My Sandy Bridge iMac is booting very slow.

[SKBeck]

I have a Sandy Bridge 3.1 GHz i5 with 12GB. My boot times have gone from 30 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds in the last week.

I've tried the following:

- I originally thought it may have been an issue with 10.6.8 so I moved back to 10.6.7 via a Time Machine restore.

- resetting PRAM

- reinstalling Snow Leopard

- verifying permissions

- repairing permissions

- repairing disk

- removing startup and login items

- verifying startup disk

- SMC Reset

- booting in safe mode

- yelling at my girlfriend



Any ideas as to what could have caused this and how I can fix it?

 

[VPrime]

Edit: never mind, you tried it already.

 

[SKBeck]

Edit: never mind, you tried it already.

Thanks anyway. There's actually a known issue with 10.6.8 that removes the startup disc preference so its one of the first things I looked at.

 

[Bernard SG]

As you have a TM Backup, my suggestion for a fix is a radical one: reformat your HD and install from Mac OS DVD, then update to 10.6.8 (download a combo update package rather than updating through Software Update) and finally restore your stuff with migration assistant.
If that still doesn't fix it, it's possible that your HD has got issues. My Core 2 Duo 2 GHz iMac boots in 44 seconds on 10.6.8.

 

[SKBeck]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to isolate the problem to my external hdd that I use for backups.

With the external connected by usb I'm looking at 1 minute 30 second boot times. Without I'm looking at 30 second boot times.

I'm not sure what could have caused this but it's a recent development. I've used the same hdd with my last two macs and my current iMac for a month without any issues.

Any ideas on what I can do to continue use my backup hdd and maintain a respectable boot time?

As you have a TM Backup, my suggestion for a fix is a radical one: reformat your HD and install from Mac OS DVD, then update to 10.6.8 (download a combo update package rather than updating through Software Update) and finally restore your stuff with migration assistant.
If that still doesn't fix it, it's possible that your HD has got issues. My Core 2 Duo 2 GHz iMac boots in 44 seconds on 10.6.8.

 

[Bernard SG]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to isolate the problem to my external hdd that I use for backups.

With the external connected by usb I'm looking at 1 minute 30 second boot times. Without I'm looking at 30 second boot times.

I'm not sure what could have caused this but it's a recent development. I've used the same hdd with my last two macs and my current iMac for a month without any issues.

Any ideas on what I can do to continue use my backup hdd and maintain a respectable boot time?

Try using a different USB port on your iMac, perhaps?

 

[SKBeck]

Very strange. For some reason the act of disconnecting and then reconnecting the HDD usb did the trick. I have no idea why but after doing so my boot times went back to 30 seconds. Anyone have any clue why, just out of curiosity?

Try using a different USB port on your iMac, perhaps?

 

[iMikeT]

Very strange. For some reason the act of disconnecting and then reconnecting the HDD usb did the trick. I have no idea why but after doing so my boot times went back to 30 seconds. Anyone have any clue why, just out of curiosity?

My guess would be something in the firmware. Was the external drive always on or did you turn it off when not in use?

 

[theSeb]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to isolate the problem to my external hdd that I use for backups.

With the external connected by usb I'm looking at 1 minute 30 second boot times. Without I'm looking at 30 second boot times.

I'm not sure what could have caused this but it's a recent development. I've used the same hdd with my last two macs and my current iMac for a month without any issues.

Any ideas on what I can do to continue use my backup hdd and maintain a respectable boot time?

Disconnect external drive when booting.*

 

[theSeb]

Very strange. For some reason the act of disconnecting and then reconnecting the HDD usb did the trick. I have no idea why but after doing so my boot times went back to 30 seconds. Anyone have any clue why, just out of curiosity?

I don't have an exact answer for you, but I've experienced odd things with externally connected devices. Usually the fix is to reconnect them. I also don't think it's a goid idea to have external drives on all the time.

 

[Bernard SG]

USB technology has that kind of quirks.