they sold me, and I will certainly scold them for not tracking this problem on the boards... from what I can tell this problem has been going on for over 6 months! 

Dave in Mapleton, IL

Good to see this post. I have the same exact problem, Dell logo hangs for 2 minutes at 25% bargraph and F2,F12,F8 commands do not respond. Funny thing is I also have XPS 9000 and Logitech Illuminated keyboard. My system is currently being replaced because after working with tech support it was assumed there was a problem with the mother board. I will post again when I get the new system and test with 2 keyboards. How do we make Dell Aware of this problem.

This is a Dell forum so I am certain that Dell is aware of the problem, but for some reason they do not inform their tech support people, so countless hours are waisted on a simple hardware compatibility issue that Dell creates by offering the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard option in their builds.  I spent hours on hold, disconnected, and was told first that there was a problem with my antivirus program and I would have to uninstall it.... no difference there.... 2 min 15 until bios screen cleared and another 2 minutes for Vista to boot and show icons! 

Then after another day of on-line chats and tests I was finally told that my long boot time was normal because I had two 1TB drives that were making my system boot longer because it was checking the drives.  Now that I have fixed the problem myself by installing the new microsoft keyboard, my brand new Dell XPS9000 boots out of the bios screen in under 30 seconds and shows the windows desktop in under 60 seconds total boot time.   This is a huge difference and tech support was telling me that it was normal....and  I guess in a way it was normal for an XPS9000 with a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard!

Dave in Mapleton, IL

It's because the Logitech keyboard probably has a USB hub (mine does) and a small bit of memory to handle the onboard keyboard settings.

In general, if you have a working computer it's best to disable boot devices you aren't going to use.  That includes network booting, USB booting, and even the CDROM drive if you know you aren't going to use it.  I still haven't figured out what makes some USB drives (or keyboards) show up as acceptable boot devices to the BIOS.  But when they do - it has to wait to fail on that device before it goes over the the hard drive like it should.