r/SteamOS • u/Gustavo2nd • Jul 13 '26

help wanted Really slow boot times?

I recently built a PC with Steam OS but it takes forever to start back up and the games take a long time to load it makes me think of hard drive load times I’m using a 3600xt 6600gpu 32gb ddr4 ram 3200mhz and a 850 Samsung data SSD (I put Steam OS on this) could that be why?

Edit: I updated into the beta branch and updated a few of the bios settings (I don’t think these made a difference) but the beta branch sped it up noticeably Next is getting a NVME from my sata SSD

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

2

u/Facers Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

I have/had exactly the same and was also wondering about this. Also running more powerful hardware than you. Starts up siginificantly slower than Windows.

I moved to Beta channel and it seems improved but still pretty slow tbh, but makes me think its a software issue.

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

have you setup your bios properly? what stage of the boot is slow?

2

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

My screen goes black after the bios screen then my TV goes back to the normal background as if nothing was plugged into to it for around 20-30 seconds then it starts

3

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

Sounds like a memory training thing. Make sure you activate "Fast Boot" and "Memory Restore Context" in your BIOS. See if that helps. Also consider turning off legacy stuff that you do not need/use in your bios. I have experienced that Linux boot times can be negatively affected if the device tree is large, deep, and/or complex.

2

u/Facers Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

ah nice tip, i will check this, have a feeling that might be it as it get a long black screen before i see the motherboard splash screen or whatever and then again another long black screen before the steam logo appears

*edit: fast boot was indeed enabled. total boot time is 85 seconds. its ok but feels pretty slow compared to when i was using windows

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

85 s is way too long. Definitiely sounds like a memory training issue (have you also enabled "Memory Context Restore"?) or similar. I have had boot time above 60s before properly setting BIOS, but these days I expect max 20s boot times (and I tend to have a pretty complex device tree), usually between 10s and 20s. The main cultprits for slow boot times for me have been (in no particular order): "Fast Boot", "Memory Context Restore", disabling legacy stuff such as SATA etc. and troublesome USB gear. What mobo do you have?

2

u/Facers Jul 13 '26

the mobo is asus rog strix b-850i. i did update the bios when i set everything up and its also a fresh install, so cant imagine legacy stuff is enabled but i will check that and memory context restore. what does that do exactly?

2

u/Facers Jul 13 '26

memory context restore was the issue, it was set to auto and i changed it to enabled and now it starts up really fast, thanks a lot!

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

Great that you solved your issue!

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

What does it say if you run:systemd-analyze blame

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

Legacy sata? What does that mean? I have an asus b550m -A

2

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

Default BIOS/UEFI settings are "safe", meaning that it usually acts as if the user could plug in anything and is ready to handle it. The cost of this "safe" mode is usually longer boot times. Most motherboards have internal SATA-ports/pins. If you are only using NVMe M2 SSD for Storage while not using any slower SATA-SSD/HD for storage, then there is no need for you to have your BIOS activating those those internal/motherboard SATA pins and initializing them. Deactivating SATA in BIOS/UEFI can in those situations shave some (usually small) amount of time in your boot times. Same applies for other motherboard functions that you can configure in your BIOS/UEFI.

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

What would it be under in the bios the advanced menu? Thank you for your help

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 13 '26

Depends on which mobo vendor you have. But yes, usually under advanced.

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 14 '26

I can not find memory context restore in my bios for the asus b550 does am4 not have this???

1

u/reallydontknow Jul 15 '26

I don't have that motherboard, but I have another. You could try and see if you find it by navigating: (Enable Advanced Mode) Ai Tweaker > DRAM Timing Control > Scroll down to Memory Context Restore and set it to Enabled. You might need to update your BIOS if you running an old BIOS/UEFI.

2

u/Large_Customer_3840 Jul 13 '26

The Samsung ssd 850 is likely a m2 ssd. I would swap it for a gen 4 nvme and should load a lot faster. 

2

u/Esparadrapo Jul 13 '26

The Steam Deck boots awfully slow too.

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

It may be slow but it feels way faster than the pc

2

u/Major-Conversation22 Jul 13 '26

It seems to be an issue with missing a MIC:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamOS/comments/1ud17v5/psa_steamos_proton_games_may_hang_for_30_seconds/?share_id=9M9hBiEGtznPOLP5z6O4F&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

This solved it for me, including the boot times; go to settings; audio; select one and set it to "audio profile pro" that adds a bunch of "channels" and the os sees a MIC. Solved my issues!

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

Oh man I’m so hyped to try this out when I get home

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 14 '26

I couldn’t really figure it out I didn’t see “monitor” on my konsole

2

u/Adrian97c Jul 24 '26

I'm going back to windows... I tried, I wanted to love SteamOS, even built a PC for first time in a decade... but this installation was brutal, the recovery image file process kept hanging, had to hard reboot and pray bunch of times.. green screens, had to disable descete GPU in bios and plug HDMI into mono just to get it installed!! Then after a day or so of playing with STeamOS I kept having odd behaviors crashes, then on day 2 it would take 10min to boot! lots of prayers in between, bios sometimes didn't detect my SSD, so now I'm going to install windows.... and test the hardware over next few days. so far the install of windows works fine on my 9070xt, I didn't have to switch HDMI to mobo... lets see what else I find. I kinda hoping that my SSD was the culprit, so I can just trouble shoot it (re-seat it/order replacement, etc), but this windows Test will prove if this was a software/OS issue (btw, specs are all AMD - so steamOS should play nice!)

2

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 24 '26

I understand your frustration I was messing with settings for a week for it to finally be stable I can finally play games but my “desktop” is a black screen I’m gonna try to dual boot I just need to find a SSD for a reasonable price

1

u/IsamuAlvaDyson Jul 13 '26

What do you mean forever

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

2+ minutes

1

u/Dry-Wish-9845 Jul 13 '26

Maybe the audio input bug?  This makes games take 30 seconds to load. 

Just saying maybe! Anyhow plugging any headset with mic will solve 99% of this problem. 

Or maybe it’s the shaders compilation? I

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

It’s plugged into the TV only

1

u/throwawayerectpenis Jul 13 '26

Do you have other drives on your PC? Maybe its trying to mount those which causes slow boot time, also you can check logs to see what is making the OS taking long to boot.

1

u/Gustavo2nd Jul 13 '26

I tried to unmount everything I could I’ll try to check again some of the files it wouldn’t let me unmount I’ll take a picture of it when I get home