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BjornJohansson
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎03-05-2008 05:00 AM

Windows Server 2003 64-bit intermittent slow boot times

Dear all,

Problem: Windows Server 2003 R2 X64 boots awfully slow sometimes (up to 20 mins), every ten times or so. Hanging during boot screen. When the slow boot occurs, I notice high cpu on both guest and host. Please see attached pic.

Environment: Two ESX 3.5 in a cluster running on a HP Blade 7000, BL480c (2 quad core and 24 gb ram) and storage to a EVA3000 SAN. Virtual Center 2.5.0.

Configuration: Guest with Windows Server 2003 R2 X64. It has two cpu's and 8 gb ram.

I have tried following:

  • Searched this forum and google Smiley Happy

  • Tested reboot guest 30-40 times, have failed to notice any pattern i terms of load on hosts etc.

  • Checked eventlogs, enabled boot loggning and checked our monitoring application (MOM)

  • Installed guest from template. And then made a clean install from iso with cpu and ram set pre installation

  • Migrated the guest between the two host and tested

  • Verified configuration from document "Guest OS Guide"

  • Verified configuration that memory limit and cpu limit is set to unlimited.

As you can see on attached picture the slow boots are where CPU peaks has "flat tops". Normal boot generate a sharp peak and the guest starts within 1-2 mins.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Best regards

Björn

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3 Replies
daniel_uk
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
‎03-05-2008 07:44 AM

Bjorn,

This is interesting, i find this occasionally, is it on the "WIndows 2003" progress bar?

If this was in the physical environment it would be related to hardware devices, maybe this is something to do with extensions being passed for 64 bit?

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BjornJohansson
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎03-05-2008 07:49 AM

Correct, during progress bar. Unfortunately I've not yet gained knowledge and experience to determine where the problem lies. But Windows seems fine according to the logs.

Thanks

/B

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BjornJohansson
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎03-11-2008 01:36 AM

I think I found the problem:

When I changed the paging file to "system managed" on another drive with 20 gb of diskspace the slow boot went away. Done approx 15 reboots and every boot is very fast now. Noticed that the page file was set to 2048-4096 mb on system drive, that seems to work bad with 10 gb of ram.

Therefore I until further, I declare this issue solved Smiley Happy

/Björn

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