atorch
February 1st, 2008, 08:10 PM
Hi everyone,
I'm having a problem with sluggishness.
I've attached a screenshot of my system monitor; please take a look at it *before reading what follows.*
A: I click once on a document on my desktop, simply to select it. Then I press the arrow keys to quickly select others. I'll pick one up and drag it around. All of this happens with a noticeable delay between action & effect (it takes a noticeable amount of time for an icon I've clicked on to become highlighted), and my CPU usage spikes up noticeably. If I check the "Processes" tab (while selecting icons on my desktop), I see that almost all running processes are at 0% CPU; sometimes one of them will climb to 2 or 3%, but never higher. This is strange -- you'd think the parts (0+0+...+0+2) would add up to the whole (sometimes up to 90% CPU usage at the peaks), but they don't.
B: I run nvidia-settings OR sudo nvidia-settings; CPU usage spikes as I change my display's resolution and refresh rate. More on this later.
C: I am doing the *exact* same thing as in A, but CPU usage is now constant at 1~3%, as expected.
B is a solution to the problem in A (since C is where I want to be), but *every time I restart my computer*, I'm back at A.
Now, more detail on what's happening at B:
I run either nvidia-settings or sudo nvidia-settings and then, under the "X Server Display Configuration Tab," I change the Resolution / Refresh Rate combination.
The Resolution / Refresh Rate combination can be one of three things:
Auto and Auto
1280x800 and Auto
1280x800 and 60Hz
No matter what the Resolution / Refresh Rate is, I change it to something else, and click apply. After a few moments of my CPU spiking to 100% (you can see this in the graph), I click OK. After that I click "Save to X Configuration File." If I am running sudo nvidia-settings, the save works without any error and I'm done. If I am running nvidia-settings without sudo, I get an error message about rewriting or saving to the X Config Backup File, probably because I don't have permission.
Whether or not I ran nvidia-settings as sudo, step B solves the problem *temporarily* -- that is, until I restart.
Now here's the strange part:
If I ran nvidia-settings with sudo, and restart my computer, the Resolution / Refresh Rate combination that I chose will be remembered by nvidia-settings. However, I still get lag -- to fix it, I again have to change to something else.
But if I ran nvidia-settings without sudo (and restart my comptuer), the Resolution / Refresh rate combination will *not* be remembered by nvidia-settings; instead, it defaults back to the most recent combination that was saved with sudo.
This is strange because it allows any member of the set of Resolution / Refresh Rate combinations to be either a solution to or a cause of the problem. Neither combination is always best or always worst -- all that matters is that, every time I restart my computer, I *change* the Resolution / Refresh Rate from whatever if was before. It does not matter *what* I change it to or what I change it from; all that matters is that it change. And that fixes the problem -- temporarily, until I restart my computer, at which point I have to change it again.
I might be shooting a dead horse at this point, but let me just give an example:
When I first noticed the lag, I ran nvidia-settings without sudo and changed from Auto-Auto to 1280x800-60Hz. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; and because I changed the settings without sudo, they've defaulted back to Auto-Auto. This time I run *with* sudo and change from Auto-Auto to 1280x800-60Hz. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; but this time the settings are 1280x800-60Hz. So I run settings with sudo and change back to Auto-Auto. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; the settings are Auto-Auto. I sudo change them to 1280x800-Auto. The lag is gone.
I restart. Lagging again; the settings are 1280x800-Auto. I sudo change them. The lag is gone.
I restart. Ad infinitum.
Phew. Sorry for such a long post to explain something so simple, but I find the problem very strange and I wanted to give a thorough explanation.
So: Any suggestions? Lag is annoying; so is running nvidia-settings every time I restart. I'd appreciate any help you can offer.
Thanks,
--Adrian
* The link below will take you to the same threat in the general forums. *
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=686031
* Useful information from the above link: running "top" during A tells me that Xorg is the process eating up my CPU. *
I'm having a problem with sluggishness.
I've attached a screenshot of my system monitor; please take a look at it *before reading what follows.*
A: I click once on a document on my desktop, simply to select it. Then I press the arrow keys to quickly select others. I'll pick one up and drag it around. All of this happens with a noticeable delay between action & effect (it takes a noticeable amount of time for an icon I've clicked on to become highlighted), and my CPU usage spikes up noticeably. If I check the "Processes" tab (while selecting icons on my desktop), I see that almost all running processes are at 0% CPU; sometimes one of them will climb to 2 or 3%, but never higher. This is strange -- you'd think the parts (0+0+...+0+2) would add up to the whole (sometimes up to 90% CPU usage at the peaks), but they don't.
B: I run nvidia-settings OR sudo nvidia-settings; CPU usage spikes as I change my display's resolution and refresh rate. More on this later.
C: I am doing the *exact* same thing as in A, but CPU usage is now constant at 1~3%, as expected.
B is a solution to the problem in A (since C is where I want to be), but *every time I restart my computer*, I'm back at A.
Now, more detail on what's happening at B:
I run either nvidia-settings or sudo nvidia-settings and then, under the "X Server Display Configuration Tab," I change the Resolution / Refresh Rate combination.
The Resolution / Refresh Rate combination can be one of three things:
Auto and Auto
1280x800 and Auto
1280x800 and 60Hz
No matter what the Resolution / Refresh Rate is, I change it to something else, and click apply. After a few moments of my CPU spiking to 100% (you can see this in the graph), I click OK. After that I click "Save to X Configuration File." If I am running sudo nvidia-settings, the save works without any error and I'm done. If I am running nvidia-settings without sudo, I get an error message about rewriting or saving to the X Config Backup File, probably because I don't have permission.
Whether or not I ran nvidia-settings as sudo, step B solves the problem *temporarily* -- that is, until I restart.
Now here's the strange part:
If I ran nvidia-settings with sudo, and restart my computer, the Resolution / Refresh Rate combination that I chose will be remembered by nvidia-settings. However, I still get lag -- to fix it, I again have to change to something else.
But if I ran nvidia-settings without sudo (and restart my comptuer), the Resolution / Refresh rate combination will *not* be remembered by nvidia-settings; instead, it defaults back to the most recent combination that was saved with sudo.
This is strange because it allows any member of the set of Resolution / Refresh Rate combinations to be either a solution to or a cause of the problem. Neither combination is always best or always worst -- all that matters is that, every time I restart my computer, I *change* the Resolution / Refresh Rate from whatever if was before. It does not matter *what* I change it to or what I change it from; all that matters is that it change. And that fixes the problem -- temporarily, until I restart my computer, at which point I have to change it again.
I might be shooting a dead horse at this point, but let me just give an example:
When I first noticed the lag, I ran nvidia-settings without sudo and changed from Auto-Auto to 1280x800-60Hz. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; and because I changed the settings without sudo, they've defaulted back to Auto-Auto. This time I run *with* sudo and change from Auto-Auto to 1280x800-60Hz. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; but this time the settings are 1280x800-60Hz. So I run settings with sudo and change back to Auto-Auto. The lag is gone.
I restart the computer. It's lagging again; the settings are Auto-Auto. I sudo change them to 1280x800-Auto. The lag is gone.
I restart. Lagging again; the settings are 1280x800-Auto. I sudo change them. The lag is gone.
I restart. Ad infinitum.
Phew. Sorry for such a long post to explain something so simple, but I find the problem very strange and I wanted to give a thorough explanation.
So: Any suggestions? Lag is annoying; so is running nvidia-settings every time I restart. I'd appreciate any help you can offer.
Thanks,
--Adrian
* The link below will take you to the same threat in the general forums. *
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=686031
* Useful information from the above link: running "top" during A tells me that Xorg is the process eating up my CPU. *