Changing from SSD to nvme issues [Solved]

[tone2]

Hi,
so I finally got an NVMe drive to boot from, expecting to see a really fast boot, but there have been some issues...

I'm using amd 5700g with Asus b550 tuf.

I made an image of my old MX 19.4 system, then wrote it to USB using the MX tool, then installed it on the nvme drive. I had issues with the default option of ESP, it would display an mdadm message and go Gray when id press enter. So I installed again as MBR. I don't know what PBR or ESP are, but MBR seems familiar and worked.

The 'mdadm no array found in config file...' messaged persisted and I tried half a dozen things before realising it was for RAID, so I just purged mdadm. However, the first line during boot 'Searching for physical devices. This may take some time'
still hangs on the screen for the same amount of time as the mdadm messages, if not longer!

So my questions are:
What's the right way to install the OS, MBR okay? What are the other methods?

How can I speed up my boot time, so it's not hanging looking for devices or drives if the system hasn't changed since it was powered down? I would love to see the nvme optimum boot time.

Thanks,

Rob

[Huckleberry Finn]

In all cases change sata mode to Ahci (in Bios settings).

If it's set to Uefi mode, ESP (Efi System Partition) will be used, if set to Legacy (or a classic non-uefi Bios) then MBR.


And, as always:

[siamhie]

Did you create a boot partition on the new drive? Here you can see I created a boot partition formatted to FAT32 with the boot and esp flags enabled.

boot.jpg

[j2mcgreg]

Let's also rule out some possible incompatibilities:

-- your motherboard will only accept M.2 Socket 3 with M Key NVMEs. is this the type you bought?

-- Did you configure MX Live USB Maker to use a specific type of partitioning when it wrote the ISO to the USB drive? The installer defaults to PBT as the
Grub location when the USB install drive is set up to use the opposite partition type of what the bios is set for.

-- did you run a checksum to verify the integrity of the MX ISO before you wrote it to the USB drive?

-- do you have another USB drive that you can write the ISO to?

[tone2]

Hi all,
@Huckleberry Finn, @saimhie @j2mcgreg
Thanks for the replies.

When I get home I'll change to AHCI in the BIOS.

I can reinstall it, is there a preference for if it should be ESP and UEFI.

Yeah the drive is 970 pro nvme, the motherboard is compatible.

I didn't set up a boot petition, just full format the full drive.
The Live USB maker wrote it as MBR, the default was ESP, but something was wrong when I tried that. What is the difference between PBT?
I didn't do a checksum and I don't have a spare USB, but it's pretty unused.

Thanks

P.S @Huckleberry Finn what's the quick system info thing in your signature about?

[j2mcgreg]

From here:
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/suppo ... -Guide.pdf
NVME drives require UEFI so you must rewrite your snapshot to your USB drive and this time configure MX Live USB maker to use GPT partitioning. I also suggest that when you install MX 21, you select the "Automatic install using entire disc" option.

[tone2]

From here:
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/suppo ... -Guide.pdf
NVME drives require UEFI so you must rewrite your snapshot to your USB drive and this time configure MX Live USB maker to use GPT partitioning. I also suggest that when you install MX 21, you select the "Automatic install using entire disc" option.

Thanks for the quick reply. Okay, I'm happy to rewrite the image to the USB, but to be clear, it does boot from the NVMe, it's just slower than I'd like. So why would USB partition style (gpt) matter? Unless you mean install From the USB again?
And should I choose MBR, PBR or ESP when I install on the drive?
P.S. from what I read online I can't see the difference between PBr and MBR, so I assume ESP.

Cheers

[Huckleberry Finn]

P.S @Huckleberry Finn what's the quick system info thing in your signature about?..

If you were a very new forum member / MX user I wouldn't get surprised. But:

Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020

Can you just press q when you open the menu? (aka "Start Menu" in Windows terminology).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3bewGrU2eg

https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29041

[j2mcgreg]

@tone2 wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. Okay, I'm happy to rewrite the image to the USB, but to be clear, it does boot from the NVMe, it's just slower than I'd like. So why would USB partition style (gpt) matter? Unless you mean install From the USB again?
And should I choose MBR, PBR or ESP when I install on the drive?
P.S. from what I read online I can't see the difference between PBr and MBR, so I assume ESP.

Because if the system defaults to looking for a UEFI partition at each read and then has to pause while it locates the next data block in an MBR partition, all those pauses will add up and create the delay that you are experiencing.

Yes, I do mean that you should reinstall and by selecting to use GPT when you write the snapshot to the drive, the ESP partition will be automatically selected as the location for Grub (and you won't have to make the choice).

[MXRobo]

by selecting to use GPT when you write the snapshot to the drive, the ESP partition will be automatically selected as the location for Grub (and you won't have to make the choice).

I didn't, and good to know; I've posted here some time ago regarding if, which, and when to select the ESP partition when installing in GPT/EFI mode. [I thought that I might be installing it incorrectly because it kept crashing only to find out that I needed an AHS kernel.] I have seen recommendations to configure MX Live USB maker to use GPT partitioning, but didn't know why. Thanks