Turbo Boot With 8.1 Problem

TE5LA wrote: I can't get the Turbo Boot mode to work in the Z77 Extreme 4 under Windows 8.1 Pro. I have a Zotac 980Ti AMP Extreme! graphics card and Intel i7-2600k. If I select "Turbo Boot" in BIOS, it tries to reboot then loops back into the BIOS. The post screen is higher resolution than when booting normal or fast mode, if that helps any. Is there something else I need to do? This is not documented very well.

I assume you mean the Ultra Fast setting of the Fast Boot option? Your description of the start up screens being in higher resolution (which is true with that setting) tells me that is correct.

The Ultra Fast setting of Fast Boot will only work for UEFI booting Windows installations. That is, the CSM option was set to Disabled during (and after) the Windows installation, which causes Windows to use the EFI boot loader, rather than the legacy boot loader. The OS drive will be formatted as GPT instead of MBR during the Windows installation. This may make no sense to you if you are not familiar with UEFI booting.

UEFI booting also requires the video source in the PC to be GOP compatible, another UEFI thing. Nvidia based video cards of the 900 series should have a GOP compatible VBIOS, but you need to confirm that with Zotac. The Intel integrated graphics is GOP compatible, if you have one of the later UEFI/BIOS updates installed. Only one version listed now for your board, which would include that.

You are put back into the UEFI/BIOS because the UEFI is detecting the OS installation is not configured for UEFI booting, and wants you to reset the Fast Boot setting.

The only "fix" is to install Win 8.1 again with the UEFI/BIOS configured for UEFI booting. Yes this is not documented well, UEFI booting is still mysterious to many PC builders, and is rarely discussed or explained.

The first PC I used when I began using UEFI booting Windows installations had a Z77 Extreme4 board. I've only used UEFI booting Windows installations since then. I still use that board with an Intel 750 NVMe SSD as the OS drive, configured for UEFI booting of course. Your board is not the problem.

Unless you are using an SSD as the OS drive, using the Ultra Fast setting of Fast Boot won't decrease the PC's start up time much more than using the Fast setting.

TE5LA wrote: Thank you for your detailed response. I know that CSM is disabled now but I do not know the state of it when I did the install. After it not working, I reset the BIOS to defaults, so that may have disabled it if it were enabled. Would having CSM enabled be a normal thing under Windows 7 64-bit? I don't think there'd be a problem reinstalling as the install went fairly quickly, and yes, I do have a Samsung 840-series SSD as boot drive. You speak of the Z77 as a fond memory like it was "the good old days". It may be getting long in the tooth now but looking at what's out there, I'm finding it difficult to justify another hardware update because I don't think it would buy me a great deal. I have been looking and I'd probably go with something like the i7-6700 and the Z87 Extreme4, but I'd also need to purchase 32GB of DDR4 and I just sprung for 32 DDR3 for this rig. I may run with this one for awhile longer. I guess 120+ fps on most games with max settings isn't that bad. I'm a big fan of ASRock boards since getting this one to replace a Gigabyte that went bad. They seem to be very well built. Another question about the UEFI option: If I do it and say, the graphics card isn't compatible or something, will I still have the option of just not using the Ultra-Fast boot option or am I stuck with re-installing a third time just to have a working system? Thanks again for your knowledge.

The default setting for the CSM option is always Enabled for any mother board we can buy for building PCs. The Windows version being used will not change that. Setting the UEFI to defaults would set CSM to Enabled.

Given the description in your first post, I'm certain that CSM was Enabled when you installed Windows.

Your first post mentioned Win 8.1, and the latest post Win 7, that is confusing.

Win 7 won't install with CSM Disabled without a modification to the location of a file in the installation media. That's only possible if you are installing from a USB flash drive. If you're using Win 7, I don't suggest using it for your first experience installing Windows for UEFI booting.

If you're not sure what the CSM setting was when you installed Windows, which must be manually changed to Disabled, then I'm sure it was Enabled. Again, changing it to Disabled won't do any good if it was Enabled during the OS installation.

I'm not talking about our Z77 board as an old, worthless platform. Just telling the story that it is the first board I used for UEFI booting Windows installations. The differences between this board and new ones are really only new features like M.2 ports.

About your question about your video card's compatibility with a UEFI booting Windows installation and using the Ultra Fast setting. You will NOT be stuck needing to install Windows again if the video card is not GOP compatible.

The Windows installer creates both MBR and GPT partitions on a UEFI booting OS drive, at least with SATA SSDs (NVMe SSDs is another story). That means the Windows installation will boot fine in UEFI and Legacy modes, with CSM Disabled or Enabled.

Note that it is not the Ultra Fast setting that is the "switch" for UEFI booting, it is the CSM option being Disabled. The Ultra Fast setting can be used ONLY with CSM Disabled, and a UEFI booting Windows installation.

As the description for the Ultra Fast setting of Fast Boot states, you can't get into the UEFI/BIOS the standard way when using Ultra Fast.

That is why the ASRock Restart to UEFI program exists. For some reason it is not included in the Win 8.1 section of the Download page for the Z77 Extreme4 board. It is listed in the Win 8 and Win 10 sections, same version for Win 8 through Win 10, 1.0.5. It works fine, I use it to restart into the UEFI as a convenience all the time, no more banging on the Del key:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Download&os=Win864

A UEFI booting Windows installation will be GPT formatted, that is what it should be. There are actually four partitions created by the Windows installer, three used by Windows and the Primary partition for Windows and our use. Don't try to delete any of the three partitions used by Windows, they need to be there.

As I said in my last post, a UEFI booting Windows installation will work in EFI or Legacy mode. Legacy mode is with the UEFI/BIOS set to defaults. You won't brick the drive by using the default UEFI settings, which includes CSM set to Enabled.

You can set CSM to Enabled any time you like, and start the PC in Legacy mode, and then switch back to UEFI mode, CSM Disabled.

You can see the difference in the resolution of the ASRock POST screen, and other screens shown during POST, when starting the PC in Legacy or UEFI mode. You mentioned that in your first post.

I hope you are using an Intel SATA III port for your OS drive, with the Intel SATA mode set to AHCI. If you are using an ASMedia SATA port, your startup time will be slower, and your SSD will not be performing at its full potential.

Your experience with using the Ultra Fast setting is strange, but you may now have learned one of the secrets of the Ultra Fast "boot" setting. That is, it is mainly a much faster POST process. Starting a PC includes POST and booting Windows, two distinct things.

The PC starting, then stopping, and then starting again from a cold start is NOT normal for Ultra Fast, or really anytime except when starting the PC after a UEFI/BIOS update, or some type of OC, CPU or memory. I don't know why your PC is doing that, something is not right.

Do you have a POST beep speaker connected to the board, and POST beep enabled in the UEFI? It sounds like you have all the POST screen displays disabled in the UEFI.

Win 10 is the worst OS to use as an example of fast "booting". The actual time to the desktop is very long sometimes, usually from a cold start, and at other times it is very quick. Win 10 does some housekeeping, etc, sometimes when it starts, very annoying. Windows 8.1 has the MSoft fast startup feature enabled by default, did you disable that?

I've seen a few of the two second PC startup videos, but I don't trust them. There are many tricks to make that happen, including disabling many Windows services that are started but are idle normally. They also will have one SSD connected to the PC, simple wired mouse and keyboard, integrated graphics in use. The fastest starting PC I ever used was an ASRock Z87 Extreme6 board, with a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD as the OS drive, UEFI booting, and one other SSD for storage. X99 boards are slow to POST, Z170 is pretty fast, depending upon the memory being used.

It's usually other devices connected to the PC that cause slowdowns on startup, like USB flash drives or USB connected external drives. If you have any HDDs in that PC, you can forget super fast startups. All drives must pass POST checks before Windows even begins to boot, and HDDs are slow to wake up from a power off situation. Optical drives also slow down POST.

I considered telling you that you might not be impressed with the Ultra Fast setting, it's not magic that can remove the realities of starting a PC. So many variables affect that. But you would not have believed me.