Very long (minutes) delay when loading initrd.gz in S15Pup64

[Ronny]

Hi everyone,

I am trying out S15Pup64 and encounter a very long delay when booting. It takes minutes before booting continues while the screen shows "loading initrd.gz". The boot is eventually succesful but after a long time.

I do this on an older Dell Latitude E5500, 4Gb ram.

I did download the following iso:
DISTRO_NAME="S15Pup64"
#version number of this distribution:
DISTRO_VERSION=22.12

On my HD partition (ext4) I put all the files from the iso in a folder called "s15" (so it is a frugal install)

Then I added an entry in my existing grub.cfg:
menuentry "Puppy S15" {
insmod ext2
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c702df6-3bb2-44d1-90ec-4bfafc76695e
echo "Loading vmlinuz"
linux /s15/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd pdrv=puppies psubdir=/s15 pfix=nocopy,fsckp TZ=CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3
echo "Loading initrd.gz"
initrd /s15/initrd.gz
}

I have two other, almost identical entries for Bookworm64 and Fossapup64 in that grub.cfg. These puppies load without a delay.

What am I doing wrong? Did I skip some steps?

Btw. I also had that problem with another distro, if I remember well it was with KLV-Airedale

Thanks
Ronny

[Wiz57]

You might need to change the "pdrv" parameter from "puppies" to your UUID in the set root parameter.

[Ronny]

Thanks Wiz57

but it does not make a difference.
I tried with
pdrv=5c702df6-3bb2-44d1-90ec-4bfafc76695e
and
pdrv=uuid 5c702df6-3bb2-44d1-90ec-4bfafc76695e

"puppies" is the label I gave with gparted to the partition where the s15 folder is on.

[Wiz57]

OK, you could also try the "SDA" of the Puppies partition...like if that is the second partition on the HD, it would be sda2,
first partition would be sda1, and so forth. That is what I had to do with S15Pup32 bit on my old Acer Aspire One, though
the HD is only partitioned into one partition, sda1, and previous Pups could find the puppy files without a hitch, S15Pup32
needed a pdrv parameter pointing to the actual drive it was frugally installed on.

[mikewalsh]

@Ronny :-

TBH, I find Grub4DOS so much easier to work with. However; I recently set-up an install of Fossapup64 9.5 (the original) on a 256GB SanDisk Ultra 'Fit' flash drive.......along with around 150GB or so of movies/vids, etc. I like to keep a USB install of Puppy together with media'n'stuff for when I go travelling.......and the previous one was a USB install of Tahrpup64 on an old 128GB SanDisk Cruzer 'Blade', so it DID need updating. Also, my movie collection is now quite a bit bigger than it used to be...!

Everybody kept saying I should give Grub2config a try; usually, I'm a staunch user of Grub4DOS. Anyway, I set this up with Grub2config.....and this is MY grub.cfg:-

Code: Select all

# grub.cfg produced by grub2config 2.0.1
set default=0
set timeout=10
set menu_color_normal=white/blue
set menu_color_highlight=black/cyan

loadfont $prefix/fonts/DejaVuSansMono18.pf2
set gfxmode=auto
insmod all_video
insmod gfxterm
terminal_output gfxterm

# Puppy Linux

menuentry 'Fossapup64 9.5 (sdc2/Fossapup64)'{
  search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291
  linux /Fossapup64/vmlinuz    psubdir=/Fossapup64 pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck edd=off
  initrd /Fossapup64/initrd.gz
}

menuentry 'Fossapup64 9.5 (sdc2/Fossapup64) RAM mode'{
  search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291
  linux /Fossapup64/vmlinuz    psubdir=/Fossapup64 pfix=ram
  initrd /Fossapup64/initrd.gz
}

if [ $grub_platform = "efi" ] ; then
menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings'{
	fwsetup
}
fi

	# custom menu
	if [ -f /custom.cfg ] ;then source /custom.cfg ;fi

All done automatically by Grub2config.....with the exception of one parameter ("edd=off"). I don't know about other machines, but for some reason FP64 takes forever to load on this HP desktop rig if I don't include this.

A-ha. I think I see the problem. Line 3, mine reads:-

Code: Select all

search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291

Yours, however, reads:-

Code: Select all

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c702df6-3bb2-44d1-90ec-4bfafc76695e

It looks like you've got "--fs-uuid" and "--set=root" the wrong way round. I don't know if it makes a difference - I'm NO 'expert' with this stuff! - but try swapping them, then see what happens. (It's easily done, especially when you do stuff manually).

May work; may not. No harm trying.

Mike.

[Ronny]

OK, I'll try it a little later and keep you posted.

[Ronny]

I am back...
Didn't work for me, not by putting set=root before -fs--uuid
and
nor by setting pdrv=sda2 (my puppies are on the 2nd partition)

[rockedge]

@Ronny

Let's try to simplify:
Without pdrv=

Code: Select all

menuentry 'Fossapup64 9.5 (sdc2/Fossapup64)'{
  find --set-root uuid () 2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291
  linux /Fossapup64/vmlinuz    psubdir=Fossapup64  pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck edd=off
  initrd /Fossapup64/initrd.gz
}

with pdrv=:

Code: Select all

menuentry 'Fossapup64 9.5 (sdc2/Fossapup64)'{
  find --set-root uuid () 2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291
  linux /Fossapup64/vmlinuz    pdrv=2c1c31d7-d13b-4fd5-9af3-a26ae8d49291  psubdir=Fossapup64  pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck edd=off
  initrd /Fossapup64/initrd.gz
}

[bigpup]

There is a chance you got a bad download of the S15Pup64 ISO and or also a bad install.

It happens.

So try a fresh new download of the ISO and clean new install.

What format is sda1?

[bigpup]

pfix=nocopy

Why are you using nocopy?

You have 4GB of RAM.
More than enough to load everything in RAM and still have all you will need.

[bigpup]

How did you originally get the grub boot loader installed?

I use the latest boot loader that Frugalpup Installer v41 installs.
You can download and install this version in any Puppy.
viewtopic.php?t=337
Note:
Some Puppy versions have it already, but best to be using the latest version.

Anytime I add a new Puppy version frugal install to a drive.

I run the Frugalpup Installer ->Boot installer.
It will find all OS's that are installed and make a new boot loader grub.cfg file, replacing the old one.
All will have a boot menu entry.

The entries are for doing a normal frugal install boot.

I do it this way, so I make it impossible for me to make a manual boot menu entry, that will be wrong.

The Frugalpup Installer ->Boot will also provide the option for type boot loader to install.
UEFI for UEFI bios.
mbr for legacy bios.
Or you can install both types.

With both types installed.
When booting, it figures out which one to use, based on type of bios the computer has.

I have done this on any type drives.
USB sticks, Internal or external hard drives or SSD's, SD cards, etc..........
Any type drive that is always read/write capable.
.
..

[Ronny]

I just quickly did a new grub bootloader install.
I am in Bookwormpup64 and made use of Frugalpup V41.
-sda1 is a fat32, 470MiB, boot partition
-sda2 is an extended partition, sda5, 6 and 7 are ext4 partitions (sda5 - with label "puppies" - contains the different puppy folders )
-sda8 is a 3Gb swap partition.

This is the new entry for my S15Pup64:

menuentry "Puppy s15pup64 22.12" {
insmod ext2
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c702df6-3bb2-44d1-90ec-4bfafc76695e
echo "Loading vmlinuz"
linux /s15/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd pdrv=puppies psubdir=/s15 pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3
if [ -e /s15/local-initrd.gz ]; then
set local_rd=/s15/local-initrd.gz
else
set local_rd=
fi
if [ -e /s15/ucode.cpio ]; then
set ucode_rd=/s15/ucode.cpio
echo "Loading ucode.cpio and initrd.gz"
else
set ucode_rd=
echo "Loading initrd.gz"
fi
initrd $ucode_rd /s15/initrd.gz $local_rd
}

When booting S15Pup64 I still have the very long delay....

Need to go now, tomorrow I will download a new version of the iso and do all the other hints you all did give me.

Regards
Ronny

[bigpup]

What type boot loader did you select to install?

I usually select it install both.

Comparing your entry to mine.

My entry has pdrv= the uuid number for the partition the frugal install is on.

Example:
pdrv=b0f092c5-6a1c-4e04-b9d8-ddbeb91d4ab7

[mikewalsh]

@Ronny :-

I see you're still not using "edd=off". I think this may cure the long delays you're experiencing, because it worked exactly like that for me.

Without "edd=off", it would take several minutes before the rest of the boot process sprang back into life and booted to desktop.

With "edd=off", the entire process ran through, as normal, at the speed you would expect...

(EDD - Enhanced Disk Drive services - is a function that's been in the kernel for well over a decade.....since k3.10, back in late 2013. It's not new, by any means.......but whether it shows up at boot time or not is something of a lottery, since it's all dependent on what flags were set at compile time when your specific kernel was built. Unless you build your own kernels, then there's literally no way of knowing.)

Do you get "Probing for EDD" when you're experiencing this long 'pause' in the boot process?

Mike.

[Ronny]

Hi guys,

It's the middle of the night here but I kept thinking about this stuff...

I tried, changed and rechanged all your recommanded changes in my grub.cfg but to no avail.

Then I removed the vmlinuz and zdrv from the s15 folder, replaced them with the ones from a fossa64-less folder that I also have on that partition, renamed the zdrv) and...
voila! s15Pup64 started up, no delay during "loading initrd.gz"
I did not check if everything is functional (probably not my B43 wireless) but it booted very well.

So, could it be that the kernel from s15Pup64 is not "compatible" with my Dell Latitude E5500?
Is there a better (more appropriate) way to swap the kernel?

Now back to bed

[Wiz57]

Hi guys,

It's the middle of the night here but I kept thinking about this stuff...

I tried, changed and rechanged all your recommanded changes in my grub.cfg but to no avail.

Then I removed the vmlinuz and zdrv from the s15 folder, replaced them with the ones from a fossa64-less folder that I also have on that partition, renamed the zdrv) and...
voila! s15Pup64 started up, no delay during "loading initrd.gz"
I did not check if everything is functional (probably not my B43 wireless) but it booted very well.

So, could it be that the kernel from s15Pup64 is not "compatible" with my Dell Latitude E5500?
Is there a better (more appropriate) way to swap the kernel?

Now back to bed

That's the method I use on my old Acer Aspire One AOA150 to swap kernels. Works pretty well too. Some of the newer version 5.X kernels
don't work as well with the setup on that Acer, including getting the Atheros WiFi going. I don't know if there is a compatiblity issue with
your Dell, doesn't really sound like it, more like some sort of hardware probe that is taking too long. Not sure if checking the boot logs
would give a clue as to where the slowdown occurs, but might be worth checking sometime.
Wiz

[Ronny]

I thought it worked but in fact it doesn't. Nothinh that I do in grub.cfg seems to matter.
Only by replacing vmlinuz and zdrv could I get the booting process end normally.

Let me recap a little:

I tried with pdrv= 1) the uuid, 2) sda5, 3) puppies (label of my partition)
I tried with and without edd=off (did not see probing for EDD during long pauze)
I tried with set=root before and after fs=uuid
I made grub.cfg frugalpup V41 -- install both
I tried with and without pfix=fsck,fsckp
Maybe some other things I already forgot
I removed the entry pdrv=completely, just as Rockedge proposed

Nothing made de boot-up faster.

Only when I swap the kernel does my puppy boot as it is supposed to do.
Thank you all very much for your time and help.
Ronny

[rcrsn51]

I'm confused. Did you fix it by switching kernels or by removing the pdrv=?

[Ronny]

That is the problem.
I thought the removal of the pdrv= entry did the trick but in fact it was the replacement of vmlinuz and zdrv by another one that made the difference.

So nothing that I did in grub.cfg seems to matter, with the original S15pup64 iso-files, booting hangs for about 5 minutes.
Sorry for the confusion....
I did change my entry above