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It takes about 10 minutes to see the Grub loader with Ubuntu 14.04. Once the Grub loader shows up, it loads up with normal speed.

Also, the keyboard and touchpad on the laptop has stopped working (USB mouse and keyboard work though) at the same time when this started happening. This issue started coming up after the laptop had been put on suspend and it had hung up on resume and then was powered off through the power button.

Haven't seen anyone facing this particular combination of problems but tried different fixes individually like doing Grub repair and updating xserver input but without any effect.

The laptop's still fully functional with external keyboard and mouse but I do not want to wait 10 minutes to startup and then carry around the extra keyboard. Any help on this would be appreciated!

@heynnema, these are the results

sudo blkid & cat /etc/fstab

/dev/sda1: UUID="64df4980-6d62-4e20-93a0-6e98baf3fc21" TYPE="ext2" 
/dev/sda3: LABEL="Data" UUID="c278cefa-5363-490d-8942-74b5fdafa59d" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="6eed7aa5-edf0-4569-8443-9e5e950a2219" TYPE="ext4" 


# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation 
UUID=6eed7aa5-edf0-4569-8443-9e5e950a2219 /   ext4    errors=remount-ro  0  1

free -h

total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        7.7G       1.6G       6.1G       111M       118M       868M
    -/+ buffers/cache:       623M       7.1G
Swap:           0B         0B         0B

The results from Disks

The results from Disks 2

7
  • 1
    Does it take 10 minutes to see the GRUB menu, or 10 minutes to get to the Ubuntu login prompt? Can you get into Ubuntu? If so, in terminal type sudo blkid and cat /etc/fstab and and free -h, edit that output into your question with copy/paste and I'll take a look. Start comments directed to me with @heynnema or I may miss them.
    – heynnema
    May 20, 2017 at 22:43
  • If you can start the Disks app, select the disk in the left pane, go to the "hamburger" icon and select "SMART Data & Tests", and review the data, and run the tests. Report back.
    – heynnema
    May 20, 2017 at 22:46
  • 1
    @heynnema, it takes 10 minutes to see the GRUB menu, even to see the laptop splash screen (Lenovo, in this case). I've posted the results above within my question. Thanks!
    – kaushikwho
    May 21, 2017 at 13:55
  • Thanks for the info. The only thing that I see wrong there is that there's no swapfile or swap partition. We'll work on that later. I still suspect a possible disk problem. Show me sudo fdisk -l and a current-window-only screenshot of gparted. I'll also put together a partial answer for you to follow and report back. What was the "Grub repair" that you did?
    – heynnema
    May 21, 2017 at 14:13
  • 2
    Sounds like your motherboard might be having issues or some sort of hardware problem with your system if it takes 10 minutes till you even see your laptop splash screen. Try a power reset to see if that helps. Unplug all power from the laptop, and remove the battery. Press the power button a few times. Plug all power back in. Try booting up again. Beyond that, I am thinking it might need hardware tech support.
    – Terrance
    May 21, 2017 at 15:49

1 Answer 1

1

Partial answer, work in progress...

Update #1:

The computer has hardware problems. I recommend disconnecting the laptop's internal keyboard and touchpad to see if that resolves the slow boot times.

Step #1:

Lets first check your file system for errors.

To check the file system on your Ubuntu partition...

  • boot to the GRUB menu
  • choose Advanced Options
  • choose Recovery mode
  • choose Root access
  • at the # prompt, type sudo fsck -f /
  • repeat the fsck command if there were errors
  • type reboot

Update: If for some reason you can't do the above...

  • boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB
  • start gparted and determine which /dev/sdaX is your Ubuntu EXT4 partition
  • quit gparted
  • open a terminal window
  • type sudo fsck -f /dev/sdaX # replacing X with the number you found earlier
  • repeat the fsck command if there were errors
  • type reboot

Step #n:

Lets recreate a swap partition (not complete)...

  • gparted
  • sudo mkswap /dev/sdaN
    • copy new UUID to the clipboard
  • gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add the following two lines to /etc/fstab...

# swap was on /dev/sdaN during installation
UUID=correct_UUID_here    none    swap    sw    0    0
  • gksudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume
    • replace existing UUID with paste from clipboard
  • swapon -a
  • sudo update-initramfs -u
  • reboot
6
  • Thanks for the info but couldn't do Step #1, as laptop or USB keyboard is not working in GRUB (tried a bunch of things to get laptop keyboard working when Ubuntu eventually starts up, but in vain). Did the other option - resume file wasn't there so created one (resume=UUID=<new swap UUID>). I've assumed the "correct_UUID_here" is the new one in the resume file.
    – kaushikwho
    May 22, 2017 at 18:19
  • I've updated Step #1 with another way to do it. The swap Step #n: wasn't completed yet... but maybe you figured out the gaps. Does the laptop keyboard never work, or it works when you finally get into Ubuntu? Same with the USB keyboard?
    – heynnema
    May 22, 2017 at 18:56
  • Laptop keyboard never works. USB keyboard works when Ubuntu finally loads up.
    – kaushikwho
    May 22, 2017 at 20:03
  • Did you try the reset as suggested by Terrance? If your keyboard NEVER works, then you're going to have to get that fixed first. Then you still have problems. Can't even get into the BIOS with it, yes?
    – heynnema
    May 22, 2017 at 20:22
  • USB Keyboard works in BIOS, laptop keyboard doesn't. Tried what Terrance said but without any effect - didn't pull out the battery though as that's in-built. @heynnema, tried fsck with live usb, but no headway with the problem. BTW, live USB also takes 10 minutes to come up. Can it be something is wrong with the BIOS, since that is taking so long to boot up? I'll try restoring the BIOS or upgrading it.
    – kaushikwho
    May 23, 2017 at 5:38

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