Windows 7 Pro
i7 860 @ 2.80GHz  2.79 GHz
16 GB Ram
 
It doesn't matter whether or not I have my MAudio Profire 2626 powered on or not.  (I do surround mixing without it)

Hey Blixyz, are you still using asio4all? I ask since it sounds like a driver not engaging or releasing properly.
 
You may also want to check in -->device manager --> show hidden devices to see if you have more than 1 driver installed for your soundcard. Sometimes software driver ghosts linger and cause problems.
 
 
Good Luck

you don't have 'scan VST on startup' switched on in Preferences ? (hit P / File / VST settings).
also, on my windows 7...Sonar starts up faster with a Sonar icon in the taskbar.
(first opening after starting my computer always take about 1 min)
 
good luck

Windows also does a ton of stuff after you restart. Here's a test. After SONAR has been running for a while, close it and then open it again without restarting - just close and open. If it still takes several minutes to open, it's probably a SONAR issue. If it doesn't, it's probably a Windows issue.

What happens without a project?
What happens on a new project?
What happens with Sonar safe mode?
What are your full VST settings in preferences?

@ Anderton, it only happens the FIRST start after a reboot.  Afterwards, sonar starts instantly.
It certainly could be windows just "doing stuff".  I was wondering if it could be caused by having 5 or 6 usb hard drives all plugged in at once.
 
@ musicroom, i have asio4all installed, and i use it when surround mixing through my onboard "gaming" sound card.  When i power on my profire 2626, i use it's dedicated drivers.    It could totally be asio4all doing it.  I only installed it for this reason- mixing a full length movie in surround.  It's my first surround project.   
 
I will also check my vst settings.
@ splat, It doesn't take long to open projects, new or old.  It takes long to load sonar.exe to the point where a project can be loaded. 

I suspect Anderton is right and it's kind of what I was going to suggest.
 
Are you starting sonar immediately after rebooting? If so I would leave it for a few minutes (maybe 5 even)
and then see if sonar loads quicker.
 
You could try bringing up the task manager to see how many processes you have running and it maybe that you can find a load of stuff you can disable and stop from starting with windows.
Much better than the windows task manager is process explorer which seems to have been acquired by microsft since I installed it but hopefully they haven't broken it.
 
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
 
Steve

If you have the install saved off for ASIO4ALL, you could test out its involvement in your slow start times by completely removing ASIO4ALL from your system, then restarting, then seeing how long Sonar takes to get going.
 
If there is no improvement, then ASIO4ALL would not be the culprit, and you could install it again.  (I don't happen to use it myself, but if it isn't causing you problems and provides benefit, then have at it).
 
Anyways, the above would either let you know it was a problem or not, and would be pretty easy and quick to test.
 
Bob Bone
 

i already tried waiting approx 10 minutes after a reboot to start sonar.  it still started VERY slowly.  like a vst scan was happening- but i don't see the little window that shows a vst scan in progress.  did platinum do away with that window?
 

I experience this also. I assume it is Windows 7 caching the application in memory.
(I do not have an SSD drive in my current system)