Mint 20.1 Slower Boot

[Glamtrains]

Upgrade via the Update Manager was uneventful, seamless, super-smooth BUT I do find that my laptop now seems to take a bit longer to boot and it does flash messages in the top left corner but too quick for me to read. Upgraded from 20.0.

Overall, Mint 20.1 continues the tradition of stable/reliable/dependable/predictable IF anyone needed to hear this.

I have been a Mint Cinnamon user for the past decade or so, cheated a bit this year by using several of the Arch's but each had its own way of booting into blank spaces for no reason. So, back to the Toyota Camry-like reliable Mint Cinnamon.

A slower boot won't kill me; just wonder why there seems to be a bit of a lag.

[Pjotr]

What's the output of:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxpmrz

[Glamtrains]

pete@thinkpete:~$ inxi -Fxpmrz
System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-60-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.5 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20C6003KZA v: ThinkPad Edge E540
serial: <filter>
Mobo: LENOVO model: 20C6003KZA v: 0B98401 PRO serial: <filter>
UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: J9ET97WW (2.17 ) date: 12/12/2014
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 30.5 Wh condition: 30.5/42.8 Wh (71%)
model: SMP LNV-45N1 status: Not charging
Memory:
RAM: total: 7.46 GiB used: 2.48 GiB (33.3%)
RAM Report:
permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-4702MQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Haswell rev: 3 L2 cache: 6144 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
bogomips: 35121
Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/3200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 899 2: 945
3: 978 4: 848 5: 978 6: 966 7: 815 8: 1031
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo
driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: NVIDIA GK208M [GeForce GT 740M] vendor: Lenovo driver: nvidia
v: 460.32.03 bus ID: 01:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: nvidia resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 740M/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.32.03
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio
vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0
Device-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-60-generic
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 04:00.0
IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lenovo
driver: rtl8723be v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 05:00.0
IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: wwan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 41.19 GiB (17.7%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 750 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 224.82 GiB used: 40.86 GiB (18.2%) fs: xfs dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: /boot size: 505.7 MiB used: 331.1 MiB (65.5%) fs: xfs dev: /dev/sda1
ID-3: swap-1 size: 7.46 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 66.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 62 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos:
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
Info:
Processes: 306 Uptime: 5h 51m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers:
gcc: 9.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38
pete@thinkpete:~$

[Pjotr]

OK... Well, the only thing that strikes me is that you still have a separate swap partition. Your boot time might decrease if you switch to a swap file, which is default nowadays.

You might try this:

1. Create a Timeshift snapshot (you never know).

2. Boot from the Mint DVD / USB stick, launch GParted and unmount the exiting swap partition(s). Then nuke 'em. Don't do anything with the new free space; simply leave it as is (you don't want to disrupt the fstab info for your other partitions).

3. Also replace the swap line(s) in the /etc/fstab on your hard disk by this line:

Code: Select all

/swapfile                                 none            swap    sw              0       0

4. Reboot from the hard disk and test.

[Glamtrains]

Thanks, might do that. Why is a swap partition bad? I had set it manually in an effort to (finally) get any Linux to wake from sleep or hibernate - as it simply never does, which is the main reason why I sometimes reinstall Windows 10. In over a decade, not one of maybe forty distros could wake from sleep or from hibernate. I saw that some of the Arch's set the swap partition = RAM size.

[Pjotr]

I had set it manually in an effort to (finally) get any Linux to wake from (....) hibernate

In that case you'd better leave it as is. It was just a shot in the dark of mine anyway.

[Glamtrains]

Thanks for your help, appreciated.

[SMG]

I had set it manually in an effort to (finally) get any Linux to wake from sleep or hibernate - as it simply never does, which is the main reason why I sometimes reinstall Windows 10. In over a decade, not one of maybe forty distros could wake from sleep or from hibernate.

You might want to reinstall Windows so you can update and get sleep mode working properly.

I checked Edge E540 (ThinkPad) - Type 20C6; BIOS/UEFI and the latest is 2.28.

Mobo: LENOVO model: 20C6003KZA v: 0B98401 PRO serial: <filter>
UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: J9ET97WW (2.17 ) date: 12/12/2014

I went to the README for BIOS Update (Bootable CD), scrolled to the bottom third of the page, and found:
<2.18>
- (New) Enabled Refresh rate 2x feature.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue related to S3 resume failure on Ubuntu.
<2.23>
- (Fix)]Fixed an issue related to S3 resume hang with MOR fix code

S3 is sleep mode, so it appears an update might fix this issue.

[Glamtrains]

About updates: I am almost paranoid about updates, someone may call it OCD but my systems - be it iOS, Android, S60, BBOS, Mac OS X, Windows or whatever Linux is running, auto-updates at the highest frequency possible so as to ensure that especially security updates aren't skipped. Not that I am sure that this really helps this Thinkpad Edge E540, which really wasn't the absolute best laptop Lenovo ever built. It is challenged in so many ways YET the sleep issue was present on each and every other laptop I ever owned, including the MacbookPro that promptly got a heart transplant to become the sweetest one in Cape Town. I may be called the Laptop Mint guy.

But, wake from sleep, they never do.

So, Instead of suspend to sleep, I set them to shutdown at a set time.

Why the regular updates? Because even in 2020, the municipality where we lived during lockdown, saw its entire IT department hijacked with ransomware after they mocked me. And around Y2K, I saw some very interesting things happen to entire companies and realised that one sometimes need to heed to the "advice from adults."

As for Windows 10 Pro Build 20H2, it is sweet, stable, fast, the perceived computing "feeling" is much Linux-like, the Chromium-based Edge browser works rather nicely, Outlook is still crapware yet The Hell of Gates still manage to produce BSOD's especially when you don't need it. For the record, even its updating always was fairly swift and painless. But for them blue screens, I don't care so Linux we do.

[SMG]

About updates: ...

If that lengthy post was supposed to convince me you have a good reason for not updating your computer so it works properly, then it failed.

Maybe the information I posted will help someone else with that computer model.

[Glamtrains]

I did try to update it with the ISO but failed and I am NOT going to reinstall Windows just to update a BIOS. While on Windows, I regularly used the Lenovo apps to keep the system up to date. My next laptop most likely will come from either Dell as it ships with Linux or System76 as they have an established export thing to my country.