I've run a lot of Linux machines on a lot of hardware for a lot of years and have no idea what could have been going on that would cause a 5+ minute boot, that was also unnecessary enough that a different BIOS could get it down to 30s. Back in the bad old days of circa ~2000 when I ran Linux on a variety of garage-sale potatoes, I don't think any took 5 minutes to boot.
I've run a lot of Linux machines on a lot of hardware for a lot of years and have no idea what could have been going on that would cause a 5+ minute boot, that was also unnecessary enough that a different BIOS could get it down to 30s. Back in the bad old days of circa ~2000 when I ran Linux on a variety of garage-sale potatoes, I don't think any took 5 minutes to boot.