On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 02:38:23AM +0100, Marko Vojinovic wrote: > > Hi folks! :-) > > I am experiencing a gradual performance drop problem --- having a machine > running 24/7, after some time (say, two weeks) the system becomes increasingly > slow, in terms of desktop response. It takes several seconds (cca 15-20) to > open an "open file" dialog in a text editor, or a new terminal window or such. there was a lengthy thread in a redhat list earlier this month about someone with several servers, SOME of which had similar-sounding problems. I refer you to one in which the OP describes how he solved it, in case it may be helpful to you: https://www.redhat.com/archives/redhat-list/2010-October/msg00055.html Good luck! > The window takes 2-4 seconds to gain focus after I click on it. If I move the > mouse over a typical toolbar, it takes a second or two for the particular > button to get highlighted, and the highlighting "rectangle" follows the mouse > like 2-3 buttons behind. Clicking on a new message in KMail takes 1-3 seconds > to actually display it. Most GUI stuff becomes increasingly (and annoyingly) > slow. > > There is enough processor power, according to top and other diagnostic tools. > Besides, compiz happens to remain completely responsive --- cube, this, that, > all effects are fast and snappy. Mplayer runs flawlessly. But the rest of the > GUI starts to drag. The text selection in an editor follows the mouse with 1-3 > seconds delay. And such stuff... > > On a freshly (re)booted system everything is fast and snappy for a couple of > days, and then it gradually starts to get slower and slower. This coincides > with increased usage of swap, which tends to rise from 0 to 1.2 GB in two > weeks period. I suspect that swapping is partially the culprit for performance > degradation, but I am unable to determine what app is using all that swap, and > for what. > > I would appreciate any pointers where to start looking for this swap drainage. > Also, if I try to run the system without swap (disabling it manually right > after boot), it starts to choke after some time, and I need to reboot it. > > The hardware has 2GB RAM, 4 GB swap, core 2 duo @ 1.5 GHz. > > I use the machine for usual desktop activities. Typically I have several apps > running non-stop: firefox (3-4 tabs), kmail, ktorrent, kile, couple of konsole > instances, two skype instances, cairo-dock, xmms and okular. The desktop is > 64bit F12, KDE, running compiz/emerald. I have several usual plasmoids on the > desktop, nothing too fancy (clock, graphs for cpu, temperature, battery, > network and RAM usage). > > Occasionally I start other stuff (krusader, quake3, Wolfram's Mathematica, > other infrequent things like photo editing stuff etc.) but I shut them down > after usage. I notice the slowdown even if I don't use any of that. > > The symptoms appear like something is leaking memory --- slowly (noticable > only after two weeks of continuous running), but cumulatively. This triggers > gradual swap usage, which then gradually decreases performance and > responsiveness of the whole desktop. > > I tried shutting down all desktop apps, and this releases some swap (but not > all?!), but the system remains in a bad shape, which is visible if I (re)start > any app again. > > Things like mplayer run flawlessly, but it takes cca 15-20 seconds to start the > Konsole from which I can invoke mplayer. > > Once I left the system running unattended for a month (I wasn't at home), and > I accessed it only via ssh a couple of times (without problems). When I got > back, the desktop was so slow and unresponsive that I couldn't even wait for > it to do a regular shutdown/restart, and instead I pulled the plug and > rebooted it fresh. > > When I try to shut down a multi-tab app (firefox, kile, konsole), it takes so > much time to close itself that I get a dialog saying that the app is not > responding (and offering to terminate it). If I just wait, eventually both the > dialog and the app close themselves. It can take them from 5 seconds to half a > minute do close, depending on the shape of the rest of the desktop. > > I'm at a loss where and how to look for memory and performance drain. My > current uptime is > > $ uptime > 02:04:55 up 14 days, 4:54, 6 users, load average: 0.62, 0.55, 0.39 > > and I can feel the slowdown quite easily. I'd be happy to hear any advice on > how to troubleshoot this, before I get pissed off and reboot the system again. > I'll also gladly provide any additional info. > > Thanks, :-) > Marko > > > -- > users mailing list > users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > To unsubscribe or change subscription options: > https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users > Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines -- ---- Fred Smith -- fredex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------- "For the word of God is living and active. 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