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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
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Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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 Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:48 pm Post subject: 10 seconds of processing power before... |
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In the last few days to a week, I've been experiencing a bit of a lag in performance. Every time I do something--right-click on the Xfce desktop to get the menu, open Sylpheed to read my mail, open another program, etc.--GKrellM shows the CPU running at full power for about 10 seconds (no other resources being heavily used) and then the program will open.
What could be causing this? I haven't done much in the last week other than to update my packages and to make some adjustments to hdparm, the latter of which wouldn't seem to affect CPU performance at all.
Anyone have any thoughts? |
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Raoul_Duke
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Location: Caerdydd, Wales
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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Have a look at 'top' when the CPU spikes. Find out the process that's using all your CPU time.
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neuron
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Joined: 28 May 2002
Posts: 2371
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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| undo your hdparm changes and see if that changes it. |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Raoul_Duke wrote: | | Have a look at 'top' when the CPU spikes. Find out the process that's using all your CPU time. |
It happens to be whatever I'm trying to do, e.g. if I open Opera, "opera" shows up at the top of top. Also, if I click on a link in my mail reader (Sylpheed) while Opera is open, I notice the same thing happens for the same time. That seems fishy....
| neuron wrote: | | undo your hdparm changes and see if that changes it. |
Sorry, yes, this was the first thing I did. It's possible I messed around with other things--mostly using portage tools to keep my system updated and clean--but that only involved merging/unmerging mostly desktop applications.
Any more ideas? |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Does it also happen with console apps??
What's the speed of your hd? (hdparm -tT /dev/hda) |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| BlackEdder wrote: | Does it also happen with console apps??
What's the speed of your hd? (hdparm -tT /dev/hda) |
It doesn't happen when opening an xterm (I use aterm). It doesn't happen when running 'ls' or when using portage apps/tools.
My hdparm speed:
| Code: | root:andrew$ /etc/init.d/hdparm stop
* WARNING: you are stopping a boot service.
* Stopping hdparm... [ ok ]
root:andrew$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hda && hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb
/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1888 MB in 2.00 seconds = 943.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 138 MB in 3.02 seconds = 45.72 MB/sec
/dev/hdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1856 MB in 2.00 seconds = 926.75 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 112 MB in 3.03 seconds = 36.96 MB/sec
root:andrew$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hda && hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb
/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1848 MB in 2.00 seconds = 923.68 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 138 MB in 3.01 seconds = 45.78 MB/sec
/dev/hdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1916 MB in 2.00 seconds = 957.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 112 MB in 3.04 seconds = 36.79 MB/sec
root:andrew$ /etc/init.d/hdparm start
* Starting hdparm...
* Running hdparm on disc0... [ ok ]
* Running hdparm on disc1... [ ok ]
* Running hdparm on cdrom0... [ ok ]
* Running hdparm on cdrom1... [ ok ]
root:andrew$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hda && hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb
/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1860 MB in 2.00 seconds = 930.14 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 140 MB in 3.03 seconds = 46.24 MB/sec
/dev/hdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1908 MB in 2.00 seconds = 953.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 112 MB in 3.03 seconds = 36.92 MB/sec
root:andrew$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hda && hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb
/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1868 MB in 2.00 seconds = 934.14 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 138 MB in 3.01 seconds = 45.81 MB/sec
/dev/hdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1888 MB in 2.00 seconds = 942.73 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 104 MB in 3.04 seconds = 34.20 MB/sec |
I can post my settings/HD model number if necessary. Thanks in advance. |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 2588
Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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It looks like the hd isn't the problem..
Do you have your computers name in /etc/hosts (maybe it was overwritten after an etc-update). Mine looks like:
127.0.0.1 localhost
137.224.236.130 edder
(edder being the name of my pc) |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| BlackEdder wrote: | It looks like the hd isn't the problem..
Do you have your computers name in /etc/hosts (maybe it was overwritten after an etc-update). Mine looks like:
127.0.0.1 localhost
137.224.236.130 edder
(edder being the name of my pc) |
Wow, this sheds some light on something I haven't seen before... whether or not it's related.
| Code: | root:/$ cat /etc/hosts
# <SNIP>
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/hosts,v 1.8 2003/08/04 20:12:25 azarah Exp $
#
127.0.0.1 localhost
# IPV6 versions of localhost and co
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts |
I don't know what those IPV6 things are, but I don't remember enabling them manually. (Heck, I don't even know what IPV6 is. And while I'm looking it up, I've posted here, so don't yell at me for still carrying vestiges of noobness.  )
Anything else that may be helpful? |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 2588
Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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The ip6 settings shouldn't cause any problems, but you should put the name of your computer in there (you can do it behind your ip (like me), or behind localhost):
127.0.0.1 localhost yourcomputername
you can find you computer name with:
uname -n
When you've correctly changed your hosts file th 10 seconds wait should be solved. The wait is caused by the progs trying to resolve your computername, but unable to connect an ip to it.
Btw ip6 is ip, but instead something like 192.168.0.1 it has six numbers (192.168.0.1.0.3). It is not widely used, but might be someday because there will be less ip numbers than computers on the net |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| BlackEdder wrote: | The ip6 settings shouldn't cause any problems, but you should put the name of your computer in there (you can do it behind your ip (like me), or behind localhost):
127.0.0.1 localhost yourcomputername
you can find you computer name with:
uname -n
When you've correctly changed your hosts file th 10 seconds wait should be solved. The wait is caused by the progs trying to resolve your computername, but unable to connect an ip to it. |
I did the latter method, with my computer name behind localhost, but that didn't solve the problem. I even restarted my computer to make sure.
Is there anything I should try? |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 2588
Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm I hoped that would solve the problem. You are sure you spelled the name right??
If that didn't solve it, then I would try to rule out if it's an xfce only problem, by trying another windowmanager if you have one, or maybe by moving all the xfce config files (I guess the config dir is .xfce4) so
mv .xfce4 .xfce4.backup
should do the trick and then restarting x. Have you searched the fora for similar problems? This thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=182362&highlight=applications+launch+slow might have some pointers |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| BlackEdder wrote: | | Hmm I hoped that would solve the problem. You are sure you spelled the name right?? |
Yes.
| BlackEdder wrote: | | If that didn't solve it, then I would try to rule out if it's an xfce only problem, by trying another windowmanager if you have one.... |
OK, I tried fluxbox with the same problem.
That link didn't have anything but the hostname tip that is applicable to me. I'll search more with those keywords; I didn't have any luck when I looked last night.
In the meantime, anything else I should try? |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 2588
Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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Well try to rememeber when the lag started to appear  did you update something, changed any config files?
Last edited by BlackEdder on Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:28 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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andrewski
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Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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As I searched the forums, I saw a lot of posts about xorg-x11's latest, which I realised I just downloaded. 6.8.0 to be exact. I also tried running XMMS (since apparently the latest xorg-x11 has problems with GTK1 apps), but it opened quickly! Now what's that?!
Is 6.8.0 that problematic? Should I revert? |
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BlackEdder
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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Location: Dutch enclave in Egham, UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Xorg 6.8 might be the cullprit. Any idea if it started after that (genlop xorg-x11 would give the date you installed it), maybe try a downgrade to be sure |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I merged it yesterday, so I don't know if it's the culprit and I'd hate to have to downgrade. What's the best way to find out if anyone else is having this problem? |
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mhodak
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Joined: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 1218
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:15 am Post subject: |
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Another thing it may be is kernel. What kernel are you using and did you build it recently? Try booting differnet kernel, you probably have tested and proven older kernel, right?
As for as xorg, where did you get it, was it an unstable ebuild? If so, check out bug reports at Gentoo bugzilla or search the Desktop part of the forums. |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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| mhodak wrote: | | Another thing it may be is kernel. What kernel are you using and did you build it recently? Try booting differnet kernel, you probably have tested and proven older kernel, right? |
I've been using 2.6.8-rc2-love3 for about a month, with no problems. I will try an older kernel.
| mhodak wrote: | | As for as xorg, where did you get it, was it an unstable ebuild? If so, check out bug reports at Gentoo bugzilla or search the Desktop part of the forums. |
I got the ~x86 version, so yes, it's "unstable". When I have more time!, I'll investigate further. I'm still not sure it's xorg; I've been having a good experience and good performance with the compositing manager.  |
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firephoto
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Joined: 29 Oct 2003
Posts: 1612
Location: +48° 5' 23.40", -119° 48' 30.00"
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Try running fc-cache, some others are reporting that this fixes some slowdowns. |
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andrewski
Guru
Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| firephoto wrote: | | Try running fc-cache, some others are reporting that this fixes some slowdowns. |
Survey says that worked... I'll see about extended performance, but I won't be at my computer for a while.
Thanks... tentatively. |
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dswissmiss
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Posts: 498
Location: New York
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:14 am Post subject: |
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nice...i guess the gentoo forum's search feature is indeed worth something  |
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andrewski
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 366
Location: Royersford, PA, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for poking me; the turkey is indeed done and the problem is indeed solved... or something. |
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racoontje
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Joined: 19 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Creative expression |
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robet
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Posts: 807
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s4kk3
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Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 232
Location: Finland
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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I had some this kind of issues with xorg-6.8.0-r2. And some aggressive, broken or bad c(xx)flags can cause this. I have experienced that
xorg-6.8.0-r3 was better. These days I'm running r4 wich feels little faster than r3(both was merged with same optimizations).
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