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MBA 11" slow startup, even after clean install?

S

ssindi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2009
16
1
When I first received my MBA, startup time was around 15 seconds, it was amazing!

Recently though, I NOTICED after updating iTunes to 10.2 (could have happened before!), startup time is now around 25 seconds.

I had tried fixing disk permissions, repairing disk, etc with no avail. So I put in the slick USB drive - there was no more clean install option that I could find, so I erased the Macintosh HD and then performed an install.

What's strange is although I think my MBA is now back to factory settings, it's STILL starting up in 25 seconds!

I'm confused, has anyone else experienced this? Maybe SSD drive performance degrades after a few months? Isn't this unlikely?

Anyone knows how I can truly restore the MBA to its factory settings (other than returning it to Apple, which is not possible at this time lol), or fix this problem? I also tried resetting PRAM and SMC, (both before and after "clean" install) all without success.

Thanks in advance,

Sultan
 
Thank you so much! It worked :)

What's strange is I had done a complete clean install, even wiped all the free space. It was still booting up slowly! How that makes sense I don't know. But it's working now.

Thank you my friend :)
 
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Hmm... good to know.
Happened on my iMac after snow leopard upgrades, will try the remedy later today...
 
Well apparently there are changes to "ownership of startup volume's root directory..." as it states on the webpage with the command line fix. (But I am not sure as I do not understand all those commands well :) ).
At least I am quite sure that it's 10.2 that messes up something...
There is also a terminal command to check the ownership of the root directory on the same website.

Referring to the clean install boot time... When I started up my Air for the first couple times, it started up slower than it normally does now (12 sec). That happened after combo update as well for a couple times and than it started to boot quickly...(Maybe it is not the case there...that's just how it was with my MacBook).
 
So...10.2.1 is out there...Anyone tried it? Does it fix this bug or still causes the problem? :)
 
When you say start-up, are you measuring from:

When you press the power button to the login screen?
Or from the Apple logo to the login screen?

Because on mine I'm getting:

Power on to Apple logo = 35 secs avg
Apple logo to login = 15 secs avg
Shutdown = 3 - 4 secs avg

Cheers

OK. Just tried the wife's MBA 13, and that gets to the Apple logo in 4 secs and to the desktop in 15 secs total.
 
iTunes 10.2.1 is still buggy, i.e. giving longer boot times. Just tried it myself, but the fix posted here does work.
 
I just upgraded to iTunes 10.2 and measured boot times.

2 times I got about 25-30 seconds. I don't reboot very often, this was the first time I noticed the long(er) boot time.

When I try it now I get just under 15 seconds from start until desktop appears.
 
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I had the same problem but the terminal commands took care of that. This thing boots insanely fast. But in the end it doesnt matter. The standby time is insane so I never really turn it off. :p ´
 
I do not understand this...Apple is rolling out one update after another but don't care to even fix this simple thing. I installed iTunes 10.3 today hoping it will not break my startup time but no...it got slow again :(
...Terminal commands took care of this problem instantly...
 
Do you all shut down and boot every day of frequently? I only do a full reboot MAYBE once a month, so I wouldn't even notice whether it took 9 or 10 secs longer than usual.
 
...Well yes. I do switch it off every day. And even if I wouldn't this slowdown would make me worry.
 
Looks like the issue is fixed in 10.3.1 at least for me :)
 
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WOW. I'm still impressed by those terminal commands. I installed 10.6.8. today and it seemed that spinning logo stayed there for a small bit longer at boot than before so I decided to try those terminal lines just for fun. Now my Air starts without showing spinning thing at all just showing apple logo for a short time. Haven't seen a system before that can do it :cool:
 
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