Long boot time on new install

  • Hi,

    I have a small problem wih slow booting :)

    Fresh install via USB creator on new HDD in my HTPC, Libreelec now boots over 2 minutes.

    On previous older HDD it was much faster to boot.

    Any ideas how to debug this?

    Code
      LibreELEC:~ # systemd-analyze
    Startup finished in 2min 25.998s (kernel) + 49.524s (userspace) = 3min 15.523s

    According to dmesg timestamp, these is 2 minutes pause before mounting ext4 filesystem, here is the relevant part:

    I don't see anything wrong with the drive, passed all smartctl tests, here is hdparm quick bench:

    Code
    LibreELEC:~ # hdparm -Tt /dev/sda
    
    /dev/sda:
     Timing cached reads:   1306 MB in  2.00 seconds = 652.23 MB/sec
     Timing buffered disk reads: 386 MB in  3.00 seconds = 128.48 MB/sec

    Edited once, last by csh (May 28, 2018 at 5:42 AM).

    • Official Post

    I've got no idea what the issue is or how to debug SATA initialisation problems, but I'll pass the observation that you're running tests on the drive *after* it is has completed initialisation, and it looks like the initialisation process is where the delay is incurred.

    Can you connect the drive to an alternative SATA port? .. any firmware/BIOS updates available for the HTPC?

  • Thanks for the quick response.

    I'll try swapping the cables and ports. It's an older AMD APU based HTPC with the failing HDD, no BIOS updates. I don't know if it is SATA problem, there are no errors in dmesg. no lowering SATA link speeds, it just waits for Godot for 2 mins :)

    This HDD is advanced fromat (4kB blocks), maybe the kernel is having trouble with it. Too bad it doesn't output anything in that interval at 8-143s mark. Looks like I have a lot of googleing to do :)