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Slow bootup...

Killerbob

Killerbob

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 25, 2008
1,916
664
I usually praise the Mac Pro for its speed and build, but lately I am experiencing something which is really bothering me: When I initially turn it on, it has gotten quite slow at getting to the Apple logo on the screen. It easily takes 15-20 seconds before getting that far, and then it also takes a while to boot into Yosemite.

There are a number of USB and Thunderbolt devices connected, but thinking back, they have always been there, and I am sure it used to be much faster. I have an external PCIe TB2 case, an external TB2 SSD, 2 ATDs, iPhones and iPads.

Any suggestions?

BTW - the Mac Pro will not boot at all if I connect my Solmeta GPS (for camera) via USB.
 
Trial and error. Disconnect and add back one at a time.

Also, from a cold boot, reset NVRAM to insure it is not an issue with the device tree listing.

Guessing you would have done those and more (repair disk drive in recovery mode, boot from an earlier version of OS X, uninstall drivers and any 3rd party process apps you have installed). Googe Drive, Dropbox and many others they all add up. But start with disconnecting all peripherals just to see how much difference that makes.
 
I have indeed reset the NVRAM, and I have tried to disconnect all, but alas... It is simply 5-6 times longer to get to the Apple logo and start the proper boot process, and I can't understand why...

It is not a software thing, as the OS only starts loading when we see the Apple logo, and hence it is not any software either. I haven't tried repair disk in recovery mode, what does that do that the normal disk repair does not do?
 
You have a large variety of potential boot devices.
Have you checked that your boot drive is selected in your Startup Disk pref pane?
 
DeltaMac said:
You have a large variety of potential boot devices.
Have you checked that your boot drive is selected in your Startup Disk pref pane?
Click to expand...

I have, and it is... The only funky thing I have is an External TB2 SSD which has my Bootcamp partition and Windows 8 installed. However, that has worked since day 1. I also have my TB2 PCIe box, with an Accelsior and a Sonnet Tempo, but again, that hasn't changed since day 1...
 
Just because something has always been there and does not appear to be different... Windows has gone through updates, devices do change, OS X has probably gotten updated. Sometimes controllers and their firmware and drivers may stop playing nice. The power may have gone out for 3 seconds, recovered by UPS and does not seem like anything happened (I had that only the modem was never 100% right afterwards). The device tree may need to be updated.

As to Disk Utility and its prowress, it only checks the directory. A Safe Boot does that too but does not invoke TRIM unless you run fsck or DU Repair Disk. Safe Boot forces some system cache to be deleted and recreated (and the extensions cache which use to be a source of issues).

A computer and its electronics....
 
I have tried everything suggestions, and the boot time, especially up to the Apple logo, is still "slow". I am starting to feel like it is a Windows PC, which always get slower after a while. However, this I don't think is due to software installations, as it is slow in the pre-OS loading section...
 
Has it always been like that? 64GB RAM is a lot, so my guess is the POST process just naturally takes a while to check that much memory. Mine is 48GB and it takes a while to get to the Apple logo too.
 
I have had the 64GB of RAM since I got the Mac Pro in April 2014. The slowness problem has only emerged this spring, probably only the last month or two. I really haven't added anything except software, and there hasn't even been a major OS upgrade in a while.
 
Killerbob said:
I have had the 64GB of RAM since I got the Mac Pro in April 2014. The slowness problem has only emerged this spring, probably only the last month or two. I really haven't added anything except software, and there hasn't even been a major OS upgrade in a while.
Click to expand...
Memory DIMMs, like storage blocks (or sectors, or now flash cells and pages) can alter over time. I assume through all this you have checked System Profile, Disk Utility, even system log to look for clues...
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I agree it could be HW related, and I have had an SSD blade flake out on me (was replaced by Apple). I really cannot see how it could be SW related though. The slowdown is before the Apple logo in the bootprocess, i.e. before any OS takes over... From the Apple logo to login screen it is a mere few seconds.

I will try and switch back to the original 16GB of RAM, reset NVRAM and SMC, and see what it looks like then.
 
Killerbob said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I agree it could be HW related, and I have had an SSD blade flake out on me (was replaced by Apple). I really cannot see how it could be SW related though. The slowdown is before the Apple logo in the bootprocess, i.e. before any OS takes over... From the Apple logo to login screen it is a mere few seconds.

I will try and switch back to the original 16GB of RAM, reset NVRAM and SMC, and see what it looks like then.
Click to expand...

Have you tried booting in verbose mode? In verbose mode you'll see boot status messages instead of the useless Apple logo. With that information, it might be obvious which step it is hanging on.
 
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