diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe-powered.sh b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe-powered.sh
index 116e6a9824f..e25664675e4 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe-powered.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe-powered.sh
@@ -75,8 +75,6 @@ section_start prepare_rootfs "Preparing rootfs components"
 
 set -ex
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Clear out any previous run's artifacts.
 rm -rf results/
 mkdir -p results
@@ -85,8 +83,6 @@ mkdir -p results
 # state, since it's volume-mounted on the host.
 rsync -a --delete $BM_ROOTFS/ /nfs/
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # If BM_BOOTFS is an URL, download it
 if echo $BM_BOOTFS | grep -q http; then
   curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 \
@@ -94,8 +90,6 @@ if echo $BM_BOOTFS | grep -q http; then
   BM_BOOTFS=/tmp/bootfs.tar
 fi
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # If BM_BOOTFS is a file, assume it is a tarball and uncompress it
 if [ -f "${BM_BOOTFS}" ]; then
   mkdir -p /tmp/bootfs
@@ -103,8 +97,6 @@ if [ -f "${BM_BOOTFS}" ]; then
   BM_BOOTFS=/tmp/bootfs
 fi
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Install kernel modules (it could be either in /lib/modules or
 # /usr/lib/modules, but we want to install in the latter)
 if [ -n "${BM_BOOTFS}" ]; then
@@ -115,8 +107,6 @@ else
 fi
 
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Install kernel image + bootloader files
 if [ -z "$BM_BOOTFS" ]; then
   mv "${BM_KERNEL}" "${BM_DTB}.dtb" /tftp/
@@ -124,13 +114,9 @@ else  # BM_BOOTFS
   rsync -aL --delete $BM_BOOTFS/boot/ /tftp/
 fi
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Create the rootfs in the NFS directory
 . $BM/rootfs-setup.sh /nfs
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 echo "$BM_CMDLINE" > /tftp/cmdline.txt
 
 # Add some options in config.txt, if defined
@@ -180,13 +166,10 @@ python3 $CI_INSTALL/custom_logger.py ${STRUCTURED_LOG_FILE} --close-dut-job
 python3 $CI_INSTALL/custom_logger.py ${STRUCTURED_LOG_FILE} --close
 set -e
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Bring artifacts back from the NFS dir to the build dir where gitlab-runner
 # will look for them.
 cp -Rp /nfs/results/. results/
 
-date +'%F %T'
 section_end dut_cleanup
 
 exit $ret
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe_run.py b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe_run.py
index d9c884104ad..dee95255394 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe_run.py
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/poe_run.py
@@ -25,17 +25,16 @@ import argparse
 import os
 import re
 import sys
-import threading
 
 from custom_logger import CustomLogger
 from serial_buffer import SerialBuffer
 
+
 class PoERun:
     def __init__(self, args, boot_timeout, test_timeout, logger):
         self.powerup = args.powerup
         self.powerdown = args.powerdown
-        self.ser = SerialBuffer(
-            args.dev, "results/serial-output.txt", ": ")
+        self.ser = SerialBuffer(args.dev, "results/serial-output.txt")
         self.boot_timeout = boot_timeout
         self.test_timeout = test_timeout
         self.logger = logger
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/rootfs-setup.sh b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/rootfs-setup.sh
index 90e45a61f36..3f83f084325 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/rootfs-setup.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/rootfs-setup.sh
@@ -9,14 +9,10 @@ mkdir -p $rootfs_dst/results
 cp $BM/bm-init.sh $rootfs_dst/init
 cp $CI_COMMON/init*.sh $rootfs_dst/
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 # Make JWT token available as file in the bare-metal storage to enable access
 # to MinIO
 cp "${S3_JWT_FILE}" "${rootfs_dst}${S3_JWT_FILE}"
 
-date +'%F %T'
-
 cp "$SCRIPTS_DIR/setup-test-env.sh" "$rootfs_dst/"
 
 set +x
@@ -30,5 +26,3 @@ set -x
 # Add the Mesa drivers we built, and make a consistent symlink to them.
 mkdir -p $rootfs_dst/$CI_PROJECT_DIR
 rsync -aH --delete $CI_PROJECT_DIR/install/ $rootfs_dst/$CI_PROJECT_DIR/install/
-
-date +'%F %T'
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/serial_buffer.py b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/serial_buffer.py
index f57060e1865..94fa93323a3 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/serial_buffer.py
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/bare-metal/serial_buffer.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 # IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
 import argparse
-from datetime import datetime, UTC
 import queue
 import serial
 import threading
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ import time
 
 
 class SerialBuffer:
-    def __init__(self, dev, filename, prefix, timeout=None, line_queue=None):
+    def __init__(self, dev, filename, timeout=None, line_queue=None):
         self.filename = filename
         self.dev = dev
 
@@ -49,7 +48,6 @@ class SerialBuffer:
             self.line_queue = line_queue
         else:
             self.line_queue = queue.Queue()
-        self.prefix = prefix
         self.timeout = timeout
         self.sentinel = object()
         self.closing = False
@@ -88,7 +86,7 @@ class SerialBuffer:
                     break
                 self.byte_queue.put(b)
             except Exception as err:
-                print(self.prefix + str(err))
+                print(str(err))
                 break
         self.byte_queue.put(self.sentinel)
 
@@ -130,10 +128,7 @@ class SerialBuffer:
                 if b == b'\n'[0]:
                     line = line.decode(errors="replace")
 
-                    ts = datetime.now(tz=UTC)
-                    ts_str = f"{ts.hour:02}:{ts.minute:02}:{ts.second:02}.{int(ts.microsecond / 1000):03}"
-                    print("{endc}{time}{prefix}{line}".format(
-                        time=ts_str, prefix=self.prefix, line=line, endc='\033[0m'), flush=True, end='')
+                    print("{endc}{line}".format(line=line, endc='\033[0m'), flush=True, end='')
 
                     self.line_queue.put(line)
                     line = bytearray()
@@ -170,12 +165,10 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument('--dev', type=str, help='Serial device')
     parser.add_argument('--file', type=str,
                         help='Filename for serial output', required=True)
-    parser.add_argument('--prefix', type=str,
-                        help='Prefix for logging serial to stdout', nargs='?')
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    ser = SerialBuffer(args.dev, args.file, args.prefix or "")
+    ser = SerialBuffer(args.dev, args.file)
     for line in ser.lines():
         # We're just using this as a logger, so eat the produced lines and drop
         # them