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Boot Windows Vista In Four Seconds

arcticstoat writes "Asus' budget motherboard wing, ASRock, claims that it's found a way to load a clean boot of Windows from a full shut down in just four seconds, using its new Instant Boot technology. The technology takes advantage of the S3 and S4 features of ACPI, which normally enable the Sleep/Standby and Hibernation modes in Windows respectively. However, by calling them at different times in the boot-up and shutdown process, Instant Boot enables you to boot up to your Windows desktop in three to four seconds, even after a proper shut down. Two modes are available; Fast mode, which uses S3 and boots up in around four seconds, and Regular Mode, which uses S4 and apparently takes between 20 and 22 seconds to boot. The advantage of Instant Boot when compared with normal Sleep and Hibernation modes is that you get the advantage of a clean boot of Windows, without what ASRock calls 'accumulated garbage data,' and you also get the security of knowing that you won't lose any data if there's a power cut and you lose AC power. There's also a video of it in action at the link above."

31 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Video by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Those guys in the video are having WAY too much fun with their jobs. "Why your computer boot so fast? I must get ASRock motherboard!"

    Now I know why ASUS mobos tend to be so good. They encourage a fun workplace. ;-)

    1. Re:Video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Really? I was sure I just learned Asus motherboards are such high quality because their engineers have a lame sense of humor, leading to a diminished social life with more time to devote towards motherboard perfection.

  2. ASRock is not ASUS by vwpau227 · · Score: 5, Informative

    ASRock is not ASUS. Hua Ching, the subsidiary that was spun off from ASUS is not any longer a part of the ASUS organization. See http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2002/11/05/asus-distances-itself-from-asrock-subsidiary for details. There are a number of companies locally and elsewhere that have been pushing cheap ASRock mainboards as being the same quality as ASUS mainboards. We have seen many issues with the ASRock mainboards, both in premature failure and incompatibilities, that we have not seen at all in ASUS mainboards. ASUS has its own low-end set of mainboards and they are much better than the ASRock, from my experience. The sooner this sort of misinformation gets sorted out, the better informed the consumer will be.

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  3. Oh believe me, I'd love to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd boot Vista off my work PC in a millisecond if I could

  4. Heh... It's using the Hibernate functionality... by Svartalf · · Score: 5, Informative

    It sounds like all they did was allow you to store a Hibernate to Disk snapshot of your system at startup before anything else gets done- which is technically cheating. ANYTHING can boot up in about 4 or seconds that way. :-D

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  5. Re:You can't have both by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is exactly like hibernate, but instead of saving the memory image after hours of use it saves an image just after boot.

  6. My guess as to how it's done... by crt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They never show the shutdown process - my guess is that when you shutdown, it actually reboots, then right after Windows boots it puts it to sleep or hibernate (S3/S4). When you turn it back on, it wakes it and looks like you "just" booted up.
    Not really a bad idea I suppose - moves the boot time from boot to shutdown, when you are less likely to care.
    Of course you can get the same effect yourself by rebooting then just putting your machine to sleep when you want to shutdown. Someone could probably even write a simple software solution for this rather than requiring a whole new motherboard.

    1. Re:My guess as to how it's done... by Egotistical+Rant · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is EXACTLY what it does. The "more images for this article" section at the given link has a flowchart of the process...it's just a reboot and suspend.

    2. Re:My guess as to how it's done... by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Informative

      Big question is, if you pull the cord, does it maintain state? Or will that require a "cold boot"?

      They answered that "big question" in the article. There are two different options the "super fast" boot mode that does the " boot" in four seconds. And a regular fast boot that takes 22 seconds. The four second super fast one, needs to stay plugged in to maintain state. The slower fast one does not.

      I wouldn't recommend swapping out hardware in either case.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    3. Re:My guess as to how it's done... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 4, Informative

      And I don't think it's quite as easy to script, since you'd have to reconfigure how windows works. If you have an inkling of how to do this in a smooth automated fashion, please do tell me.

      A shutdown script that places C:\Windows\_reboot_quick_boot as an empty file on the file system when you shutdown, and cancels the shutdown in favor of a reboot ('shutdown -a' on Windows, 'shutdown -c' on Unix).

      A boot-time script that runs last and waits about 10 seconds at the log-in screen for keyboard input (and to give the start-up applications a chance to settle, so they don't have to do a lot of work and thrash disk on resume). If it gets keyboard input, it exits. Otherwise, it initiates a hibernate action and then exits. When you resume this hibernate, the program either has exited or is exiting.

      Do I get a blow job now? (I'm a Unix kid, these kinds of problems are obvious to me)

    4. Re:My guess as to how it's done... by swillden · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Of course you can get the same effect yourself by rebooting then just putting your machine to sleep when you want to shutdown. Someone could probably even write a simple software solution for this rather than requiring a whole new motherboard.

      Hmm. It seems like it'd be really easy to do this with an open source OS. I think I may have just found a nifty little project for this weekend. All it should take is:

      • Add an inittab runlevel (7?) for "shutdown to instant boot".
      • Add an /etc/rc7.d with a script that writes a file that records the fact that we're in "shutdown to instant boot" state, then switches to runlevel 6.
      • Add an init script in late in the normal startup sequence that checks for "shutdown to instant boot" state. If it finds that state, it removes the file and then initiates suspend or hibernate, depending on a configuration option.

      At that point "sudo init 7" should cause your machine to shut down to "instant boot" state. Hitting the power button will then "instant boot" it.

      "sudo init 0" or "sudo init 6" will do a normal shutdown or a normal reboot.

      The final step would be to modify the "shutdown" command to go to runlevel 7 when given some new option, and then to modify the GUI-based shutdown tools to provide the instant-boot option as well, and maybe make it the default. Oh, and maybe modify the ACPI script that's executed when the power button is hit so that the power button does a "shutdown to instant boot" by default.

      Pretty easy. Of course, in Linux I don't ever see any reason to shut the machine down anyway. My laptop pretty much only gets rebooted when there's a kernel update to install. Other than that, it just gets suspended. So, kind of pointless in Linux, but easy. The same would apply to *BSD.

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  7. Not quite as useful as it seems at first glance... by mgemmons · · Score: 4, Informative

    FTFA: Instant Boot will also only work on Windows systems (XP or Vista) with a single-user account and no password protection.

  8. Re:get some fucking priorities by jmikelittle · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you're looking to combine rage and the internet, the best place to start would be a little known site http://youtube.com/ There are a few entries there which fail to call attention to the current fiscal difficulties of major world economies.

  9. Re:Heh... It's using the Hibernate functionality.. by Shin-LaC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That was my first thought too. Do they make any attempts at detecting whether the OS was updated, or new software was installed that requires a reboot, so they can perform a full boot and update the startup snapshot when needed?

  10. BUT... by Anthony_Cargile · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it come prepackaged with winrar serials, cracks, M$ documents and source code?

  11. Re:What about logon? by CRiMSON · · Score: 5, Informative

    Instant Boot will also only work on Windows systems (XP or Vista) with a single-user account and no password protection.

    from the article..

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  12. Re:Heh... It's using the Hibernate functionality.. by erikina · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My guess, is that it wouldn't matter. As when you turn off their computer, they probably behind the scenes turn it back on again. Then hibernate. So a normal "reboot" would be a little slower than usual, and to a user every power on is like opening a fresh copy.

  13. Home test by konohitowa · · Score: 5, Funny

    I pulled on a pair of boots and managed to beat their time by more than 3 seconds.

  14. Re:S3? S4? What is this of which you speak? by UncleTogie · · Score: 4, Informative

    A lot of us don't actually know what S3 and S4 are.

    You will after reading this article...

    --
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  15. Cheating... by sofar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is still cheating - it's first of all not actually booting but suspending/resuming (albeit smartly).

    Most importantly the system is not actually shut down, so it still draws power to refresh the memory. This will likely suck on high-performance laptops where the large amounts of ram with high voltages will suck the battery dry in a substantially short time.

    And worse, this technology will take a _long_ time to shutdown. It's sacrificing a lot. We can (really) boot+shutdown a linux box in +- 10 seconds. Would you want a 3 second boot if your shutdown time becomes one minute?

    For people who are on the go a lot and tend to open/close their laptops a lot, this may actually reduce their effective work time a lot.

  16. Re:get some fucking priorities by ozphx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Leave Anonymous Coward alone!!!!!! *tears*

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  17. Re:Heh... It's using the Hibernate functionality.. by Tacvek · · Score: 5, Informative

    Correct. That is exactly what they do. So they just shift the boot time to be part of the shutdown time, so when you arrive at your computer again, and turn it on, you are just unsuspending it, or are loading an unusually clean hibernation file. This is a very interesting idea, but it is one that doe not need motherboard support. This can be done by the OS alone.

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  18. Re:get some fucking priorities by spintriae · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've tried to relieve my pent up agression by on posting it on Youtube, but the audio preview always makes me feel bad about myself.

  19. Re:get some fucking priorities by MoFoQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    this is Slashdot....news for nerds, stuff that matters.

    Emphasis on "news for nerds"....it's not news for "stocktraders" or "economists" or even "lawyers".

  20. It's been done in 5 seconds.. by k1e0x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if something like this could be done with Linux now that 2.6.27.5 has been out for a few days and that situation with the RESET_REG_SUP bit has been resolved. This certainly is great news for Vista users looking for a new board.

    It's been done in 5 seconds..

    Doesn't even require a special motherboard, they did it by modifying Fedora on a EEE pc (something not known for it's speed)
    http://lwn.net/Articles/299483/

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/arjanintel

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  21. Re:get some fucking priorities by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Funny

    The US Government is on the verge of nationalizing 3 failing automakers and you're concerned with how fast you can boot windows? Seriously? The failed
    financial bailout may cause the US government to declare bankruptcy and you care about this shit? Get some priorities!

    Okay, fine, instead of considering product purchases that would fix the economy, I'm going to take your advice and worry about the gubment bailing companies out.

    OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!

    THey're spending monEeeez to bail them outz!!!!

    I'm so nervous! Worry worry worry worry worry!!!

    Oh noes!!! Waaahhhh!!!1111

    Wow, I see your point, that was so much more worthwhile than what I was doing before I read your post.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  22. YouTube syndrome by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

    The video suffers from YouTube syndrome. Symptoms of this condition include one or more minutes of stuff we don't care about. The condition is most extreme when the event we care about is of short duration. Although it is not entirely curable, it can be treated by posting the time of the interesting event in the comments section. In this case, the event in question occurs at 2:38. Remember, this is a treatment not a cure. The treatment still consumes bandwidth and time. In the future, we may have a Flash plug-in where the annotation feature can be used to denote points of interest, with the ability to skip to a keyframe just before said point. Until then, only video posters can prevent YouTube syndrome. Remember, if the event of interest in your video is of short duration, the video should not be any more than twice as long as the actual event. Introduction, at most, should identify you and/or your company. Anything that can be explained more efficiently as text should be put in the little text section that appears in the upper right.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  23. Re:Proper shutdown... by Dan541 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Really I can shut my laptop down in less than 10 seconds, leaving the battery cover off enables me to improve that to 2-3 seconds.

    --
    An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
  24. Re:Proper shutdown... by Khyber · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hp laptops only take half a second to shut down - at least the DV 2000, 6000, and 9000 models, because the slightest bump to the battery release latch most often causes the battery to drop out, contacts first, causing immediate shutdown if you're not plugged in.

    Side note and totally off-topic - WHAT THE FUCK SLASHDOT? Your site has been making my pop-up blocker and Firefox go fucking NUTS today!

    --
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  25. Okay, that was the best video I've seen in ages. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm really beginning to like ASUS. Not only do I like their approach to hardware a lot, but that was the most straight forward, unintentionally entertaining, non-bullshit video I've EVER seen from a corporation. I mean, yeah, it was dippy YouTube stuff, but seriously; Can you imagine any other main stream computer company allowing their tech monkeys to represent the mothership without the message first passing through a legion of marketing directors, lawyers and various haircuts in suits? Hell no!

    Imagine the plasticy, dumbed down crappola video with gawdawful elevator music and bad overlay graphic effects you would have gotten in nearly every other situation.

    Damn. ASUS is run by humans!

    -FL

  26. Linux vs. Windows Speed boots by DrYak · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's been done in 5 seconds..
    Doesn't even require a special motherboard, they did it by modifying Fedora on a EEE pc (something not known for it's speed)

    And above all the strategy behind the speedy boots are completely different :

    - Linux basically Just boots in 5 seconds. In a plain normal fashion. Everytime you push the button, no matter what, the system is up in 5 seconds (well except if you trashed your machine and disk have to be rechecked).
    But it's a plain standard boot.

    - Whereas, for Windows, ASRock has to resort to abusing the sleep/hibernate system. With the subtle difference is that they are not actually suspending the system to RAM/disk (in order to avoid accumulating garbage, as they say).
    They are resuming a special suspended "freshly booted" state.
    i.e.: when in fast boot mode, you are not actually booting Windows. You are resuming an image of a "Windows-that-just-got-started" suspend on RAM.

    The main implication is that the first time you boot, and after each system update (and you know that, given microsoft's track of security, you're still going to have patches coming often) or any other change that might render the pre-suspended image obsolete, you can't do this. You have to go through a slow boot, rebuild a pre-suspended state, and only after that it'll work.

    It's not a standard boot. It's not as robust as a real boot, and frequently it won't work. (not to mention that these pre-suspended image will be the perfect place to inject a vm-based rootkit).
    In short : not as useful as you would hope.

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