Arch Linux

LeftyAce

Member

Registered: 2012-08-18

Posts: 159

[SOLVED] Slow boot from usb on x220 laptop

Hi all,

I am installing arch on a Thinkpad x220 laptop, and I want to put /boot on a USB flash drive. Unfortunately, the boot process is extremely slow: the "Welcome to grub" message that appears before the boot menu stays on screen for 5-10 seconds, and then "Loading linux linux" stays for 25 seconds, and then another 25 for "loading initramfs." I have the BIOS set to "legacy" (not UEFI).

On my x61 laptop, with the same usb flash drive as /boot, "welcome to grub" flashes for maybe 1 second, and "loading linux linux" takes 5 seconds. Any ideas what could be making the x220 so much slower?

Thanks in advance,

Lefty

Last edited by LeftyAce (2016-06-11 17:08:04)

Docbroke

Member

From: India

Registered: 2015-06-13

Posts: 1,433

Re: [SOLVED] Slow boot from usb on x220 laptop

Try another USB hub/port, you may be using slower USB1 or USB2 insteady of USB3 port.

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teateawhy

Member

From: GER

Registered: 2012-03-05

Posts: 1,138

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Slow boot from usb on x220 laptop

The x220 only has usb 2.0. I have this laptop and also a remote header, /boot on USB, LUKS encrypted arch installation.
I noticed that you can speed up the BIOS part of the boot process by disabling some unwanted boot entries such as LAN/network, CD etc, and placing your USB entry first. You can do this from the BIOS setup.
The bootloader and kernel/vmlinuz part is pretty fast for me, under 5 seconds total.
Maybe it's a slow USB stick. Copy the kernel and initramfs from the USB stick to your internal drive and note how long that takes. Nevermind it's faster on your other laptop.

Last edited by teateawhy (2016-06-08 12:44:24)

LeftyAce

Member

Registered: 2012-08-18

Posts: 159

Re: [SOLVED] Slow boot from usb on x220 laptop

Thanks for the replies everyone.

This x220has USB 3.0 (the i7 versions did, apparently), unfortunately it cannot boot from the USB3 port. Both of the USB 2.0 ports are slow, and this is the case with multiple USB thumb drives.

Teateawhy, your configuration is my end goal, but only after I get this speed issue worked out. I don't think changing the BIOS boot priority is going to change how long it takes to load vmlinuz, is it? Any other ideas to check?

LeftyAce

Member

Registered: 2012-08-18

Posts: 159

Re: [SOLVED] Slow boot from usb on x220 laptop

One other question, teateawhy, do you have your system set to UEFI or to legacy BIOS and Grub for boot?

EDIT: I solved the problem. Updated to the latest BIOS (from Lenovo's website, version 1.42, 2016-02-18) and boot times are 7-15 seconds depending on which USB drive I use. Looks like this wasn't an Arch problem at all.

Last edited by LeftyAce (2016-06-11 17:07:51)