Windows 8.1 Pro x64 UEFI very slow boot and shutdown

Update 31 dec 2013. A miracle occurred.  This morning my Gateway started with Windows 8.1 in 20 seconds or less.  I have shut down and restarted twice with this successful start up rate.  After the first start up I checked for updates and found none installed.  Before restarting a second time, I found about 20 updates and I elected to install these immediately.  One update that may have relevance is KB2887595, however, I installed this after the first successful start of 20 seconds.  I am now using the "Charm Bar" method of shut down. For new Window 8 users,  mouse over to a right corner of  the screen, see a vertical menu, click on settings (lowest icon on listing), click on the power options, and then select shutdown.  Things have improved significantly over one day.  I have no real idea why, except that I used the Charm Bar Last night.   What didn't work for me was unplugging all external devices, searching and not finding a bluetooth driver that I could disable.  I decided to participate in Microsoft's customer experience programs for the first time yesterday, so that my "experiences" are being sent Microsoft.  I was preparing to call Microsoft this morning, further, I was preparing to try reformatting the hard drive, and reinstalling Windows 8.1 Pro again.  Neither of these action were required today.  The operating system seems to be working very well on my Gateway. One day and counting.  Happy New Year.

Early in my debugging, before solution found, I tried many times to use the charms bar to shut down. In no situation did it decrease the shut down time. Fortunately, something different happened to your computer and it is well again! If you discover what the change was, please let us know.

Update 31 dec 2013. A miracle occurred.  This morning my Gateway started with Windows 8.1 in 20 seconds or less.  I have shut down and restarted twice with this successful start up rate.  After the first start up I checked for updates and found none installed.  Before restarting a second time, I found about 20 updates and I elected to install these immediately.  One update that may have relevance is KB2887595, however, I installed this after the first successful start of 20 seconds.  I am now using the "Charm Bar" method of shut down. For new Window 8 users,  mouse over to a right corner of  the screen, see a vertical menu, click on settings (lowest icon on listing), click on the power options, and then select shutdown.  Things have improved significantly over one day.  I have no real idea why, except that I used the Charm Bar Last night.   What didn't work for me was unplugging all external devices, searching and not finding a bluetooth driver that I could disable.  I decided to participate in Microsoft's customer experience programs for the first time yesterday, so that my "experiences" are being sent Microsoft.  I was preparing to call Microsoft this morning, further, I was preparing to try reformatting the hard drive, and reinstalling Windows 8.1 Pro again.  Neither of these action were required today.  The operating system seems to be working very well on my Gateway. One day and counting.  Happy New Year.

I was able to reduce my boot time from 7 minutes to 25 seconds (I have a 5400 rpm hd).

Disabling the bluetooth + wireless devices did not work. I had to format my computer.

Now it's running hyper fast =)

Another recommendation: Do not install Intel Rapid Storage software. It reduced my boot time to 2 minutes+. After uninstalling it, te booting time got back to 25 seconds.

So my solution was: A clean install of WIndows 8.1 Pro x64 + Do not install Intell Rapid Storage.

Personally I only disabled the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices in the Device Manager so that I could uninstall the related Dell software from Programs and Features.

After that I rebooted and then re-enabled the devices.. and then everything was back to normal.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19537674.aspx

My "latest news" (ronaldwilley52).  I have not tried reinstalling the software.  My particular computer, Gateway FX6840, does not have a Bluetooth device based on my review in Device Manager.  I went to the Gateway home site and they offered some simple programs to check for device drivers and if updates exist.  Best I can tell, BIOS and device drivers are all up-to-date. I timed my start up this morning.  Still at 15 minutes and 30 seconds.  Sorry to have no better news right now.   HP might have a similar website for your specific computer, and may offer ways to check it.  I wonder if I have another "device" that is causing the slow boot-up?  I do not want to start a guessing game, but I will try a few devices (on and off) to see what happens.

I spent two days using procexp.exe and autoruns.exe disabling running processes and start up items until I finally found the offending driver. A tedious process but for me was successful. Good luck finding the source on your computer.

I hope that Atheros releases a new driver fixing this terrible issue soon.

I'll try the bluetooh solution as well, hope it fixes the problem.