PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] 12.10 Unusably Slow after Fresh Install



Dorrax
January 10th, 2013, 06:44 PM
I had windows 7 and ubuntu 11.0 dual booted on a 320GB hdd and ran out of room. I pulled a 2TB hdd from an older computer (Not that old, I built it in Feb of 2010) and cloned the 320GB drive to the 2TB drive. Then I wiped the ubuntu partition and expanded the windows partition to take up about half the space with the intent to do a clean install of ubuntu 12.10 on the other half. After fighting with my motherboard (gigabyte motherboards apparently hate booting from USB, and I learned that 12.10 is too big for a CD, so I had to buy some DVDs)

I finally booted it back up and installed. I had to fight the partition editor during installation, ended up with about 90gb of unusable space because it wouldn't let me make an extended partition to hold the swap space. Then it took absolutely forever to install, not sure how long because I had to go to bed, all I know is that it was at least 2 hours.

This morning I tried to boot into the new installation but it took 30 minutes to go from turning the computer on to getting to the password screen. Took several minutes to enter the password. No clue how long it took to get from entering password to getting to a usable desktop because I had to go to work.

I have seen other threads about how 12.10 is slow, but all that I've seen are from users trying to get by with a 10 year old CPU and 1gb of RAM, but this computer is not one of those, I have an AMD phenom X4 CPU and 16gb of RAM. I don't think it's the 2TB hdd because it worked fine in the older computer until I tried to update from 11.10 to 12.04 using the update, not a fresh install (it locked up during the update and I was forced to turn it off, must have messed up the MBR because it wouldn't boot up after that)

I have done a fresh install of 12.10 on my laptop and it works flawlessly, but that isn't dual booted. The laptop is my oldest computer, with 1.6GHZ dual core CPU and 4GB RAM, so I don't understand why it's being so impossibly slow on my desktop. I don't know if I can even post any results from the command line because it might be too slow to use ( and I'm at work, so I can't get to the computer until tonight ).

What should I do? Been using ubuntu for 5 years, I hate change.


EDIT: My wife tried to boot into the windows partition, but grub won't let her use the arrow keys, she says none of the keys work and it won't even boot up the ubuntu install after she presses something. I asked her to try the live CD again, but hit Try Ubuntu instead of install. She says it works fine. I assume this means that most of my hardware can handle 12.10 ok, but something is wrong with what I have installed on the 2TB drive. Maybe the drive is going bad. How do I check that from the live CD?

forkandles
January 11th, 2013, 12:26 AM
Boot from the live CD and use the Disk Utility to check the hard drive status using SMART.

In Ubuntu 12.04 the route is:

Applications > System Tools > Preferences > Disk Utility

https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/gnome-disk-utility/

Click on the image on that link to see more detail.

Another possibilty is that your 2TB drive has been used in RAID previously. If so, you will need to search these or other forums for a solution.

forkandles
January 11th, 2013, 10:21 AM
Following on from my previous post, I have found the link that refers to a hard drive and RAID problems.

This may or may not be your particular problem, but it is worth a look.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/56069/ubuntu-install-failing-hard-drive

The solution in that instance was:


sudo apt-get remove dmraid

Do let us know how things are going.

oldfred
January 11th, 2013, 05:41 PM
I think 12.10 does not yet have the RAID drivers. so it does not normally install or just shows no partitions even if you have some.

May be some issues related to clone.

Also how is BIOS set? It should be AHCI or at least LBA or large not IDE. Also do you have USB mouse & keyboard turned on in BIOS? I had this issue with my Gigabyte board with Intel chip. Both Windows & Ubuntu seem to have USB drivers, but grub uses BIOS setting, so only ps/2 keyboard works in grub.

Have you checked log files. I usually look at dmesg to see if something has an outright error, repeated tries at loading & failing, or just very long times between entries. Use Log File Viewer or look in /var/log.

Is liveCD/DVD/Flash also slow?

You may need a boot parameter or some other setting to resolve issue.

Dorrax
January 12th, 2013, 04:38 AM
ok, I managed to enable SMART in the bios and while I was at it I set all instances of SATA using IDE to AHCI. Not sure if I should because I haven't been able to get back into the BIOS or boot from CD since then. I took the full 320GB hdd that I had cloned to the 2TB HDD and put it back in the computer so I could boot it back up and have a working machine at least.

The SMART test on the 2TB drive failed the fast self test, it has 1465 bad sectors and the Current Pending Sector Count is flagged with a warning. I assume this means the disk has gone bad and I should replace it.

Luckily for me I have a 500GB HDD that I was using as shared space between the windows and ubuntu installs. I think I can clone the windows partition to that disk and then install 12.10 on the 320GB HDD, both OS's get more space and everyone's happy. Now I have to figure out how to back up the data currently on the shared HDD and then properly clone the windows partition. I only use windows for games and 3ds max. Since all my games are on steam valve will hopefully take care of that for me, then I need to stop being lazy and learn blender so I can be done with windows for good.

Thanks for your assistance with my problems.

Dorrax
January 12th, 2013, 10:47 AM
I think I got the windows cloned to the 500GB HDD, but I can't do a fresh install of ubuntu on the 320GB HDD because it won't boot from CD. I couldn't get into BIOS after changing the settings earlier, so I thought I could reset the BIOS by removing the battery and replacing it. It must have reset something, because now it doesn't recognize the keyboard until it gets past GRUB. (USB keyboard) I turned it back on after putting the battery back and it said that CMOS checksum didn't match or something and gave me option to use default or last known good settings, I wanted default but of course I couldn't select it because keyboard didn't work.

Oddly enough, if I jam F12 I can make it go to the boot list after it shows me the hard drive SMART data, where I can select the CDROM, but then it just goes to GRUB where the keyboard stops working again.

I have a USB to PS2 adapter, but it didn't seem to help. If I can't reset the BIOS I can't make it boot from CD, if I can't boot from CD I can't reinstall ubuntu. I am out of ideas.

Sylos
January 12th, 2013, 10:55 AM
I would have thought that your BIOS would be able to use the USB keyboard irrespective of whether GRUB can (BIOS is pre-GRUB). Maybe your keyboard is faulty? Any spares to test with?

cheers

EDIT: What mobo do you have?

Dorrax
January 12th, 2013, 11:03 AM
I have a Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H. I'm wondering if I could flash the BIOS and get it working, but I have never flashed a BIOS before and I'm not even sure I could do it without a working keyboard. I had a PS2 keyboard, but I think I threw it out years ago thinking I wouldn't need anything that old again. Luckily, I'm a grad student in a lab whose professor has a cabinet full of 20 year old computer parts with plenty of fossil keyboards, no one would notice if one disappeard for a weekend.

oldfred
January 12th, 2013, 04:38 PM
I recently recycled some 20 year old keyboards and they had the old serial port round connector. Do not go that old. Although some old things are still pretty good. :)

forkandles
January 15th, 2013, 11:22 AM
I don't think you need to consider flashing the BIOS.

http://www.manualowl.com/m/Gigabyte/GA-880GA-UD3H/Manual/207674?page=34

You need to go back and start from scratch with a nice clean BIOS.

(Page 27) First, I would remove the PC's battery and clear CMOS. You could even treat your PC to a new battery (CR2032) if you wished.

Now go through the various BIOS settings and set them to your requirements.

(Page 48) Integrated Peripherals, make sure that USB keyboard is enabled. Borrow a fully functioning USB keyboard for this test.

You know the stuff below anyway, but it perhaps bears repeating.

See page 33 for BIOS settings and page 47 for Boot Order:

When your computer starts up, keep pressing the Delete key to enter the BIOS Setup, then look under Advanced BIOS Features for Boot Order.
Select CD to boot first, before the hard drive.
Press F10 to Save & Exit.

Good luck.