Linux Format forums

[jase]

Upgraded from 11.04 to 11.10 at the weekend. All seems fine.

However ever since then my PC runs a lot slower.



Any ideas why and what I could do?

[nordle]

Is the CPU doing anything?

Could be the hard drive, try:

sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

mythtv box

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 8582 MB in 2.00 seconds = 4299.25 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 380 MB in 3.01 seconds = 126.26 MB/sec

dev/sdb:
Timing cached reads: 8206 MB in 2.00 seconds = 4110.68 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 310 MB in 3.00 seconds = 103.27 MB/sec


desktop

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 28248 MB in 2.00 seconds = 14139.82 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 1088 MB in 3.00 seconds = 362.33 MB/sec

/dev/sdb:
Timing cached reads: 28716 MB in 2.00 seconds = 14374.44 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 522 MB in 3.01 seconds = 173.62 MB/sec


Also,
cat /proc/cpuinfo

Maybe its stuck underclocked.
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[jase]

I've run System Monitor, Processes. Nothing is running so the CPU is not running anything in the background.

[jase]

@ Nordle, thanks :

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 590 MB in 2.00 seconds = 295.03 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 82 MB in 3.03 seconds = 27.11 MB/sec

-------

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz
stepping : 9
cpu MHz : 2799.485
cache size : 128 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe up pebs bts cid xtpr
bogomips : 5598.97
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

-----------


So I really can't see anything wrong? I have read that maybe a fresh install of 11.10 might help, instead of just an upgrade as it might clear out old and unused files? But I thought am upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10 did that during the install process?

[wyliecoyoteuk]

As time goes on, older hardware is less able to support modern software.
Having said that, 11.10 runs fine on our 1.6 GHz netbooks with 1.5GB of ram, but they do use SSDs, and those disk read times aren't too hot.
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[nordle]

As Wylie pointed out, those disk reads are not good.

My old 2.4GHZ Athlon was flying along nicely until last week.
So your setup should be pretty snappy.

Try this (using smartmontools to get some info about drive)
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

and hdparm to confirm if DMA is enabled
sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

Looking for a * next to udma mode
eg:
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

Also, whats the RAM situation:
free
Should show memory and swap space
(I like htop as a terminal based app for monitoring cpu/ram/processes)
_________________
I think, therefore I compile

[jase]

I tried: sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda - but it said "command not found"

I tried: sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda
/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: ST380012A
Serial Number: 5JV3YPR3
Firmware Revision: 4.04
Standards:
Used: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 2
Supported: 6 5 4
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
--
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 156301488
LBA48 user addressable sectors: 156301488
Logical/Physical Sector size: 512 bytes
device size with M = 1024*1024: 76319 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 80026 MBytes (80 GB)
cache/buffer size = 1024 KBytes
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 0
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=240ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* SMART feature set
Security Mode feature set
* Power Management feature set
* Write cache
* Look-ahead
* Host Protected Area feature set
* WRITE_BUFFER command
* READ_BUFFER command
* DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
SET_MAX security extension
* 48-bit Address feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
* Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
* FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
* SMART error logging
* SMART self-test
Security:
supported
not enabled
not locked
frozen
not expired: security count
not supported: enhanced erase
HW reset results:
CBLID- above Vih
Device num = 0 determined by CSEL
Checksum: correct

[jase]

It's still slow, so logged off, chose 2D and restarted. Now runs really fast as it did in previous 11.04. However I was already using 2D as my graphics card/system would have auto detected it can't run 3D?

Hmm...now I am confused even more

[nordle]

Hi there,

You could install smartmontools to make use of smartctl
sudo apt-get install smartmontools

But this business of the system slowing down when under 3d graphics is interesting.

What grahpics card does it have?
lspci | grep VGA

I assume when you say "chose 2d and restarted", this is under the Additional Drivers section of Ubuntu.

EDIT:
Should have said, looks like DMA is operating on the disk as per your output of hdparm. This is as it should be.
_________________
I think, therefore I compile

[jase]

No, I selected 2D from the login is screen.

My graphic card does not support 3D so thats why I presumed my system auto detected that when I installed Ubuntu.

This morning my PC is again running slow, however when I close down, log back in and runs fast again. But nothing was churning away at the CPU before I shut down.

[nordle]

How much RAM do you have.
_________________
I think, therefore I compile

[jase]

Not at home at the moment, but from memory (pardon the pun ), I think its 512

[wyliecoyoteuk]

Sounds like a memory leak?
_________________
The sig between the asterisks is so cool that only REALLY COOL people can even see it!

*************** ************

[jase]

[jase]

Just checked, yes I have 512 ram.

When I turn off the PC and turn it back on, it's runs ok and not slow. So every time I turn it on, I have to turn it off and back on for it to run at a good speed?

The old turn it on and off trick

If it's a memory leak what shall I do please?