Maximus IV Gene Z taking long time to post

[crutingly]

I built a new system about 2-3 months ago:

Maximus IV Gene Z
Intel 2600k (not overclocked)
16 gb corsair vengeance 1600mhz
GeForce gtx 550ti
Corsair force 3 120gb SSD
750 Watt PSU
Windows 7 64 Ultimate

A few days ago, I started experiencing a problem at startup. When the board posts, it stays a the splash screen for much longer (~10 seconds) than it did when I first assembled it. I tried turning off the splash screen in the bios, but when I do that it just starts up to a blank screen for the same amount of time. After it sits for a bit though, it goes straight to windows and starts up fine, same speed as always. Performance is not affected in Windows, it just takes a long time to get past posting. I haven't changed anything about the system other than installing some games. I was thinking of trying to flash the bios, but I wanted to see if anyone else has a similar problem first.

[HiVizMan]

Hello mate

Have you added or moved a USB device to your system recently?

If you are only using the Intel SATA ports you can disable the others and that will speed up your OS start time.

[crutingly]

Now that you mention it, I added a blu tooth receiver. I'm not right next to the computer right now, but I'll try it in an hour or so. Thanks for the advice, I think this might be it.

[crutingly]

That was it! Thanks!

[HiVizMan]

Yeah - the joy of USB during the boot process.

The items are not always picked up for what they are and the BIOS thinks it is trying to find a hard drive and of course it is not so time passes.

[crutingly]

So, I thought I had resolved the issue, but I suppose I have not. I removed the usb dongle and everything was going fine for a while, then inexplicably it started slowing down again. I have no USB devices plugged in at start-up, nothing in the DVD drive, and only my primary SSD drive plugged in. When I turn it on, it just seems to idle with the screen completely blank for about 10 seconds before it starts to post. Again, once it does post (which it does quite quickly) and gets to Windows, everything is fine. Any more ideas of what could be causing this or has anyone had a similar problem with this board?