# Slow to Boot, Unresponsive Console



## Whiskers (Jan 14, 2017)

Hi there! My first post - greatly appreciate your help in advance (and please be kind ) ...

I have been running a headless server at home for ~5 years now which acts as a fileserver/mediaserver and generally gives me an excuse to play with FreeBSD. The server was originally a FreeNAS box but I moved to FreeBSD probably ~3 years ago (and had no problems importing the various ZFS pools).

The problem is that the computer has always been really, really slow. I'm not sure if it was that way at the outset but it certainly was before I switched to FreeBSD and it still is today.

By slow I mean it takes ~25-30 minutes from power on to the login screen. The console (whether I plug a keyboard/display directly to the machine or ssh from a windows machine) is also really unresponsive. Simple commands like `ls -l` often hang for ~10 seconds before they produce output. Interestingly, sometimes the responsiveness issues disappear completely and the machine becomes lightning fast (for a period).

Over the years, I have read various posts here and experimented with the solutions of others to no avail. A month ago I decided to upgrade the hardware thinking that could be the culprit. The original machine had a relatively low powered combo motherboard/CPU (ASRock E350M1). I have now gone to an intel skylake setup (intel i7 6700 on a MSI B150I motherboard, 32GB ram) but the problem persists.

Notably, since the problems emerged I have replaced the cpu, motherboard, ram and the hard drive that hosts the root files. All that is really left are the 4x 2TB HDD's that host the zfs fileserver (which leads me to think that the problem is somewhere there).

I appreciate that this is a pretty general problem so please let me know what further information I can provide that might help you diagnose the issue.

Again greatly appreciate any help people can offer. Thanks - Simon

Here is a dump of a few things that may be useful...

`uname -rp`

```
11.0-RELEASE-p1 amd64
```

`dmesg`

```
Copyright (c) 1992-2016 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p1 #0 r306420: Thu Sep 29 01:43:23 UTC 2016
    root@releng2.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
FreeBSD clang version 3.8.0 (tags/RELEASE_380/final 262564) (based on LLVM 3.8.0)
VT(efifb): resolution 800x600
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz (3408.17-MHz K8-class CPU)
  Origin="GenuineIntel"  Id=0x506e3  Family=0x6  Model=0x5e  Stepping=3
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x7ffafbff<SSE3,PCLMULQDQ,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,VMX,SMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,SDBG,FMA,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,PCID,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,x2APIC,MOVBE,POPCNT,TSCDLT,AESNI,XSAVE,OSXSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND>
  AMD Features=0x2c100800<SYSCALL,NX,Page1GB,RDTSCP,LM>
  AMD Features2=0x121<LAHF,ABM,Prefetch>
  Structured Extended Features=0x29c6fbf<FSGSBASE,TSCADJ,SGX,BMI1,HLE,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,RTM,NFPUSG,MPX,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,PROCTRACE>
  XSAVE Features=0xf<XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XINUSE,XSAVES>
  VT-x: PAT,HLT,MTF,PAUSE,EPT,UG,VPID
  TSC: P-state invariant, performance statistics
real memory  = 34359738368 (32768 MB)
avail memory = 33129832448 (31595 MB)
Event timer "LAPIC" quality 600
ACPI APIC Table: <ALASKA A M I >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 8 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
random: unblocking device.
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-119 on motherboard
random: entropy device external interface
kbd1 at kbdmux0
netmap: loaded module
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff8101c950, 0) error 19
random: registering fast source Intel Secure Key RNG
random: fast provider: "Intel Secure Key RNG"
cryptosoft0: <software crypto> on motherboard
acpi0: <ALASKA A M I > on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu2: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu3: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu4: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu5: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu6: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu7: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
hpet0: <High Precision Event Timer> iomem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff on acpi0
Timecounter "HPET" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 950
Event timer "HPET" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 550
atrtc0: <AT realtime clock> port 0x70-0x77 irq 8 on acpi0
atrtc0: Warning: Couldn't map I/O.
Event timer "RTC" frequency 32768 Hz quality 0
attimer0: <AT timer> port 0x40-0x43,0x50-0x53 irq 0 on acpi0
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
Event timer "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 100
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 900
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1808-0x180b on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
ahci0: <ASMedia ASM1061 AHCI SATA controller> port 0xe050-0xe057,0xe040-0xe043,0xe030-0xe037,0xe020-0xe023,0xe000-0xe01f mem 0xdf210000-0xdf2101ff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
ahci0: AHCI v1.20 with 2 6Gbps ports, Port Multiplier supported
ahcich0: <AHCI channel> at channel 0 on ahci0
ahcich1: <AHCI channel> at channel 1 on ahci0
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0xf000-0xf03f mem 0xde000000-0xdeffffff,0xc0000000-0xcfffffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
vgapci0: Boot video device
xhci0: <Intel Sunrise Point USB 3.0 controller> mem 0xdf310000-0xdf31ffff irq 16 at device 20.0 on pci0
xhci0: 32 bytes context size, 64-bit DMA
usbus0 on xhci0
pci0: <simple comms> at device 22.0 (no driver attached)
ahci1: <Intel Sunrise Point AHCI SATA controller> port 0xf090-0xf097,0xf080-0xf083,0xf060-0xf07f mem 0xdf328000-0xdf329fff,0xdf32d000-0xdf32d0ff,0xdf32c000-0xdf32c7ff irq 16 at device 23.0 on pci0
ahci1: AHCI v1.31 with 6 6Gbps ports, Port Multiplier not supported
ahcich2: <AHCI channel> at channel 0 on ahci1
ahcich3: <AHCI channel> at channel 1 on ahci1
ahcich4: <AHCI channel> at channel 2 on ahci1
ahcich5: <AHCI channel> at channel 3 on ahci1
ahcich6: <AHCI channel> at channel 4 on ahci1
ahcich7: <AHCI channel> at channel 5 on ahci1
ahciem0: <AHCI enclosure management bridge> on ahci1
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 29.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
re0: <RealTek 8168/8111 B/C/CP/D/DP/E/F/G PCIe Gigabit Ethernet> port 0xd000-0xd0ff mem 0xdf104000-0xdf104fff,0xdf100000-0xdf103fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci2
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: Chip rev. 0x54000000
re0: MAC rev. 0x00100000
miibus0: <MII bus> on re0
rgephy0: <RTL8251 1000BASE-T media interface> PHY 1 on miibus0
rgephy0:  none, 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 10baseT-FDX-flow, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 100baseTX-FDX-flow, 1000baseT-FDX, 1000baseT-FDX-master, 1000baseT-FDX-flow, 1000baseT-FDX-flow-master, auto, auto-flow
re0: Using defaults for TSO: 65518/35/2048
re0: Ethernet address: 4c:cc:6a:68:54:ea
re0: netmap queues/slots: TX 1/256, RX 1/256
pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 17 at device 29.1 on pci0
pci3: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
pci3: <network> at device 0.0 (no driver attached)
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
pci0: <memory> at device 31.2 (no driver attached)
hdac0: <Intel Sunrise Point HDA Controller> mem 0xdf320000-0xdf323fff,0xdf300000-0xdf30ffff irq 16 at device 31.3 on pci0
acpi_button0: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
acpi_button1: <Power Button> on acpi0
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
acpi_tz1: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uart0: <16550 or compatible> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xc0000-0xcffff,0xd0000-0xd7fff on isa0
ppc0: cannot reserve I/O port range
uart1: <16550 or compatible> at port 0x2f8 irq 3 on isa0
est0: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu0
est1: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu1
est2: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu2
est3: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu3
est4: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu4
est5: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu5
est6: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu6
est7: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu7
usbus0: 5.0Gbps Super Speed USB v3.0
ZFS filesystem version: 5
ZFS storage pool version: features support (5000)
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
nvme cam probe device init
hdacc0: <Realtek ALC887 HDA CODEC> at cad 0 on hdac0
hdaa0: <Realtek ALC887 Audio Function Group> at nid 1 on hdacc0
pcm0: <Realtek ALC887 (Rear Analog)> at nid 20 and 24,26 on hdaa0
pcm1: <Realtek ALC887 (Front Analog)> at nid 27 and 25 on hdaa0
hdacc1: <Intel (0x2809) HDA CODEC> at cad 2 on hdac0
hdaa1: <Intel (0x2809) Audio Function Group> at nid 1 on hdacc1
pcm2: <Intel (0x2809) (HDMI/DP 8ch)> at nid 3 on hdaa1
ugen0.1: <0x8086> at usbus0
uhub0: <0x8086 XHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus0
uhub0: 22 ports with 22 removable, self powered
ugen0.2: <vendor 0x04d9> at usbus0
ukbd0: <vendor 0x04d9 USB Keyboard, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.01, addr 1> on usbus0
kbd2 at ukbd0
usb_alloc_device: set address 3 failed (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
ses0 at ahciem0 bus 0 scbus8 target 0 lun 0
ses0: <AHCI SGPIO Enclosure 1.00 0001> SEMB S-E-S 2.00 device
ses0: SEMB SES Device
ada0 at ahcich1 bus 0 scbus1 target 0 lun 0
ada0: <WDC WD10EADS-00M2B0 01.00A01> ATA8-ACS SATA 2.x device
ada0: Serial Number WD-WCAV54351888
ada0: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada0: Command Queueing enabled
ada0: 953869MB (1953525168 512 byte sectors)
ada1 at ahcich2 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 0
ada1: <WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 51.0AB51> ATA8-ACS SATA 3.x device
ada1: Serial Number WD-WCAZAH393502
ada1: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada1: Command Queueing enabled
ada1: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors)
ada1: quirks=0x1<4K>
ada2 at ahcich3 bus 0 scbus3 target 0 lun 0
ada2: <WDC WD20EARX-008FB0 51.0AB51> ATA8-ACS SATA 3.x device
ada2: Serial Number WD-WCAZAJ816862
ada2: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada2: Command Queueing enabled
ada2: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors)
ada2: quirks=0x1<4K>
ada3 at ahcich4 bus 0 scbus4 target 0 lun 0
ada3: <WDC WD20EARX-008FB0 51.0AB51> ATA8-ACS SATA 3.x device
ada3: Serial Number WD-WCAZAJ781220
ada3: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada3: Command Queueing enabled
ada3: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors)
ada3: quirks=0x1<4K>
ada4 at ahcich5 bus 0 scbus5 target 0 lun 0
ada4: <WDC WD20EZRZ-00Z5HB0 80.00A80> ACS-2 ATA SATA 3.x device
ada4: Serial Number WD-WMC4N0L02HTN
ada4: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada4: Command Queueing enabled
ada4: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors)
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #2 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #3 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #5 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #4 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #7 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #6 Launched!
Timecounter "TSC-low" frequency 1704084402 Hz quality 1000
Trying to mount root from zfs:zroot/ROOT/default []...
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
ugen0.3: <Unknown> at usbus0 (disconnected)
uhub_reattach_port: could not allocate new device
re0: link state changed to DOWN
re0: link state changed to UP
warning: KLD '/boot/kernel/uhid.ko' is newer than the linker.hints file
uhid0: <vendor 0x04d9 USB Keyboard, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.01, addr 1> on usbus0
```

`zpool list`

```
NAME     SIZE  ALLOC   FREE  EXPANDSZ   FRAG    CAP  DEDUP  HEALTH  ALTROOT
Popper  7.25T  5.43T  1.82T         -    22%    74%  1.00x  ONLINE  -
zroot    864G  4.18G   860G         -     0%     0%  1.00x  ONLINE  -
```

`zpool status` alerts an error (this is the first time this has come up and I haven't been able to eliminate it yet but I don't believe this is contributing to the overall problem)

```
pool: Popper
 state: ONLINE
status: Some supported features are not enabled on the pool. The pool can
        still be used, but some features are unavailable.
action: Enable all features using 'zpool upgrade'. Once this is done,
        the pool may no longer be accessible by software that does not support
        the features. See zpool-features(7) for details.
  scan: resilvered 32K in 0h0m with 0 errors on Sun Jan  8 19:32:39 2017
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        Popper      ONLINE       0     0     0
          raidz1-0  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ada4p2  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ada2p2  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ada3p2  ONLINE       0     0     0
            ada1p2  ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

  pool: zroot
 state: ONLINE
status: One or more devices has experienced an error resulting in data
        corruption.  Applications may be affected.
action: Restore the file in question if possible.  Otherwise restore the
        entire pool from backup.
   see: http://illumos.org/msg/ZFS-8000-8A
  scan: none requested
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        zroot       ONLINE       0     0     0
          ada0p3    ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: 1 data errors, use '-v' for a list
```

`sysinfo -a`
See attached file...


----------



## ASX (Jan 15, 2017)

```
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
ugen0.3: <Unknown> at usbus0 (disconnected)
uhub_reattach_port: could not allocate new device
```
That's a USB related problem ... something you already know about ?  any idea where it come from ?



```
warning: KLD '/boot/kernel/uhid.ko' is newer than the linker.hints file
```
This one is also suspect, in that linker.hints should be generated after installing  new kernel and/or modules, and usually is just newer. Could be an hint about some possible mistake.


----------



## ASX (Jan 15, 2017)

Whiskers said:


> Notably, since the problems emerged I have replaced the cpu, motherboard, ram and the hard drive that hosts the root files. All that is really left are the 4x 2TB HDD's that host the zfs fileserver (which leads me to think that the problem is somewhere there).



I guess it could be easy enough to not import the "Popper" pool (and eventually physically detach the 4 HDDs), and test the system using the boot disk only. I'm inclined to think the problem is not in the 4 HDDs because the pool is imported after the kernel already boot ... but I could have been misunderstood part of the description of the symptoms.



Whiskers said:


> By slow I mean it takes ~25-30 minutes from power on to the login screen


Wonder how you can live 3 years with something like that .... that's probably the most intriguing question.

sysinfo:

```
System is up since Sat Jan 14 17:35:59 2017
 6:24PM  up 48 mins, 1 users, load averages: 0.08, 0.12, 0.08
...
re0 (): status: active
MAC address:
4c:cc:6a:68:54:ea
IPv4 addresses:
192.168.1.50 netmask 0xffffff00

Input errors: 0
Output errors: 4751
Collisions: 763124

lo0 (localhost):
IPv4 addresses:
127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
IPv6 addresses:
::1 prefixlen 128
fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64

Input errors: 0
Output errors: 3513
Collisions: 1711560
```
The number of *Collisions* seems quite high to me, for a system that is up from only 48 minutes, also the *Output errors* doesn't look good.


----------



## Whiskers (Jan 16, 2017)

All - thanks for your responses so far. I'm pretty busy during the work work so let me play with some of your thoughts on the weekend and reply all with progress.

Cheers,
Simon


----------



## PacketMan (Jan 16, 2017)

ASX said:


> The number of *Collisions* seems quite high to me, for a system that is up from only 48 minutes, also the *Output errors* doesn't look good.



Absolutely.  If this is a home network, with a dozen or so devices, and a modern day home router, that router should have an ethernet switch inside. Assuming the home LAN is indeed switching based then these numbers are bad and might indicate broadcast storm, at least on occasion. Or the switch itself is malfunctioning.  I can't comment on the impact on the impact to FreeBSD, and I would be interested in learning, but broadcast based packets force an interrupt request (irq) on many cpu based devices. Some NIC now offload packet processing, others don't.  A broadcast storm can make a machine sluggish.  That just said, I can't imagine you have had a broadcast storm for over 3 years now.  And even if you had, other devices would have sluggish responses from other networked devices including internet based stuff too obviously.

If your network is actually an old (non-switching) hub, where collisions are to be expected, then that would increment those numbers faster than we typically see today. If that is true I say send it to the recyclers and use a switch (switching based hub some might say), either external or internal to your internet router.

Output errors could be due to bad cabling, failing NIC, etc, etc.


----------



## horseflesh (Jan 18, 2017)

I would try a few things. 

- Disconnect from the network entirely and reboot. Reboot may hang up in a couple of places that use DNS, but once you can log in, how is performance? This would help to eliminate the broadcast packet issues. Seems unlikely but...

- Disconnect all USB peripherals and reboot. Use a ps/2 keyboard or ssh in to check performance. 

- Boot off a live CD or memory stick. If it's still slow, it's got to be a hardware issue, right? 

- Long shot since this problem was on both systems, but check cpu temp: `sysctl -a | grep -i temperature`


----------



## Whiskers (Jan 26, 2017)

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the comments to date. I've finally got a chance to play with the machine again, so will try and respond to the various points systematically...


			
				horseflesh said:
			
		

> - Disconnect from the network entirely and reboot. Reboot may hang up in a couple of places that use DNS, but once you can log in, how is performance? This would help to eliminate the broadcast packet issues. Seems unlikely but...
> 
> - Disconnect all USB peripherals and reboot. Use a ps/2 keyboard or ssh in to check performance.



And this one...


			
				ASX said:
			
		

> I guess it could be easy enough to not import the "Popper" pool (and eventually physically detach the 4 HDDs), and test the system using the boot disk only.



I exported the non-root zfs pool and shutdown the computer. Once I had removed the network cable and the usb keyboard, I started it all up again. It still took over 30 minutes to boot (a little longer than usual because of the all the network time outs - but otherwise just as sluggish). The console was typically slow for about 10 minutes and then it sped up. This is basically what happens: ~33% of the time the console is snappy and responsive but the other two thirds of the time it is painfully slow (still usable but you have to be willing to wait ~10-20 seconds every time you ask it to do something).



			
				horseflesh said:
			
		

> - Boot off a live CD or memory stick. If it's still slow, it's got to be a hardware issue, right?


When I recently did a fresh install of FreeBSD 11.0 (off a usb stick), the whole process was lightning fast. (This is actually what gave me hope that I could fix this.)



			
				horseflesh said:
			
		

> - Long shot since this problem was on both systems, but check cpu temp:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice idea but I don't think this is it...

```
hw.acpi.thermal.tz1.temperature: 29.9C
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C
```



			
				ASX said:
			
		

> The number of *Collisions* seems quite high to me, for a system that is up from only 48 minutes, also the *Output errors* doesn't look good.


Feels like you have identified something else I need to look at! When I first read your point I was encouraged as I bought a new netgear switch (GS116) a couple of years ago when the number of devices on the network started growing. Basically my home network looks like the following:

Internet -> ADSL 2+ modem -> netgear nighthawk wifi router -> netgear switch -> wired devices (including the FreeBSD server).

I don't think this is contributing to the main problem (given that I can unplug the computer from the network, reboot and the problem persists). That said, I'm not completely sure what's going on so happy to try to run it to ground. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should look into this further? If I open up wireshark and just look at *all* the network traffic going back and forth - it is a bit concerning!


```
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
ugen0.3: <Unknown> at usbus0 (disconnected)
uhub_reattach_port: could not allocate new device
```
I definitely need to look at this further. Watching the machine boot, it really hung (for ~5 minutes) at the last line. I'm not exactly sure where to start so welcome any ideas please.



			
				ASX said:
			
		

> Wonder how you can live 3 years with something like that .... that's probably the most intriguing question.



Bhahaha - yep, I have become a beacon of patience! While some of these problems have been frustrating, as long as I don't have to reboot the machine often and the various file server / media server daemons keep running, I have been able to live with this. The slow console really does come and go (at the point of writing this it is back to being snappy) - so when I want to play with the machine, I login, see if is happy to play and go from there.

It would be nice if I could finally fix this. Appreciate all the pointers above. I will keep trying some of the things above and report back. Thanks for any further advice.

Cheers,
Simon


----------



## horseflesh (Jan 26, 2017)

Thanks for the update. Can't wait to see a resolution on this puzzle. May we see your rc.conf?

Also I noticed an unfortunate glitch in my post: "Boot off a live CD or memory stick. If it's still slow, it's got to be a *hardware* issue, right?" Duh. Obviously I meant that would point the finger at your software.


----------



## acheron (Jan 26, 2017)

Is your bios up to date? Have you checked your disk with sysutils/smartmontools?


----------



## ASX (Jan 26, 2017)

Whiskers said:


> ```
> usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
> usbd_setup_device_desc: getting device descriptor at addr 3 failed, USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
> usbd_req_re_enumerate: addr=3, set address failed! (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT, ignored)
> ...


- check bios/uefi settings for disabled devices (and of course check for eventually available bios updates), specifically check for various settings like "USB legacy support", etc ...
- detach every USB device and retry to boot.

Generally speaking try to detach anything other than the basic hardware required to boot and physically remove any additional card (and specifically the NICs). and try to boot.

If the system will still be slow to boot, I would try replicate the root filesystem on an external device and would try to boot it from a different machine.

I have recently read on a different thread about a machine having difficult to boot with an extended amount of ram and otherwise booting successfully with a limited amount of RAM, so that is also something you could try.

EDIT/ADDED: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/59305/


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## laidback01 (Jul 30, 2017)

I had similar issues.  Very odd console behavior, sometimes fast sometimes aggravatingly slow.  Reboot 9 times out of 10 would take 2 to 7 minutes, whereas once in a while, you'd get a blazing fast reboot.  I thought it was drives, controllers, etc.. Also, the load seemed kind of high - sometimes above 1 for an 'idle' system

For me, changing the eventtimer from LAPIC to HPET fixed it. System is snappy all the time now.  It's a pleasure to use.  System load now around 0.1 for idle system. 
Find our your available timers with
`sysctl kern.eventtimer.choice`

Then start changing the timers with
`sysctl -w kern.eventtimer.timer=<TIMER>` where <TIMER> is HPET, LAPIC, etc, what you find in your eventtimer choices.

Analyze each with 
`systat -vm 1`  - pay attention to the interrupts.  Important to do this on an idle system.  Anyway, lower interrupt count is better - in general.
For me LAPIC was the worst timer, and HPET the best.  Typically, I hear it's LAPIC that's the best of all... but whatever, do what suits your system.


Good Luck!


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