<< Solved >> Mid 2014 Macbook Pro NVMe is booting, but....

[mrdmadev]

.....it boots slow to the Apple logo (15 seconds). Once it gets to the Apple logo, it makes it to the login screen in another 10 seconds, for a total of 25 seconds. I have the NVMe installed internally using an adapter. If I use the Apple Startup Manager, the NVMe shows up as an external drive (weird) right away, then boots fast after that - for a total of 15 seconds. The NVMe does show up in the NVMe device tree and it also shows up as "bootable:yes" in disk utility. I have tried NVRAM reset multiple times, and the "bless" hokey-pokey dance multiple times. Still, a slow boot and it shows up as an external drive in the Apple Startup Manager but not in Disk Utility.

Can somebody give me some more clues?

Here is some more information below:

System Information

Model Name: MacBook Pro


Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,2


Processor Name: Intel Core i7


Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz


Number of Processors: 1


Total Number of Cores: 4


L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB


L3 Cache: 6 MB


Memory: 16 GB


Boot ROM Version: 153.0.0.0.0


SMC Version (system): 2.18f15



NVMExpress Device Tree

CT1000P1SSD8:





Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)


TRIM Support: Yes


Model: CT1000P1SSD8


Revision: P3CR010


Serial Number:


Link Width: x4


Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s


Detachable Drive: No


BSD Name: disk0


Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)


Removable Media: No


Volumes:


EFI:


Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)


File System: MS-DOS FAT32


BSD Name: disk0s1


Content: EFI


Volume UUID: 0E239BC6-F960-3107-89CF-1C97F78BB46B


disk0s2:


Capacity: 999.35 GB (999,345,127,424 bytes)


BSD Name: disk0s2


Content: Apple_CoreStorage


Recovery HD:


Capacity: 650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)


BSD Name: disk0s3


Content: Apple_Boot


Volume UUID: F6D44BBE-2E01-38C7-9133-FE12F5CF4D38


Thank you in advance!

EDIT: This is using a fresh install of HighSierra.

EDIT2: I'm using this NVMe - > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2Q4SWZ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20 and this adapter -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGTMCCX/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[mrdmadev]

I finally figured out. I literally tried everything. Using the bless command, using the "systemsetup -setstartupdisk" command, making sure the NVME was selected as a startup disk in System Preferences.

I found an article from 2008 that suggested this:

"Boot your machine with the Option key down to invoke the Startup Manager, then hold down the Control key prior to clicking on a volume to boot. (You may have to use the left and right arrow keys to select a volume first.) " - https://www.macworld.com/article/1135944/startupboot.html

Once I did this, it boots in less than 12 seconds.

EDIT: Add link/url to article.