Ubuntu 20.10
intel I3 integrated graphics
8 gigs memory
2 TB WD HD

I have installed Ubuntu 20.10 with all the updates and it is slow and clearly there is something wrong.

I am getting some strange BIOS messages and Ubuntu takes several minutes to load could this be why?

I have ubuntu startup messages disabled.

This is what the BIOS shows while booting

093288 x86/cpu: vmx (outside txt) disabled by bios
0942054 irq 16: nobody cared (try booting with the IRQ poll option
0942157 Handlers:
0942162 [<0000000cb2eccc6>] USB_HCD_IRQ
942178 Disabling IRQ #16
/dev/sda2: clean, 523655/122068992 files 12872605/488247296 blocks
[56.784029] Dev loop0: unable to read RDB block 8

Anyone have any idea if some of this could be the cause for the long boot time, slow and quirky way Ubuntu is acting?
Thanks.

The kernel is going through the routine of automatically detecting the attached hardware and configuring the IRQs. I think that message 0942054 means that no device responded to a query on IRQ 16. The long boot time could be the kernel waiting for a long time before it times out a non-responsive device.

I think that message 0942162 means that a device driver for a USB device is acting strange. So I would try unplugging any USB devices you have attached at boot one by one and see what happens without that device plugged in.

I think jailbait in onto something.

At every boot, the kernel probes hardware and devices anew. If a device does not respond properly, it can delay the boot as the kernel rechecks the probe.

Are you booting while any USB storage devices are attached?

May not be significant according to this answer.

The only usb devices that are attached are the wired keyboard and wireless mouse transmitter.

I dont have an external HD hooked up or anything else.

It seems to really hang for a while during these messages.

This may not have anything to do with Ubuntu acting quirky but Is there something in the bios I can change to speed up booting?

Thanks.

Offhand:
1-disable booting from "other devices" (e.g. PXE) (may or may not be useful, depending on BIOS)

2-from boot priority, delete remaining entries for devices not present (may or may not be useful, depending on BIOS)

3-if your PC is very old and supports floppies, disable the floppy controller and booting from floppy

None of these should save "several minutes", at most possibly one minute.

I think I have already disabled booting from other devices and have no floppy drives but will check for controller anyway. I will check into the boot priority.

Thanks.

Try xrandr see what your settings are. Xorg.log tell us what is detected.

Try also the VESA driver by editing xorg.conf (and restarting). On Oracle Linux my 2D was slow (despite being on a fast-er NVidia card) I think they had not enabled MMIO in the Kernel which if enabled makes VESA a reasonable fast 2D choice without requiring any special support (if Intel has VESA i think so not sure).

For accelerated 2D 3D, the "powers that be" have left loose ends you may have run into... These are some good references:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/intel_graphics
https://01.org/linuxgraphics/documentation

Ubuntu doesn't use xorg.conf, and it's vesa driver is the crude old non-accelerated, no-3d version that doesn't support Gnome or various other X software.

Even in vesa X mode it shouldn't take 3 minutes to load, if it can load at all. OP should do cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | pastebinit and provide the resulting URI here so we can see if X is any part of his issue.

Does the wireless mouse have a weak battery?

Why are you running Ubuntu 20.10 ?

It is years out of date. Maybe it is time for an update?

When I run cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | pastebinit in the terminal I get:
No such file or directory
Command 'pastebinit' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install pastebinit

There is no Xorg.0.log or any other Xorg file in my /var/log directory.

Thanks.

No, battery is new but, These two lines:

0942162 [<0000000cb2eccc6>] USB_HCD_IRQ
942178 Disabling IRQ #16

Do not show up anymore after several reboots.

But.... the slow boot time still exists.

Thanks.

OOps sorry, typo. 22.10 Kinetic kudu
Thanks.