Thread: Question On Boot Times

I am just using and Epia Motherboard with Windows XP Pro. My boot time is around 45 seconds or so with no real tweeks. It goes from power off to music in that time. I don't care to spend the time reducing it... I'm just out of my driveway by the time the music starts so it's no big deal. Some people are more picky tho and I've read about 30 sec boot times with XP.

7 seconds is unheard of. I have never heard of a PC booting that fast... you can barely get through the Motherboard's POST test in that time.

I suggest looking into your motherboards BIOS and disabling unneeded features. Also, visit tweakxp.com for some tips on increasing the performance of WinXP.

Thanks. Well one of the reasons for the super fast boot time is that I am going to have the computer controling the ignation (no key's will be needed for the car). I've been considering a microcontroller for the car's ignition and to initialize a computer so that then the computer can take longer to boot while the car is being started.

I have heard of custom linux distros being able to boot pretty quickly, so if you aren't against using linux, then you might want to go that way.

Linux is kind of what I was thinking. Is there any one here who has used linux for this?

Originally Posted by mybrotherrob

Hey I'm working on a carputer project and I'm just curious as to what Operating systems are most of you using with what hardware, what are your boot times and what exactly your doing to get boot times to a bare minimum.

25 seconds to music (including 20 seconds of post), running MS-DOS 6.2.

To reduce boot time I did the following:

Fast boot (no mem check).
Remove himem.sys.
Remove smartdrv.
No networking by default (NDIS is started from a batch file should I wish to transfer mp3s).
Pre-compile all playlists and ID3 info to a binary file and load that (instead of parsing id3 tags from mp3 files).


Rob

Originally Posted by mybrotherrob

Thanks. Well one of the reasons for the super fast boot time is that I am going to have the computer controling the ignation (no key's will be needed for the car). I've been considering a microcontroller for the car's ignition and to initialize a computer so that then the computer can take longer to boot while the car is being started.

Is there a way you can have the car's ignition connected to the switch you are implimenting in your door? I personally would not want to have my computer control my ignition... what if the computer crashes, harddrive dies, motherboard quits, etc. Then you're stuck until you replace the computer.

I would suggest a pushbutton or other keyless ignition that does not require output from the computer.

I dont understand why you would need a microcontroller... there are plenty of easier solutions.

Not having any sort of key makes the car easier to steal. Granted if some one wants it some one is going to get it. I wanted to have a like a PIN entered off of a key pad in order to start the car. As far as the computer crashing and the car not working well not a big deal. I'm putting it in a car I don't drive any more. So this is more of an experiment on if I can do it.

Originally Posted by mybrotherrob

Not having any sort of key makes the car easier to steal. Granted if some one wants it some one is going to get it. I wanted to have a like a PIN entered off of a key pad in order to start the car. As far as the computer crashing and the car not working well not a big deal. I'm putting it in a car I don't drive any more. So this is more of an experiment on if I can do it.

Then I would go the microcontroller solution if you don't want to wait for PC boot. I just did a PIN access program with a MOTOROLA Microcontroller, keypad, and text LCD screen for school. If you need any help or pointers, let me know.

How about this? http://sales.goldmine-elec.com/prodinfo.asp?prodid=4287
It is basically the same thing as the mobil speed pass uses. Much more secure than using the computer. Just wave the fob over the dash (or wherever) and have the car start.