Compiz using high CPU (up to 90 %)

[Dammerl]

Dear friends,

I need your help. Since upgrading from 12.04 to 12.10 (alpha 3, beta 1, beta 2), compiz has a constant CPU usage of up to 90 %, even when idle with only 1 terminal open, running top. This is when running Unity or Gnome. If I run Gnome Classic (no effects), the CPU usage is normal. I am at a loss on how to narrow down the culprit.

I have a 2005 Dell Latitude D610 with an Intel Pentium M Processor 2.13 GHz and Vesa Intel 915GM/910ML/915MS Graphics card and 1.2 Gb memory. Is this already too old for Ubuntu?

Any suggestions are highly appreciated, but please keep it sort of simple as I am not that technical, albeit willing to try quiet a lot!


Best wishes
Tom

[cwsnyder]

You do realize that one of the major changes in 12.04 to 12.10 was the elimination of Unity 2D? Compiz will be emulated using your CPU if you don't have a GPU which supports hardware acceleration.

I think you should probably re-think using Unity on this laptop. It is 7 years old, but would probably run Xubuntu or Lubuntu fine and probably Kubuntu.

Not that it won't run Unity Ubuntu, but it will probably keep your CPU hopping.

[cariboo907]

Dear friends,

I need your help. Since upgrading from 12.04 to 12.10 (alpha 3, beta 1, beta 2), compiz has a constant CPU usage of up to 90 %, even when idle with only 1 terminal open, running top. This is when running Unity or Gnome. If I run Gnome Classic (no effects), the CPU usage is normal. I am at a loss on how to narrow down the culprit.

I have a 2005 Dell Latitude D610 with an Intel Pentium M Processor 2.13 GHz and Vesa Intel 915GM/910ML/915MS Graphics card and 1.2 Gb memory. Is this already too old for Ubuntu?

Any suggestions are highly appreciated, but please keep it sort of simple as I am not that technical, albeit willing to try quiet a lot!


Best wishes
Tom

Check to see if you are using the i915 driver, instead of the vesa driver.

[jerrylamos]

Hmmm. My IBM Thinkpad T40 has a Pentium M. If I do a:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep flags

there is no "pae" in the list so 12.10 Ubuntu live install image checks for the flag and won't boot. It's got something to do with memory sizes of 4G and up I think.

Now I was able to install 12.04 2D just fine on the Thinkpad. Upgrading to 12.10 sort of worked with about half the packages held back. So I re-installed 12.04 2D and am using that as well as a second partition with 12.04 Lubuntu.

I'm curious if you have a pae flag?

[Dammerl]

Dear All,

many thanks for the responses so far!

@cwsnyder I was hoping that my hardware would still be up for the job but certainly will look into the other variants - I am sure they will do the job equally fine.

@jerrylamos I have the pae flag but I am not sure what this really means.

@ cariboo907 How can I check this? Running lshw -c video brings up the line
Configuration: latency=0;
Running lspci -k | grep VGA gives
VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobility 915 GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)

I should add, I had to set the nomodeset kernel boot option as my computer otherwise would boot to a black screen.

Best wishes
Tom

[cariboo907]

@Dammerl try:

sudo lshw -C display

I have an Nvida graphics adapter, and the result I get looks like this:

udo lshw -C display
[sudo] password for cariboo: 
  *-display               
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GT218 [GeForce 210]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: a2
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:18 memory:df000000-dfffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:dc000000-ddffffff ioport:ef80(size=128) memory:def80000-deffffff

I bolded the driver in my case.

[Dammerl]

Hi Cariboo907,

I ran this command and here is my output:

 sudo lshw -C display
  *-display:0 UNCLAIMED   
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 03
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:dff00000-dff7ffff ioport:ec38(size=8) memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:dfec0000-dfefffff
  *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: Display controller
       product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2.1
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
       version: 03
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:dff80000-dfffffff

It appears I have no driver installed ?!? By the way, the second display presumably is the monitor of the docking station, which currently does not work at all (but first things first).

Best wishes
Tom

[dino99]

you only have 1,2 Gb ram, so no need to dream about compiz. You should be happy to see it running without crashing

Choose Lubuntu or xubuntu or something "light" if you cant add more ram (at least 4 Gb)

you should have xserver-xorg-video-intel driver installed.

[Dammerl]

Hi Dino 99,

I guess my hardware is too old ... I am actually installing Lubuntu-Desktop as I type to see whether this brings back the joy.

I am still wondering, though, whether my graphics driver isn't working correctly. My xorg.conf lists vesa as my driver and I am wondering whether to change this to intel ...


Best wishes
Tom

[dino99]

ah, you should not have a xorg.conf as now the kernel directly deal with X. So for testing, rename it as xorg.conf.original (or whatever you like) before dropping it to the bin.