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Mac Pro 12 Core slow boot?

B

Bmproductions

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2011
24
0
Netherlands
Hi guys,
I have my Mac pro for 2 weeks now and at first I didn't really care but I'm a bit worried, this is because it takes 1 minute and 32 seconds to boot the 12core. I'm using a vertex2 ocz ssd. Once the MP is on, it's on fire but it sure is a slow start. Do I need to be worried?
Things I've tried:
Reset smc
Reset pram
Taking 8gigs ram out so I left 2 x 2 gb inside, and I tried some different combinations. (resetting the pram every time)
When I turn it on, the fans are running on full speed for exactly 6 seconds, than the Mac chime sounds and the apple logo appears. Within 2 seconds you see the spinning wheel. When I listen closely, I can hear when the computer starts to read from the other hard drives. From then on it takes 5 seconds to boot. I think I've tried everything, but I hope you guys can help me out.
Before I forget, the graphics card is an 8800. That's all there is inside.
Thank you for replying.
 
Well I have a strange one that could possibly mean you have no problem. I have a 2006 MacPro 1.1 that yesterday started up the fastest it has ever started. For me the 90 second startup has always been normal. I thought is was the 13 gb ram, 5 hard drives and ssd, or all pci slots being full. But for some unknown reason it just started up faster - way much faster. So if mine took 3 - 4 years, maybe by being patient, yours will only take a month or so. Just a thought.

But do be sure all your software is up to date.
 
Guys, thank you for the replies and the help! :)
I installed MacOS 10.6.6 on a normal HDD and did 2 tests. First I booted the mac without anything connected from the HDD and timed it, and then I tried the SDD. Then I tried it with everything connected again. My external harddisks didn't change anything, so that was clear.
HDD:
0 - 17 seconds: 17 seconds Nothing but the fans running at full speed.
17 - 26: 9 seconds, before the apple logo appears
26 - 32: 6 seconds before the spinning wheel shows up
32 - 51: 19 seconds before I'm at the desktop.
So a boot from the HDD takes 51 seconds.
SSD:
0 - 17 seconds: 17 seconds Nothing but the fans running at full speed.
17 - 26: 9 seconds, before the apple logo appears
26 - 32: 6 seconds before the spinning wheel shows up
32 - 1:29 : 47 seconds before I'm at the desktop.
A SSD boot takes 1.29!

It takes 32 seconds to get to the spinning wheel, no matter wich harddrive is inside. Thats not normal right?
I've got the feeling that this is a MacPro error and a SSD error.
A replacement SSD is on it's way because this one is 120 GB and that turns out to be to small. I ordered a C300 wich 256 GB.
But, should I bring the MacPro back? I'm scared I have to :(
 
SmilesLots said:
Well I have a strange one that could possibly mean you have no problem. I have a 2006 MacPro 1.1 that yesterday started up the fastest it has ever started.
Click to expand...
Lol, thats weird! Let's hope Apple doesn't tell me to wait for 5 years before my MacPro runs at full speed! haha
But nice for you, now you don't have to upgrade to a new MacPro! (altough the 12-core is fast.... ;) )
 
Use "Disk utility" to "Repair Disk Permissions" of the SSD 's Boot drive.
This may help.
51 sec is not so bad.
 
JavaTheHut said:
Use "Disk utility" to "Repair Disk Permissions" of the Boot drive.
This may help.
Click to expand...

Already did that. I also reset the PRAM everytime.
I don't really care about the time it takes to start the system up, but I'm scared that something else is wrong and that it will get worse.
 
Any particular reason why there is a 8800 in the 12-core? It should have shipped with the superior ATI 5770 card. Why the downgrade? Have you tried booting with the original card? Also that C300 sucks on Mac. Keep the vertex or better yet get the OWC 240GB. They both use Sandforce controllers. They do not need TRIM support like the C300. It'll degrade severely over time.
 
OK. Just though if it WAS an 8800, that could have been suspect for the slow post.
I would try repairing the drive with Disk Utility. It would be better if you had a copy of Diskwarrior. It optimizes directories.
How did you install OSX on the SSD? I usually create a disk image and apply to a freshly formatted volume. The creation of the image file defrags the bits and when applied is fairly contiguous. But you should not have to do this and that SSD should be at least slightly faster at boot up than an HDD (obviously). Have you tested the SSD after boot for speed and transfer rates?
 
There is another thread on here about slow boots, do you have bootcamp installed?? It seems Spotlight doesn't play nice with Bootcamp Partitions. Go to the Spotlight prefs and privacy tab add the Bootcamp partition to the list for of places not to index, also good idea to add any scratch drives or other drives you don't really need indexed.

I was having weird drive read/write speeds found this suggestion and boom limiting the Spotlight indexing to just my boot partition cleared them all up, or at least so it seems the last few days.
 
I've tried repairing the disk, but it says it's fine. Also I don't use bootcamp, I don't even wanna put office on there... Not to speak about windows.. ;) But thanks for the help tough! :)
I've ran Xbench to check the harddrive speed. But I don't know what it al means. I also ran the test for the HDD. Can you guys tell me if this is ok?
SSD:
Sequential:
Uncached Write 179.76 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 155.32 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 32.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 189.82 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 154.31 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 156.91 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 23.44 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 179.63 MB/sec [256K blocks]

HDD:
Sequential:
Uncached Write 133.54 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 120.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 41.30 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 128.15 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 2.09 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 164.89 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 48.71 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Again, thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it!
 
Hi Guys,

I found something. It said that you can reset the RTC (real time clock) if you have boot issues. Might this solve my problem?

I tried it. Couldn't do any harm I read. But it didn't solve it..
 
Last edited:
Reads like there's something more serious happening. I had horribly slow boots after installing my ssd reset both smc and pram no change. Then I just left it running overnight with sleep disabled and has been fast ever since.
 
Bmproductions said:
Guys, thank you for the replies and the help! :)
I installed MacOS 10.6.6 on a normal HDD and did 2 tests. First I booted the mac without anything connected from the HDD and timed it, and then I tried the SDD. Then I tried it with everything connected again. My external harddisks didn't change anything, so that was clear.
HDD:
0 - 17 seconds: 17 seconds Nothing but the fans running at full speed.
17 - 26: 9 seconds, before the apple logo appears
26 - 32: 6 seconds before the spinning wheel shows up
32 - 51: 19 seconds before I'm at the desktop.
So a boot from the HDD takes 51 seconds.
SSD:
0 - 17 seconds: 17 seconds Nothing but the fans running at full speed.
17 - 26: 9 seconds, before the apple logo appears
26 - 32: 6 seconds before the spinning wheel shows up
32 - 1:29 : 47 seconds before I'm at the desktop.
A SSD boot takes 1.29!

It takes 32 seconds to get to the spinning wheel, no matter wich harddrive is inside. Thats not normal right?
I've got the feeling that this is a MacPro error and a SSD error.
A replacement SSD is on it's way because this one is 120 GB and that turns out to be to small. I ordered a C300 wich 256 GB.
But, should I bring the MacPro back? I'm scared I have to :(
Click to expand...

From day one I have had a slow "power on to apple logo" or the time it takes from holding the option key down to select the boot drive no matter what type of hard drive or ssd is being used. Much slower than the same exact drives in a 2008 MP. No apparent reason other than change in motherboard chipset design I suppose. I have also tried all the same thing you did but to no avail. Anyway, I've learned to live with it.

What is odd in your arrangement is that the ssd is taking longer to boot than the normal drive. that should not be. How about clearing out all your startup items, login items, launch agents and launch deamons temporarily, repair permissions and then try the ssd again to see if it makes any difference. Also set it as the startup drive yet again one more time and once more reset the SMC (hold power button in for 5 sec with power unplugged then re-connect)

can you update the firmware of the ssd? (probably need to do in windows)
 
Yep. the SSD and HDD thing is weird. I also found out that I can't go with 120 GB so I ordered a drive double that size.
It would be hard to update the firmware but I think i'll be able to find somebody with windows somewhere ;)
If I listen to the MacPro closely it seems to pause while the spinning wheel is there. Then I can hear a sort of difference in volume and from that moment on the computer boots within seconds. So I guess, thats the moment the computer (finaly) starts reading stuff from the harddrive.
It's in for repair now. Let's see what they find ;)
 
So, the're still working on it but I called them to see if they allready found something. They said there was a sensor wich wasn't working and they fixed it. Is it possible that the computer boots very slow because of a faulty sensor? I don't really trust the SSD to, so I have a new one ready.
They are now waiting for a new superdrive because the top drive was very noisy.
 
For a point of reference, I have an Intel G2 and 16GB ram so I should be a tad slower given more RAM. I need 33 seconds from cold boot to working desktop.
 
Thanks for the reference! My MacBook Pro 13" with SSD needs 17-18 seconds to boot. I think the MacPro with SSD need to just as fast right? I don't mind if its a bit slower, as long it's not 1,5 minute! ;)
 
Bmproductions said:
Thanks for the reference! My MacBook Pro 13" with SSD needs 17-18 seconds to boot. I think the MacPro with SSD need to just as fast right? I don't mind if its a bit slower, as long it's not 1,5 minute! ;)
Click to expand...

A MBP will boot faster than a MP!

Most people are reporting boot times of ~30 seconds (depending on config) for a MP. Boot times for MBP's are typically in the ~15 second range.

My 2010 MP (with SSD) boots in just under 30 seconds.

JohnG
 
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