Brand new Acer Aspire A317-52 Laptop takes 4 minutes to start!

Dear Acer community, I need your help!

My brand new Acer Aspire A317-52 Laptop is very slow to start - it takes around 4 minutes from power button press till it's ready for work on power plugged in. I set it to auto-logon (no AD logon) so there's no delay there. After the default desktop background image shows up, it takes around 50 seconds for the taskbar to show up, which seems crazy slow! Once it's ready, laptop is not slow including browsing. Shutdown takes just 4-5 seconds. CPU (Intel Core i3) and memory (16GB) utilization are not even close to 100% at any time. No errors or pop-ups.

I have no games installed or any additional 3rd party software/drivers, and do not depend on any online services. BIOS is the latest 1.27, and Windows 11 is up-to-date in Windows Update. No external monitor. My Internet is fast. No, I do not have viruses - laptop was slow to start even out of the box! I disabled all the ads on the desktop, telemetry, and paused Windows Update, to no avail.

I'm not looking for ideas - I'm looking for the solution from someone that had a similar issue and resolved it. And yes, I have googled/researched to no avail. No, I do not want to enable Hibernation with Fast Startup until I figure out what's wrong. The laptop should not be this slow to start by any means!

Thank you in advance for your input! Appreciated!

Accepted answers

All comments

Elkhan

i think the problem is your storage drive type. prorably your device has provided with HDD. it is cheaper but also slower than SSD. You can change it with SSD or if your motherboard has NVMe M2 slot, you must add there NVMe type SSD. then install your windows to the SSD drive. your device will be at least 20x faster than now.
NVMe SSD reading speed can reach - 3.5 GB/second while HDD reading speed is 150 mb/s

anonacc

Hi Elkhan,

Thank you for your reply - I respectfully disagree. Although SSDs are faster, that does not mean that now HDDs are abysmally slow - most of the laptops and desktops I've used in the past were HDD and I've never seen anything this slow. My old Acer laptop, still in use, had its original old HDD inside until recently, and would boot fast, and there was no huge boot speed difference when I swapped it with Samsung 870 EVO 500GB SATA. Besides, laptop runs fast once up.

Lastly, although appreciated, this is just your suggestion/idea, while I'm looking for solutions - things that solved it and not just speculation.

Thank you anyway.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260061#Comment_1260061

You probably have issues with the boot loader/Windows Boot Manager. Boot to Safe Mode and see if that boots faster. If the same slow boot time you can try to defrag the boot volume, see if that helps. BTW, a Gen4 NVMe like the new Samsung 990 is 30x faster than the fastest Sata "spinner": 7 GB/s vs. 286.8MB/s. 😉

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260147#Comment_1260147

Hi Puraw,

Thank you for your reply. Again we have suggestions/speculation - primarily to upgrade a brand-new laptop. What defrag? - it's brand new - it may have been used for only 50 hours! 280 MB/s should boot fast, just as all my other laptops and desktops with HDDs used in the past that had slower SATA, slower RAM, less RAM, and slower CPU!

Any solutions? As I mentioned, not looking for suggestions that I already know: "fix" brand new laptop by replacing brand new HDD with super-fast SSD and BTW reinstall Windows, just to have normal boot speed.

Any Acer tech support staff to help here?

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260149#Comment_1260149

With that kind of demeanor, you won't find many people interested here to help you, I suggest toning it down a bit, defragging or optimizing an HDD is standard practice for "spinners" it is done in Windows automatically if Maintenance is turned on. You may have corrupted the boot volume or files were written to it. 😀

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260150#Comment_1260150

Hi Puraw,

Thank you for your reply and I appreciate your time.

I clearly noted in my original posting that I'm not looking for suggestions but only solutions - i.e. someone with the exact same symptoms that did X and fixed it! All your suggestions would be valid if my laptop was not new, used for years, and with some new symptoms showing up including sudden slow boot. It's brand new.

Thank you again. Best wishes.

Axxo

It's possible that since your laptop is new, it is slowed down for the time being due to an update running in the background. Whenever Windows is running an update, you will see an icon at the bottom right
section of your laptop's screen.

Check for new updates on Windows Update: 1: Open the Windows 10 "Start" menu and select the "Settings" item. 2: then select the "Update and Security" option. 3: in the "Windows Update" section, click "Check for updates". 4: If there are no updates, the message "You are up to date" will be displayed. 5: if there is any pending system update, the message "Features update for Windows 10 ..." will be displayed, then click on the "Download and install" item to start the system update. 6: wait for the update download to finish and restart the PC, or schedule a restart to be able to finish the procedure.

One of the most problematic settings that will cause slow boot times in Windows 10 is the fast startup option. This is enabled by default and is supposed to reduce startup time by pre-loading some boot information before your PC shuts off.To disable Fast Startup, open Settings and browse to System > Power & sleep. On the right side of this screen, click Additional power settings to open the Power Options menu in the Control Panel. Here, click Choose what the power buttons do on the left sidebar. You'll need to provide administrator permission to change the settings on this page, so click the text at the top of the screen that reads Change settings that are currently unavailable. Now, untick Turn on fast startup (recommended), followed by Save Changes to disable this setting. Also, the long boot times on Windows operating systems are usually caused by third-party apps that you install, and since most of them start automatically with Windows 10, they tend to make your booting routine slow.

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260153#Comment_1260153

Hi Axxo,

Thank you for your reply. Hibernation and Fast Startup have been disabled prior to my posting, Windows Update has nothing pending, all up-to-date, and it's been paused for a week. It's Windows 11 Home.

Here's the sequence of screens with start times and duration after I press the power button:

0:00 Acer logo (lasts 20 sec)
0:20 Acer logo with spinning snake (lasts 2 mins 5 sec)
2:25 Spinning dots + 'Please Wait' (lasts 24 sec)
2:49 Auto-login + spinning dots + 'Welcome' (lasts 56 sec)
3:45 Desktop background image shown with desktop icons (no taskbar) (lasts 60 sec)
4:45 Windows welcome sound is played and the taskbar shows up - done

Thanks for your time.

P.S. Hopefully, some Acer tech support staff will chime in on this mystery.

JackE

Open Acer Care Center. Click 'recovery management'. Click restore tab. Reset the OEM Windows system to factory fresh condition. If problem persists either quickly return to the vendor as defective for a refund or exchange before the vendor's RMA period expires. If already expired, then arrange for warranty repair service.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260149#Comment_1260149

The Aspire 3 A317-52 is not a new released laptop by Acer, the Aspire 3 A317-52 was first released in 2020 so and if you bought this laptop "so called new" its not as its 4 years old and must have sat in a box for 4yrears which is NOT good and could have cause some issues with this laptop. There is no way if your Win-11 is up to date and you have the latest bios that the OS is the cause of the slowness of your laptop as it must be other hardware issues.

If your A317-52 only has 4GB onboard ram or even an additional 4GB removable ram module, its advisable to upgrade this laptop ram to its max of 20GB by adding a 1x 16GB DDR4-2666Mhz modules (see the modules tested by Acer below) as that would greatly increase this laptops speed operation with Win-11. Otherwise, this laptop has a faulty M.2 PCIe3x4 boot drive that could also slow the laptop down. Good luck and hope this information has helped you out.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1261471#Comment_1261471

You got almost everything wrong. My laptop has 16GB of RAM! It's new as in not used much - less than 40 hours after I unpacked it. Where did you get the info that all of them were manufactured in 2020 and none in 2021 or 2022 or 2023? Projections galore. BIOS is indeed up-to-date as well as Win 11 Home. Laptop runs fine once up. It also wakes up out of sleep in seconds.

Again, we have speculation along with suggestions and not solutions as "help" - try this, try that. Especially not interested in "solutions" involving upgrade CPU, RAM, HDD/SSD, MB in order to have normal boot time. It does not make any sense.

I noted politely that I'm looking only for solutions (exact symptoms followed by exact actions that fixed it) rather than suggestions. For example, Intel driver for XYZ is the culprit - update it to v1.2.3 and that will fix it. That's the type of solution I'm looking for.

Thank for your suggestions. Any solutions?

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1261476#Comment_1261476

We can't give you a solution without looking and testing your laptop and analyzing what is exactly wrong with your laptop, be aware of this first, as its really hard! Your laptop problems with a 3-year-model laptop that sat in a store for 3 years dormant and NOT used or powered on. could be the problem with your laptop, you stated that your laptop is the Aspire 3 A317-52 and this laptop was released in 2020, you can't change that fact, its service guide states that its release date was on the 2020/03/26, its first bios update version 1.11 is dated 2020/06/16 SO ITS A 2020 LAPTOP.

There is NO magic solution for your problem(s) and for you to press a magic button to fix and make your laptop quicker, its either the Win-11 OS or the hardware like the M.2 boot SSD drive that is faulty, or its 4GB onboard ram is faulty, so you need to diagnose all those aspects of your laptop to omit if its a hardware problem or its a software problem or both. If you haven't got experience in doing these things, it would be much better for you to take this laptop to Acer Tech Support and get the Acer tech to diagnose this laptop, see if its still covered under warranty also, as you are being very difficult to convince that this laptop is NOT a NEW model laptop and we can't give you a solution. Good luck.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

JackE

As I mentioned earlier, open Acer Care Center. Click 'recovery management'. Click restore tab. Reset the OEM Windows system to factory fresh condition. If problem persists either quickly return to the vendor as defective for a refund or
exchange before the vendor's RMA period expires. If already expired, then arrange for warranty repair service.

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1261485#Comment_1261485

Please stop reposting the same message! It's already in factory condition - it's been used for only 40 hours and the only updates are from Windows Update. It runs just fine once it boots - with no problems - it must be some driver that makes Windows wait for it for 2-3 minutes and that is causing the delay.

Thanks and please do not repost this - I've read it!

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1261487#Comment_1261487

No wonder, its because you are one stubborn person (don't want to call you the other thing) as no wonder you can't solve your problems as you don't want to listen and learn as you want other people to solve all your problems for you 😁 LISTEN »»» send your laptop to Acer Support and get them to solve/fix this problem for you, that is if Acer still covers this laptop under their 2 year warranty?

William_mk2

@anonacc

Here are some of the steps to speed up your computer.

Try windows + r - on the run window - type msconfig - click ok
click on services
check - hide all microsoft services
click on disable all
click on startup
disable all the startup items
click on apply - ok - restart the computer. Loading process will be very fast now..

Note: You can always enable the services and startup items later or set it to normal startup from selective startup later on the General tab

Try windows + r - on the run window - type appwiz.cpl - click ok
it will show you the list of programs
remove all the unwanted third party programs.
Please don’t remove any drivers.
If you are not sure , please don’t remove it.

Try windows + r - on the run window type temp - click ok - it will show you the bunch of files - try ctrl + a - select all files - press the shift key and click on delete files

Try windows + r - on the run window type %temp% - click ok - It will show you the bunch of files - try ctrl + a - select all files - press the shift key and click on delete files

If you are not able to remove some files - click on skip and then click click on continue..

Try windows + r - on the run window - type cleanmgr - click ok
click on all the boxes except recycle bin and thumnail
Delete the items which are checked

Try windows x - on the menu - chose command prompt admin or power shell admin
click on yes
on the blue or black window type sfc /scannow
It will be running till 100 %

Try to do a chrome reset
open chrome
click on three dots on top right corner
click on settings
Scroll down - go to advanced
click on restore setting to default
you will see reset settings - cancel
click on reset settings
Open chrome
it will work faster now

If it is still not working then we have to do a refresh and reset

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started

or

on start - type here to search - type reset this pc - click on reset this pc on the top - click on get started

or

Try windows + r using keyboard
on run window - type systemreset

It will show you keep my files and remove everything
chose keep my files
chose the account - type the password - click on local reinstall - click on reset
It will be in progress..
login to computer and start using the computer.
If it is still not working

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started
chose remove everything
click on local reinstall - just remove my files - click on reset
It will be in progress

Note:

If you do refresh ( keep my files ) - all your personal files like pictures, music , documents , videos will still be intact. Only the applications will be lost

If you do reset ( remove everything ) - you are doing a factory default. It will become like a day one computer. It will wipe out everything and take your computer to day one like a new computer.

You can also do the recovery in an alternative way..

There are two alt keys on the keyboard. If you look at the bottom row of keyboard you can see the one on the left side of space bar and the other on the right side of space bar. The alt key on the right side will be looking like alt, alt gr or alt car. Turn off the computer. Hold the alt key on the left and tap f10 continuously. It will go to repair mode. It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot. If it is not going to repair mode, turn off the computer. Turn on the computer. Hold the right alt key ( alt gr or alt car or alt ) and then tap f10 continuously. It will go to chose an option continue and troubleshoot..

It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot
Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc
click on keep my files ( only applications will be lost ) chose your account and type your password - click on local reinstall - click on reset
It will be in progress

If the keep my files option is not working

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – just remove my files – click on reset
It will reinstall windows.

If the just remove my files is not working..

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – Fully clean the drive – click on reset
It will reinstall windows.

Note: You can also go to chose an option , continue , troubleshoot by holding the alt key + tapping f10 or alt gr + tapping f10 on the keyboard while turning on the computer. Once you see the troubleshoot option, you can stop tapping the f10 and stop holding the alt key. Then you can try the keep my files and remove everything ( just remove by files and fully clean the drive ) by following the steps which was mentioned above.

William_mk2

@anonacc

Even after reinstalling windows if you face the same probelm…

If your laptop is in warranty you can contact the warranty dept. Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country. On the new page - scroll down - click on "contact support". Scroll down. You can find the phone no to contact the warranty dept.

If it is out of warranty, please contact local store or

Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country. On the new page - scroll down - Click on "Repair My Acer" - Request to have your Acer product repaired. There will be charges for repair.

Additional info to contact Acer Store: Please visit the website - support.acer.com - chose your country - click on shop. You can buy desktop, laptop, monitor and accessories. Alternatively, on the top right corner you can find the phone no to contact Acer store. For the parts which are not available on Acer store, you have to contact local store.

sman123

I have exactly the same problem since day 1 on my Aspire 5 A515-57. I've tried everything. I'm thinking it may be a problem with the SK Hynix NVMe storage that came with the laptop, so changing that is the next thing I am going to try.

anonacc

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333388#Comment_1333388

Thanks for your note.

No, I do not think it's that. Do not waste time/money replacing a working storage.

My conclusion is that it is missing some software driver(s), so during load, Windows gives it 120 seconds to respond by default, and once that expires, Windows continues. So as you can see, if one has 2 drivers missing, Windows will wait 4 mins (2 x 120 seconds) no matter how fast your computer is.

I was not able to detect which driver(s) is/are missing. It may be some configuration that Acer techies setup with some components manually removed as from some 3rd party software they all load on new laptops, but they did not remove all of it, so some parts wait for others that are no longer there, but the computer works fine as that 3rd party software is not used.