Slow boot time since update to kernel 2.6.15-25-686

[Ferran Rius]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.15-25-686

Since I've updated to the last 686 kernel (2.6.15-25-686) in my laptop I see it takes a much longer than before to go through the step "Mounting Root File System" in the launch process.
I can reproduce it every time I boot with the same kernel, and it's not seen in previous 686 kernels. In the same laptop, with 2.6.15-25-386 I don't see an important delay, nor do I see it in my destop with 2.6.15-25-k7.
There's a thread in the forums about it: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=197866

[Simon Jagoe (azriphale)]

I can also reproduce this without fail on my Toshiba Satellite Pro M70-235 (Pentium M 750 1.86GHz). The same kernel on my desktop machine (Pentium 4 2.8GHz) has no problems.

[Oscar (oscar-neilson)]

I am experiencing exactly the same problem on my Sony Vaio VGN-S3XP (Pentium M 760 2GHz) using the same kernel.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

Please provide the output of /proc/mounts, and /etc/fstab.

[Ferran Rius (frius64)]

/proc/mounts:
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs rw 0 0
/dev/hda3 /dev/.static/dev reiserfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/modules/2.6.15-25-686/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/hda5 /home ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 ntfs ro,noatime,nodiratime,uid=0,gid=46,umask=07,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0
/dev/hda2 /media/hda2 ntfs ro,noatime,nodiratime,uid=0,gid=46,umask=07,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0

/etc/fstab:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs notail 0 1
/dev/hda5 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/hda2 /media/hda2 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/hda6 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

[Richard Tango-Lowy (richtl)]

I can reproduce this on my Thinkpad T60p. It started when I upgraded to the .25 kernel. The boot delay is now about 4 minutes.

[Adam_S (adam-one0)]

I am also affected on my T60p ... the delay doesn't seem to be getting longer, but it around a minute or so.

 /proc/mounts:

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda3 / ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda3 /dev/.static/dev ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/modules/2.6.15-25-686/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda6 /media/storage vfat rw,nodiratime,gid=46,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/windows ntfs ro,noatime,nodiratime,uid=0,gid=46,umask=07,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0

/etc/fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sda3 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
#/dev/sda2 /media/recover vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda6 /media/storage vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1/dev/sda1 /media/windows ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

[jakobc (jakob3)]

I see the same bug on my T60p. It hangs for about 2 min. when mounting root file system.

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda3 / ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda3 /dev/.static/dev ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/modules/2.6.15-25-686/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sda3 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

[Gregory Oschwald (osch0001)]

I am experiencing this on my Thinkpad X60s.

/proc/mounts:
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-root / ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-root /dev/.static/dev ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda3 /boot ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-home /home ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs ro,uid=0,gid=46,umask=07,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/sda2 vfat rw,gid=46,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,utf8 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-tmp /tmp ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-usr /usr ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-var /var ext3 rw,noatime,data=ordered 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0

/etc/fstab:
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-root / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda3 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-home /home ext3 defaults,user_xattr 0 2
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda2 /media/sda2 vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1/dev/mapper/ubuntu-tmp /tmp ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-usr /usr ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-var /var ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/ubuntu-swap none swap sw 0 0

[jakobc (jakob3)]

I just did the updates that came down today. I guess there were no fixes to this specific bug. Still hangs for about 2 min when mounting root file system.

[Stefan Wehr (mail-stefanwehr)]

same problem after upgrading to 686-...26. Here's my /proc/mounts:

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda8 / ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda8 /dev/.static/dev ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda6 /home ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs ro,noatime,nodiratime,uid=0,gid=46,umask=07,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/sda2 vfat rw,nodiratime,gid=46,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda5 /windows vfat rw,nodiratime,gid=46,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,utf8 0 0

and here's my /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sda8 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda6 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda2 /media/sda2 vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda5 /windows vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/dev/sda7 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /usb auto user,noauto 0 0

[Ari Niemi (ari-niemi)]

T60 with the same problem.

/proc/mounts:

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/LVMGroup-root / reiserfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/LVMGroup-root /dev/.static/dev reiserfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /boot ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/LVMGroup-home /home ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0

/etc/fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/LVMGroup-root / reiserfs defaults 0 1
/dev/sda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/LVMGroup-home /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

[Philip Wyett (philwyett)]

I have this same issue on Sony Vaio VGN-FS415M when running:

2.6.15-26-686 #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Aug 3 03:13:28 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

As well as the long pause mounting the root file system, I also see the following issues.

 * Slow execution of 2d redraw when executing apps like Gnome terminal
 * Different scaling over 386 kernel that pushed temperature of lappy up
    on average by 5 degrees celcius. Using bittorrent pushed scaling up to
    100% whereas it doesn't on 386 kernel.
 * Choppy video playback.

None of the above issues exist when using the 386 variant of the kernel.

[Ferran Rius (frius64)]

My first impressions with the last update (2.6.15-27-686) is that the issue has been fixed, or at list it has improved. The delay on "Mounting Root File System" is not an issue for me any more. I'm not yet sure about the system performance, though.

[Philip Wyett (philwyett)]

For me all the issues I previously listed remain in 2.6.15-27-686.

[Philip Wyett (philwyett)]

Running of the latest 686 kernel has resolved all issue, all except the slow root mount at boot. On the 386 kernel it is a couple of seconds and on the 686 kernel it is 15 - 20 seconds.