Extensive testing and trying to interpret the logs above myself led me to physically disconnect the DVD-Drive. This made the problem go away. So it's the kernel waiting for the DVD-Drive, where no medium is inserted. Interestingly enough this only happens under certain conditions and only with the ubuntu-stock kernel Test-Booting with other kernels from differnet Distros(e.g. latest Kanotix or debian-Kernel) didn't show the same problems.
** Changed in: usplash (Ubuntu) Sourcepackagename: usplash => linux-image-k7 -- Booting is delayed by ~20 sec. when using 'quiet splash' arguments https://launchpad.net/bugs/48186 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
