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No it is not a dual-boot, and no there are not 2 swap partitions and no there are not any swap files.

lsblk -f results:
sda
├─sda1 ext4 3109dae0-caf4-4407-b71b-ec78fbcb4c69 /
├─sda2
└─sda5 swap 3d3bbf6c-d139-438a-b955-34c1e4425d2e [SWAP]
sr0

blkid results:
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=3109dae0-caf4-4407-b71b-ec78fbcb4c69 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=3d3bbf6c-d139-438a-b955-34c1e4425d2e none swap sw 0 0

critical-chain results:
graphical.target @21.078s
─multi-user.target @21.078s
─[0;1;31mModemManager.service @14.966s +6.110s[0m
─basic.target @13.172s
─paths.target @13.172s
─cups.path @13.172s
─sysinit.target @12.980s
─swap.target @12.980s
─[0;1;31mdev-disk-by\x2duuid-3d3bbf6c\x2dd139\x2d438a\x2db955\x2d34c1e4425d2e.swap @12.741s +217ms[0m
─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3d3bbf6c\x2dd139\x2d438a\x2db955\x2d34c1e4425d2e.device @12.740s

The last line "dev-disk-by" is not the swap partition it is the "device". The line above it is the swap partition. But, each line has the same UUID listed.

In regard to the blkid results in my last posting, when I ran that on Tuesday there was not the "errors=remount-ro" in regard to the OS partition. Maybe someone knows what errors=remount-ro means.

mintNme wrote:In regard to the blkid results in my last posting, when I ran that on Tuesday there was not the "errors=remount-ro" in regard to the OS partition. Maybe someone knows what errors=remount-ro means.

I think it means just what it says, if there are errors when mounting then remount as read only. See here for more info. My / partition also says that, I thinks its pretty standard for a boot partition.

I see some folks talking about swap and the pros and cons of disabling it. If you want to disable it, temporarily, reboot and check boot times, we should find out for sure if swap is a major cause.

To disable, just edit as root /etc/fstab (sudo xed /etc/fstab) and insert a '#' at the front of 'UUID=3d3bbf6c-d139-438a-b955-34c1e4425d2e none swap sw 0 0' so it looks like '#UUID=3d3bbf6c-d139-438a-b955-34c1e4425d2e none swap sw 0 0', save and reboot.

EDIT: you only have 2Gig of memory so you probably will want to enable swap after the test.

greerd, thank you for that test for swap and the "error" explanation. There is no startup time difference with the swap partition disabled. I hope we can put that issue to rest now.

Next, I hope someone can explain why (in the critical-chain test results) does the "device" line and the "swap" line have the same UUID shown, which the lsblk -f results show is the UUID for the swap partition. I'm thinking that "device" and "swap" cannot mean the same thing so why do they have the same UUID.

I have noticed 18.1 takes twice as long to boot as 17.3 did on my machine. I have been reading various threads about swap, ntp and various other possible causes but only just saw this one. And I have recently doubled my RAM to 8gb and installed a much faster processor but this makes no difference.

My boot is not as slow as the Ops is. But on 17.3 it was half the time that it is since I switched to 18.1. I was considering switching back to 17.3 but I cannot be bothered configuring my whole system from scratch again. I am hoping when 18.2 comes out these slow boot times will go away.

I might try getting rid of my swap as I saw a post from one guy who said that worked for him after he remembered to uncomment the fstab line. I cannot find that thread now. I spend far too much time reading about these things.

Brian, just an FYI.

I ended up with Mint 18.1 Cinnamon installed on a Dell OptiPlex GX520 which is 13 years old. It has 2GB of RAM and an 80GB HDD with 2GB of it in use as a swap partition.

After many hours of trying many different installations it now takes around 1 minute 30 seconds to power up to the Desktop. That is the best startup time I could get. Far better than the 4 minutes with which I started.