Extremely long boot time

[die.boer]

and these

systemctl show grub-common.service -p After -p Before -p Wants -p Requires

systemctl list-dependencies --reverse grub-common.service

systemd-analyze critical-chain grub-common.service

all are read only

[Snowhog]

That's the result I get running that command on my Linux desktop PC. The final number for mine is (914).

But I can't run the command on the laptop as shown in post #12 above.

[die.boer]

can you do post #16 ?

[Snowhog]

systemctl show grub-common.service -p After -p Before -p Wants -p Requires
Requires=system.slice sysinit.target
Wants=
Before=multi-user.target shutdown.target graphical.target
After=sysinit.target basic.target system.slice all.target systemd-journald.socket


systemctl list-dependencies --reverse grub-common.service
grub-common.service
● ├─graphical.target
○ ├─hibernate.target
○ ├─hybrid-sleep.target
● ├─multi-user.target
● │ └─graphical.target
○ ├─sleep.target
○ │ ├─systemd-hibernate.service
○ │ ├─systemd-hybrid-sleep.service
○ │ ├─systemd-suspend-then-hibernate.service
○ │ └─systemd-suspend.service
○ ├─suspend-then-hibernate.target
○ └─suspend.target


systemd-analyze critical-chain grub-common.service
The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

grub-common.service +1min 35.408s
└─basic.target @30.938s
└─sockets.target @30.938s
└─snapd.socket @30.924s +13ms
└─sysinit.target @30.870s
└─snapd.apparmor.service @29.529s +1.338s
└─apparmor.service @26.874s +2.651s
└─local-fs.target @26.867s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @48.817s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @45.733s
└─local-fs-pre.target @8.897s
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service @8.838s +55ms
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service @6.252s +2.562s
└─kmod-static-nodes.service @5.528s +222ms
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.450s +195us
└─-.mount @5.355s
└─-.slice @5.355s

[die.boer]

make backup 1st

sudo cp -a /boot/grub/grubenv /boot/grub/grubenv.backup

then run

time sudo grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail

and post the timing/output.

[Snowhog]

real0m0.003s
user0m0.001s
sys0m0.003s

[die.boer]

journalctl -b -u grub-common.service --no-pager

systemctl status grub-common.service --no-pager -l

you know what to do lol...

[Snowhog]

journalctl -b -u grub-common.service --no-pager
Aug 19 11:55:46 maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
Aug 19 11:55:47 maccat grub-common[974]: * Recording successful boot for GRUB
Aug 19 11:57:22 maccat grub-common[974]: ...done.
Aug 19 11:57:22 maccat systemd[1]: Started grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.


systemctl status grub-common.service --no-pager -l
● grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/grub-common; generated)
Active: active (exited) since Wed 2026-08-19 11:57:22 CDT; 1 day 3h ago
Invocation: f359848bcb2f4113a5d360bdb4e16e8f
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Mem peak: 3.7M
CPU: 69ms

Aug 19 11:55:46 maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
Aug 19 11:55:47 maccat grub-common[974]: * Recording successful boot for GRUB
Aug 19 11:57:22 maccat grub-common[974]: ...done.
Aug 19 11:57:22 maccat systemd[1]: Started grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.

[die.boer]

ok... what we know , the timeline is:
11:55:46 systemd starts grub-common
11:55:47 "Recording successful boot for GRUB"
↓
↓ 95 seconds
↓
11:57:22 "...done."
11:57:22 systemd considers it started
and CPU is CPU: 69ms
while the actual command: sudo grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail takes 0.003 seconds
So the 95 seconds is not normal GRUB work.
log_end_msg $? The script calls log_end_msg after grub-editenv finishes. We know grub-editenv finishes almost immediately when run manually
That means we should determine exactly which part of the init script is blocking under systemd.

please run

time sudo test -s /boot/grub/grubenv

then

time sudo mkdir -p /boot/grub

(These are all safe, except none of them will alter anything except the grub-editenv command we've already tested. mkdir -p is harmless if the directory already exists.)
finally

time sudo true

If those all return essentially instantly, then we're left with the LSB logging/systemd interaction itself.


also:your system is showing:
run-snapd-ns-canonical-livepatch.mnt.mount @48.817s
run-snapd-ns.mount @45.733s

That tells us Canonical Livepatch/Snap is installed and participating in boot.
It doesn't prove that Snap causes the 95-second grub-common delay, but the combination is unusual

also run

snap list

systemctl list-units --failed

systemd-analyze blame | head -30

(all are read-only)

[Snowhog]

time sudo test -s /boot/grub/grubenv

[sudo: authenticate] Password:

real0m4.203s
user0m0.046s
sys0m0.044s

systemctl list-units --failed

UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION

0 loaded units listed.

systemd-analyze blame | head -30

1min 35.408s grub-common.service
1min 30.315s apt-daily.service
56.110s e2scrub_reap.service
40.350s smbd.service
21.103s systemd-journal-flush.service
19.916s dev-sda3.device
18.258s fwupd.service
15.807s grub2-common.service
15.668s man-db.service
11.031s udisks2.service
10.829s plocate-updatedb.service
10.346s dev-loop6.device
10.212s dev-loop9.device
10.136s dev-loop8.device
9.675s dev-loop10.device
9.298s dev-loop3.device
9.280s dev-loop4.device
9.194s dev-loop1.device
9.037s dev-loop7.device
8.843s dev-loop2.device
8.815s dev-loop0.device
8.702s accounts-daemon.service
7.160s systemd-suspend.service
6.982s polkit.service
6.949s NetworkManager.service
6.338s avahi-daemon.service
6.334s bluetooth.service
6.299s dbus.service
6.138s switcheroo-control.service
6.082s ModemManager.service

[die.boer]

At this point, it looks like GRUB is not broken . but there is an underlying storage/filesystem or boot-time I/O delay, and several services are getting caught in it

run

findmnt /

lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINTS,UUID

systemctl status apt-daily.service --no-pager -l

systemd-analyze critical-chain apt-daily.service

[Snowhog]

findmnt /
TARGET SOURCE FSTYPE OPTIONS
/ /dev/sda3[/@] btrfs rw,relatime,space_cache=v2,subvolid=256,subvol=/@


lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINTS,UUID
NAME TYPE FSTYPE SIZE MOUNTPOINTS UUID
loop0 loop squashfs 74M /snap/core22/2437
loop1 loop squashfs 13.5M /snap/canonical-livepatch/406
loop2 loop squashfs 63.8M /snap/core20/2866
loop3 loop squashfs 66.8M /snap/core24/1643
loop4 loop squashfs 349.7M /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/143
loop5 loop squashfs 4K /snap/bare/5
loop6 loop squashfs 531.5M /snap/gnome-42-2204/263
loop7 loop squashfs 91.7M /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535
loop8 loop squashfs 614.5M /snap/gnome-46-2404/164
loop9 loop squashfs 50.1M /snap/snapd/27710
loop10 loop squashfs 402M /snap/mesa-2404/1839
loop12 loop squashfs 221.1M /snap/thunderbird/1228
sda disk 465.8G
├─sda1 part 1M
├─sda2 part vfat 513M /boot/efi DE2A-0851
└─sda3 part btrfs 465.3G /home 6209eee3-35d1-4fcd-b70a-1ac283cc2728
/
sr0 rom 1024M


systemctl status apt-daily.service --no-pager -l
○ apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily.service; static)
Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2026-08-21 13:36:45 CDT; 37min ago
Invocation: f8e29f7c5ade499998a31759b6c1e8d0
TriggeredBy: ● apt-daily.timer
Docs: man:apt(8)
Main PID: 128773 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 374.8M
CPU: 46.456s

Aug 21 13:35:15 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Consumed 46.456s CPU time over 1min 30.315s wall c
lock time, 374.8M memory peak.


systemd-analyze critical-chain apt-daily.service
The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

apt-daily.service +1min 30.315s
└─network-online.target @50.306s
└─NetworkManager-wait-online.service @44.245s +6.059s
└─NetworkManager.service @37.290s +6.949s
└─dbus.service @30.960s +6.299s
└─basic.target @30.938s
└─sockets.target @30.938s
└─uuidd.socket @30.929s +114us
└─sysinit.target @30.870s
└─apparmor.service @26.874s +2.651s
└─local-fs.target @26.867s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @48.817s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @45.733s
└─local-fs-pre.target @8.897s
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service @8.838s +55ms
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service @6.252s +2.562s
└─kmod-static-nodes.service @5.528s +222ms
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.450s +195us
└─-.mount @5.355s
└─-.slice @5.355s
paul@mac

[die.boer]

output of these ?

systemctl status grub2-common.service --no-pager -l

systemctl cat grub2-common.service

systemd-analyze critical-chain grub2-common.service

journalctl -b -u apt-daily.service --no-pager -l

sudo dmesg -T | grep -Ei 'sda|ata|btrfs|I/O error|error|timeout|reset'

[Snowhog]

systemctl status grub2-common.service --no-pager -l
○ grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grub2-common.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2026-08-21 14:41:36 CDT; 32s ago
Invocation: 0322c667782945a4b77f0bd191a95f46
Process: 163798 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ] || rm -f /boot/grub/grubenv; mkdir
-p /boot/grub (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 163808 ExecStart=grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail (code=exited, status=0/SU
CCESS)
Process: 163885 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c if grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv list | grep -q initrdles
s_boot_fallback_triggered=1; then echo "grub: GRUB_FORCE_PARTUUID set, initrdless boot paniced, fallback
triggered."; fi (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 163808 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 7.8M
CPU: 250ms

Aug 21 14:41:28 maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB...
Aug 21 14:41:36 maccat systemd[1]: grub2-common.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 21 14:41:36 maccat systemd[1]: Finished grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB.


systemctl cat grub2-common.service
# /usr/lib/systemd/system/grub2-common.service
[Unit]
Description=Record successful boot for GRUB
Requires=boot-complete.target
After=boot-complete.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.t>
ConditionPathExists=/boot/grub/grub.cfg

[Service]
Type=oneshot
Restart=no
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '[ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ] || rm -f /boot/grub/grubenv; mkdir -p /boot/grub'
ExecStart=grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail
ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c 'if grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv list | grep -q initrdless_boot_fallback_tr>
StandardOutput=kmsg

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


systemd-analyze critical-chain grub2-common.service
The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

grub2-common.service +8.030s
└─basic.target @30.938s
└─sockets.target @30.938s
└─uuidd.socket @30.929s +114us
└─sysinit.target @30.870s
└─apparmor.service @26.874s +2.651s
└─local-fs.target @26.867s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @48.817s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @45.733s
└─local-fs-pre.target @8.897s
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service @8.838s +55ms
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev-early.service @6.252s +2.562s
└─kmod-static-nodes.service @5.528s +222ms
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.450s +195us
└─-.mount @5.355s


journalctl -b -u apt-daily.service --no-pager -l
Aug 19 13:58:55 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 19 13:59:31 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 19 13:59:31 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 19 13:59:31 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Consumed 19.365s CPU time over 35.575s wall clock
time, 300.3M memory peak.
Aug 19 20:01:49 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 19 20:01:51 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 19 20:01:51 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 19 20:01:51 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Consumed 1.646s CPU time over 1.680s wall clock ti
me, 27.9M memory peak.
Aug 20 10:08:47 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 20 10:09:20 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 20 10:09:20 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 20 10:09:20 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Consumed 27.634s CPU time over 32.996s wall clock
time, 473.4M memory peak.
Aug 20 19:43:59 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 20 19:44:00 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 20 19:44:00 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 20 19:44:00 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Consumed 1.480s CPU time over 1.497s wall clock ti
me, 28M memory peak.
Aug 21 13:35:15 maccat systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities...
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily.service - Daily apt download activities.
Aug 21 13:36:45 maccat systemd[1]
lock time, 374.8M memory peak.


sudo dmesg -T | grep -Ei 'sda|ata|btrfs|I/O error|error|timeout|reset'
dmest.txt

[die.boer]

we getting somewhere eventually lol
output of these 2 ?

systemctl list-unit-files | grep -i grub

dpkg -l | grep -i grub​