Resolved How do I shorten the start time (Mojave 10.4.6, MP6.1)

[Riwam]

Need help. Lately my MP End 2013 running Mojave 10.4.6 takes more time to show the Apple after hearing the chime. I assume there are too many things to Auto Start. How do I reach them and bring back the previous rather quick start? Thank you very much for any help! (I have kept HFS+ file system).

 

[casperes1996]

Need help. Lately my MP End 2013 running Mojave 10.4.6 takes more time to show the Apple after hearing the chime. I assume there are too many things to Auto Start. How do I reach them and bring back the previous rather quick start? Thank you very much for any help! (I have kept HFS+ file system).

If it's time to even show the Apple logo on boot it sounds more like it's taking time to POST rather than actually booting the OS. But if we're looking at OS startup items, there's a few places to look

1)
System Preferences, -> Users -> Login Items (Though these should just start after the OS is up anyway, but still, they are startup items)

2)
Check for launch daemons. These are active regardless of users logged in:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Removing plists from there will stop the launch daemon from launching on startup. - Note that you'll most likely really want a lot of these to start to maintain expected macOS functionality. Any from Apple you probably don't want to touch for example. And instead of deleting them, probably just move them somewhere else so you can put them back if you find issues

3)
Launch Agents. For all users they are in
/Library/LaunchAgents
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/ (These are all covered by SIP so unless you've disabled SIP and done stuff these will all just be default macOS LaunchAgents)

For your user they are in
~/Library/LaunchAgents

4)
Kernel extensions - If you've installed any kernel extensions that auto load on startup these could affect boot times. A lot of kernel extensions can dynamically load as needed instead of on boot but some will just load immediately.

 

[Macschrauber]

Dont forget to check if the startup disk is set.

 

[casperes1996]

Dont forget to check if the startup disk is set.

Good call. That could matter a lot more than my list

 

[rpmurray]

Have you tried checking the SMART status of the drive?

Also, How to Use Safe Mode to Resolve Mac Startup Issues

 

[Macsonic]

Need help. Lately my MP End 2013 running Mojave 10.4.6 takes more time to show the Apple after hearing the chime. I assume there are too many things to Auto Start. How do I reach them and bring back the previous rather quick start? Thank you very much for any help! (I have kept HFS+ file system).

Maybe you could try using DiskWarrior to rebuild your Mojave OS. If I recall, you mentioned before that you have DiskWarrior installed as this works with HFS+ format. My Mojave is also running as a HFS+ format. So far everything is fine and hope no problems would arise.

Years ago I was using Yosemite and I’ve noticed the boot up time became longer. Did a clean install of Yosemite and boot up time was back to normal as it booted up faster. Probably a case of corrupted OS

 

[th0masp]

Years ago I was using Yosemite and I’ve noticed the boot up time became longer. Did a clean install of Yosemite and boot up time was back to normal as it booted up faster. Probably a case of corrupted OS

Sounds like some old cache needed cleaning out or the like.



Anyway, why even restart the machine (regularly?)? I do that like twice a year so however long it takes doesn't bother much. Is putting it to sleep as a default not an option?

 

[Riwam]

Dont forget to check if the startup disk is set.

How is that done please?

 

[Riwam]

If it's time to even show the Apple logo on boot it sounds more like it's taking time to POST rather than actually booting the OS. But if we're looking at OS startup items, there's a few places to look

1)
System Preferences, -> Users -> Login Items (Though these should just start after the OS is up anyway, but still, they are startup items)

2)
Check for launch daemons. These are active regardless of users logged in:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Removing plists from there will stop the launch daemon from launching on startup. - Note that you'll most likely really want a lot of these to start to maintain expected macOS functionality. Any from Apple you probably don't want to touch for example. And instead of deleting them, probably just move them somewhere else so you can put them back if you find issues

3)
Launch Agents. For all users they are in
/Library/LaunchAgents
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/ (These are all covered by SIP so unless you've disabled SIP and done stuff these will all just be default macOS LaunchAgents)

For your user they are in
~/Library/LaunchAgents

4)
Kernel extensions - If you've installed any kernel extensions that auto load on startup these could affect boot times. A lot of kernel extensions can dynamically load as needed instead of on boot but some will just load immediately.

Thank you very much for your kind offer to help me!
1) What means in your answer to POST?
2) What means to set the start up disk?
My system has Mojave and Windows to chose and the Mojave is set to start unless I chose Windows with the option key. So what am I to set?
3) And where do I find the Kernel Extensions you mention since I do not recall having done so? .
4) By the way the App “Clean my Mac X“ pretends to show the auto start items and allow to see if some can be removed. Should I trust it and use it in your opinion? Thanks again for your very kind help!

 

[JMVB]

Dont forget to check if the startup disk is set.

system preferences - startup disk - unlock the padlock - select your disk and restart

 

[casperes1996]

Thank you very much for your kind offer to help me!
1) What means in your answer to POST?
2) What means to set the start up disk?
My system has Mojave and Windows to chose and the Mojave is set to start unless I chose Windows with the option key. So what am I to set?
3) And where do I find the Kernel Extensions you mention since I do not recall having done so? .
4) By the way the App “Clean my Mac X“ pretends to show the auto start items and allow to see if some can be removed. Should I trust it and use it in your opinion? Thanks again for your very kind help!

1) POST = Power-On Self Test. It is the first thing a logic board does when it's powered on. It includes enumerating hardware devices.

2) If the correct startup disk is selected in System Preferences like you suggest it is, you're good. Let's say you attach an external drive containing macOS, select it as the startup drive in System Preferences, and then detach it. Your system may still boot normally cause it just goes to the second boot-option in the chain. But it might take longer cause on each boot it will first look for the detached disk

3)
I don't recommend touching these if you don't know much about kexts already
/System/Library/Extensions (SIP protected kexts)
/Library/Extensions (other extensions - often user-installed)

4)
Clean My Mac is reputable and well known. It's GUI is nice and it does work well, though it's one of those tools where you can know enough to be dangerous. I wouldn't recommend everyone just run out and poke around with it. But if you know what you're doing and have a specific goal to using it, it's a perfectly fine tool to make it a bit easier to find things and such

 

[Macsonic]

Sounds like some old cache needed cleaning out or the like.



Anyway, why even restart the machine (regularly?)? I do that like twice a year so however long it takes doesn't bother much. Is putting it to sleep as a default not an option?

Hi. No specific reason on preferring to restart or shutting down. Just my personal habit and wanted the computer to get a “full rest”. If I’ll just take a short break from work, will let the computer sleep. If I’ll be using the Mac the following day, will shut it down.

 

[haralds]

The Apple shows after the initial post while the device is completing system enumeration and starts loading the OS. I am pretty sure this is way before launch daemons and startup items. At that point, it has found the boot disk/system.
It is highly dependent on devices plugged into PCIe bus and disks, USB devices, etc.
The rest of the OS (such as kexts) loads during the progress bar. You often can see the GPU driver loading by a screen flash and sometimes a change in resolution close to the end of the load cycle.
Personal launch daemons and startup items in ~/Library do not load until after logging in.
Since El Cap Apple's OS has been taking longer and longer to load on older iron like the Mac Pro. Even with NVMe disks my system now is around 90 sec. But then, even my new M1 is not that much faster considering its scale and complexity taking about 30-45sec.
The answer is to use Sleep...

 

[haralds]

You might try Onyx to clean up the system and rebuilding caches including the KEXT cache.