Extremely long boot time

[die.boer]

i suspect you've done an update while pursuing this problem , and the update fixed it ...
could you do a clean reboot and see if it's faster ?

[Snowhog]

I have, and it isn't.

My gut tells me that some processes is being called that is expecting something that doesn't exist and waits until it times out before the boot process proceeds. What that is I haven't a clue.

I haven't yet tried recreating the /boot/grub/grubenv file to eliminate it being corrupted or contains a persistent variable (or variables) that are causing this issue.

[die.boer]

reboot again and immediately after logging in , run

systemctl show grub-common.service -p ExecMainStartTimestamp -p ExecMainExitTimestamp -p ExecMainPID -p InactiveExitTimestamp

journalctl -b -u grub-common.service -o short-monotonic --no-pager

and the ones from post #30

[Snowhog]

systemctl show grub-common.service -p ExecMainStartTimestamp -p ExecMainExitTimestamp -p
ExecMainPID -p InactiveExitTimestamp
InactiveExitTimestamp=Fri 2026-08-21 16:52:06 CDT
ExecMainStartTimestamp=
ExecMainExitTimestamp=


journalctl -b -u grub-common.service -o short-monotonic --no-pager
[ 30.504227] maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
[ 32.833205] maccat grub-common[948]: * Recording successful boot for GRUB
[ 115.396779] maccat grub-common[948]: ...done.
[ 115.398417] maccat systemd[1]: Started grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.

[die.boer]

please run

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

and then immediately

sudo time grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv list

after that , also

systemctl cat grub-common.service

systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p Type \
-p ExecStart \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p Before \
-p After \
-p Requires \
-p Wants​

[Snowhog]

sudo time grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail
[sudo: authenticate] Password:
0.00user 0.04system 0:01.81elapsed 2%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 6744maxresident)k
11248inputs+6704outputs (0major+691minor)pagefaults 0swaps


sudo time grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv list
env_block=512+1
0.00user 0.04system 0:01.44elapsed 3%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 6480maxresident)k
11280inputs+3040outputs (0major+691minor)pagefaults 0swaps


systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p Type \
-p ExecStart \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p Before \
-p After \
-p Requires \
-p Wants


Requires=system.slice sysinit.target
Before=graphical.target multi-user.target shutdown.target
After=basic.target systemd-journald.socket all.target sysinit.target system.slice
Type=forking
TimeoutStartUSec=5min
ExecStart={ path=/etc/init.d/grub-common ; argv[]=/etc/init.d/grub-common start ; ignore_errors=no ; start_time=[Fri 2026-08-21 16:52:06 CDT] ; stop_time=[Fri 2026-08-21 16:53:30 CDT] ; pid=9>

[die.boer]

systemctl cat grub-common.service

systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p FragmentPath \
-p SourcePath \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit \
-p GuessMainPID \
-p PIDFile \
-p ExecStart \
-p TimeoutStartUSec​

systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p MainPID \
-p ControlPID \
-p ExecMainPID​

time sudo systemctl start grub-common.service

[Snowhog]

systemctl cat grub-common.service
# /run/systemd/generator.late/grub-common.service
# Automatically generated by systemd-sysv-generator

[Unit]
Documentation=man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
SourcePath=/etc/init.d/grub-common
Description=LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB
Before=multi-user.target
Before=multi-user.target
Before=multi-user.target
Before=graphical.target
After=all.target

[Service]
Type=forking
Restart=no
TimeoutSec=5min
IgnoreSIGPIPE=no
KillMode=process
GuessMainPID=no
RemainAfterExit=yes
SuccessExitStatus=5 6
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/grub-common start
ExecStop=/etc/init.d/grub-common stop


systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p FragmentPath \
-p SourcePath \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit \
-p GuessMainPID \
-p PIDFile \
-p ExecStart \
-p TimeoutStartUSec
FragmentPath=/run/systemd/generator.late/grub-common.service
SourcePath=/etc/init.d/grub-common
Type=forking
PIDFile=
RemainAfterExit=yes
GuessMainPID=no
ExecStart={ path=/etc/init.d/grub-common ; argv[]=/etc/init.d/grub-common start ; ignore_errors=no ; start_time=[Fri 2026-08-21 16:52:06 >


systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p MainPID \
-p ControlPID \
-p ExecMainPID
MainPID=0
ControlPID=0


time sudo systemctl start grub-common.service
[sudo: authenticate] Password:

real0m4.626s
user0m0.056s
sys0m0.035s

[die.boer]

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

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

systemctl show grub2-common.service -p After -p Before -p Requires -p Wants

systemd-analyze critical-chain grub-common.service

systemd-analyze critical-chain grub2-common.service

[Snowhog]

systemctl status grub-common.service grub2-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 Fri 2026-08-21 16:53:30 CDT; 2 days ago
Invocation: 961fd26322f84331befcfb1774e05538
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 948 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/grub-common start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 7.5M
CPU: 100ms

Aug 21 16:52:06 maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
Aug 21 16:52:08 maccat grub-common[948]: * Recording successful boot for GRUB
Aug 21 16:53:30 maccat grub-common[948]: ...done.
Aug 21 16:53:30 maccat systemd[1]: Started grub-common.service - LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.

○ grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grub2-common.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2026-08-24 09:13:50 CDT; 33s ago
Invocation: 052a28fda772444e84a4e87fb9afc96d
Process: 5936 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ] || rm -f /boot/grub/grubenv; mkdir -p /boot/grub (code=exited, status=
0/SUCCESS)
Process: 5944 ExecStart=grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 6112 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c if grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv list | grep -q initrdless_boot_fallback_triggered=1; then ec
ho "grub: GRUB_FORCE_PARTUUID set, initrdless boot paniced, fallback triggered."; fi (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 5944 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 7.8M
CPU: 494ms

Aug 24 09:12:50 maccat systemd[1]: Starting grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB...
Aug 24 09:13:50 maccat systemd[1]: grub2-common.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 24 09:13:50 maccat systemd[1]: Finished grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB.



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


systemctl show grub2-common.service -p After -p Before -p Requires -p Wants
Requires=system.slice sysinit.target boot-complete.target
Wants=
Before=grub-initrd-fallback.service multi-user.target shutdown.target
After=suspend.target systemd-journald.socket system.slice sysinit.target boot-complete.target hybrid-sleep.target hibernate.target basic.>


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 24.894s
└─basic.target @21.949s
└─sockets.target @21.949s
└─snapd.socket @21.938s +10ms
└─sysinit.target @21.865s
└─snapd.apparmor.service @21.226s +638ms
└─apparmor.service @18.754s +2.467s
└─local-fs.target @18.749s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @37.540s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @34.574s
└─local-fs-pre.target @7.261s
└─keyboard-setup.service @5.422s +1.838s
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.319s +306us
└─system.slice @5.232s
└─-.slice @5.232s


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 +1min 232ms
└─basic.target @21.949s
└─sockets.target @21.949s
└─snapd.socket @21.938s +10ms
└─sysinit.target @21.865s
└─snapd.apparmor.service @21.226s +638ms
└─apparmor.service @18.754s +2.467s
└─local-fs.target @18.749s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @37.540s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @34.574s
└─local-fs-pre.target @7.261s
└─keyboard-setup.service @5.422s +1.838s
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.319s +306us
└─system.slice @5.232s
└─-.slice @5.232s

[die.boer]

systemctl show grub2-common.service \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p TimeoutStopUSec \
-p JobTimeoutUSec \
-p JobRunningTimeoutUSec \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit \
-p ExecMainStartTimestamp \
-p ExecMainExitTimestamp​

systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p TimeoutStopUSec \
-p JobTimeoutUSec \
-p JobRunningTimeoutUSec \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit​

systemd-analyze critical-chain boot-complete.target

systemctl status boot-complete.target --no-pager -l

systemctl list-dependencies boot-complete.target

[Snowhog]

Please tell me what you are attempting to discern. I don't see the point in continually providing the output of the commands; same commands; over and over again.

[die.boer]

sorry ...yea i can understand the frustration , just running commands without any explanation ...(i'm just lazy at typing lol)
We have already established several things:
-grubenv is readable and valid.
-grub-editenv works.
-Running grub-editenv manually takes 1–2 seconds.
-Starting grub-common.service manually takes 4.6 seconds.
-Therefore, GRUB itself isn't inherently taking 80–90 seconds.
-The kernel shows no obvious SATA/Btrfs I/O errors.
-grub-common is a legacy SysV script automatically wrapped by systemd.
-There is also a separate native grub2-common.service.

We also see grub-common.service +1min 24.894s and grub2-common.service +1min 0.232s , ,yet both have a critical-chain beginning around basic.target @21.949s
That says it's probably a systemd boot-ordering/transaction issue, not a slow GRUB operation.
Then there is also this : run-snapd-ns.mount @34.574s
run-snapd-ns-canonical-livepatch.mnt.mount @37.540s and snapd.apparmor.service
apparmor.service
So we wanna see whether the delay is actually being introduced by the Snap/AppArmor/Livepatch part of the boot transaction, and merely being attributed to the GRUB services because of systemd's ordering.

grub2-common.service explicitly waits for boot-complete.target. So we want to see which unit is holding boot-complete.target up.
We're looking for something like:
boot-complete.target @...
─ some-service.service @... +60s
or a dependency involving Snap/Livepatch, networking, storage, etc.
so this will tell us hopefully

systemd-analyze critical-chain boot-complete.target

[Snowhog]

Thank you!

systemctl show grub2-common.service \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p TimeoutStopUSec \
-p JobTimeoutUSec \
-p JobRunningTimeoutUSec \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit \
-p ExecMainStartTimestamp \
-p ExecMainExitTimestamp
JobTimeoutUSec=infinity
JobRunningTimeoutUSec=infinity
Type=oneshot
TimeoutStartUSec=infinity
TimeoutStopUSec=1min 30s
RemainAfterExit=no
ExecMainStartTimestamp=Mon 2026-08-24 14:55:49 CDT


systemctl show grub-common.service \
-p TimeoutStartUSec \
-p TimeoutStopUSec \
-p JobTimeoutUSec \
-p JobRunningTimeoutUSec \
-p Type \
-p RemainAfterExit
JobTimeoutUSec=infinity
JobRunningTimeoutUSec=infinity
Type=forking
TimeoutStartUSec=5min
TimeoutStopUSec=5min


systemd-analyze critical-chain boot-complete.target
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.

boot-complete.target @21.930s
└─sysinit.target @21.865s
└─snapd.apparmor.service @21.226s +638ms
└─apparmor.service @18.754s +2.467s
└─local-fs.target @18.749s
└─run-snapd-ns-canonical\x2dlivepatch.mnt.mount @37.540s
└─run-snapd-ns.mount @34.574s
└─local-fs-pre.target @7.261s
└─keyboard-setup.service @5.422s +1.838s
└─systemd-journald.socket @5.319s +306us
└─system.slice @5.232s
└─-.slice @5.232s


systemctl status boot-complete.target --no-pager -l
● boot-complete.target - Boot Completion Check
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/boot-complete.target; static)
Active: active since Fri 2026-08-21 16:52:06 CDT; 2 days ago
Invocation: a1b2d66061634c9d8608aa275af75647
Docs: man:systemd.special(7)

Aug 21 16:52:06 maccat systemd[1]: Reached target boot-complete.target - Boot Completion Check.


systemctl list-dependencies boot-complete.target
boot-complete.target
● └─sysinit.target
● ├─apparmor.service
● ├─dev-hugepages.mount
● ├─dev-mqueue.mount
● ├─keyboard-setup.service
● ├─kmod-static-nodes.service
○ ├─ldconfig.service
● ├─netplan-configure.service
● ├─plymouth-read-write.service
● ├─plymouth-start.service
● ├─proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.automount
● ├─setvtrgb.service
● ├─sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount
● ├─sys-kernel-config.mount
● ├─sys-kernel-debug.mount
● ├─sys-kernel-tracing.mount
○ ├─systemd-ask-password-console.path
● ├─systemd-binfmt.service
○ ├─systemd-firstboot.service
○ ├─systemd-hibernate-clear.service
○ ├─systemd-hwdb-update.service
○ ├─systemd-journal-catalog-update.service
● ├─systemd-journal-flush.service
● ├─systemd-journald.service
○ ├─systemd-machine-id-commit.service
● ├─systemd-modules-load.service
○ ├─systemd-pcrmachine.service
○ ├─systemd-pcrnvdone.service
○ ├─systemd-pcrphase-sysinit.service
○ ├─systemd-pcrphase.service

[die.boer]

lets see if the 84-second delay happens inside the script or because systemd is waiting for the script/process incorrectly

sudo time /etc/init.d/grub-common start