speed problems on laptop

From: Larry Clapp (larry_at_theclapp.org)
Date: 01/30/05

  • Next message: CN: "Re: Kernel 2.6.10 boots panic" 
    Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 21:42:40 -0500
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org

    Hi, all,

    I'd like some help diagnosing speed problems on my laptop.

    Hardware:

    Dell Latitude, 2 GHz cpu, 512 mb ram, 4 GB swap, nVidia vidio card.

    History:

    Until recently I ran a custom-compiled 2.6.6 on my Dell Latitude, with
    a package mix of stable, testing, and unstable. I also ran VMWare,
    and in it, Microsoft Windows 2000. I had respectable performance.

    Every Tuesday I do "apt-get upgrade" to get anything new. I also, in
    Windows, do a "Windows update" via MS's website.

    After this past Tuesday's update, my performance went into the toilet.

    Symptoms:

    - When editing a file in Vim in a gnome-terminal, it takes longer to
      move the cursor from line to line at the top of the screen than at
      the bottom. Generally scrolling the window takes longer than
      before. An xterm is faster than a gnome-terminal, but still seems
      slower than before.
    - According to Windows Task Manager, Windows under VMWare uses 30% cpu
      more-or-less constantly (which it may or may not have done before;
      not sure), and more often than not 100%. *Moving the mouse in a
      circle* uses 60-70% cpu. Most cpu usage in Task Manager is "kernel"
      usage.
    - Switching to "full screen mode" under VMWare makes Windows run
      faster.
    - Generally X performance seems slower.
    - Generally X seems to take a lot of CPU, as reported in 'top'.
    - Slooooow kernel compile. I'm running one now; so far it's taken 50
      minutes. By contrast, my 1.4 GHz desktop (with, admittedly, twice
      as much ram) compiles a 2.6.6 in ~8 minutes.

    Steps taken:

    - I assumed something I'd upgraded had caused problems, so I removed
      the 3 patches Windows Update had applied, and rolled back all my
      Debian packages to pre-Jan-1 state. No change.
    - I've re-installed with Debian/testing. I want to install the nVidia
      driver from nVidia, but it wants a kernel tree to look at, so I'm
      compiling a kernel.
      - After the re-install, I still observe the general X slowness and
        cpu usage, and gnome-terminal slowness.

    Hypotheses:

    - Hardware problems? IRQ contention?
    - Someone did something stupid in some basic routine in a core library
      (e.g. memset) that makes it run a lot slower than it used to,
      causing a systemic slowdown, including in VMWare.
      - I'd expect a lot more outcry from the Linux and/or Debian
        community in this case, though.
    - My laptop is, for reasons of its own, down-stepping its cpu usage,
      via acpi, cpufreq, or similar.
    - Something went wonky in my X setup, making it run really slowly or
      in some less-than-optimized state.

    Any hints or advice? Any help appreciated!

    -- Larry Clapp 

    -- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org 
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
  • Next message: CN: "Re: Kernel 2.6.10 boots panic"

    Relevant Pages