[Windows being Windows?]Slow BIOS booting recently on Win8.1

[J_P]

I think there's been a recent Win8.1 or Nvidia driver update that's causing me to have slow first time BIOS boots after launching the emulator.
Trying to boot my BIOS for the first time after launching hangs the emulator for a good 20 seconds, but eventually boots it. Emulator works as it should after that, even if I swap ISOs.
I've set my AV to ignore all folders associated with PCSX2. I get slow BIOS boots with builds that I know have been snappy in the past. I've tried clean installs with both old and new builds.

I'm interested to know if there's anyone else who's experiencing this weirdness.
Either Microsoft published a problematic update, or my CPU is on its way out...

Edit: Based on console input, the hang seems happen when the emulator should start loading plugins, since it's the first entry after the it recovers.

[J_P]

Aha!
There's something fishy going on with LilyPad. I'm getting freezes when I close the plugin's configuration menu, whether I've made changes or just pressed cancel.

[J_P]

This is what LilyPad complains about:

Code:

LilyPad: Warning! No controls are bound to a currently attached device!
Please attach a controller that has been setup for use with LilyPad or go to the Plugin settings and setup new controls.

(IsoFS) Invalid partition descriptor encountered at block 0x10: '!^'

Edit: BIOS and games recognise the input just fine, and I even tried doing the configuration again.
I'm getting an another freeze inside the configuration menu if I change what input devices are allowed.

[J_P]

I've tried with a different controller. I no longer get yelled at by LilyPad, but am still having the same slow first time BIOS boot. And this error is still present:

Code:

(IsoFS) Invalid partition descriptor encountered at block 0x10: '!^'

Edit: To clarify, just the LilyPad error is gone. My freezes with it are still present.

[J_P]

I've updated to the latest dev build. Now even opening the LilyPad configuration menu hangs PCSX2 for 20 seconds.  Somehow remedied by refreshing the .ini for LilyPad.

[J_P]

I've resolved this quirk. I had to reinstall the latest Win8.1 updates, and now all the freezing appears to be gone.
I've heard of many Windows update horror stories before, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me

If anyone else on Win8.1 has issues with PCSX2 after update kb4534297, you could try reinstalling it.

[J_P]

Come February updates, the issue has returned. This time reinstalling updates wasn't the solution.

Edit: Had to reinstall these updates three times to make PCSX2 work without a hitch again...