New Install, Very Slow

[Jeremy_Ray]

I've disabled desktop effects and followed all the instructions in this thread for disabling akonadi, nepomuck and strigi - the only exceptions being that I haven't installed kubuntu low fat settings yet, and "~/.config/akonadi/akonadiserverrc" doesn't exist. There is no akonadi file in .config, perhaps akonadi has been moved elsewhere in 12.04.

As is my Asus R1e tablet pc is barely useable. It takes 30 seconds to open a terminal.

I ran top and didn't see anything eating up cpu or ram. I'm at a loss, done everything I know to do.

[vw72]

Do you have an nvidia card in your computer? There are known problems with the nvidia driver (which installs automatically) and certain nvidia cards. Switching to the nouveau driver or telling kde to use xrender instead of opengl if using the nvidia driver improves the performance dramatically if this is the problem. A new driver has been released but has not made it to the repositories yet.

[Jeremy_Ray]

The R1e has the Intel GMA 965 graphics chip.

Where do you change the video driver? I changed to xrender under Desktop Effects. It was over three times slower. Konsole took 101 seconds to open instead of 30.

Kubuntu is using a gig of ram doing nothing - surely that's not right.

[vw72]

Intel GMA 965 would not be affected and OpenGL should be fine (and faster). 1gb of ram usage is high. Is this straight kubuntu or kubuntu active?

[Jeremy_Ray]

I don't know what Kubuntu Active is. It's the regular 64 bit install.

[Jeremy_Ray]

I'm running system monitor and I'm seeing a massive load on the cpus with only top and system monitor running. Typically 60 to 100% cpu usage. The big culprit appears to be - ksysguard (74%) and ksysguardd (14%). Top is @ 8%, xorg is @ 8%, dbusdaemon @9% along iwth a couple other things that pop in around the same range. Ksnapshot is continuing to run after I killed it through the gui. Funny, ksnapshot is showing up in the process table of System Monitor, but doesn't show up if I run ps x in konsole.

Kinfocenter shows .89 gigs of ram being used, System Monitor shows a reasonable .38 gigs.

Does this make any sense?

I've killed akonadi and nepomuk entries out of the tray, made no difference.

Could it be plasma desktop? Can it be removed?

[james147]

ksysguard is the system monitor and shouldn't normally be under that much load :S

KInfocenter shows total ram usage, including disk caches, buffers and application memory. It is normal for disk caches to fill your unused ram as you use your system. System monitor just measures the memory your applications are using.


Plasma desktop can be stopped with kquitapp plasma-desktop and started with plasma-desktop (or plasma-desktop & disown from a terminal to detach it from the terminal). You can try stopping it to see if it makes a difference (you should still be able to use alt+f2 or konsole to launch applications).

Not entirely sure why its behaving like this though.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Killing plasma desktop didn't help.

Where should I look next?

I can't guess why Kubuntu is so slow either, but I take it for granted that any install of a recent-ish *buntu will have runaway CPU usage problems and I wasn't disappointed. I've got 8.04 on another hard drive, used it earlier today with no problems. I've got a stack of install cd's an inch and a half high of recent distros that were all buggy in one way or another.

[Jeremy_Ray]

I ran all the update stuff, which took long enough with the install as slow as it is, but didn't help. It may be a little slower now. Also, it can't turn itself off anymore. The gui shutdown appears to do nothing, terminal shutdown (sudo halt) starts the shutdown process but doesn't turn off the machine.

Still no idea what's going on here. I can't find any single process, such as akonadi/nepomuk/strigi, hogging resources. It's more like all the regular processes consume more resources than they should. I saw xorg @ 50% cpu while a terminal opened.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Alright I've got a lead - apparently support for Intel graphics, like most laptops have, has been busted since 9.04, when xorg.conf was phased out. I'd like to try the xorg.conf changes suggested in the first link, BUT, I can't get an xorg.conf to generate.

So my question now is, how do I generate xorg.conf?

[SteveRiley]

Current versions of the Intel graphics drivers now use UXA mode by default.

[Jeremy_Ray]

O.K., but I'm not sure what you're getting at. Generating a new xorg.conf and making the changes here definitely won't help?

How can I make sure the Intel video driver is being used?

[SteveRiley]

Xorg began deprecating xorg.conf back with version 1.8. Configuration is now via automatic device detection. You can observe what Xorg has configured by viewing the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

My ThinkPad X1 has a Core i5 processor with Intel HD graphics. Here's the relevant portion of my log file:

[  4094.660] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[  4094.660] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[  4094.660] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  4094.660] 	compiled for 1.12.1, module version = 2.19.0
[  4094.661] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  4094.661] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 12.0
[  4094.661] (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,
	i810-dc100, i810e, i815, i830M, 845G, 854, 852GM/855GM, 865G, 915G,
	E7221 (i915), 915GM, 945G, 945GM, 945GME, Pineview GM, Pineview G,
	965G, G35, 965Q, 946GZ, 965GM, 965GME/GLE, G33, Q35, Q33, GM45,
	4 Series, G45/G43, Q45/Q43, G41, B43, B43, Clarkdale, Arrandale,
	Sandybridge Desktop (GT1), Sandybridge Desktop (GT2),
	Sandybridge Desktop (GT2+), Sandybridge Mobile (GT1),
	Sandybridge Mobile (GT2), Sandybridge Mobile (GT2+),
	Sandybridge Server, Ivybridge Mobile (GT1), Ivybridge Mobile (GT2),
	Ivybridge Desktop (GT1), Ivybridge Desktop (GT2), Ivybridge Server,
	Ivybridge Server (GT2)

Followed by several lines containing intel(0), which indicate various discovery and configuration steps.

In my log, the following line also exists:

[  4094.926] (II) intel(0): SNA initialized with SandyBridge backend

This is because I'm using the driver with SNA (Sandy Bridge New Acceleration) support compiled in. The default Intel drivers, which are compiled without SNA support, run with UXA acceleration instead. So creating an Xorg.conf to enable UXA is no longer necessary.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Here's what I've got. I've got vesa and fbdev also loading, then it looks like they unload later. My Intel is older than yours too.

[ 112.392] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[ 112.442] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[ 112.471] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 112.484] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 2.17.0
[ 112.485] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 112.486] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 112.487] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[ 112.548] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[ 112.564] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 112.565] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 2.3.0
[ 112.566] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 112.567] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 112.568] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[ 112.607] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[ 112.620] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 112.621] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 0.4.2
[ 112.622] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 112.641] (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,
i810-dc100, i810e, i815, i830M, 845G, 854, 852GM/855GM, 865G, 915G,
E7221 (i915), 915GM, 945G, 945GM, 945GME, Pineview GM, Pineview G,
965G, G35, 965Q, 946GZ, 965GM, 965GME/GLE, G33, Q35, Q33, GM45,
4 Series, G45/G43, Q45/Q43, G41, B43, B43, Clarkdale, Arrandale,
Sandybridge Desktop (GT1), Sandybridge Desktop (GT2),
Sandybridge Desktop (GT2+), Sandybridge Mobile (GT1),
Sandybridge Mobile (GT2), Sandybridge Mobile (GT2+),
Sandybridge Server, Ivybridge Mobile (GT1), Ivybridge Mobile (GT2),
Ivybridge Desktop (GT1), Ivybridge Desktop (GT2), Ivybridge Server
[ 112.682] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[ 112.683] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[ 112.684] (++) using VT number 7

[ 112.964] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[ 112.966] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[ 112.967] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[ 112.968] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[ 112.969] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[ 113.002] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[ 113.006] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 113.007] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 0.0.2
[ 113.020] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 113.040] drmOpenDevice: node name is /dev/dri/card0
[ 113.042] drmOpenDevice: open result is 9, (OK)
[ 113.044] drmOpenByBusid: Searching for BusID pci:0000:00:02.0
[ 113.045] drmOpenDevice: node name is /dev/dri/card0
[ 113.046] drmOpenDevice: open result is 9, (OK)
[ 113.047] drmOpenByBusid: drmOpenMinor returns 9
[ 113.060] drmOpenByBusid: drmGetBusid reports pci:0000:00:02.0
[ 113.062] (II) intel(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
"Default Screen Section" for depth/fbbpp 24/32
[ 113.063] (==) intel(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
[ 113.065] (==) intel(0): RGB weight 888
[ 113.066] (==) intel(0): Default visual is TrueColor
[ 113.082] (II) intel(0): Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) 965GM
[ 113.083] (--) intel(0): Chipset: "965GM"
[ 113.100] (**) intel(0): Relaxed fencing enabled
[ 113.101] (**) intel(0): Wait on SwapBuffers? enabled
[ 113.102] (**) intel(0): Triple buffering? enabled
[ 113.103] (**) intel(0): Framebuffer tiled
[ 113.104] (**) intel(0): Pixmaps tiled
[ 113.105] (**) intel(0): 3D buffers tiled
[ 113.106] (**) intel(0): SwapBuffers wait enabled
[ 113.107] (==) intel(0): video overlay key set to 0x101fe
[ 113.136] (II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 has no monitor section
[ 113.140] (II) intel(0): found backlight control interface /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0
[ 113.157] (II) intel(0): Output VGA1 has no monitor section
[ 113.162] (II) intel(0): EDID for output LVDS1
[ 113.163] (II) intel(0): Manufacturer: LCD Model: 5540 Serial#: 892416560
[ 113.164] (II) intel(0): Year: 2007 Week: 41
[ 113.165] (II) intel(0): EDID Version: 1.3
[ 113.166] (II) intel(0): Digital Display Input
[ 113.167] (II) intel(0): Max Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 29 vert.: 18
[ 113.180] (II) intel(0): Gamma: 2.20
[ 113.181] (II) intel(0): No DPMS capabilities specified
[ 113.182] (II) intel(0): Supported color encodings: RGB 4:4:4 YCrCb 4:4:4
[ 113.183] (II) intel(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode
[ 113.185] (II) intel(0): redX: 0.613 redY: 0.333 greenX: 0.291 greenY: 0.552
[ 113.186] (II) intel(0): blueX: 0.148 blueY: 0.126 whiteX: 0.303 whiteY: 0.332
[ 113.200] (II) intel(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0
[ 113.201] (II) intel(0): Supported detailed timing:
[ 113.202] (II) intel(0): clock: 83.5 MHz Image Size: 287 x 180 mm
[ 113.204] (II) intel(0): h_active: 1280 h_sync: 1352 h_sync_end 1480 h_blank_end 1680 h_border: 0
[ 113.205] (II) intel(0): v_active: 800 v_sync: 803 v_sync_end 809 v_blanking: 831 v_border: 0
[ 113.207] (II) intel(0): Unknown vendor-specific block f
[ 113.220] (II) intel(0): TMDISPLAY
[ 113.221] (II) intel(0): LTD133KX2S
[ 113.222] (II) intel(0): EDID (in hex):
[ 113.224] (II) intel(0): 00ffffffffffff003064405530323135
[ 113.241] (II) intel(0): 29110103801d12780a19189d554a8d26
[ 113.243] (II) intel(0): 204d5500000001010101010101010101
[ 113.246] (II) intel(0): 0101010101019e20009051201f304880
[ 113.261] (II) intel(0): 36001fb4100000180000000f00000000
[ 113.264] (II) intel(0): 00000000000000000000000000fe0054
[ 113.267] (II) intel(0): 4d444953504c41590a202020000000fe
[ 113.282] (II) intel(0): 004c54443133334b5832530a20200094
[ 113.283] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "LCD", prod id 21824
[ 113.285] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 113.286] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1280x800"x0.0 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync -vsync (49.7 kHz)
[ 113.396] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.397] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "400x300" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.398] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "400x300" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.399] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "512x384" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.400] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "640x480" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.402] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "640x512" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.403] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "800x600" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.416] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "896x672" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.417] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "928x696" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.418] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "960x720" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.419] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "576x432" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.421] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "680x384" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.422] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "680x384" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.423] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "700x525" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.440] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "720x450" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.441] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "800x512" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.442] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "840x525" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.443] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "840x525" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.445] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "960x540" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.446] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "960x600" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.447] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (doublescan mode not supported)
[ 113.461] (II) intel(0): Printing probed modes for output LVDS1
[ 113.462] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1280x800"x59.8 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync -vsync (49.7 kHz)
[ 113.464] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x60.0 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz)
[ 113.467] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x60.3 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz)
[ 113.477] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x56.2 36.00 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync (35.2 kHz)
[ 113.480] (II) intel(0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz)
[ 113.500] (II) intel(0): EDID for output VGA1
[ 113.501] (II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 connected
[ 113.503] (II) intel(0): Output VGA1 disconnected
[ 113.504] (II) intel(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
[ 113.505] (II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 using initial mode 1280x800
[ 113.507] (II) intel(0): Using default gamma of (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) unless otherwise stated.
[ 113.521] (II) intel(0): Kernel page flipping support detected, enabling
[ 113.522] (**) intel(0): Display dimensions: (290, 180) mm
[ 113.523] (**) intel(0): DPI set to (112, 112)
[ 113.524] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
[ 113.525] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
[ 113.559] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
[ 113.570] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 113.571] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 1.0.0
[ 113.590] ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[ 113.591] (II) Loading sub module "dri2"
[ 113.592] (II) LoadModule: "dri2"
[ 113.671] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri2.so
[ 113.677] (II) Module dri2: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 113.677] compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 1.2.0
[ 113.678] ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 6.0
[ 113.688] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
[ 113.689] (II) Unloading vesa
[ 113.690] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[ 113.691] (II) Unloading fbdev
[ 113.691] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdevhw"
[ 113.692] (II) Unloading fbdevhw
[ 113.693] (==) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
[ 113.708] (II) intel(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[ 113.709] (II) intel(0): [DRI2] DRI driver: i965
[ 113.711] (II) intel(0): Allocated new frame buffer 1280x800 stride 5120, tiled
[ 114.100] (II) UXA(0): Driver registered support for the following operations:
[ 114.101] (II) solid
[ 114.102] (II) copy
[ 114.102] (II) composite (RENDER acceleration)
[ 114.103] (II) put_image
[ 114.104] (II) get_image
[ 114.105] (==) intel(0): Backing store disabled
[ 114.106] (==) intel(0): Silken mouse enabled
[ 114.112] (II) intel(0): Initializing HW Cursor
[ 114.181] (II) intel(0): RandR 1.2 enabled, ignore the following RandR disabled message.
[ 114.206] (==) intel(0): DPMS enabled
[ 114.207] (==) intel(0): Intel XvMC decoder enabled
[ 114.217] (II) intel(0): Set up textured video
[ 114.218] (II) intel(0): Set up overlay video
[ 114.223] (II) intel(0): [XvMC] i965_xvmc driver initialized.
[ 114.241] (II) intel(0): direct rendering: DRI2 Enabled
[ 114.242] (==) intel(0): hotplug detection: "enabled"

[SteveRiley]

I've intentionally removed the VESA and frame buffer drivers.

My Intel driver is newer because I like to use the latest X and drivers from the Xorg-Edgers PPA. It can't hurt to try; see my how-to for the step-by-step. I'm not actually sure if this is the cause of your performance problems, though.