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I'm on Ubuntu 11.04 (upgraded from 10.10) and suffering really high bootup times. It got so annoying, that I decided to dive into bootchart analysis myself. Therefore I installed bootchart and restarted the system which generated this chart.

However, I'm not really experienced in reading such stuff. What causes the long bootup sequence?

Edit:

Here is the output of hdparm -i /dev/sda:

/dev/sda:

Model=SAMSUNG HD501LJ, FwRev=CR100-12, SerialNo=S0MUJ1EQ102621
Config={ Fixed }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=34902, SectSize=554, ECCbytes=4
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=976773168
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: unknown:  ATA/ATAPI-3,4,5,6,7

* signifies the current active mode

And here the output of hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads:   2410 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1205.26 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 258 MB in  3.02 seconds =  85.50 MB/sec
ubuntudroid
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    Your disk seems slow. What does `sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda` say? What about `sudo hdparm -i /dav/sda`? – Seppo Erviälä Jun 27 '11 at 18:29
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    You have MySQL, Postgres and Apache start on boot? Is this a server? Probably you can shave off a few more seconds if you leave it out of boot if it's a desktop. – Marky Jun 27 '11 at 18:30
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    Are you booting from an external drive? – arrange Jun 27 '11 at 18:34
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    I'd recommend trying out server software on virtualbox. Makes them easier to manage and saves your desktop from clutter. Development is also easier on separated installations. – Seppo Erviälä Jun 27 '11 at 18:43
  • Thanks for all the comments! Yes, I'm currently booting MySQL, Postgres and Apache on boot - shouldn't do that, you're right. Will look at the virtualbox suggestion. And yes, I'm booting from a external drive - at the moment there's no other way. @Seppo: The hdparm parameters where set by the system, not by me. To be honest, I'm not really sure where to change them. After reading through the manpage of hdparm, I read that -tT performs benchmarks which should be not really necessary on every boot. But why -i? It just returns id info. – ubuntudroid Jun 28 '11 at 06:31
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    @ubuntudroid I'm just interested in the numbers the benchmark produces. It tells a lot about your drive. I'm not suggesting that you run it every boot. – Seppo Erviälä Jun 28 '11 at 06:43
  • Removed Postgres, MySQL and Apache from startup sequence - sadly this didn't make much of a difference... – ubuntudroid Jun 28 '11 at 07:14
  • Added hdparm outputs – ubuntudroid Jun 28 '11 at 07:22
  • hdparm seems normal and is configured right. – Seppo Erviälä Jun 28 '11 at 08:30

1 Answers1

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I found similar issues and after installing and fretting with the bootchart app I had a look at Georges Techblog here which covered the issues of Unity boot time:

Georges tech blog

They really seemed to get to grips with issues that I could then use to really improve my boot time with unity. Some I understood, some I have to say ...were beyond my understanding

Apologies if you have seen this before but he also did a more recent update which may help

I would also as a matter of course look at what things you have starting up automatically

Hit the super key (windows key) and type Startup Applications and you can then (de)select things you do not need to start up ...it might also help alongside the more complex things

andybleaden
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  • Thanks for the link, will have a look at the article. As for the startup applications: I've already searched through the list, but there was absolutely nothing unusual there which could explain the long boot times... – ubuntudroid Jul 13 '11 at 13:55
  • Checked out all the tips, unfortunately to no avail... :( However these seem to be great tips in general! – ubuntudroid Jul 13 '11 at 15:06
  • it was rather interesting although I have to be honest and say I did not do all of them as I did not understand them all.it did knocks seconds off though 8-10 in all for me added to other 'stuff and clutter' – andybleaden Jul 13 '11 at 15:42