Windows 7 Turbo Memory driver and Boot Delay

[Colonel O'Neill]

I have a T400 with the 2GB Turbo Memory and whenever I install the Turbo Memory driver, a 12 second delay is introduced between POST and the Windows boot loader.

Similar problems:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... -boot.html
http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prio ... m-p/153133

When the driver installs, the Turbo Memory drive shows up as Disk 0, bumping my hard drive to Disk 1. Could the BIOS be attempting to look for a bootloader on the Turbo Memory before trying the hard disk?

No disk activity occurs during the 12 second delay.

Does anyone have a way to get rid of the delay while retaining Turbo Memory functionality?

[underclocker]

I have the exact same problem on a T61 with the 1GB turbo memory adapter and Vista Business 64-bit.

It takes about 12-14 seconds after the Lenovo boot splash screen disappears until the hard disk begins the boot process. It takes the same amount of time to begin the boot whether starting a hibernation resume or a fresh load of Vista.

Even more of a hassle is the delay if you choose to boot your machine without an optical drive in the UltraBay slot. The delay increases to 35-40 seconds. This holds true for an empty slot, a second hard drive in an UltraBay caddy or with an UltraBay slim battery.

In fact, the only reason I noticed that I had the issue is because I starting using the second battery. The 12-14 second delay I didn't think about much, the 35-40 second delay is quite obvious.

Removing the turbo memory adapter fixes the problem instantly. Reinstalling it, brings the delay right back. (You don't even have to uninstall the turbo memory drivers, when the module is reinstalled, both ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive are enabled.)

I have the most current BIOS for the T61 (I haven't tried rolling back BIOS versions, yet...) I am quite sure it's a BIOS issue. Some posts on other boards mention/suggest that the turbo memory driver package inserts microcode onto the hard disk boot sector, but I do not believe this occurs. I tried putting hard disks from other machines (w/XP or blank) and the delay is still there. There is no way "microcode" was inserted onto the test drives.

I have tried changing many of the BIOS settings, including removing all devices except the hard drive from the boot startup config, but nothing has reduced the delay. I am not sure that the turbo memory adapter helps performance at all, especially with 4GB of RAM, but I do hope that Lenovo fixes the issue.

Note: Oddly enough, this is not an issue on my T500 w/4GB RAM and the 2GB turbo memory adapter with Vista Business 32-bit. I am using the most current BIOS. No boot delay no matter what is or isn't in the UltraBay slot.

[Colonel O'Neill]

It might be a HDD microcode issue. I can get rid of it by wiping all partitions, and installing W7 without the Turbo Memory driver. I don't get a longer delay without a device in the Ultrabay though.

What I do believe is the issue is that the Turbo Memory device shows up as Disk 0 in Disk Management, and my HDD shows up as Disk 1. Could the BIOS be attempting to boot from the IMD-0 device first?

EDIT: If I take out my HDD, it goes straight to the no operating system found screen. (I only have USB HDD, HDD, and Optical in my boot list)

~400MB of my 2GB goes to augment the hard drive cache.
The other ~1.4GB goes to ReadyBoost/ReadyDrive, but I override that so I can give the 1.4GB to eBoostr.

[underclocker]

Using the same T61, I installed Windows 7 32-bit on another hard drive. Everything worked quite well until I installed the Turbo Memory drivers from Lenovo. The Turbo memory drivers caused the same delays as listed above (12 seconds from splash to boot with optical drive inserted and door closed or 40 seconds with other device or no optical drive inserted).

I removed the Turbo Memory module (without uninstalling any drivers) and the delays went away. For safe measure, I installed Windows 7 again without the Turbo Memory adapter installed - no boot delays. I won't install the adapter again.

[beeblebrox]

I just bought a 1GB Turbo memory module for my T61 and have exactly the same delays.
Did anybody solve it in the meantime?
I mean, we have 2012 and Win7 has been out for years to fix it. I could not find any useful information on the internet.
I thought that Win7 and Turbo memory finally work nicely together, but not so...