Z170 OC Formula Ultra Fast Boot

I recently build a new computer with the following running Windows 10:

seanb wrote: I recently build a new computer with the following running Windows 10: ASRock Z170 OC Formula Motherboard - BIOS v1.50 32GB DDR4 3000 model HX430C15PBK4/32 i7-6700k processor EVGA 80+ Platinum 1000w power supply Samsung SM951 M.2 512GB PCIE SSD Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD EVGA 980 TI Hybrid LG Blu-ray burner SATA Everything is fine until I want to boot using ULTRA FAST setting.  It must be very fast because when I have this setting on, instead of booting to Windows 10, it would boot itself into the UEFI BIOS.  Using FAST mode works fine but as with anything else in life, I want it faster.  It takes around 8-9 seconds from cold boot to the Windows logon screen in FAST mode.  I have a HTPC with ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, 16GB RAM and 256GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD running Windows 8.1.  Cold boot to windows in about 3-4 seconds.  I want this same boot time with the Z170, but unable to do so.  It will always boot to the BIOS. This have done many different combination tests.  But this one is the bare bone of them all. - No CPU overclocking - memory speed set to 2133 - took out blu-ray burner - took out 850 Pro SSD - took out 980 TI Hybrid and use onboard Intel GPU from processor 1st test: - Boot order is automatically set to Samsung M.2 drive since that's the only thing I have in the comp - Setting Fast Boot to "DISABLED" - Save settings and exit - Boots to Windows just fine 2nd test: - Setting Fast Boot to "FAST" - Save settings and exit - Boots to Windows just fine 3rd test: - Setting Fast Boot to "ULTRA FAST" - Save settings and exit - Boots to UEFI BIOS not Windows ???? why??? - At this point, the Boot Order option is not shown (could this be the reason why it's not booting to Windows because setting Fast Boot to "ULTRA FAST" somehow removes the booting order so it doesn't know the device it's suppose to boot from????) 4th test: - Disable CRM - Still have Fast Boot in "ULTRA FAST" - Still no Boot Order option - Save settings and exit - Boots to UEFI BIOS again *** snip *** . . . I'm just wondering if I not setting something correctly to not allow ULTRA FAST to work or is the BIOS having problem? Much appreciated if someone can shine in on this. TIA

First, the UEFI option you are calling "CRM" is really CSM. CSM in an acronym for Compatibility Support Module, which causes UEFI firmware to run in an emulated BIOS firmware mode when Enabled. CSM is Enabled by default in all UEFI firmware.

The reason for the use of the CSM is another topic that I won't explain here.

In order to use the Ultra Fast setting of the Fast Boot option, CSM must be set to Disabled.

But in order to be able to set CSM to Disabled, the Windows installation used by the PC must be done in a specific way. There is also a requirement of the PC's video source that must be met when CSM is Disabled. The video source must "GOP compatible", where GOP is the UEFI firmware Graphics Output Protocol.

Intel's integrated graphics have been GOP compatible since the Sandy Bridge processor generation, as long as the mother board manufacture has included the appropriate VBIOS for the Intel integrated graphics in the UEFI file. ASRock has done that consistently at least since their Intel 7 series chipset boards were available. I can't tell if their Intel 6 series chipset boards have had UEFI updates with a GOP compatible VBIOS.

Discrete video cards may or may not be GOP compatible from the manufacture. Some may need a VBIOS update to be GOP compatible. All EVGA video cards since their 700 series are GOP compatible from the factory. EVGA 600 series video cards are not GOP compatible from the factory, but EVGA will supply a VBIOS supporting GOP to those with 600 series video cards upon request.

EVGA 500 series and earlier video cards cannot be made GOP compatible with a VBIOS update. Other video card manufacture's products will need to be verified for GOP compatibility by the manufacture, I don't know the details for all the manufactures and their products besides EVGA.

The Windows installation required to use the Ultra Fast setting, is one that is called a "UEFI booting" installation. That means Windows will use the EFI bootloader instead of the Legacy, BIOS firmware compatible bootloader, when the Windows installation program is installing Windows.

There are differences in the OS disk formatting and partitions on the OS disk for a UEFI booting Windows installation. For example:



Disk Management does not show all four partitions that are created for a UEFI booting installation. The Diskpart command line tool shows all the partitions, and that the formatting style is GPT. The Windows installation program will format the drive in this way automatically during the installation, as long as you do the following.

Install Windows 8, 8.1, or 10 from an ISO image on a UEFI bootable USB flash drive. Windows 7 has a bug in the location of the EFI bootloader program in its folder structure. There is a small modification to the folder structure that must be done on the Windows 7 ISO image before it will use the EFI bootloader.

Set the CSM option to Disabled before the Windows installation begins. Once you have a UEFI booting Windows installation, you must maintain CSM set to Disabled to use Ultra Fast. A UEFI booting installation will boot fine with CSM Enabled, but you can't use Ultra Fast in that case.

If your flash drive is created properly, you'll see a listing in the boot order of: "UEFI: <flash drive name>". That is the entry to select.

seanb, when you set CSM to Disabled, that switches the board's firmware into true UEFI mode, rather than emulated Legacy/BIOS mode. When the OS boot process begins in this mode, it looks for a drive with GPT partitioning and an EFI system partition to boot from. Since you do not have an OS installation in that configuration, there is nothing to boot from.

The default action in that case is to start the UEFI UI, which implies to the user that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. All you can do in the short term is set CSM to Enabled.

If you are interested in installing Windows like this, let me know and I'll post links to guides that will help you do this. There is no way to convert an existing installation into a UEFI booting one.

My pleasure, and isn't it easy to have a UEFI booting Windows installation? All it takes is the appropriate Windows installation media and formatting the OS drive correctly. Of course there is the GOP compatibility requirement of the video source, which is what usually prevents the use of UEFI booting for some people.

I'm glad to see you also discovered the actual secret of "Fast Boot". While using the EFI bootloader and the full capabilities of UEFI firmware makes the loading of the OS faster, the Fast Boot option is really the Fast POST option IMO.

If you have the small POST code beep speaker connected to the board, you would notice that the time between the push of the power button and the single beep of the POST Ok indication, is much shorter using the Fast and Ultra Fast settings.

I have found when using the Ultra Fast setting, that a few things don't seem to get initialized, as if they were skipped during POST. Or they simply don't have time to finish before POST completes. That is, I won't see all the speed readings of fans connected to the board shown in monitoring programs. One or two of them will be missing. The fans are running fine, but it seems the sensor chip on the board is not getting the fan's speed/RPM data. If you notice that don't worry, the fans are running, and if you restart the PC the missing fan speed readings will appear.

@ parsec - Thanks for the awesome reply. Very detailed and coherent explanation of the boot speed options and the alternate Windows installation. I think this may have helped me solve a POST beep error on my build related to the ultra fast boot.

Yes, I can:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/mbr-to-gpt

fixed everything, rebooted, accessed the UEFI, disabled the CSM, enabled the 'Super Fast' boot, corrected some craps the UEFI did with the boot order, saved and left.

first reboot:
1sec POST screen then windows started loading, 3 to 5 secs to see the desktop.

second reboot:
same as first one.

I shut down the computer

first boot up from off to on:
no POST screen, Windows started loading, went to the welcome screen and after a few seconds I was at desktop (I guess the total time was 15-20 secs).

second boot up from off to on:
no POST, no loading screen (the black screen with Windows logo and a loading indicator) and I got stuck in the "Welcome" screen for like 30 seconds.

Third boot up:
no POST, no loading screen, no "welcome" screen. I was at the desktop 3 seconds after I powered the pc on. Impressive.