Video: Phoenix Instant Boot BIOS starts loading Windows in under a second
By Nilay Patel 
posted Sep 24th 2009 6:08PM
posted Sep 24th 2009 6:08PM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
Finally.. it seems we've been waiting forever for this
Or at least 40 seconds.
Forever?!? In the future there will be no boot times HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
=P
but how will you access the bios menu now? in the past an option appeared as the bios was starting windows.
spam the F2 key?
Professor John Frink says:
"...I predict that within one-hundred years, computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will be able to afford one...."
He sure nailed that one!
I remember 10 years ago my high school mac computer took like 10 minutes to start up.
So does this mean we can install a new bios on our current machines...?
i can't wait for all computers to come configured like this, not just for my sake...but, well i have to be a greeny guy, but the environment. i mean, i know a lot of people who never turn their computers off simply because they hate boot times. Even if its a low wattage desktop, imagine how much power would be saved per hour if it was .250 KWh x 1 MILLLLLLION PEOPLE.
I assume it will have to be an apple-esque hold the keystroke down while powering up thing. Maybe hold ctrl-b while turning it on. This is only useful for desktops though ... Can never be used on a server.
i imagine somewhere around 250k kwh
Why the hell are they only putting this is laptops. That seems so freaking backwards.
Yes, FINALLY! But no one seems to mention that the biggest benefit to be gained from this is the power saved worldwide from not leaving PCs on all the time. Excruciatingly long boot times are main reason I never shut my PC off. Even sleep mode eats significant power, and doesn't come up in 10 seconds.
great idea.
Yeah but what does this have to do with Windows 7?
To make it a fair test, shouldn't the aero interface have been enabled? Most users will be using that, I'm assuming.
What matters here is the time spent in the bios. After it hits the windows loading screen there is nothing of note here.
What does Windows have to do with BIOS and the time it spends booting?
What takes time is the BIOS listing up your hardware and checking it's working (something called POST).
All of this is PRIOR to Windows loading so IMHO this would benefit any OS you throw at this babies, and that's why they don't show the Aero Interface there, From the momento you see the windows logo and on, BIOS booting has already ended.
So really, people at Phoenix, how much were you paid for the Windows 7 plug?
By the time you finish reading this sentence 7 computers will have booted up....
yes if you're nine years old, and french.
I am french.
croissants are lovely.
you smell.
Man I want that.
Wow that is pretty amazing!
I...want....now
Actually, it would be nice in my next computer, but for now Windows 7 boots up fast enough as it is
Would make this a 5 second reboot instead of 20.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-51784544344753709#
Oooo... that is quick.
Of course, I don't care how fast my desktop boots, since I just leave it on all the time. It's mobile stuff that really needs to improve.
I remember when they said Vista would boot as fast as a TV turning on. I do hope the hype around Windows 7's boot time turns out to have more truth than that. (I haven't tested it yet.)
sweet science/ this is looking good.
Today's TVs boot a lot slower than old ones lol. My Philips HDTV boots in more than 10 seconds... -_-'
Be really quick with F12 to get into the 1 time boot menu...
I imagine you could hold they key down....
*fap fap fap*
Yo Windows 7, iam rly happy for you, and imma let u finish, but WINDOWS XP is the fastest Windows of ALL TIME !
That stopped being funny roughly a week ago.
Stupid memes.
No, it's Windows 1.0. Boots in 1.0 seconds too.
Dang that is fast but seems like a stripped down version of windows.
The boot speed of windows isn't the concern here, it's the boot speed of the bios. The thing that loads before windows starts loading.
Meant to be a reply to A....
I wonder how fast you must be to get into Safe Mode?
Or changing the boot sequence... What if you lose the manual and have no Internets... NOOOOO!!!!!
too bad MACs booted up that quickly from the begining...
OS X takes nearly a minute to boot, used to take longer.
Take your Apple-loving self to TUAW.
He can't, they booted him for making them look bad.
Wow, I didn't know Media Access Control needed to be booted up. Good to know.
Why does a Media Access Controller (MAC) in a network card need to boot?
Oh, you were trying to say Mac, a computer made by Apple.
I do wish Apple would upgrade their EFI implementation to a UEFI version. Vista and Windows 7 have EFI boot support, but only for UEFI (EFI 2.0) and above. Would be nice to boot into Windows a bit faster.
@jon
How long did it take them to boot him?
Don't people understand? This isn't an Apple fanboy, it's a troll that posts crap to make people hate on Apple.
Jeez get a grip people
On the second one they had Windows 7 optimized with no aero, as you could see the start button was gray.
Take that, EFI!
It is EFI! lol
crap :p
it's just like turning on a TV.
Thank god EFI (In this case UEFI) is being used for what it was meant to be used for. No more Apple using it to lock down their software and hardware. Instead it is being used for what it was originally designed to do. Bring the PC platform into a more modern era and enable things that are not possible with the standard BIOS.
Kudos to Phoenix for doing this. I hope it shows up everywhere.
How exactly is Apple using EFI to lock things down? They started making x86 machines in 2006, so EFI was a logical choice, due to not needing the legacy support other OEMs have to deal with.
The "locking down" is just a check in OS X that queries the System Management Controller, aka the chip that spins fans and monitors temperatures. It has nothing to do with EFI.
Ohh, imagine Haiku on a machine like that... *drools*
That is amazing...
I, for one, welcome our future fast-booting robotic overlords.
hopes this start making its way into the mass market soon
This will really be awesome for Car PC's. Waiting 50 or more seconds before you can turn on Music or Nav is a real killer for these PC's.
My Toshiba 5105 laptop was one of the first "legacy-free" laptops. It transfers control to boots an OS in about one second.
I bought it in 2001.
Hello ASRock Instant Boot.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/14/asrocks-instant-boot-from-0-to-vista-in-4-seconds/
actually that solution is basically the same as putting Windows into sleep mode. It still uses power when switched off.
It's not like standby, though you are correct there is some power usage, just significantly less. Standby also doesn't give you a fresh boot when you turn it back on--a fairly important difference. Instant boot takes care of part of your start up sequence during shutdown procedures. And I see nothing about the phoenix setup that indicates it works any differently.
Now let me see it boot in under half a second with Linux.
Now how fast would it boot if they actually installed the drivers for Windows?
Just because Windows paints pretty pics on the screen doesn't mean you can actually use the damn machine. XP pulls this trick where it looks like it's booted, but try and use keyboard functions or start a program and it makes you wait another 20-30 seconds before you can do anything useful.
True, but the diagnostic program popped up pretty quickly, which means that it has booted up for real.
this would be great for my new HTPC it would make the decision between the lenovo Q110 and the A110 from popcorn hour an easier choice
Done!
Err, My Vaio starts loading Windows 7 in two seconds if not one; after pressing the power button to power it up. In that time it also quickly shows that beautiful 'Vaio' logo. It's definitely fast and obviously more than fine by my standards and gives me plenty of time to get into BIOS if I ever have to.. but I don't anyways because it's a laptop and there's nothing to play around with in there. Am I missing something here or does every other brand of laptops in existence chug away at the POST for a few seconds before loading it's OS? Sorry I seriously haven't paid any attention to anyone else's laptop boot times.
Whats so great about this new bios?I just checked my windows 7 boots in 30 seconds and that coz of a software conflict holding it up for 13.9 seconds according to the startup diagnostic.Its coz of a pirated game I installed so cant blame MS for that.
So my regular old bios can boot up windows 7 at 16 seconds from a 5400rpm HDD.
Holy shit. That's awesomw
I'm loving this new trend towards leaner OSes and faster boot times.
MBP w/ 10.6.1 & Intel G2 SSD boots to usable desktop in 9 seconds.
God damn, feels weird to say this but that has got to be one of the most impressive things I've seen in a while. I got more excited after seeing that video than I did after watching the last Apple keynote.
10 seconds is too long? hell i'll take that. i think my PC is about a minute to get into vist
awesome technology here, hope my next PC has it
human doesn't have to reboot. why robot has to? isn't pc is superior in every way?
Don't we have to sleep every day? I think we reboot more often and for way longer than my desktop.
It's been "coming out soon" for about two years now.
"Combined with Windows 7's optimized startup procedure"
That's a joke right?
Why would it be a joke? With Vista they worked on making it boot faster and from what I have witnessed, it does. I have not compared Vista to 7, but I don't doubt they they improved it.
the only joke is your face! ha got ya there.
wow. that is fast. No more frustrating waiting time. It evens beat the startup after standby mode of my PC.
What about shutdown? It takes my laptop 5 min to shutdown on 7.
PEBKAC
PEBKAC really? There is a reason I already have an RTM copy you ass.
Hell! I don't even know why I let little Microsoft Fanboys like get to me.
Lenovo T400S *drool*
I may have to switch to a laptop at work as I just switched it as our "ultra portable" solution for our users.
Umm...what's the big deal? I use hibernate mode on my computer and it only takes 10 seconds to boot up, with a cheapo 5400 rpm laptop hard drive?
Saw the 10 second boot up of windows... I jizzed in my pants.
I guess Im late to the party
But, Asus already has this in their EEEPCs.
Someone just needs to change RAM technology. Then we would have true instant boot.
What Dell laptop is that? A refresh of the Latitude with Core i7? Please say no...my new Dell Precision is coming on October 2...and I think all of the CPUs Intel has announced so far use at least 45 watts, which is the suck.
I had EFI on my EliteBook 8530w until I returned it since it wouldn't let me use a Mac-compatible WIFI card. I don't think it helped boot or BIOS-load times, though...the configuration pages were definitely the prettiest I've seen, though. Probably 1280x800 resolution on a 1920x1200 screen.
Boot times do sort of seem a little irrelevant especially with hybrid sleep on Mac and Windows.
Mac used to boot very fast on all of my Hackintoshes, but Snow Leopard seems to work best with fakesmc, which adds like 20 seconds to my boot time. Annoying.
Nah, brah. That's the Dell Adamo (a-daaaah-mo, not adam-o).
Nowhere near the Latitude LOB. Keep your eye on the Lat E series units and you'll be fine.
Sorry to tell you, dude, but Dell's announced new Core i7 XPS Studios...
As soon as they've implemented this cool new BIOS, I'm pullin the trigger.
Jesus Christ! My next laptop WILL have this!!!!
That thing boots up faster than my computer coming out of sleep!
Last time I checked instant isn't 1 second. "Nearly Instant" would of been less hype for Engadget. I do love this technology and can't wait for it to be in new computers. I just don't like the idea of it being another 2 or 3 years until it reaches most people.
FUCK Phoenix , I have a Phoenix bios on my lenovo, it won't allow you to change the wifi card to anything else, or it will give an error and not boot. The bios blacklists all hardware except what they want you to have.
So fuck them!
It isn't technically Phoenix that is it doing, it is IBM/Lenovo. They will claim it is so they can better support their laptops with approved hardware, which I don't doubt, but it is also to force you to buy their stuff.
There is a way to hack it, it is a BIOS flash. From what I have read, it is pretty easy. I have not personally tried it yet since I have not needed to, but I should with one of our older IBM's out of warranty at work.
I do think it sucks, but it isn't a really a major deal and it won't stop me from buying Lenovo laptops.
Crap ! I want this Adamo badly !! The thinnest and best looking mobile computer around here !!! Damn damn damn