Linux Mint takes long to boot

[aasaa]

I have El Capitan installed alongside Linux Mint. The Clover bootscreen shows both icons but recently whenever I try to launch Linux Mint it takes about a little over a minute to reach the login screen (before it would show up in less than 15 seconds). The grub/ubuntu folder is on the EFI volume of El Cap and shows up there. Do you think the grub.cfg file has been corrupted? And if so what would be the best option?

 

[kiiroaka]

No one has responded yet?

Makes me think of Option-Command-P-R to speed Boot Camp up.

What happened before it became sluggish? Was it a Mac or Linux Mint update? Did you upgrade Mint? Did you upgrade the nVidia drivers? Etc.

Probably a good place to start: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...boot-entries-prevent-further-problems.175274/

 

[aasaa]

The problem is more of a nuisance than anything else and since it happened quite a while ago and my memory about it is fading, here's what I recall.

(Don't remember the correct order)
1. Installed and updated new linux kernel in Mint.
2. Used Virtual Box to have a Windows 7 "machine" in EL Capitan.
3. Reinstalled GRUB after booting to Mint took longer than usual.

I thought I had a copy of the EFI Clover config.list before the problem occurred but I didn't so I couldn't use the UBUNTU folder as a backup.

Boot entries do have a couple of UBUNTU files and a single WINDOWS file listed... perhaps these should be deleted?

BTW, from Clover bootloader after clicking UBUNTU, the GRUB menu appears (didn't do it when it was booting quickly) so that seems redundant. Also, when checking the System Monitor in Mint it shows that /boot/efi is sometimes sda and sometimes sdc (both are used by EL Capitan).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[kiiroaka]

I have El Capitan installed alongside Linux Mint.

I assume then that it both OSes reside on the same drive. Is that correct?

Which Linux Mint? 17.3? 18.0? 18.1? 17.2? 17.1?

Did you have LM 17.3 and updated to 18.0 or 18.1???

{LM 18.0 is not for me. I stick with 14.4, Trusty. So I run LM 17.3 on my PC and Ubuntu 14.4 on my Mac Pro 1,1. I've heard that even LM 18.1 is not ready for prime time. It will probably be stable right around LM 18.3, imo. If you updated to LM 18.x you may be in a world of hurt. Well, not really. But I sure was... }

I always test an update on a separate drive first, after backing up my data (so that I can restore it to the new OS - to make sure everything works like it should - you know, things like bookmarks, docs, piics, vids, the Dock (in my case it is Cairo Dock), browsers, printers, etc.

* What happens if you issue

sudo update-grub

? after a reboot?

Just to give you some food for thought: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/04/install-grub-customizer-ubuntu-1404/ One has to read ALL the comments. And re-read them a few times.

This will lead into this: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/114

Maybe the timeout is too long; I think it defaults to 10 seconds. You can't change it to zero, but you can change it to one.

* You'll probably want to disable Linux from doing a scan of your other drives and partitions since you already know where you want to go.

YouTube rsEZHe0zskk (copy "rsEZHe0zskk" and paste it into the youtube search box) didn't go into the Advanced settings. Write everything down on a piece of paper before you change anything. If you change anything change one thing at a time, writing down what you changed; and if you change it back cross it off the list you made on the piece of paper. Don't forget to hit the "Save" button before exiting the program.

I CANNOT stress this enough: backup your data, be methodical when making changes, make absolutely sure that you know where you are saving the file to - just like re-running MultiBeast, where all you are doing is selecting the bootloader, where you have to make absolutely sure where the Clover Bootloader is being saved to before you hit the Build button, just like when using Clover Configurator and playing with its settings.

On my Ub 14.4 one would expect the Grub config file to be at File System -> boot/grub/ but it is actually in /etc/default/grub (notice there's no ending "/" which means that that is a file, "grub," which you would right click, Open with -> to see what the file looks like.)

You'll have to find where your actual GRUB file is located and if it says in the REM line "DO NOT modify this file" - then don't.

 

[aasaa]

Here are some answers to the questions:

I assume then that it both OSes reside on the same drive. Is that correct?
SDA is El Capitan, SDB is Mint, SDC is DATA (A, B, C are separate drives)

Which Linux Mint? 17.3? 18.0? 18.1? 17.2? 17.1?
18.0

Did you have LM 17.3 and updated to 18.0 or 18.1???
Clean install of 18.0

I always test an update on a separate drive first, after backing up my data
Good idea!

* What happens if you issue

sudo update-grub

? after a reboot?
I have updated grub and rebooted but to no avail.

Maybe the timeout is too long; I think it defaults to 10 seconds.
It's set to 10 but not a big deal.

* You'll probably want to disable Linux from doing a scan of your other drives and partitions since you already know where you want to go
I want to try that but couldn't find the UUID shown in my file (following the guidelines from the Linux Community website).

You'll have to find where your actual GRUB file is located and if it says in the REM line "DO NOT modify this file" - then don't.
It's either at where yours is located or on the SDA EFI with Clover (though perhaps I should update Clover since it's not the most recent version).

THanks for all the suggestions.

 

[kiiroaka]

Please bear with me because I don't use UEFI, preferring to forgo UEFI because I run many Linux Distros and change disks regularly. I therefore enable CSM in the BIOS whereas you will need to disable it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you installed Serena did you choose "Something Else" at the Installation type? Or did you disconnect the OSX drive and just installed on the separate drive? (Probably not, because then you'd have two EFIs and your PC should be locking up. I'm just wondering if that is the cause for your long boot time.)

You should have selected "Something else" so that you can point to sda as your UEFI EFI, otherwise known as ESP, the EFI System Partition.

LM EFI looks like this: /boot/efi/EFI and inside the directory EFI you will find /mint and inside /mint you will find grubx64.efi & grub.cfg Both files must exist in the same directory.

Or is there an Ubuntu folder, /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu ?

If you booted the LM installer as UEFI then Mint should detect the EFI partition on the first drive and install it accordingly in the /boot/efi directory/folder, /boot/efi/EFI/mint.

The problem may be that there is a conflict because Clover's EFI looks like one directory with two entries, /EFI and boot(.bin),
then in /EFI you will see /Apple, /Boot and /Clover. You will probably need to create a directory called Grub, then move (not copy - or copy, then delete the originals) to the Grub folder. You will probably want to copy the grub.efi or grubx64.efi and grub.cfg to a USB stick - just to be safe; then do the copy & delete.

You will then have EFI, boot
and in EFI you will now have /Apple, Boot, /Clover and /Grub

What folders are inside your Clover EFI partition? [EFI and "boot"]
What are the files in your Clover EFI partition? [EFI: /apple, /Boot, /Clover][/boot: BootIA32.efi, Bootx64.exe] Don't be surprised if BootIA32.efi isn't there since that's for a 32 bit Linux OS, but it may have been put there for compatibility.

For Linux:
You should have created your USB for UEFI installation. If you did not, you need to go back and do this. I found [Windows] Rufus to work well for this.

Normally, I would disconnect the OS X drive before installing another OS. This time, since I want to install the Linux boot loader to the UEFI folder on the OS X drive, I will leave it connected.

So, with the system shut down, connect the next drive, insert the Linux Install USB (or boot from UEFI CD), boot the system and at the POST hit the Function hotkey that allows you to select a boot device. Select the Linux Install USB (or UEFI CD) and boot the system.

At the Grub screen boot the Live Linux default and then at the desktop double-click on the install icon.
Select your language (continue).

(I usually will boot into the LIVE session then start GParted and do manual partitioning. After the new disk has been partitioned I will then double click the desktop Install icon.)

If your system has a fast network connection, click the burger dots to install updates during the installation process (continue). For Installation type, select "Something else" (continue). You should see something like this:


sda is obviously your OS X drive, sdb is your drive for Linux. Select it, [sdb], click on new partition table. This will wipe the drive to free space. Create your swap, root, home, usr partitions as you normally would for Linux. (for most users it will be / and SWAP.)

When done, make sure you select to put the boot loader files in the sda EFI partition:


{I think that may be a stumbling block for some - exactly how does one select it?}

Click on Install. Now and go get a cup of coffee, take a bathroom break, do something else while Linux installs.

When the installation is complete, you will need to reboot. At the post, go ahead and hit the Function key (Don't let it boot into Clover) to select the Linux drive to boot (not the USB), to finish the installation. Eject the install USB. Install any Linux updates if you did not select to update [Linux] during install; download any apps you want, set the system up and get it working for you as you wish it to. When done, shutdown. (Remove the USB if you did not eject/dismount it in Linux).

With all 2 OSs installed and both drives connected, boot to the UEFI BIOS and make the OS X drive first in BBS boot order.

When the Clover screen displays, you will only see icons for OS X. We will fix this with a config.plist edit.

Choose the OS X icon and boot to desktop. You will need to download Xcode or your favorite plist editor for this next step.
Mount the EFI partition and navigate to the config.plist. Open the config.plist in Xcode and add this entry:


Save the config.plist, quit Xcode and reboot.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-multibooting-uefi-on-separate-drives.198869/
Edited for further clarity, and removal to Windows pointers. Hopefully Going Bald won't object too much.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having said all that, if you have been using LM Serena for awhile you may not want to re-do it all over again. In which case it is probably a case of misplaced file locations. If you find more than one Grub efi file, probably grubx86.efi, then make sure that it only resides, or exists, within the grub folder, along with the grub.cfg file.

Going Bald,

What would happen if he moves grubx86.efi and grub.cfg to the boot folder, so that there is now /EFI, /Apple, /Boot, /Clover? That would mean that the boot folder would now have BootIA32.efi, Bootx64.exe, Grubx86.efi, grub.cfg.

 

[Going Bald]

Going Bald,

What would happen if he moves grubx86.efi and grub.cfg to the boot folder, so that there is now /EFI, /Apple, /Boot, /Clover? That would mean that the boot folder would now have BootIA32.efi, Bootx64.exe, Grubx86.efi, grub.cfg.

Just moving the files will not work as there is a link there from the installation process. If Grub is incorrectly installed to the Linux drive then use the purge/replace Grub instructions on the Ubuntu site to totally remove Grub from the Linux drive. Then install it to the EFI partition with Clover.

 

[kiiroaka]

Thanks. I find that some things in Ubuntu are version specific, that what works in one version may not work in another. I've since standardized on LM since things like updating or repairing GRUB is much simpler, and their app. installation works a lot better, even beyond Synaptic Package Manager, which other distros don't use. I guess it's a matter of what one is familiar and comfortable with. But I remember going through gyrations using the Ubuntu Boot Recovery Tool and finding the LM method for 17.3 to be much, much easier.

1. Installed and updated new linux kernel in Mint.
3. Reinstalled GRUB after booting to Mint took longer than usual.

I find that sometimes updating the kernel takes a much longer time the first time it is run because the kernel is being optimized, and that after that, upon a subsequent boot, it speeds up to where it works as it should. I've since decided to run a regular Stable release and a Rolling release on a separate disk drive. I think LM will soon have a Rolling Release distro... I also tried the LMDE, Linux Mint Debian Edition, and didn't find it to be faster than the regular LM version, in fact I found it to be slower. I believe that LM is now Debian based, anyway, ever since Ubuntu decided to track all visited sites, kinda like just about everyone else does (W10, Sierra, Google, et. al.) - or after 14.04, which means 16.04 and 16.10.

The first time I tested LM 18.0 there were all sorts of problems. I'm running it on a separate drive and the updates have fixed a lot of problems. But after experiencing the problems of updating 14.04 to 16.04 on my Mac Pro 1,1 - basically it destroyed it - I'll not be updating from 17.3 to 18.0 to 18.1; I'd rather just do a fresh install of 18.1. Actually, I probably won't be doing an update until about 18.3.

So, just updating or repairing GRUB may not fix your problem since it may be a case of having regressions when it comes to libraries, drivers, etc. It might be better to backup all your data (browser bookmarks, browser cookies, documents, video and audio files) and source files (window themes, icons, mouse pointers, latest browser installation files, app. install files, etc.) and re-installing a clean OS, in this case 18.1.

One thing you can try is starting up Synaptic, going down to the Custom Filters and selecting the Broken Packages Section and seeing if there's any packages that you will need to completely remove and re-install.

First thing to do is to hold down the Shift key after you select Linux in the Clover boot screen. Does it boot quicker?

Next thing to do is to select an older kernel and see if it boots quicker, or if it boots quicker after selecting it, rebooting, then selecting the same one again.

Some good reading: https://askubuntu.com/questions/2793/how-do-i-remove-old-kernel-versions-to-clean-up-the-boot-menu

Note that he was complaining of his GRUB menu getting longer, not that booting was taking longer. When I update my kernels I make sure that I update them incrementally, I don't go from 3.0 to 4.0. for example, if there was a 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, etc - I make sure that I incrementally update each and every one until I get to the latest. On my PCLOS Rolling I am up to 4.8, and if I see some problem I will then reboot and select the previous known working version and then patiently wait for the next update kernel to be released. ymmv.

 

[kiiroaka]

Just an aside:

I finally installed LM 18.1 MATE and it is working a lot better than 18.0. With 18.0 my USB ports didn't work, k3b burning wouldn't work and I had 'shadow bars' when the screen saver activated. With 18.1 all those problems have been remedied and the system is quicker too.

Luckily I had a separate /HOME partition so it saved a lot of time re-configuring (didn't have to re-load book marks, re-install pictures, music, documents, video - and all the program settings were already there.) What I should have done was to re-set the Appearance Window Theme back to default before wiping out 18.0 and installing 18.1 as it was necessary to re-install Breathe Icons.

Doing the "Something Else" partitioning was a little cumbersome as it didn't automatically set the partitions to what they were before, even though it saw them. I had to re-label them, making sure that the /Home partition was not formatted, and setting the OS partition as "/," "bootable," and "format." I then installed all my favourite apps, with Cairo Dock last - and presto - a perfect clone.

As far as KDE4.4 goes, I installed LM 17.3 KDE and I just didn't want to bother re-configuring everything; so I'll keep PCLOS KDE4 as it is. KDE Plasma is a pita. KParted was a pita. Installing the El Capitan, or any themes, for that matter, is a pita. What I liked about LM 17.3KDE are the Noto and Droid fonts, so I copied, compressed them, and saved them to a USB stick, then installed them into PCLOS KDE4.

If you like the OSX San Francisco font you may like the Noto font.